Chapter 1: Cracked

“Scout?”

Scout jerked awake at her desk. She was disoriented, trying to reconcile the strange antics of her quickly fading dream with the reality of her boss, Sophia, standing over her. It took her a moment to remember whether Sophia was a short order cook making breakfast orders or Director of IT. 

“Everything all right? You were asleep at your desk.” asked Sophia. 

Right. IT, not chef. Scout rubbed sleep out of her eyes, yawned, and nodded her head.

Sophia’s shoulders visibly relaxed. Scout and Sophia were the only people on the team who had somehow dodged the flu. This latest strain was worse than usual, and some team members had even been hospitalized. When Sophia saw Scout slumped over her desk, she imagined the worst. 

“I detected this crazy virus on my laptop, and I was afraid it would spread to the network. I guess I lost track of time when I was trying to fix it. I must have dozed off.” 

Scout had been working a lot of long days with so many people out. The team was starting to recover from the flu and come back to work, but there was still too much to do. 

“OK, as long as you’re not sick.”

“Thanks, Sophia. I’m fine. But look, I need to tell you about this virus.”

Sophia nodded absently, “I really appreciate your dedication, but you can’t be pulling all-nighters. People are going to accuse me of bringing back indentured servitude.”

“Sophia, this virus isn’t like anything I’ve ever seen before. You’ve got to see what I’ve found.” 

“I’m sure it’s terrible, but look, computers are replaceable. You are not.” Sophia carried on with her lecture for a while. Scout’s eyes started to droop. 

Finally, Scout broke in. “OK, I get it. How about I get some coffee, show you what I found, and then I’ll go home and get some rest?” 

“Yes, that sounds good. Get some food too, if you haven’t eaten. I’ll be here when you’re ready.” 

Less than 5 minutes later, Scout had grabbed some black coffee and a breakfast bar and was back in Sophia's office. She half-heartedly pecked at the breakfast bar, but the coffee went down quickly. 

She was gearing up to tell Sophia everything when she saw Sophia's face. Clearly her boss had already figured it out.

Sophia looked up at Scout. “Well, I see what you mean, Scout.” 

“The eggs?” asked Scout. 

“The eggs,” said Sophia grimly. “Have you figured out how widespread it is?” 

“Not sure,” replied Scout. She finished off her coffee and continued. “A lot of people are still out with the flu, and I think I was the only person online during the night. I didn’t get any calls on the IT helpline. So, I’m assuming it’s pretty isolated so far.” 

“OK, that’s good. What else were able to figure out?” 

“Well, it was kind of slow-going. I disconnected my laptop from the network so the virus couldn’t spread. I had to do most of my research on my phone.” 

“But don’t you have company data on your phone?” asked Sophia. 

“I wiped it before I did the research. I removed all the company apps too, just to be sure.” 

“OK. Good work,” Sophia smiled faintly. She nodded, “Go on.”

“Well, this thing is bigger than our company and there’s no security patch for it yet.” 

“OK, not a great start. Anything else? How did it get on your computer in first place?”

“Not sure. I take all the usual precautions. I don’t click suspicious links, and I don’t go to unsafe sites. Combine that with the, uh, eggs, and I think it’s safe to assume this is something completely new.”

Sophia nodded. 

Scout started, “I have a theory…” but was interrupted by the sound of a rooster crowing from Sophia’s laptop. 

Sophia jumped at the sound. Then she looked down, stared for a few long seconds, and signaled that Scout should walk around the desk to look too.  

Scout and Sophia watched as eggs rolled across the bottom of Sophia’s screen, blocking her calendar. After at least two dozen eggs had rolled by, they slowed to a halt. A brown egg in the middle of the screen started to crack. It opened, and a white piece of paper that looked like it belonged in a fortune cookie unfurled. 

The paper contained a simple message, “Are you ready?"

Sophia and Scout were both at a loss for words. They watched in silence as all the eggs cracked. A pile of eggshells gathered at the bottom of the screen. Next, cracks started spreading across the screen itself. Absentmindedly, Scout touched the screen to see if the cracks were real. They weren’t of course, but she still felt compelled to check.

