A last note from a
‘Dying’ flash drive
My name is Vic, Vic
Oldhart and I am a flash disk. I am writing this quick note for you from
Dandora. I need you to read it quickly and hopefully get the message. When you
do, please pass it on.
I am sure you are familiar with me because there are so many
of us out there. You probably have one of my relatives with you right now. You
see, even though there are too many of us, each of us is unique, our maker
ensured that each of us is distinct, just like you are an individual each of us
is also unique. So I have a special story.
I am sure you know that we are very handy to have around.
When you need to print that document and your computer is not connected to a
printer you run to us to help you transfer that file. After that you probably
forget about us, throw us back to into the box, attach us to your keys or just
pop us into your bag.
But maybe there is a part of me that you probably don’t know
and that is what I want to tell you about. I am now not in a nice bag like my
friends, I am not in a special office transferring files from accounts to HR or
carrying exciting games for kids. I am in the dumpsite. This place is really
bad. I am facing my final days in life
and soon the compressor will lift us up, and throw me and the rest of the
garbage into the pit and that will be it for me, so I decided as one last act
of courage, to send you this little missive.
I was made many years ago in a far, far away land. I was
precious to my maker and I remember him stamping his uniqueness in me along the
conveyor belt of that USB making factory. He knew we were needed all over the
world, but to be useful we had to have good memory and good physical features
and so he ensured all our parts were working well. We were then tested for
quality and I emerged among the best. I was so happy about myself – who was
like me, a new flashy flash disk with the highest capacity in the market. I was
actually quite big at 64GB, there were not many like me as many people could only
afford the smaller capacity drives. A few of my friends and I were very special
– only the well-heeled could afford us. We were the ones meant to do special
jobs in big offices and we looked forward to our assignments with eagerness.
Finally, when we came out of production we were ready to be shipped
all over the world. Our maker however gave us final instructions before we
left. We were to remain obedient, to carry useful information and to know that
there is an enemy out there against us. We never thought about those words well
enough as we could not wait to get to our destinations. I remember the long journey in the high seas
in a shipping container with hardly any air. It was traumatising but we finally
arrived in Mombasa.
It took a while to be cleared at the port but finally the
big crane lifted us up out of the ship and into a waiting truck. We were now
headed to the city. It was my first time to be in Kenya and so everything
looked new and exciting. I had heard so much about the Lions of Tsavo, the
Elephants and Buffalos but the most the amazing thing I looked forward to were
people of Kenya. I so badly wanted to be owned by a high profile sports
personality like Collins Injeera or Julius ‘Javelin’ Yego. The road journey was exciting, except for a
few potholes here and there and the queues from Mlolongo but we finally arrived
in the green city under the sun. I was moved to a shop in a place I came to
learn was an electronics shop in Moi Avenue and after only a day on display a
dashing young girl in school uniform actually bought me.
Part of me was sad as I had not landed a celebrity or a
senior politician as I had always dreamt. I was now owned by a regular person,
a teenager actually, her name was Evelyn. But then the fun was just about to
begin. You see, people use us for all
sorts of reason, for some it is to buy videos and games from that guy in the
backstreet, others use us to carry nice smiling photos of their new-born babies
but some others also use us to carry secret information, like data from a
school exam management system or some government secret. I was ready to be
useful to my new owner just as I had been instructed by our maker. Throughout
my short life with Evelyn, I have done very exciting jobs for her and others. I
have carried beautiful memories for people, saved huge school projects for
students, travelled far and wide and brought many a smile to people. I never
learnt to say to what Evelyn wanted, as long as I had capacity I carried it
all. This carried on for many years
until she finished school and college.
And then one day, Evelyn wanted to apply for the American
Green Card. She saved all the important documents in me and then tucked me
nicely in her clutch and off we went to the city centre in search of a good
cyber café from where she could do her application. When we got there, she
logged on as usual and opened the right pages for her application and then she
was prompted to upload her documents and passport size photo. It was at that moment
that she reached out for me from her clutch and slotted me into this old
machine at the cyber café. As soon as I was plugged in, I could smell that the
environment was not great. Too many USB’s had been here and this computer had
been used to access all sorts of sites some very bad that I should advise you
never to visit. But then I assumed something, that the owner of the place might
have installed some form of protection for his machines. I was very wrong.
