Chapter 8a Host Unknown

From: Ltangled@aol.com
To: Jgrady@howard.org
Re: Really Confused

Jan,

Yes, I was really excited after we left the Illusion Factory the other day. Even thought Peter’s demo had the virus problem, I got home and did indeed begin writing something for the subjective virtual reality program. In fact, that’s pretty much the only thing I’ve done for the two days since we last saw one another.

At the same time, I’m absolutely certain that I didn’t send any of it on to you by fax, regular mail, and definitely not e-mail Why would I suddenly start sending you something this important through a completely different e-mail address? I assume that a place like the Howard Company would have a spam filter anyway.

Now this is the really really scary part for me. You seem to be telling me that whatever you got in that e-mail was “amazing!” How can that be? I’m not aware of anyone else who would write about Paperson. Even if there were, how would such a person send it to you? Not only that, I’m not good with attachments (the computer kind, but both kinds actually). I always just paste things into the body of the e-mail.

I assume you got my voice mails. Can we talk some time very soon? I’m going a little nuts here.

Lucky


From: Jgrady@Howard.org
To: ltangled@aol.com
Subject: Oh oh…

Lucky,
I’m sorry I didn’t get back to you sooner, but I’ve done something really embarrassing and I didn’t know how to tell you. I got too excited when I got that e-mail (I’m pasting it in below and attaching it since you need to get good at attachments if we’re going to make this project work). Yes, the address was different, but I had every reason to believe that it came from you.

Once you read, the e-mail from Paperghost@ col.com, you'll see what I’m talking about. You were the one who told me that your Grandfather used to insist that California was really a lost province of China. I also remember your telling me stories about dragons that had come through your family. I suppose I should have noticed that the attachment didn’t mention Paperson, but when I read it I was convinced that it could only have been written by my friend, Lucky Tang.

Okay, here’s the bad news. I was so impressed by what I thought you’d written, that I forwarded it directly to Luke. He was getting antsy about the project. I thought I'd surprise you by getting you on the project as an independent contractor, maybe even get you paid a little.

So before you read the e-mail from Paperghost (yes, I thought it was one of your jokes), I sort of have good news-bad news. The good news is that Luke loved it and he wants you to meet with us over lunch this Monday.

The bad news, of course, is that we don’t know who Paperghost is. You’re sure that it wasn’t you? I’m going to have the tech support guys check the ISP’s in the meantime. I’m going to call you in a few minutes, but first read over the attachment so we can talk about it.

It might be a year before we get another meeting with him.

Jan


“Motherfucker!”

“Lucky, are you okay?”

“It’s fine, just a problem with the computer.”

Marie stands outside my mostly-closed study door.

“It’s no wonder, you’ve been on that computer for almost two days in a row."

“I just need to get this done.”

“You’re not having a relationship with someone online?”

I pressed control-alt-delete on my keyboard, but the screen was frozen with Jan’s e-mail right on the screen in an oversized font.

“No, of course not.”

“Well, I saw it on Dr. Phil. Sometimes, it’s like you’re not even here when we’re together.”

I pulled the plug from the power strip and the monitor went black.

“Marie, just give me twenty minutes here….It’s a really important e-mail.”

“I thought you were turning the computer off.”

I glanced over at the cordless phone on the other side of my desk. How was I going to read this mystery e-mail in the next few minutes before Jan's call?

“Just remember the last time you said twenty minutes you came out of there after sunrise.”

I prayed that whatever e-mail that Jan had sent on to Luke wasn’t going to be more than a few pages. The operating system reloaded. I heard the whirr of the printer diagnostic as the red and green led on its front panel blinked. I was able to dial out. I got into the e-mail, started downloading the attachment then minimized the window. If only real life let you minimize windows and every now and then just let you reboot. Once the download completed, I pushed print, looked at the bottom right corner of my computer and noted happily that the entire process took just four and a half minutes. I grabbed the first page off the laser printer only to realize two things First, I’d been running out of toner for the last five weeks. The text was somewhere between light gray and unreadable. Second, I’d forgotten that the last page prints first. I started to swear again, then caught myself.