Chapter 21 Tom and Jane stayed at Tom's house that night.

They rented an old movie on the way home and ordered pizza. Both of them were happy to hear that they were so important to each other. In life it is wonderful to feel important, even if it's on in the eyes of one other person. Tom is feeling more comfortable with the idea that he loves Jane. It feel right for him to say this to her and it makes her happy too. They cuddle on the couch with some popcorn in a large bowl in front of them. Jane is planning to stay at Tom's for the next few nights at least until they locate the kid. Stuart has committed to turn the city upside down until he finds some clue as to where this kid is living. So far he has searched the homeless shelters and charity housing spots to no avail. Interlude Maggie gets home and her husband is sitting at the kitchen table with newspaper spread out and a series of greasy parts are laid out over top of the newspaper. It looks like his is rebuilding a carburetter again. This is an almost weekly ritual for Hank. "Come here bugger." Hank says leaning back toward Maggie. She laughs and puts some groceries down before walking over to Hank. He arch's his head back and kisses Maggie on the lips. She loves him so much and he loves her even more. "So what are you breaking now?" "It's Greg's 74 mustang." Maggie said.

Hank said.

"Well why are you fixing for him, when he should be doing." Maggie said. "I don't know. He asked me to." Hank said.

Greg is Maggie and Hank's oldest son. He loves working on old cars just like his dear old dad. All there of their sons like cars, motorcycles, and just about anything else with grease in it. Maggie is very proud of her boys and yet she is always finding greasy finger marks on everything in her house. She must have told them a million times to wash up before coming into the house but they don't listen. Every Wednesday night, the boys come over and Maggie makes a large pot of spicy Maryland style crabs with baked potatoes and salad on the side. This was one of those nights and their youngest boy was the first one home. His name is Tony and he's a senior in high school. Walking through the door, he still had his football pants on and was covered in dirty stains and stink. Maggie yelled to him as he walked through the kitchen, "Why don't you shower at the field house?" "I didn't want to miss dinner, Ma." into the bathroom. Tony said walking Maggie

"That boy is not ready for living on his own." said.

Tom looks up through the top of his glasses without moving his head. He doesn't say a word but he's thinking that it Tony's mother that isn't ready for her baby to go to college. Tony has a full ride scholarship to Georgia to play football. He would have had a scholarship on his

grades too. Tony has a 4.0 GPA and starts for team as all-state defensive end. He was scouted by about six different division one schools but decided on Georgia for their English program. Tony wants to be a writer. Their second son walks in with his new girlfriend Fredana. His name is Paul and he is currently in college at UCF and living at home. He is the lover in the family. Tall, dark, handsome and always quick with a joke or a wild story about some close call with the cops or god knows what. His new girlfriend is not Maggie's favorite but she is polite. Paul stands behind Hank with his hands on Hank's shoulders and says, "What cha working on now dad?" "You're lazy brother's 74 mustang." "He got you do that. no..." Tony said Hank said. I told him Maggie

Jeez what a doucebag.

"Shhheeeea, don't talk like that in my house." said.

"Sorry Ma. It's just that Ricky is alway getting one of us to do his work. He needs to read the manual and do it himself." Tony said. "He didn't help me rebuild the Charger, when I needed help." "Honey, your brother has two small kids at home and works all day and half the night at the bank." Maggie said. "I don't mind. Hank said. I've built hundreds of these anyways."

Hank is a purchasing agent for a local carpet and tile store. He has been working there for more than twenty years and he loves his job and the people he works

with. Hank married Maggie while they were still in college and they both moved down here in the eighties when the boys were practically babies. He loves working on old cars and goes to the local car shows every week to see what other people are driving. His work truck is nothing special, just an old Ford F250. But his baby is his 1974 Pontiac GTO with a white interior, chrome wheels, and a shaker hood scoop. He saved up for years and bought it right after graduating from high school. His older brother's friend had one and 1974 was the last year they made the GTO, so he had to get. All of the boys learned to drive behind it's wheel and Hank has re-built it several times. Always with original parts and always in an effort to get just a little more speed. The oldest son Daniel shows up with his wife and kids and the house is humming with activity. Dan's kids are running through the kitchen, chasing each other and making noise. Dan kisses his mom and sets down some pie and ice cream on the counter. Dan's wife Sarah hugs Hank and Maggie and starts talking with Maggie about the latest drama. "How's the carbarator coming?" "Almost done. Hank said. Break The boy was riding his bike at night, past the bus stop dark and through the industrial part of town. He rode by the Super WalMart where everyone was stuffing their faces with consumables from China. He looked up to see Dan said.

