Apocalyptic Night

I had just finished my third cup of coffee for the night.

It was a crazy night. Ram had woken me up at an unearthly hour and informed about a malware that had crept into www.findnearyou.com with instructions to remove it asap. Even as I was switching on my computer, I heard a distant rumble of thunder which soon turned into a thunderstorm. My worst fears came true when there was a power cut.

I was now standing in the balcony, watching the rain and listening to Alice Cooper in my ipod contemplating a fourth cup of coffee when I thought I heard a knock.

Or was it an off-shoot of the thunder which just rumbled?

I listened attentively for another knock. I heard it. It was 2 in the morning.

I gingerly walked to the door unsure of whether to open the door or not. I waited for a third knock before I decided to open the door. Just as I turned the door knob did I realise that I was standing on the balcony and had not seen anyone enter the building. A shiver went down my spine when I was reminded that there was no one in the house below.

I didn’t know why I opened the door.

There fully drenched was a man in his late 40s standing outside with a nervous smile on his face.

“Yes?”

“Um… Hello… Sorry to bother you so late in the night. I’m Vishwa. Um… I need a place to stay for the night.”

“Um…”

“I’m a software engineer and I got some work to finish. Its really important that I get a place to sit and work now.”

“I… er…”

“I was sitting at the nearby bus stop when it started to rain”, he pointed to his laptop bag.

I really didn’t want to let him in. I had heard of lot of stories about strangers entering houses and robbing and even worse killing the occupants.

I didn’t know why I let him in.

————–

“So where do you work Vishwa?”

“Yahweh Solutions.”

I had never heard of such a software company.

“Hmm.. A startup I suppose. What do you guys work on?”

“Hmm… You wont know.”, he said furiously typing at his laptop.

I was taken aback at the blunt insult.

“Java? DotNET?”, I asked putting forth my best knowledge in programming knowledge.

“No.”

“Try?”

“Hmmm.. Ok… We work eXc.”

It rang no bell.

“eXc?”

“Yes. eXc. eXc version 1.4.”

He looked at me with a triumphant smile.

“Now let me get back to work.”

My ego was hurt. I walked over to the kitchen to make another cup of coffee. I looked around the kitchen and noticed how untidy everything was. When my mom left, I had promised that I would clean the house regularly.

Shucks! I had even promised her that I would go easy on coffee and take bath daily!

Walking out with a couple of coffee cups in hand, I noticed that Vishwa was using a Dell XPS.

“Coffee?”

No response from the frail figure that was furiously tapping the keys of the poor laptop.

I craned my neck to look at the screen. I couldnt make heads or tails of it.

“Coffee?” This time louder. Still no response. I felt good as I had two coffees to myself. I finished my coffee and as I was about to drink the other coffee, I heard a voice.

“Yea. I’ll have the coffee.”

I muttered curses as I handed over the coffee to him.

The thunderstorm was still raging outside.

“Thanks Narain. I hope the malware is removed.”

I smiled back. Having nothing to do, I laid down on the couch. Something was bothering me.

I started nodding. Something was still bothering me.

I nodded more.

I heard a strange sound behind me. Even as I sat up and turned back, I saw Vishwa rushing at me with a dagger at hand.

“Hey.. I yelled”, and I woke up, drenched in sweat.

It was a dream. I looked around to see if Vishwa was there. Was Vishwa part of my dream? I looked around and  noticed that it was day already! The hum of a laptop distracted me and I noticed a Dell notebook on standby.

It was 5.30 in the morning. Power supply had resumed. I walked to the balcony.

I was shocked to find a nervous Vishwa squatting, smoking a cigarette.

“Hey. Morning bud!”

“Huh?”, a scared Vishwa blurted and turned back. I had scared him. It felt good.

“Um.. Is anything wrong?”

“Well.. You wont understand. And you scared me.”

I felt insulted. Again.

“Um… Try.”

“Well. There are still bugs in the program. I’m not able to remove it.”

“Heh. Ok. Have some coffee and try again.”

“Uh?”

“Its just a program. It can always be debugged.”

I suddenly remembered Ram asking me to weed out the malware from our site immediately. A few hours back.

“It can be debugged anytime. yes. But I dint have time.”

“Uh?”

“Argh! How do I explain to you?”

“Um.. well… Take it easy mate. Your program not getting debugged on time doesn’t mean the end of the world.”

Vishwa abruptly turned and stared.

“Heh. How did you find out?”

“Find out what?”

“End of the world?”

“Huh?”

“Yes. My program not getting debugged would mean the end of the world!”

“Yea right. And I’m God!”, I said with a smirk.

“No. You’re not….”, he paused.

i was shocked by his lack of sense of humour.

“but, I’m!”

I gave him a long stare.

Suddenly I realised what felt wrong in me.

I remembered his words, “Thanks Narain. I hope the malware is removed.”