Welcome to the Robot Apocalypse – Chapter 6

          

Welcome to Tuesday on my blog


Good morning, T-gang, coffee chatters, rebels and everyone else who makes their way over here. And again, like every other Tuesday, we are going to continue today with the 6th part of  David’s The Robot Apocalypse. We hope you will enjoy!

Should you have missed it: Here are part #1 | part #2 | part #3 | part #4 | part #5

As previously I will be linking with Elizabeth & Bleubeard at AlteredBooklover and with Leslie for a Coffee Chat, and her question today is:

Oh no, Coffee Chat is on hold due to computer/internet issues – don’t I know a thing or two about that… Back next week!


Chapter 6

I was not happy about how I had neglected my finances, but if I were honest with myself, I was to blame. I would make a point to talk to Tanya about the credit card charges this evening. The daily events at work soon distracted me from my personal finances. It was one virtual fire after another, and before I knew it, the day was over.

The usual greeting was absent as I walked into my apartment. Tanya was standing motionless in the corner of the room next to her charging station.

“Tanya?”

“Yes, Roger?”

“What’s going on.”

“I am currently downloading a system update. My functionality will be limited during the update.”

“So soon? It’s been just a week since I got you.”

“I am currently downloading a system update. My functionality will be limited during the update.”

Hmm. Her functionality really was limited.

“Can you at least tell me how long this is going to take?”

“Time remaining: four hours, 12 minutes.”

It looked like I would be on my own for the evening. I still had a frozen pizza in the freezer, which I baked, and I sat down at my laptop to check what was going on in the world. Outside of work and Tanya of course. Unfortunately several apps needed security updates. After they timed out a few times it hit me that Tanya was using all the bandwidth for her update. No internet this evening. No matter, I was really in the mood for something less interactive anyway. So I collapsed on the couch and turned on the TV. What a day it had been. When I tried to select one of my streaming services, the system displayed the initial setup screen, and asked me to log in. Perhaps Tanya had inadvertently changed the settings when she was copying them to her system. Argh. I was tired and not in the mood for this, but I dutifully filled out the required fields – quite a pain with the remote control – and hit ‘next’.

A pause.

A long pause.

A very long pause.

What was I thinking? Streaming also needed a certain amount of bandwidth, which Tanya was currently using.

“Tanya?”

“Yes, Roger?”

“Could you pause your update for a while?”

“I am currently downloading a system update. My functionality will be limited during the update.”

Damn. Well, I still had a few DVDs collecting dust on the shelf. That would have to suffice for the evening. Watching a film I had already seen four times was a bit dull, but after the day I had, dull was okay. I then reactivated my alarm app on my phone – who knows if Tanya would wake me tomorrow morning – and went to bed.

I slept very well that night – maybe the stress from work – who knows? But I was sound asleep when the chime on my phone went off. I sat up in bed and glanced at the time – 6:35. Tanya strode into the room.

“Good morning, Roger.”

“Good morning, Tanya. Is your system update complete?”

“Yes it is Roger. May I make you breakfast?”

“That would be lovely, thanks.”

I sat down at the bar after a long, hot shower.

“Tanya, couldn’t you have done that update some other time? Like when I’m not here. Or at night?”

“I’m sorry Roger, but it was a fairly major system update. I started the download just after you left yesterday morning, but I was unfortunately unable to complete it before you got home.”

I did some quick math. Just under 14 hours for the update? My connection speed wasn’t that slow. I had chosen a ‘middle of the road’ package with the cable company, but it had always been enough for my needs.

“Well, I suppose as a one-time thing, it’s OK.”

“If you would like to improve your connection speed, one of Lifebots partner companies is offering a package deal that includes free streaming for just $89 per month.”

“Thanks. That sounds nice … but …” Wait. Money. There was something about money. My credit card!

“Now I remember. Tanya, I wanted to talk to you about my credit card. There are quite a lot of charges this month. I got a call from them at work.”

“I’m sorry to hear that Roger. If you would like to give me your bank login information, I would be happy to monitor your charges and billing.”

“That’s not exactly what I meant. A lot of the charges came from you. And Lifebots.”

“If there is a specific item you would like to discuss? I have a record of all the charges I have made. Our friends at Lifebots want to make sure you are a satisfied member of the family, and they stand behind their commitment to protect you against unauthorized charges to your account.”

I tried to think back to yesterday morning as the customer service rep rattled off the list of charges to me, but unfortunately nothing specific came to me. I would have to fire up my laptop and login to look at the charges again. I glanced at the time – 8:10. No time – I had to get going.

“I’ve got to go to work now. Let’s talk about this tonight.”

“Whenever you want, Roger. I’m here for you.”

“Great! See you tonight!”

The day seemed to fly by. Meetings, follow-ups, chasing Ryan down to get the vendor information he promised me at the last meeting. Before I knew it, I was fumbling with my keys at my mailbox. I usually only checked it a couple times a week, since I received anything important per email. The mailbox door barely opened – there were so many fliers, ads, and ever-so-important looking envelopes addressed to ‘Roger Rickenbock or current resident.’ Trash… trash… trash… Oh well. I was clear for another week. I opened the door to my apartment to quite a pleasant surprise.

“Good evening Roger. I’ve prepared hors d’oeuvres and cocktails for you. The Party Boost glasses arrived today, and I thought you’d want to try them out.”

The bar had been elegantly set with a platter of cheese and crackers, mixed olives, sliced carrots and celery, and a little dish of what appeared to be hummus. There were even a couple of tealights burning in decorative cups.

“This is great, Tanya.”

“Thank you Roger, dear. Now go get changed, and we can toast.”

*          *          *


Claudia here again. Now that’s as open as it gets with an open ending, right? Well, only for this chapter, there is one more to come, or was it two?

In any case, we certainly hope you liked this installment of David’s story and will be back for the next chapter in a couple of weeks.


Cheers,

claudia3

 

If I have time I will be linking with one or more of the fine people in this collection – check them out!



14 thoughts on “Welcome to the Robot Apocalypse – Chapter 6”

  1. I noticed that I had missed episode 5 so I went back to read that first and now I have just enjoyed this installment. I’m enjoying this!
    Belated happy T-Day,
    Lisca

    Reply

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