GPPL short stories: the tecromancer

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With a flourish, I entered the final value into my budget spreadsheet and hit the Enter key.

“Full!” I called, hearing my cry of triumph echoing off the walls of my office. I saved the spreadsheet, but before I could close the file, the value in cell A1 started to change.

I watched in fascination as the price of a recent book order was replaced by the text “LED M”. A moment later, the cursor moved and cell B1 changed from a price to the text “YOU K”.

Has no sense. I had always been careful about the websites I browsed and the programs I installed on my work computer, especially during the tenure of our previous network administrator. Even two years after he left, Caroline and I kept joking that his persistent spirit was responsible for all of our tech problems.

Before bothering Kenny, our current talented network administrator, I quickly went through my troubleshooting routine. I closed the spreadsheet, turned off the computer, verified that the mouse and keyboard were connected properly, and turned the computer back on.

But when I reopened the spreadsheet file, the values ​​started to change again. This time, cell C1 changed to “E”. While I was quickly writing an email to Kenny asking him to take a look at my computer, cell D1 changed to “IL”.

I closed the spreadsheet program again and began to wait.

Kenny knocked on my door a few minutes later and began working on his rigorous problem-solving procedure. His virus check and malware scan revealed nothing. The network firewall did not show any bad connection to my computer. He updated Windows, reinstalled all device drivers, and even replaced my keyboard and mouse to no avail. Every time we reopened the spreadsheet file, the four cells would change one by one before closing the program again.

Finally, Kenny installed a special diagnostic program to find out the origin of the character entries. We reopened the spreadsheet, and I watched the data in the four original cells change as Kenny monitored the input record on my second monitor.

This time, the mindless changes to the spreadsheet continued even further. As I watched, the cursor moved to another cell and a new formula appeared, one character at a time:

= CONCATENATE (B1, D1, A1, C1)

After a moment, the formula in the cell calculated, leaving the full message “YOU KILLED ME”.

My jaw dropped, but I waited for Kenny to explain how someone had pulled off this prank.

A few moments later, Kenny looked at me, his face whiter than the contents of my printer’s paper tray.

“What’s the matter?” Asked.

He swallowed audibly. “The inputs to this spreadsheet come from your keyboard.”

****

You love to write GPPL’s ​​34th Annual Collins Writing Contest is now open for submissions. Participants are invited to submit an unpublished short story, under 2000 words, on this year’s theme: BEYOND . Visit our website at www.gppl.ca and social media channels for complete contest rules, entry forms, and answers to frequently asked questions. The registration deadline is Monday, February 28. th At 8:00 pm.

Jacob Fehr /Head of Services for Children and Adolescents at GPPL

Reference-www.dailyheraldtribune.com

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