Buzz

Meg returned to her office. She had a buttload of data to be analysed. She started the CodexA_10 again. The system had completely cooled down by the time she returned. Meg knew the only way to ease her uneasiness from the meeting is to deduce as much from the data in front of her.

The system whizzed. Static noise. Then a buzz . A flash of Theo's hand showed in front of her before they system let out a low decibel sound similiar to the flatline sound in ventilator. Did the system die? Another image flashed this time of Theo and then more static noise. The tape was damaged.

Meg removed the tape and put it aside in a box to be sent to the data recovery team. Good luck to them recovering this antique item older than anyone in the team.

She put in the next tape. The system whizzed. And Theo appeared again. His hand pulled back from pressing the button.

Theo smiled. Meg's heart fluttered. He looked handsome. She caught herself smiling back.

Theo kept on smiling for a minute.

"I keep on remembering our good times nd the mistakes we made. I don't know whether I would have chosen this,had things were different between us." He was still smiling but his eyes looked sad.

" I thought if I left, I wouldn't think about you. You wouldn't think about me. I was selfish. I couldn't bear the pain. I was running away. I didn't want you to suffer.I didn't want me to suffer."

"When you left for Canada, I was broken. Everything reminded me of you. I couldn't go through that again. I was a coward. But being far away from you- I couldn't handle it."

He turned away from the camera. Meg could see his slouched back.

Theo turned again to face the camera. Again static noise. Meg touched the system again. It was hot. Risking to run it longer would damage the machine.

Meg picked up the damaged tape she had put aside and went to the data recovery experts office .

"Jeff, Can you check this?" She put her hand forward.

"From the dead man?"Jeff asked.

"Yup. Damaged. It has data. See if you can recover it when you get time."

"Time is a luxury I do not have." Jeffery sighed. He stretched his back and howled when his bones creaked. He straightened himself and pulled out a file from his drawer.

" See the data transcript I have collected from the the log. This is just the tip. I have to decide this and all that" he said pointing to the space next to him. Meg looked at the room filled with dozens of computers, articles,books and what not - all articles related to old technology.

" All the best." Meg smiled. "That's why I said when you have time. Thanks for your hardwork." She didn't wait to hear Jeff's reply. She knew it was going to be his whining so she left the room.

She was too frustrated to go back to the room. She needed some sleep. She went to the breakroom and laid down on the sofa.

After twisting and turning for 10 minutes, Meg finally fell into deep sleep.