Within a moment, I noticed the files in my memory were
corrupted. It was now total chaos, I tried to beep and signal my little red
light to see if Evelyn could unplug me immediately but she did not notice.
Every second counted and as she fumbled through the file explorer trying to
access me, she got the message: Drive Inaccessible.
On my end, I was under extreme pressure. I was being choked
from every side by this new virus that was circulating on the internet. All my
files were now corrupted and many copies of the virus were loaded onto me.
Sadly, Evelyn did not know this was happening. After half an hour of trying to
access her document, she decided to try another cyber café. She unplugged me
and off we went, as we walked the crowded streets of Nairobi, I really wished
humans could understand the flashdisk language so I could tell her that I was
infected with a deadly virus and in urgent need of cleansing. And so we went to
another machine. I feared for the worst, Not only could my files not be useful
but I was now going to transmit this virus to another computer.
As Evelyn shared her need with Chris, the guy who managed
the new Cybercafe, he asked if he could see me. As a policy, he said he does
not allow clients to plug in their own USB sticks before he checked them for
viruses. He had this supersize server computer that run the entire Cyber cafe
named ‘Crossforce’ under his desk and he immediately plugged me in – it was a
dazzling moment of both shame and guilt on my part as the dangerous virus was
detected by the strong anti-virus in Chris’ Machine, I was carrying a virus and
did not say it, the virus had choked me and corrupted all my faculties. I was
guilty that I was useful to Evelyn and let her down on a very crucial
assignment. I had lost all her selfies, adventure photos, scanned school certificates,
games and movies. I was #heartbroken.
I could now see the disappointment on Evelyn’s face. I could
only imagine the number of nkt’s on her Facebook post at that moment. I had
been a let-down. But most surprisingly, Chris was not shocked. I had expected
her to admonish Evelyn for having an infected flashdisk and worse still for bringing it to his Cyber
Cafe. But he calmly looked at her and reassured her that he had seen way too
many people with the same problem. A panicky Evelyn asked if there was anything
he could do to save her documents and he said he can try. He immediately
engaged a new level of the antivirus software called ‘RestorationX’ and the
process of file recovery begun.
As this was going on, I could tell that my files were being
rearranged into new sectors. After nearly three hours, Chris approached Evelyn
who was seated in the Café alone, as everybody else had left for the day.
Evelyn was really anxious to hear an update and Chris said sternly: ‘Crossforce
has managed to rescue your files, folders and all documents but the disk is
severely infected, you have to get a new one and I recommend NewHart, the
latest from the same company that makes Crossforce. Do not use this USB anymore
as it is still infected
A mixture of joy and pain welled up in my heart. I was not
useful to Evelyne anymore but at least her crucial documents were saved and
they would a new home soon. Chris also helped her to make her Visa application
as they chatted animatedly.
But even more surprising for me was when Chris said to
Evelyne that she could not pay any money as she had suffered too much with me
already. There was a sparkle in his eye and I could not help but notice a warm
smile on Eveylyn as she took the compliment. As Chris and Evelyn walked out, I
overheard him ask her ‘Would you like to have a coffee sometime?’
***
Soon after I was popped into Chris’ dustbin and Newhart was
nicely put into Evelyn purse. I felt so jealous but my fate was now clear. Soon
after I was carried out by some guys and into this huge dumpsite. So here is my quick message to you and all
your friends – Please get rid of all your Oldharts, run quickly to Chris who is
offering restoration and cleansing and even replacement with Newhart.
I was put off because of a virus infection and Newhart had
now taken my place. Apparently, Newhart is virus free and has layers upon
layers of protection patented by his cosmic manufacturer and certified by full
Assurance.
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