Scout slowly turned to Sophia and asked, “Have you ever seen anything like this before?”

“Scout, I’ve been doing this 25 years. I’ve never seen anything like this.” 

Scout nodded silently.

The women sat for a while, trying to figure out what to do. It was unclear how the virus got on people’s computers, it appeared to take it over completely, and there was no known security patch. The only saving grace was that Scout’s phone wasn’t infected. Yet.

Then, something occurred to Sophia. 

“Scout, when you went to get your coffee, did you see anyone in the office?

“Uh, I think so. Why do you ask?”

“It’s 8:30. People have been here for at least half an hour. Why haven’t we received any help desk calls?”

“Huh,” said Scout. “Good question.”

They decided to check things out. They walked out of Sophia’s office and into “Cube Land,” the IT Department’s unofficial name for their designated block of identical corporate cubicles. 

Fewer people were there than usual because of the flu, but otherwise, there were no immediate red flags. “Seems OK,” said Scout.

“Yes, I suppose so,” responded Sophia. Then, she paused. “Scout, is it me, or is it too quiet in here? No ringing phones. No talking. Not even any typing.” 

“Yeah, now that you mention it, it’s pretty dead.”

Sophia strode up to the desk of Jamal, one of the IT engineers on her team. He was sitting quietly, staring at his computer monitor. 

“Good morning, Jamal,” she said with forced cheer.

No response.

“Jamal?” she tried again.

Finally, he responded with a guttural trill and a bob of his head. He continued to stare at his monitor. 

Sophia and Scout looked at each other. Then Sophia asked, “What are you working on, Jamal?”

Jamal only responded with a cluck of his tongue.

The women looked at each other and then peered over his shoulder to see what had Jamal so enthralled. On his screen, they saw two chicks hatching from their eggs with the message “Congratulations!” 

They frowned and looked at each other again. 

“What do you think it means?” asked Scout in a whisper, as if Jamal couldn’t hear. Who knows? Perhaps he couldn’t.

“No idea,” Sophia whispered back. 

Next, they moved a few cubicles over, where Jill sat. “Hi, Jill. How are you doing?” asked Scout.

Jill clucked. 

“What are you working on, Jill?” asked Sophia. 

Again, Jill clucked. 

The women peered over Jill’s shoulder and saw a similar image to the one on Jamal’s screen. A chick was hatching from its egg and a message read, “Today’s the day!”

“Today’s the day for what, I wonder?” asked Sophia out loud. But of course, they had no answer.

They wandered through the office and had the same basic interaction again and again. People were silently staring at chicks hatching on their screens. If Scout and Sophia tried to talk to them, people would only respond with trills and clucks. 

At one point, they thought they saw someone moving on the other side of building, but the person was gone by the time they got there. 

The only people they interacted with were the zombie-like workers staring at the chicken images. 

Then they saw was Eric from Finance. He was standing in the hall, staring at his phone. 

“Hey, Eric.” 

No response.

“Eric,” said Sophia, “It's me, Sophia. You know me. I run the IT Department. I was thinking that maybe you should turn off your phone.” 

Eric clucked, but his face remained expressionless.

“Eric, I think your phone has a virus. Are you OK with me turning it off? ” 

No response. 

Slowly, Sophia reached over and pressed the button on the side of Eric’s phone. When the screen went blank, Eric’s hands flew up to his head, his brow furrowed, and he started crowing.

Scout and Sophia took a step back.  

The longer his phone stayed off, the more Eric’s agitation grew. Soon, he tucked his thumbs under his armpits, started flapping his arms, and hopped towards the women. Although he looked ridiculous, he was clearly angry.

Sophia and Scout backed up further. 

Eric kept hopping towards them, crowing and flapping as he did. Sophia tried to turn his phone back on, but didn't know his password. It was locked.

Eric was hopping mad and moving more quickly now. Sophia was regretting turning off his phone. She was considering whether it was possible to talk him down when Scout spoke up.

“Sophia?” 

“Yes?”

“I’m thinking we should go back to your office. Like, now.”

“Yes, I think you’re right!”

At which point, Sophia and Scout high-tailed it out of there.

[End chapter 1]