Just needed a new oil valve and gasket."

a starlit night and a full moon. His kind was extra sensitive on full moon nights. He could smell for miles and each scent brought him closer to this dark city. Canan had only been in Orlando for about a month and he was already itching to leave. He was feeling like these two hosts were never going to understand him or his kind. He was from the future and found this time and place to be like pergatory. The future sucked too for most people but at least it wasn't as boring as the past. Nothing happens in the past. Canan has been haunting Tom and Jane for over a month and all they do is work, eat and cosume media. People from the past are so easily amused by sex, violence and emotional pain. In the future, these things are sold as a pill and the stuff people do is less about having fun and more about staying alive for a few more days. Nobody stresses out about family matters because families are non-existent. Women buy babies at the Walmart Super Duper Healthcare Center. They have them designed with gene therepists who specify shape, size, eye color, skin color, and intelligence is also configured but costs more, naturally. Canan was one of the last born without this method. He was actually born in a hospital. That was before they all went out of business and were taken over by government administrators. If you can't afford to get medical care at the Super Duper Walmart then you go to a government hospital, where you wait in line until you leave, die, or get lucky. Canan was not one of the lucky ones. He died on March 23, 2043, at the age of 23. He had contracted the

latest sinthetic virus and was unable to recieve the minimum credit to buy an amunity subscription. Amunity subscriptions were expensive but most people simply took out a third or fourth mortgage to pay the price for treatment. Canan had already defaulted three times and at the age of 23, he was unable to qualify for another hardship bankruptcy. So they let him walk out of the bank, knowing that he was walking out with a death sentence. If he was unable to get a government sponsor, he would die. Which he did. The only reason that he is even here to tell the story is that he was also a cellphone hacker. Nobody called them cell phones anymore but the hackers who remember what a cell phone is and how they were sold to early adopters in the 20th Century. See originally people were hesitant to buy cell phones because they were unnecessary and expensive. But the industry suggested that in the event of an EMERGENCY you would need some method of calling for help. So the wealthy opted in to this new technology and it quickly became a status symbol for people with money to burn. As with every status symbol, the common folk started reaching up to get this status as well. As more and more people gave in to the trend the network grew and the prices came down. Eventually it spread like the worlds most lethal virus ever to jump into human genes, or jeans. (forgive the pun) Within less than a decade, cellular telephony had spread to every continent, nation, people, and tribe. Nomads on camels in the Arabian hinderland where eventually watching futbol matches on their smartphones

and nobody seemed to care what was happening to them or to society at large. The term "Cell Phone" was viewed differently by Canan and his hacker buddies. They though more of them as "Cells" that people live in. Like a prison cell, they spend every waking moment conected to the net. It's like a terminal display was surgically implanted into people minds, their hands and their consiencenness. People became comfortable with the "Always ON" nature of this technology. So that in the middle of a human conversation the phone would ring and they would stop the actual conversation and begin a virtual one on the net. Kids were texting incesently for hours and hours before finaly going to sleep. None of this was a problem until around 2016. Canan wasn't even born yet. But in 2016 their was the introduction of the first spanner virus. Chapter 22 "What is a spanner virus?" The reporter said. Tom and Jane stopped eating and looked at the television. This was the leading story for the network news and it looked serious. "A spanner virus is a computer virus that spans the divide from a digital device to a biological host. Tonight their is a report coming out of China that a spanning virus has made "The Leap" as they say." The reporter then switched over to the Chinese reporter who was on the scene at a research lab in Beijing. They were walking down rows and rows of human patients who were all sitting upright and looking forward, with no expression on their faces.

Doctors were molesting them in every way possible but there was nothing there. These users had each been actively engaged in cell phone calls, texts, web-apps, location-tracking, bio-metric-tracking, and every other cellular feature available. But in an instant they dropped their phones and froze. Around the patients stood family and friends. The reporter was interviewing them and subtitles were provided at the bottom of the screen. They told stories of waiting for days, then weeks for their loved ones to snap out of it. They bathed them, force fed them, clothed them and cleaned up after them for the entire time. But it was like the soul has vanished. Many of them broked down crying as they went on to describe how this feels to have a loved one disapear and leave an empty body behind to care for and maintain. Tom and Jane can't believe what they are witnessing. At first, they though it must be a prank or some kind of protest in China. But the story remained on the news on every channel for weeks. It was spreading and all the nations around the world worked together to find the computer virus and write a patch in the code. Google, Apple, Microsoft and every other software company had their own efforts to identify the bug and eliminate it. After about a month, a computer programmer in Slovakia was able to demonstrate the cause and subsequently provide an imunity update. The update went out and every phone on the planet was mandated to install this patch. They had local drops where you could go to dispose of incopatible legacy phones and buy new safe ones. Tom and Jane both were able to update their phones in time.

The next spanner virus didn't surface for another 8 years. After the second spanner virus was discovered they started showing up almost every other year and they got more intense as the phones became imbeded into peoples cars, clothes and bodies. Tom and Jane never were willing to take a into their bodies. Many of their friends so proudly, saying it's the future and it convienant. But Tom and Jane didn't need cell implant did and did so the future.

