Flash Fiction: System Flaw (Dysphoria #10) by DH Keeth

I ditched my second novel idea (although I’m coming back to it eventually) and working on another novel idea that is radically different from my first novel. In the meantime, here is a flash fiction story not written by me but well worth the short read.

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C: \> System Boot

C: \> System Check

> System Check

> Error

> Error

C: \> Error Bypass

C: \> Open Eyes

                The human looking figure opened its eyes. The pupils lit up a bright blue hue. He didn’t squint at the bright lights overhead. The figure looked life like. Tall and skinny with a boyish face complete with rosy cheeks. Conscious for the first time he registered that he was lying on a table. He only knew this cause the system told him this. Thousands of processes firing at once and communicating awareness that this was a room, this was a table, those are shiny lights.

                The program commanded him to sit up from the table.

C: \> Sit upright

C: \> Move left/right leg right

C: \> Place left foot to floor

He did as commanded slowly stepping to the cold tiled floor. He took a few unstable steps. The system adjusted and he was able to walk as if he’d always been doing it. He moved to a small table in the corner where a set of cloths and running shoes were laid out and began to dress.

                After he finished dressing there was a hissing sound as a door slid open on the other side of the room. He turned and looked out at the opening. It was a long white empty hall with a brick wall at the end. The system analyzed the distance in the hall to be a quarter mile long. Then it gave the command.

C: \> Run

                His feet started to move. Each stride    longer and faster.

C: \> Max Speed

                Faster he ran. The air whipping around his face as he sped up. He ran at the speed of an Olympic runner and then ran faster. The system analyzed. He was sprinting at 29 miles per hour.

                The brick wall at the end of the hall was getting closer and closer. The system analyzed.

> Wall

>Error

C: \> Error Bypass

C: \> Run

                He continued at full speed, never slowing. The wall came closer and closer. The collision was audibly loud as he slammed into the wall and bouncing off to the ground. He sat up.

> Error

> Damage Detected

> Damage: Cranial Fracture Present

> Damage: Cranial Oil Leak Present

> Error

                A thick red bloody substance trickled down his forehead and the side of his face.

C: \> Error Bypass

C: \> Get Up

C: \> Reset

                He got to his feet and ran back to the room. When he arrived, he turned toward the hall again.

C: \> Run

                He sprinted again down the hall. The system registered his speed at 31 miles per hour. Faster and faster, he went. Closer, the wall came.

                Again, he crashed into the wall. It collapsed and he fell through to the other side.

> Error

> Damage Detected

> Damage: Right Upper Rotor

> Damage: Right Arm

                The bloody substance was now covering his boyish face. His shoulder twitched as he attempted to move his arm. He looked down and saw it bent backward at the elbow. The red liquid leaked from it, and he could see the metallic skeletal structure inside.

                He surveyed his surroundings. He was in another long white hall. Another brick wall stood at the end.

C: \> Get Up

                He got to his feet.

C: \> Run

                He sprinted. The system analyzed his speed at 35 miles per hour. He smashed into the wall and fell to the ground on the other side. He laid on the ground for a moment as the system analyzed the damage.

> Error

> Damage Detected

> Damage: Multiple Tissue Components Compromised

> Damage: Right Upper Rotor

> Damage: Right Arm

> Damage: Left Ankle

> Damage: Right Knee

C: \> Error Bypass

C: \> Get Up

                His movements stuttered as he pushed himself up to his feet with his left arm. Prosthetic flesh hung from the right side of his face exposing the metallic structure within. The previously damaged arm dangled at his side. The forearm detached and hung from the elbow by a few wires. His ankle bent inward.

> Error

> Stability Compromised

C: \> Error Bypass

C: \> Run

                He awkwardly sprinted again down yet another empty white hall towards the brick wall at its end. As he smashed through to the other side, he collapsed to the ground leaving a gruesome mess behind. Among the brick rubble his right arm lay completely detached. His left foot lay several feet behind him. There was a copious mixture of the bloody substance and wiring strewn about.

C: \> Get Up

As he got up the remaining flesh of his cherub-like face fell off completely exposing the structure within. The cranial structure was cracked and dented in various places. Once in a standing position he swayed unstably on his one good leg and the remaining stub of his other.

> Error

>Damage Detected

C: \> Error Bypass

C: \> Run

                He started towards the wall on the other end. His speed was slow this time. His movements more awkward and unstable than before. He hobbled faster and faster. Before he reached the wall the stub on his left leg caught on the tiled floor and he slipped. All his weight shifted to his right leg. The ankle and knee twisted unnaturally and snapped. His head hit the wall on the way down.

> Er#o^

> C^it*cal D@#ge D&te<td&

C: \> Er#or By?as$

C: \> G&t Up

                He attempted to stand but collapsed. His head again hitting the wall.

> Er#o^

> it*cal D@#ge D&te<td&

> F@*lure *mmin&nt

C: \> Er#or By?as$

C: \> Run

                He lifted his chest up off the ground using his one good arm. He readied himself and thrust his head into the wall. He did this again, and again. Over and over for hours, days, weeks, until finally his battery cell depleted. With one last thrust his head hit the wall and he collapsed. The blue light in his pupils fading to a lifeless black.