Floyd woke up the next morning. His head was in turmoil.
What the hell had happened last night? Was it a dream or was it real? Could it be the screaming skull playing tricks on his mind?
No, no, it can’t be real. That’s impossible! but then again, it was so vivid. It was too vivid for a dream, but surely it could not have been be real.
Floyd recalled everything that had happened. It can’t have been a dream but surely that was impossible. His mind kept going around in circles.
Floyd made a coffee and went outside to sit down and to try and clear his head.
As he sat there, a faint aroma was carried on the breeze, a flowery fragrance. This scent was a red wine fragrance, blended with spice and roses.
“KORS, by Michael Kors!” Floyd exclaimed.
It must have happened! He got up and sniffed the back of the other chair.
Yes, he could smell the scent. Definitely!
Floyd wandered around the garden and the woods aimlessly all day. He thought of going to see Oddball for a talk.
No way! Oddball would think that the skull had finally got to him and that he had gone mad. There was nobody else to talk to.
What was he to do?
He meandered around in a daze until it was dark. Finally, he was exhausted and he went to bed.
Floyd slept the sleep of the dead until 4 o’clock in the morning.
A noise outside had woken him up.
“Those bloody racoons again,” he said.
He got out of bed and picked up his shotgun.
He chambered a cartridge, slipped on the safety catch and went outside turning on the light.
There were no racoons to be seen. Instead, he was looking at a pile of packages on the back decking.
“What the hell is this lot! I didn’t order anything. Who the hell delivers at 4 o’clock in the morning!”
Floyd looked around. He had heard no vehicle. There had been some rain during the night, the ground was damp, there were no tire tracks or footprints to be seen. He shook his head and went back to bed.
He woke up about an hour and a half later when it was getting light.
Sitting outside with a coffee, he regarded the boxes with a critical eye.
They were plain carboard boxes of varying sizes, no markings, dimensions or labels, no delivery docket or invoice, not even a mark from a pencil or a pen. They had all been taped closed.
“It was real! The perfume and now this, it must have happened!”
Floyd moved the boxes inside the house turning them over as he moved them, examining all 6 sides. There were no markings at all to be seen
He got a box cutter and began to open the boxes.
They contained computer equipment, a monitor, cables, remote controls and a small satellite dish.
There were no labels, manufactures logos or part numbers on any of the equipment.
There was also a large envelope and it was tightly packed.
When he opened it, he found it contained $50,000 in used bills.
$1, $2, $5, $10, $20, $50, and $100 bills.
Floyd then knew what he had to do.
“Right, it happened, it was real. I've been entrusted with this task. I had better get on with it.”
He went up to the observation deck with the satellite dish and its cable.
The dish was put in place on a corner post and secured. He pressed the scan button on the remote control. A red light appeared and the dish began to seek for a signal. After a minute there was a beep, the dish stopped seeking, locked in position and a small green light lit up.
He connected the cable to it and ran the cable into the house.
When that was done Floyd began putting things together.
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There was also a computer desk, a high back-office chair and a 48-inch TV.
He assembled the chair first and tried it for size, very comfortable, it fitted like a glove.
Next was the assembly of the desk, then the computer equipment was placed on the desk and then connected.
Finally, he put the TV in position. There was a power cord for it but no cable to the computer. “It must be a wireless connection”.
When all was finished, he gathered up the packaging and put it in one of the outhouses.
Floyd went out to the weir, turned on the turbine and fed the fish. He had some breakfast and sat outside for a while thinking things over.
“Right, let’s see what happened next” he thought as he went back inside and sat down in front of the computer screen.
He pressed the power on button.
The computer sprang into life. He was looking at the desktop display in under a second. “Heck! That’s very quick.”
The background image on the monitor was a daylight map of the Earth. The map was centered on his location. It also showed the cloud cover. There were lots of icons on the screen, drafting, spreadsheet, word processor, internet search engine, TV and more.
A message appeared on the computer screen, “Uplink established” then the message disappeared.
Floyd clicked on the icon for the word processor and he began typing.
He had always been a two fingered typist, now all 10 digits came to life.
His fingers danced over the key board. There were no spelling or punctuation errors to correct. The information appeared in his head and transferred to his fingers. He was to all intents and purposes a conduit between here and wherever there was. He wondered what his mother would think of his typing. Documents were created and filed in folders. Technical specifications, theory of function, how and why.
After a while he realized he was hungry. “No wonder I’m hungry, it’s 4 o’clock in the afternoon. Where did the day go?” he wondered.