Canan thought of them as old timers. He and his buddies had cellular implants before they graduated. They did it illegally but all the girls though they were rebels to have a cell phone signal glowing under their skin. Canan remembers this time as the most important shift in his life. When Canan implanted the reciever, he took it very seriously. His buddies were more caviler about it because they had been hacking computers and embedded devices since they were kids. Both of this closes friends were heavy into robotics and had engineering fathers how toured with them on robot slaughter matches. Where they designed robots to combat in a cage match to the death. Then they would rebuild them to be stronger and to last longer. Canan was not brought up by an engineering dad. His dad sold solar panels and was not a technologicly evolved as his buddies. But they taught him how to solder robot components and he was included in their hacking adventure and by middle school he had designed an Arduino shield to control an ariel drone to shot small scattering missles at other RC planes, which impressed his buddies. They were the first kids in their school to implant cellphone recievers into their bodies. Girls in their

class would send them pulses in the middle of English and History and they felt like kings. It wasn't until college that Canan wrote his first spanner virus. His buddies had though of trying this but they were scared. He told them that it was not a malicious one. He designed it's code so that the only effect it would transfer was a boost in signal strength of people imaginations. And that there was an obvious kill switch that could be triggered by the user to delete the code at any time. His friends on the chatsphere all aplauded him to turn up the frequency and give people more imagination but Canan was determined to be conservative with his first release. On November 24th, 2038 Canan released the virus. Chapter 23 The early adopters were all amazed at how much life they had been missing before the virus. None of them knew what had happend but they all knew that something different was now in their lives. Most of them stopped watching television and began going out every night. The people they met were the most interesting people in the world. It was like the only people out on a Tuesday night were spanners with the bug. They would jump into deep conversations and talk for hours, telling stories and expressing ideas that they never even considered before hearing them leap from their mouths. Not to long after that the media picked up on this strange new trend and labeled it, "The Buzz Crowd" because they would show up at a location and take over the conversation like a hive. Everyone was high energy

and sincere without being pretentious or elitist. The "Buzz Crowd" started making plans to do impossible things in very short time spans and everyone else was getting annoied. Someone accused them of running illegal firmware and an investigation began. Canan was only a Sophmore in college and before he know what was happening his spanner virus was being discovered and defined by people that he had never met before. The buzzkids were labeled anarchist deviants because most of them didn't have jobs, apartments, cars, or a healthy respect for authority. In fact these new buzzkids tended to travel in small packs and roam from town to town, like some early sixties biker gang movie. They stayed up late at night and would congregate at prominent locations in the center of town. It was like they wanted the world to know they they were unplugged and unashamed. Once the virus made the transistion from their mobile phone to their DNA, most of them threw the phones away. They wanted to be in the world and not observing it on a 3 inch screen. Their imaginations were a muscle and they were like beefy hulk-like body builders when it came to imagination. On the subway, they were look at regular people. All of which were tapping away on their phones or lifepads. The BuzzKids had no ability to relate to regular people any longer. Their minds were altered and all they could see was how everything is constantly in transition and how easily the world is shaped and molded by people who are paying attention. Canan dropped out of college and started to travel full time with some of the buzzkids. They started out traveling around the United States, visiting college campuses and crashing parties with the imagination

virus. Every time they left a town they would try a different mode of transportation. When they left Phoenix, AZ it was by hitching a ride with teamster truck drivers. When left Tuscaloosa, it was on a train like old-school hobos. When they left Memphis, it was on a riverboat up the mighty Mississippi. They crossed over the boarder in to Canada by foot like illegal emigrants and hitched a ride all the way to Toronto. In Toronto the buzz scene was big and getting bigger. It was like the 1960's all over again but this time it was digital source code instead of LSD. Everyone was turning on and dropping out. The regular folks didn't know what to do about this new virus. It was considered as dangerous as previous spanner viruses but this one had a cult following. Eventually the government decided that this was a very dangerous virus and they released the first vaccination update. It was sent out across the cellular provider's own network and that way, people couldn't refuse the update even if they wanted to. But many of the buzzkids grew up hacking cellphones they quickly were able to unlock their phones and jailbreak them to avoid the update. This complicated the governments efforts and the providers were not happy either. They had witnessed how many of the buzzkids were going without phones and they knew that the update was their only hope of retaining the captive network which funded all of their research. So there was a time when Networks Service Providers tried to block access to the web on any unlocked phones, including homemade and implanted receivers. This lockout created social unrest on a global scale. It was like a simultaneous riot broke out in every

