"Bad is a subjective term. Objectively, it means my doctoral dissertation notes on the application of superstring theory to M-theory are trapped in a silicon limbo. It's a Schrödinger's cat situation, except the cat is definitely dead and the box is on fire."

"I am experiencing a catastrophic hardware failure, Mom. Colossus won't post."

He had attempted to upgrade the RAM. He had followed the manual. He had worn the anti-static wrist strap. He had triple-checked the seating of the SIMM modules. And yet, the laws of thermodynamics and electrical engineering had, for the first time in his memory, betrayed him.

Beep. Glitch. Darkness.