After eating he returned to the computer and worked until 10 o’clock that night. He felt that this would be a quick project and it would yield a quick result.
“That’s enough for today. I might as well try the TV before I go to bed.” Floyd clicked on the TV icon.
The TV came to life. He sat down in front of the TV.
There was a map of the world displayed. If he hovered the cursor over a country, a list of available stations appeared.
“Wow! Thousands and thousands of channels. This could get addictive.”
After an hour of channel hopping, he went to bed.
He awoke at 7 o’clock in the morning and he was back on the computer by 8 o’clock.
More documents, spreadsheets, a bill of materials, flow charts, graphs, pie charts, bar charts, maintenance schedules and procedures, repair procedures.
The day disappeared quickly.
Then it was time for the drafting program.
Floyd had read drawings and used drawing software previously during his service with the Corps of Engineers.
Detail drawings of electrical and mechanical parts, assembly drawings, sub assembly drawings, schematics, parts lists for electrical and mechanical components were produced and filed.
Floyd worked from sun up until late at night, the time passed quickly.
He understood some of what he was doing but by no means all of it. He knew what it was for but the physics involved were too far advanced for his understanding. “What a mind-blowing invention. I thought it was possible somehow. Everyone in the world will want one of these,” he thought.
Late one afternoon Floyd heard a vehicle drive up and stop in front of his house. He stopped what he was doing and walked over to the window and looked outside.
It was Oddball.
Floyd opened the door as Oddball was coming up the steps.
“Oddball, good to see you, how are you?” he asked.
Oddball stopped and looked at Floyd.
“Bloody hell Floyd, you look like shit!” he exclaimed. “What on earth have you been doing to get in that state?” he asked.
“I’ve been busy with a few things. Come on in.”
Oddball entered the house. He was carrying two 6 packs of beer and a pizza. He looked around the room.
“What’s all this stuff, when did you get it? I didn’t know you were a computer geek.”
Floyd thought for a second before answering.
He could not tell Oddball what had happened, not yet anyway.
“An acquaintance sent it. Some things I wanted to do. What day is it?”
“Are you feeling ok Floyd? Its Saturday. I was here last Saturday, don’t you remember?”
“I guess time slipped by.”
“Have you been working on that thing all week?”
“I suppose so. I guess I got carried away.” Floyd replied.
Oddball looked at the TV.
“I suppose your acquaintance sent the TV as well. Can you get the Beavers v Fighting Irish game on that. Kickoff is in an hour.”
Floyd pressed the TV remote and the home screen came on.
“Wow! Look at that lot, thousands of channels. I didn’t know it was possible,” said Oddball clearly amazed.
“I think it’s still under development. This is a trial version” was the best that Floyd could come up with.
He gave Oddball the remote control. “Here, help yourself while I clean myself up.”
Floyd went for a shower and a shave. He put on clean clothes and joined Oddball in front of the TV.
They worked their way through the pizza and some of the beer while watching the game.
When the game had finished, they went out onto the back veranda for a cigar and beer. Floyd usually smoked a pipe if he was by himself.
When they were seated Oddball asked “What’s going on Floyd? That equipment looks expensive.”
“Like I said, an acquaintance provided it. I need to do something. It is rather important.”
“Strange, but I get it,” Oddball said sounding dubious.
“I will need your help and expertise soon. I can pay you top dollar for a week or so of your time and your workshop but I will have to swear you to total secrecy if you want the work.”
“I see, ok. The job I am working on should be finished by Wednesday at the latest. I will book you in for 1 week, it can be extended if necessary.”
“Great, but I mean it about the secrecy. I can tell you more about it next week.”
“It’s nothing illegal, is it?” Oddball asked, in a voice full of concern.
“No, not at all. It is something new and some people would desperately want to stop it. Vested interests and the like.”
“Vested interests. Heavy stuff huh! I understand. Ok, you have my word on that.”
They talked of other things until the beer was finished and then Oddball went home.
Floyd was exhausted. He locked up and went to bed.
By Sunday evening, Floyd had completed all the computer work. The files had been transmitted via the uplink and—he assumed—reviewed and approved. Nothing came back, but something told him the silence meant success.
Now, finally, he had time to explore the TV properly.
The sheer volume of channels—and their content—was staggering. Everything was available. Even the premium, pay-per-view networks were unlocked.
It amazed him to see what people watched around the world. Cultures, politics, obsessions, gameshows with men dressed as bananas, documentaries on ants with subtitles in twelve languages. It was a rabbit hole with no bottom.