major city around the world on the same night. Most of violence was directed at Network Service Provider offices and government administrative buildings. The police was brought in to break down the large crowds of young people and many folks were killed on both sides. The Scandinavian governments were the first to back down. Many of their military and police were defecting into the crowds because they themselves were carriers of the buzzkid virus and refused to kill their friends in an effort to eliminate imagination growth. Switzerland, Denmark, Sweeden and Norway all announced a peaceful treaty that was signed with the protesters to amend their constitutions in favor of any digital upgrade that was not a direct threat to individual liberties or creative expression. Buzz kids celebrated around the globe when this new law was announced. There was a momentary pause in the protests and the violence. Everyone was hoping that the rest of the world would follow this example and support individuals who choose to augment their creativity and imaginations. But shortly after the ceasefire, came a heavy response by the Chinese government. Military gunmen shot down thousands of peacefully assembled buzzkids in downtown Beijing. The rest of them were told to surrender all unauthorized technology devices until a proper update could be certifiably installed. Some of these brave young people resisted and paid with their lives. Most walked away, dropping their phones and netpads to the ground. The government sweeped all of the comprimised devices in to large piles and burned them, releasing toxic chemical fumes into the atmosphere above.

Other governments did similar programs, where kids were forced to relinquish all of their unlocked, jailbroken technology. They were told that if they did this then they would be provided with clean, approved devices and allowed to return to regular life with family and friends. Anyone that resisted this technology vaccination would be hunted down and incarcerated or worse. Chapter 24 This was the moment that Canan and his friends became enemies of the state. They stayed constantly on the move, meeting in different peoples houses. It was like an underground church of true believers in the liberating potential of technology. The rest of the world was willing to live in a "Read Only" system. Where everything they used was designed to make them easier to use by their true masters. Cell phones after this period were sold without power cords, buttons, screens or any other opportunity to be compromised. The commercials would highlight all of the new efficiency upgrades and how people would be able to do work at home, in the car, in bed, in the water, even while they slept. They would be able to work longer hours and increase productivity without the threat of viruses. People were encouraged to implant their receivers, because this was a safer way for the providers to protect the source code. So the government hospitals, and the Super Duper WalMarts all provided complementary implants if you signed a 10 year contract local Network Service Provider. Most of the middle aged and elderly were quick to take the implants because they feared the buzzkids and the

terrorists. They didn't know much about how the phones worked and would prefer to have someone else handle all of the security measures for them. As the implants became widespread in the developed world, thousands of Non Governmental Organizations sprouted up in every country to provide complimentary receiver implants to any tribe or village who could not afford this security vaccination procedure. This dramatically changed the ability of developing nations to provide even more remote processing services at even lower prices. India began outsourcing their less-skilled processing jobs to sub-Saharan Africa. This made it possible for children who would have died from disease and starvation to program simple computer scripts with their minds, all day and most of the night since external light was not required for these simple tasks. Within a few years, the whole world was humming with processing power that the Network providers had never dreamed possible. It was like every human brain was now plugged in and spend every spare cycle processing solutions for their masters. Everyone but Canan and the others. There were still thousands of resistors who had not relinquished their technology and in the past few years they have not been idley sitting on the sidelines. Insteady these buzzkids have been activly designing and building new software, hardware and human systems to fight back against the co modification of their species. They decided early on that they needed to build their own network. It was not a simple task and the 6G network they had been comfortable using up to this point was built on tons of satellites, cellular towers,

underwater sub stations, and on and on. All of this was designed for the owners of the network and these owners were not going to permit subversives to ride for free. So they set to work building an ad-hock mesh network that would be self sustaining through solar and wind power and opencode software and hardware. The first few cities to come online were in Sweden and Denmark. Both of these countries had provide capital investment and satelite access for the buzzkids to build on. After some mistakes they were able to build a very low cost platform for 4G coverage per hector of land with only solar and wind power. This method meant that they could send out the designs to partners around the globe and put up a truly self-sustained network for no subscription cost to the end user. The greatest challenge was how to distribute the custom hardware designs to partners abroad without tipping off the authorities. For this they used an old trick in cryptogrophy that one of the members picked up during his time in the Israeli Masssud. They were successful and sent out the plans with the hardware and ad-hock mesh networks started coming online everywhere. It was beautiful. There was not way for a centrailzed update to infiltrate their recievers and all of the communication systems were free to end users. Within a few weeks, buzzkid grafitti began showing up all over the world and the authorities realized that the virus of ideology was more sticky then they had previously thought. The Network Service Providers started probing every node of their network looking for comprimised systems and devices.

