Johnny Winger and the Great Rift Zone

by Philip Bosshardt

  ***Buffer overflow…truncation at all higher registers***

  Doc III announced a problem with the config generator memory…too much data, too many patterns to reconstruct. The atomic complexity of living organisms had defeated many attempts before. Falkland swore under his breath.

  “--not again, not again….”

  The only humane thing to do was abort the operation. He’s have to let Simon go, be dispersed. Just like Jiggs before him. Reluctantly, Falkland killed the config generator and the memory field collapsed. Simon, what was left of him, slowly faded from view and was lost, his atoms and molecules scattered throughout the chamber. Soon, only a faint haze clouded the containment cell porthole.

  “Simon, you’re in there somewhere. Maybe not in a physical sense, but I’ve got the configs…we can do this. We have to do this.” He rubbed at his hairline and worried with a loose strand of hair.