ce of art in the room. The
minister sinks further and further down and begins to rock, he thinks to himself that as this is the first time the "system has crashed" and that it could mean the end of civilization as we know it, it is also the end of his very short career as a politician. He was and is he thought to himself a very well-liked man, wouldn't the people understand, it's all the cutbacks you see, how could the system be continually upgraded when they always needed to make such cutbacks.

The system had run unattended for more years than anyone could imagine, and although each government blamed the other because they hadn't upgraded the aging system, but then it hadn't ever suffered from a failure so why on earth would they ever replace something that "just worked" wasn't it better to
leave the system as it was, why change it to something that may not work. Anyway the governments before had procedures and protocols in place for such
an event "shudder the thought" but as time passed the protocols had been unrehearsed and only the slightest details of the procedure had been passed from generation to generation, so could this be the final straw that would break the camel's back. Time was not something the governments now had, the system need to be back online and fast .

The clerk began to run, he realised the enormity of the problem, every second the system was down meant thousands of pounds was being knocked off the government economy, every man, woman, and child would start to struggle, the water would stop flowing, the reservoirs would keep filling, nothing was
immune as every year more and more was applied to an ageing system, that
really no one had ever seen (thought the clerk) in fact he thought, I don't remember a single person who is still working here when the system was implemented, and if I remember (he thought to himself) the whole installation was in secret!

The clerk soon reached as he put it "the department" the department was as
some call it the It systems although it did have an official name that was a little more official, but everyone just called it " the department" I don't think even the people who worked in the department remembered what is was really called.

The clerk approached a long table where a woman sat filing her nails, he was out of breath and himself a little over weight and of course very unfit from all the free food presented by various people as good will gestures (most people would think these were bribes) however each meal was a gesture towards the government and a thank you for the efforts of being fair (so people would say) the clerk now gasping for breath opened his mouth and said "Morgan" the woman looked up shocked at his outburst but realising who he was, picked up
the phone and began to issue a paged call to the whole department. "MR. MORGAN TO THE DESK", of course Morgan was well aware of the failure being in charge
of the department and having a military style operation that hadn't had a single problem for a number of years, he was known as Mr. Clockwork because of his ruthless efficiency, and he came over to the desk calmly and looked at the clerk. He asked the clerk "do you have the key?" The clerk nodding held out
his hand with golden key therein and then clenched his hand around it.

The system needed 3 keys and a pass code to enter, this hadn't been used in a number of years as the system always ran with ruthless efficiency, although even Mr. Morgan would be the first to admit he didn't really know what the protocol was. He felt in his pocket and clenched his hand around the 2nd key, he racked his brains and then remembered he needed the 3rd key from the
colonel to open the door, he thought for a moment and then pondered on the password, could he remember it... Ahh he thought, it's in 3 parts as well.
That the clerk has to enter his part, then mine, then the colonel's, he put
his hand down into his very tight fitting expensive black suit and magically pulled out a phone with some extra showmanship that wasn't called for but
added an air of mystery to his job that to be quite honest he didn't know exactly what it entailed but as no one had challenged him and he could as they say "talk the talk" and the fact all the politicians knew nothing about the system anything that sounded vaguely plausible wrapped up in techno babble was as they say wool over their eyes, although they didn't know it or wouldn't admit to it

Walking in large strides almost like a ministry of silly walks, Mr. Morgan in front and the clerk behind Morgan spoke into the phone "colonel old man we
need the key, its..." he paused and thought of something that didn't seem like it was his problem then he uttered "it must be some sort of power problem, the system has become unstable" the colonel could be heard laughing in the phone piece he was hysterical and said "I told you it would crash, Morgan you old conman, what have you done" Morgan pushed the phone to his ear so the sounds
of the colonel couldn't be heard and then looked at the clerk, he then said "bring the key, that's an order" the colonel went quiet and then aggressed,
he picked up his key *that he is supposed to carry at all times) from his locker and ran to the room.

"The room" was liken to a bank vault, with thick steel walls and a thick door the clerk put in his key, then Morgan his, and finally the colonel put in his key they all turned their respective keys at once to the right "CLICK" the
lock went, then the clerk entered his part of the password followed by Morgan and finally the colonel, they turned their respective keys again to the right
a final time "click, clonk" went the lock and the door began to open, All
three men pulled and went inside, Morgan pushed to the front as he hadn't seen the system, well to be honest ever, he looked at the screen and saw it had
some text written on it

SYNTAX ERROR IN LINE 1

He looked down at the machine and on the sticker it said COMMODORE 64, this
was the system an 8 bit computer, he shook his head and said "this was the system", all three men looked at the machine then each other, then the colonel flicked off the power switch and then back on, the machine sprung into life
and after a second had the word READY on screen.

He looked at Mr Morgan and then at the machine, now what he said to Morgan, Morgan looked at the colonel then said "oh"

By Nigel Parker
Commodore Free
www.commodorefree.com

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