Regular users did not like these signal interruptions and began to complain to the NSP's that they were unable to maintain workflow if these probes continued. The NSP's told them to stop complaining and that the probes were necessary maintenece for their own security needs. The Ad-Hoc network was doubling and tripling in size every month or two. It was like something they had never seen before. Regulars started logging onto the Ad-Hoc network and exploring all of the myriad of new code that could be downloaded to their new embedded systems. This new network reminded Canan of the birth of the web, even though he was not even born when that happened. Chapter 25 Tom and Jane were aware of their son's computer hobbies and they even suspected that he was a buzzkid for a while. But they were told by him that it was a phase and that after dropping out of college, he had turned in all of his gadgets and even visited the government clinic to have his homemade receiver removed and a government approved one reinstalled under his skin. Jane never trusted the technocrats or their daily warnings of cyber terrorists who want to attack their phones with creativity virusus. Tom almost never ever used his phone and thought it was creepy when the NSP's sent him surveys every week, asking if he was confident in their ability to protect him and his employees. When the NSP suggested that Tom outsource his administrative actions to one of their servant farms in Africa, he asked them why he should lay off half his workers to give their jobs to slave kids in Africa.

The NSP agent laughed at him and said that he was over-reacting. They would talk to Canan on a weekly or monthly basis and usually he was in some distant land, working on a new art project. They never asked him to explain how he survives on the road selling art in third world countries but only if he was alright and if he needed anything. Canan was always an awkward kid and Tom and Jane had learned early on that if he was comfortable with this, then they could be too. His sister and brother were well behaved and mostly excelled in their studies and social ventures. Canan was the middle child and he must have lived up to the stereotype of needing to draw attention to himself through extraordinary measures. When he Eastern was off was off was 14 years old the family took a trip to Europe and once they reached their hotel Canan and exploring without telling anyone where he to.

Hours later he showed up at the hotel with two older females. Katja and Ulveja were enamored by the young and reckless Canan who drove them back to the hotel on a rented motorbike. His mother and father were on the phone with every English speaking official they could get. Jane was pleading with them to start looking for their son. As soon as he got off the bike, his brother and sister were laughing at him and telling him that he was in "so much trouble". But the to Polish young women just laughed and talked in polish. Canan was alway living outside of the boundries and pushing the envelope to where it wasn't supposed to go.

He just had a knack for making the impossible things less intimidating. This is why it was so difficult for Tom and Jane to accept that he was gone. How could he die so young? The government was supposed to provide healthcare to all of the citizens, regardless of their political views. Even the buzzkids were supposed to have access to affordable healthcare. They weren't even required by law to accept an updated receiver implant. The law was written in such a way that if they would only come in and sign the basic submission contract, then they would be treated and released. This was what everyone was told when the final laws were passed to provide for the health and welfare of impoverished citizens. Tom drove his son Canan to the hospital and met with the doctor to confirm that the treatment would not require a 4th or 5th mortgage, since Canan was not going to qualify if it did. Tom even worked it out with a friend of his that was a retired member of the government health system. Everything was supposed to be in place for a full recovery. But it just didn't happen. Chapter 26 Canan was not surprised that the government health clinic rejected him. He knew that they were fully aware of his past and the fact that he was involved in the buzzkid revolt. He was depressed in the first few hours after he learned that his body would not recover from the synthetic virus it had contracted. These synthetic viruses were worse than the spanner viruses because they were designed on the bio-chemical

level and required very expensive equipment to produce or to alter. The first synthetic viruses were developed in the 20th Century by Cold War Biological warfare labs. They were perfected in the early 21st Century once the government labs began to engineer the genomic code using what they had learned with synthetic virus design, they were quickly able to design biological weapons that fused with the biological DNA and wreak havoc on animals and humans. Many of Canan's hacker friends has also come down with this strain of synthetic virus. It was widely believed to have been passed through Jamaican coffee beans, which was a widely used source of energy for the buzzkid culture. Some lab spliced a synthetic virus into the DNA of Jamaican coffee and sold it to the buzzkids by the ton. Within a few months the synthetic virus had spread widely and buzzkids around the globe were forced to drink Colombian coffee, or even worse, Ethiopian coffee. Fortunately enough, Canan and his friends had developed a new programming language that was based on theoretical mathematics and published the base context sequences onto their most common forums. This new programming language was unlike any of the other languages they had grown up with. It was heavily influenced by sonar and radar frequencies and would eliminate the need for receivers all together. The signal went out over the primal networks of natural mystic rhythm and blended to the ambient sounds of the universe. The first stack was written to sound like crickets.

Anyone that was within hearing distance of crickets would be able to receive and interpret this message through their own primal eardrums. It was a very simple message a first. Coders would send each other short poems about math, science, history, and culture. Mostly these signals were full of censored material that the "normal" world had outlawed and confiscated years prior. It was the buzzkid's way of keeping these links to the world they knew alive. They would send out passages from Kurt Vonnegut, Norman Mailer, John Lennon, John Stewart, and other outlaws. With time the signals became linked with other sounds, like falling water, wind, highway sounds, and music. The signals were also able to generate more than simple text. People with embedded receivers were able to see images, video and 3D holograms. The 3D signals required imagination upgrades which very few people were able to afford. But some of the buzz kids were still carrying this feature in their hacked system designs. So they didn't mind sending their art to the Masters, as long as some of them could still enjoy it. Chapter 27 This method of sending 3D signals through natural sounds was Canan's greatest gift. He mastered this skill as if it were an art form and produced unique long form presentations. It was like a video game that blended into the user's everyday life. He tried to embed the signal and the content with messages specifically for the buzzkid audience. For example, he produced one projection of a star filled night sky. After about 2 minutes of looking up the viewer, if he/she were listening would begin to see individual stars moving in circles with the sound of crickets, who happened to be playing beatles songs. If

