Worth a Thousand Words

I didn't intend to steal it; I thought I could salvage it for parts. The object wasn't of any familiarity to me, and judging by its condition, this device didn't belong to anyone anymore. If it did, it had been long forgotten.

As the sun made its descent below the horizon, the blaring sirens from outside the window gradually died down, and the once-bustling city resumed its hushed state. The view from my window was a sight to behold, with the cityscape bathed in a warm orange glow. The towering skyscrapers, the winding roads, and the flickering streetlights seemed to come to life at this moment. I could have gazed at this breathtaking scene for hours, but I had a task at hand that demanded my attention.

In exchange for giving me a place to stay, the manager has me work in the restaurant downstairs. The building itself is fairly tall, but the restaurant only occupies the first two floors. Thankfully, we have droids doing all the actual serving, and I'm no skilled cook. The most I can put together is an EZ-Bake. EZ-Bakes have an unfortunate taste, but they make for a quick meal. I'd much prefer food from the restaurant, but I could never afford anything from there.

To my advantage, my unique skillset allowed me to avoid the monotonous jobs, and work in tech repair. The droids the restaurant uses are pretty high-end, which means they require expensive maintenance. Instead of overpaying for lousy workmanship and extensive loss of time, the manager has me do it for two-thirds of what the pros pay. I can usually repair a droid in a few hours, but sometimes I keep it overnight.

He gave me a workshop on the ground floor, behind the kitchen in the restaurant. I became accustomed to the droids' modern technology, yet my core fascination stayed with technology pre-dating my time. Said time was later dubbed "The Evolution Era", but is more commonly referred to as the "Evo Era". The Evo Era is from the time humanity created digital technology, to the time we fully transitioned to it, spanning a few hundred years.

Upon arriving at my apartment, I carelessly tossed my bag on the floor and kicked off my shoes. Scraping through each day wasn't easy, but it was necessary for me. Regardless, there were some positive aspects to it.

Before tying my hair back, I put on my work clothes and picked up my keycard. I also retrieved the mysterious object from my bag in hopes of unraveling its secrets.

I thought it would be safer and quicker to go down the fire escape as the restaurant tends to get moderately busy during this time of day. This building is quite old and was renovated to resemble the original building that once stood there. These days, fires are rare due to the increasing use of droids and advancements in technology, resulting in fewer man-made accidents.

The fire escape whined as I crept down it, startling some nearby animals. I made my way to the workshop, being sure to enter through the back entrance. I swiped my badge on the panel next to the door, and it made its usual confirmation beep. The door clicked open as the panel displayed "Clock in: On Time" on the screen. 

The lights across the room flicked on sequentially as my workstation powered up. I plopped down in my chair and began preparing my desk. Thankfully only two droids needed repairs today, which should leave plenty of time to examine the device, so long as no more damage occurs.

I placed the object on the desk and used the system to pull any information on it I could. It was made of almost ancient technology, just as I presumed. There wasn't much information on it, but from what I could tell it was something called a "USB Drive." It originated in the twentieth or twenty-first century and seemed to be used to transfer data across devices.

According to the information I found, none of the devices here could access the data. I needed something I could plug the Drive into, and after a moment of pondering, I knew exactly where to go. The only downside was that I had to finish this shift first.

After what felt like an eternity, my shift finally ended. I grabbed my belongings and ran out the door. I knew I had seen this type of slot somewhere before. I may not be able to store personal projects in the workshop, but the manager gave me a key to a storage room for just that. On the top floor, there's a locked door that leads to a stairwell. That stairwell leads up to the storage room.

I had to dig around a bit, but I found what I was looking for. I found this adapter a few years back, and after rewiring the inside and modifying the components, I made it compatible with a piece of modern tech. I hooked it up to my VisiScreen and prepared to test the drive. I would be surprised if it still worked, but it was relatively well-preserved. It was sealed in a box, and tucked away, almost as if someone was waiting for it to be found.

Carefully, I plugged the USB Drive into the adapter and a light came on. The light was steady and green and then started rapidly blinking as if it was just as surprised as I was. I looked toward the screen to find a window had automatically opened. The drive was empty except for one folder. It was labeled a series of numbers, "08242065." I ran a scan of the file and didn't find any malicious software, so I opened it.

After clicking on the file, a sudden rush of images flooded my screen. There must have been at least twenty, and almost all of them featured the same girl. Each one was a window into her life, and I found myself captivated by the details in each image. I sifted through them one by one, studying every little detail.

There were pictures of her with other people, snapshots of the places she visited, and images of the things she saw. It was as if I was taking a journey through her entire life, all summed up in a few dozen pictures.

As I looked at each image, I couldn't help but imagine the scenes behind them. I wondered how she was feeling, what they were doing, and where they were. Before I knew it, I had given this girl an entire personality in my mind.

I continued to scroll through the pictures, and tears started to roll down my face. I had been given a glimpse into someone's life story, and it had touched me deeply.

Every living being, no matter how small or seemingly insignificant, has a unique set of experiences and memories that shape their existence. This realization sparked a glimmer of hope within me, as I began to consider the possibility that I too could leave something of value behind for someone else to cherish in the future.