Hope's Ruin

5 | Flake 99

Pepper clapped her hand over her mouth to stifle her scream. She stood and performed what can only be described as a crazed rain dance inside of the canvas tent. Her hands punched the air. Fingers flexed like tiny serpents. Her legs felt weak. Her hand spun, giddy and disorientated. Pepper grasped her cheeks and took several long soothing breaths. Once her initial excitement ebbed, she returned to her stool and gazed at Flake 99.

<< hello >> he said again.

"Hi," Pepper replied, her hand shaking nervously.

<< who are you >>

His voice used the Daniel setting from the Mac VoiceOver Utility. It was a good attempt at human, but retained something uniquely robotic.

Pepper composed herself. "I'm Pepper. Or Pep for short. And you are—?"

<< mackintosh M0001 >>

"Hmm," she replied. "I've been calling you Flake 99. Or Flake for short."

<< flake >>

"It's a sort of nickname."

The robot paused. << nickname >>

"Yes. There are two number nines stuck to the side of your head, so I called you 99 to begin with and then it just morphed into Flake 99 because I was constantly dreaming about ice-cream."

<< ice-cream >>

"A Flake 99," she explained. "Cone, Mr. Whippy, Cadbury's Flake. It was a classic. And cost 99 cents...at least, that's what our parents told us."

<< us >>

"Me and my brother. Fisk. He's asleep right now. And this is our little corner of Hope's Ruin. This is my workshop and that long silver cylinder is the Millennium Kestrel. It belonged to Navid and Inari before us, but they're gone now."

The 8-bit eye blinked.

<< gone >>

"The world has changed a lot. The Savage Storm drowned everything. Killed almost everyone. From what we've learned from others, some survived on mountain tops, on villages made from hundreds of boats all tied together, or sheltered in caves. But the water has gone now. Some called it The Big Gulp or the Great Purge. Now all we have are The Great Wastes. That's where I found you. Arm missing, cables and wires all twisted and frayed, laying face down in the dried earth beneath a baking sun." Pepper rubbed her tired eyes. "Not sure which I hate more: the flood or the drought."

<< flood >>

"The Savage Storm?"

<< before >>

"Don't you remember?"

The robot jolted.

<< data corrupted >>

"Oh. Well, I rebuilt you. Quite well, I hope. But someone else made you. Long ago. Some of your parts are from the 1980s."

<< date >>

"Today? I'm afraid we've lost count."

<< system diagnostic >>

Code and data streamed down the snug Mackintosh screen in bulky pale-green text. The cooling fan whirred, the machine honked, the 3.25in drive, despite being empty, churned. Pepper watched, fascinated. Sure, she still remembered using her smartphone to access all her social media channels and message her friends, but it had been some time since she'd seen any kind of computer working. It pulled her back in time. Her heart ached. Memories of her life before The Savage Storm and The Big Gulp swarm in her head. Pepper froze. Her muscles tightened.