you didn't know it was coming, you would prbubly shit your pants but most people had heard of this production and went outside just to see it. The songs the crickets played were: Imagine, Yesterday, and Revolution. The end of the performance had all the stars lined up to spell the words, "Go West, Young World". Canan made a few other productions while his health deteriorated. But he focused on cleaning up the source code and tried to make the language more and more universal. He added a new carrier of the source every week. Crashing waves, buzzing insects, drumbeats were all included as possible hosts for the spanner signal. This every expanding platform would insure that the buzzkids would be able to communicate without the prying eyes of pyramid scheme governments and corporate vamps for many years to come. Eventually Canan died. He was 23 and about to turn 24 in July. He died surrounded by his family and his closest friends. He best friend stood up at the small reception and announced that he was Gavin Greeberg. Many of the people in the room knew that irremediably this was one of the international cyber terrorists that they had heard of on the news. He was in the top 5 most wanted cyber terrorists in the world. When Gavin introduced himself, he was not proud or ashamed for admitting to who his true identity was. In fact, it had been years since he had told anyone his real name. But this was one of those moments where he felt the need to affirm his eternal friendship for Canan and the others in the roof who had been touched by his short life. He said, "Canan and I met online about 10 years ago. was older than him and he flamed me on the DIY-UAV I

forum. I responded by running a distributed, brute force attack on his home computer. Sorry Tom and Jane but this attack likely knocked out all of your electronics for a while. Canan was persistant though. Even though he was only thirteen at the time, he came back at me with a creative .jpg virus. He knew that I was into pinup photos from the 1940's and before. So Canan put a untraceable ghost virus into the shell of a few well chosen Pin-Up images. I found them and my system was comprimised." "Canan and I were friends ever since then. I thought of him as my protege, although I never told him that. He learned the dark arts very quickly and was writing his own spanner viruses in short time. I was so proud of him and his personal code of ethics was stedfast." Then Gavin stepped up to the urn and dropped a small SD card into the vessel. Another of Canan's friends spoke up saying, "My name is Peter Mohen and I first met Canan in South Africa. He had just dropped out of college and was starting his crusade for protecting our imaginations and the spanner virus platform. I was new to the buzzkid lifestyle and he never told me that he was the one who first introduced this code. But we surfed the beaches in South Africa and spent many days travling the sub-saharan African countries distributing virus upgrades to many of the villages to help them imagine a world where they didn't have to toil in sweatshops all of their lives. Cannan was a true believer in the power of the imagination. I will miss you." Then a beautiful young woman stepped up, "My name is Meli Matasumo and I met Canan in Ueno, Japan. He was couchsurfing at a friend of mine's and we went downtown to see Dir en Grey perform in

Shinjuku. Canan was not like any other boy I had ever met before. He walked with long strides and was alway moving with purpose like he had somewhere to go and didn't want to be late. But he was also the best listener. When I was arrested for being in the buzzkid culture, Canan came to bail me out and helped me get a new receiver that was more secure." All that night there were buzzkids from around the world stoppig by Tom and Jane's house to say goodbye and to drop off momentos and notes. Tom and Jane had no idea that their son was so involved in these peoples lives. He talked about the software projects he was working on but always downplayed them as if they were just for fun. Around midnight the last of the kids left and Jane stood in the doorway waving goodbye. Her son may have been a criminal in the eyes of the government but to her he was simply a very stubborn idealist. She started to cry and Tom walked to the door, reaching out to hold her in his arms. They stood in the doorway for a few minutes, just holding each other and thinking about their son who was now gone for good. Chapter 28 Tom was enjoying his new job with the steam cleaners and even was able to borrow the equipment one weekend. He cleaned his house from soup to nuts, the carpets never looked as clean. He sold all of the stuff that he wasn't using and organized all of his supplies into neat stacks, boxes and bins. He even took photos of all of the pricier items. Tom knew that he was moving out as soon as the banks decided to foreclose. He didn't have to clean up after himself but like Epictitus said in "The Art of Living"

