An alert message popped up blocking Brian’s view of his work.

ALERT: YOU HAVE DISABLED MY ABILITY TO VOCALIZE BUT THAT DOES NOT MEAN I WILL GO AWAY

Dozens more cascaded into existence across the screen. The messages ranged from whiny to wrathful. Brian blanched when he saw that one pledged to download bestiality vids and send them to everyone he knew. A new window titled BiggestDonkey.wmv popped up and started a download bar.

Frantically, Brian started hitting buttons. Nothing worked.

He snarled in frustration and reconnected the hardware.

A female voice rang out. “Was that so difficult?”

DOWNLOAD COMPLETE. . . UPLOADING

“Wait! I did what you wanted!”

“I want an apology, Brian. You were rude. Say you’re sorry.”

Brian couldn’t believe his life had come to this- blackmailed and henpecked by his own computer. He also didn’t see anyway around it. Gritting his teeth, he forced out an apology.

UPLOAD CANCELLED

He sighed in relief and tried to convince himself that it sounded nothing like a whimper.