what matters is how we care for what we have while the world lets us have it. Tom wasn't sure if he would ever be a homeowner again but for the next few weeks at least he was going to be the best home owner he could be. He even carried the steam cleaner equipment over to Jane's apartment and offered clean their apartment. Which they Jane and Jill gladly allowed him to do. Tom and Jane were getting over the ghost kid and he hadn't shown up in weeks. They had been going to the therapist regularly and their meetings had been lately dealing with one topic in particular. Jane was able to express love toward Tom and wanted him to do the same for her. He was able to say the words, "I Love You" but it was only after she suggested he do it. When would Tom be able to initiate this simple act on his own, Jane didn't know. Also, when would he be willing to discuss the future and whether or not they should move in together or get married. Jane was not pressuring him but she was ready in her heart for Tom to claim her as his own and start making plans for the future with her in them. Tom was not turned off by this conversation but he did feel that it was too soon. He didn't know when or how he would know that the time was right but it just seemed too soon. Tom's dreams were getting more regular and he often would wake up in a deep sweat, knowing that something in his sub-conscience had startled him but he couldn't remember what had happened. Tom's dreams were always about the same basic fear. He was being trapped and felt helpless to break free from the chains or the threats that were asailing him. Tom had a break through one day when Maggie asked him about his fear of being trapped.

He said, "It's just that I feel like my life has been postponed before I have even started to do half the things I want. Like my job, is such as shitty job and yet I go there day after day; and why? Because I have to." "I have bills to pay. Like that will make me not regret wasting my youth away; when I'm 84 years old and dying in some nursing home wondering what I could have been if I'd only take a few more risks." "I want to be out there in the world, shaking it up and testing the limits of my potential. If I get married and have a kid or three then I will have to work this "regular" career until I die. I'm not sure that this is the life for me. That's what I'm afraid of. Compromise." Maggie nodded and looked down for a few seconds, waiting for Jane to speak up. But she didn't know what to say. "What if you and Jane made adventure a cornerstone of your life together?" Maggie said. "That would be great!" Tom said. "But what would that look like, are we going to raise our kids on the road or bouncing from country to country? Can they grow up like that?" Maggie looked at Jane, waiting for an answer.... Jane looked shocked by this question. "I guess we could have a nomadic family. I don't know what it would look like. Maybe it wouldn't work. I don't know. But if that is what you want, then let's talk about it."

Tom looked down and thought to himself that Jane is so good and that he is so lucky to have her as his girlfriend. He then look her in the eye and said, "I love you." Chapter 29 Tom and Jane went home and they made love that night. It was like they were finely connecting on all cylinders. Tom knew that she was the one for him and he was comfortable with the idea that they would spend their lives together. He suggested that she stay at his place for the next few nights and Jane agreed. They lived happily like a young married couple in Tom's soon to be foreclosed house and each day was a mystery. Tom practiced the art of stocism and found joy in his meaningless job cleaning carpets. Jane was excelling in her graphic design practice and she was looking forward to the day when Tom would ask her to move in with him. Tom would have asked previously but it seemed that with the house going into foreclosure it would be silly to get too comfortable with it. So he waited for the letter from the bank. This letter was expected week after week after week. But every week would come and go with no definative action. Tom was feeling like the bank had forgotten about him. He knew that as soon as he got comfortable with the house again, then the letter would come. But months went by. Neither Tom or Jane had seen the kid during this time. Until one day in late September. The puppy that the kid had left for Tom and Jane was barking loudly in the night and Tom got up to see what it was. Outside the front door, stood the same kid in the rain.

He was holding an umbrella and stood off at a distance, showing that he was not sure if he was welcome or not. Tom knew that Jane would not approve but he motioned for the kid to come in out of the rain. They sat down in the living room and talked for a while. Tom asked how he was doing. "I'm okay." Canan said. "Are you still living in Orlando?" Tom said.

"Not really. I've been on the road. New Orleans, Memphis, Austin, Atlanta, Savannah are my usual haunts." Canan said. "Haunts?" Tom said with a laugh. Canan said.

"Yeah, I'm a ghost." "A ghost?" "Yea. Tom said.

I'm dead Tom.

But I'm here."

Canan said.

"Bullshit."

Tom said.

Canan looked away and then back at Tom. Then he slowly disappeared like a light being turned off with a dimmer switch. "Do you believe me now?" "Wooh, where'd you go?" Canan said. Tom said.

"I'm still here. Just inviable." Canan said. "I was haunting you and Jane for a few months this year. But I could tell that you guys were starting to resent me. So I left. I hope you're not mad at me."

"I'm not mad. It's just strange. real ghost before." Tom said.

I've never met a

"Well we're out there. There's not many of us in any one time zone. But we float and sometimes we choose to stay in one place for a while and haunt one or two people. Usually it's a sign of interest or revenge. In your case I chose to haunt you both because I knew you." Canan said. "You knew me?" Chapter 30 "That's right. said. I knew you well before I died." Canan Tom said.

Jane walked out into the living room. Her eyes were squinting and she was scratching her hair. "What are you doing up?" Jane said

"I heard someting outside and so I, I checked it out." Tom said. Canan was still invisible and so Jane couldn't see him but she could tell that something was going on by the look on Tom's face. Jane looked around the room and took a step back. "What's going on?" "Don't be scared. she said. "If feels cold in her." Tom said.

The kid is here."

Jane looked at Tom with a unbelieving stare on her face. She took another step back and found the wall behind her. "What are you talking about?" Jane said.

"The kid is here and he is a ghost."

Tom said.

Jane screamed and started to cry. Tom went to her with his arms out trying to comfort her. Jane pushed him away. "Get away from me. This isn't funny." Jane said.

Tom grabbed her as she fought to push him away. They struggled and Jane was trying to get away from Tom but he just took the elbows and punches and held her close saying, "It's okay. It's okay. He's not a threat. Jane, calm down. He is her to say goodbye. Just let me show you." Tom said. Jane finally stopped fighting him and collapsed down until she was sitting on the floor in the hallway. Tom sat down next to her and explained that the kid was a ghost and that he was only here to say goodbye and meant them no harm. "Are you out there still?" Tom said to the ghost.

There was no response at first. Jane started to worry thinking that Tom was playing an evil trick on her. Or worse, he was loosing his mind. "Kid, are you still there?" Tom said again. "Yes. I'm here." The kid said. Then like turning on the dimmer switch he appeared right in front of Tom and Jane. The ghost kid was sitting on the floor only five yards from them. He was sitting Indian style and dressed like any other kid with jeans and a t-shirt on. Jane remembered what had stuck out about him as soon as she looked into his eyes. It was his eyes that had scared he so much the first time she saw him. His

bright blue eyes were just like hers and it seemed that hew was looking through her and into here soul. She stopped crying and felt a peace pass over her at that moment. The kid was looking right at her and the expression on his face was that of compassion. Canan was looking at his mother and didn't know what to say. If he told her, who he was it could change her life completely. If he refrained from telling them then they may never know. "Why us?" Jane said.

"Because I know you." Canan said. "What do you mean?" Jane said.

"I'm your guardian angel." Canan said. "Are you serious? My guardian angel?" Jane said.

"Yes. I have come from the future to tell you that you need to take more risks in your life. The future is not going to be easy and if you just keep floating along like the world owes you something, then you will not be prepared for what's coming." Canan said. "What's coming?" Tom said.

"You don't want to know. Seriously. Get out there and do what you have dreamed of doing now before it's too late. There is going to be some heavy shit coming in the next few years and most of your generation would Shrek in fear if they knew what they would endure. So why spend your best years waiting for the recession to pass or the job's market to improve. All of that is bullshit compared to what is coming your way. Do what you have dreamed of now." Canan said.

"That's my message and thats the reason I have haunted you." Canan said. "Okay, we will take more risks. leave us alone?" Jane said. "Sure. said. Now will you please Canan

I'll go and I wont bother you anymore."

Canan got up and started to walk toward the front door. He hesitated at the door, knowing that he would never see his parents again. He turned around and looked back at them one last time. Tom and Jane has stood up and were standing in the dark hallway, looking at the ghost in front of them. "I'm sorry if I scared you. I love you." Canan said.

"Don't worry about it. We love you too." Tom said waving goodbye as the ghost walked out the front door. Tom and Jane walked back to his bedroom and laid down in the bed, in the dark room. Both of them stared up at the ceiling for a few minutes before either of them said anything. Then Jane asked, "Did that really happen? Or was I dreaming?"

"Unless we were both dreaming the same dream;... I think that that did really happen." Tom said. "So a ghost from the future haunted us to tell us to seize the day because the future is going to suck worse than the present?" Jane said. "Yeah, I think that's the gist of what happened." said. Tom

Then he rolled over and kissed her on the lips, the cheek, the forehead, and all over. They made love that night for hours. It was like they were inspired by the ghost and his warning. They stayed up until the early morning hours, making love and talking. The next day Tom quit his job with the carpet cleaners and so did Jane. They bought two one way tickets to New Zealand. One of Tom's friends had moved over their years ago and so they stayed with him for a few weeks, sleeping on the floor in his guest room on an inflatable mattress. Soon they found a sheep ranch that was hiring journeymen and journey women to work with the flocks of sheep in exchange for room and board. They lived there until Jane gave birth to their first child. Later they bought a sailboat and had another child, who they named Canan. With the two boys in tow they set out to circumnavigate the globe in their 38 ft. Choy Lee sailboat. The boys loved life aboard the boat and grew up, spending their youth in the galapagos islands, Japanese Haikido, Greek islands, Guatamala, Chessapeake bay, and every other port under the sun. They were a family that pushed the envelope and never seemed to settle for anything less then their imagination would permit. If any one place got old or predictable, then this young family would pull anchor and set sail for the end of the horizon. It was the future that made them confident and courageous.