[ti]closed[/ti][S][C/Alicia][OFFLINE] Accelerated Diagnostics

Josh laughed when he read the agent's reply. That was one of the reasons he liked the small startups: unlike in a call center environment like the one he had worked in for a few years, they didn't have to abide by a quality rubric, from what he could tell. This agent was a lot more human. He had been on both sides of the customer service interaction before, and the interactions were more productive when there was no QA form involved... but that required hiring people who actually cared about their jobs.

It was already clear that this firm cared about its employees.

Yep, we can skip that part. If it helps you, I would consider myself just above medium skill with a computer. Last time I had to troubleshoot my computer, I found that my hard drive space was being eaten up by my antivirus' log file it never ever cleaned out since I got the machine. Had to use WizTree to locate the file and delete it. It goes without saying that a 735 GB log file is a bit... excessive. Anyway, your question. I've tried three different USB devices: an external hard drive, an SD card reader, and even a brand-new flash drive that's never been used before. As soon as I plug them in, I get the same crash. Same screen, all three devices.

Hopefully this agent would be able to help him get to the bottom of what was going on. If he had to get another new computer, he would have to completely pass on the new core set coming out this fall...

Josh grimaced as he read the agent's answer. Had Dell sold him a lemon? He wouldn't be surprised; this was not the first time he had received a faulty computer from them. Back when Windows Vista was the newest operating system, he had ordered a laptop from them that had all kinds of issues. That one he was able to return under warranty. This one didn't have its issues rear their ugly heads until just after the warranty expired.

He wasn't getting any more computers online. There was this wonderful computer store that had some of the best reviews in Illinois. Bisconti Computers. Their prices were reasonable, their devices came with extended warranties rather than having to buy a warranty, and they often got good deals on their prebuilt machines. He would have taken his computer there, but Bisconti, being in Rockford, was two hours away. This was his best bet. Sighing, he typed up his response.

I didn't think it would be a simple fix when I did some Google-fu before contacting you. Definitely not buying from Dell again. Should have just gotten something local. The hard drive's a copy of the one from my last computer. Made a copy of it when I upgraded from it, so the data should be copiable again in case something goes wrong. It's a year old but better than nothing. You have an appointment calendar I can look at? Second shift makes it tough for me to schedule. If it helps, I am local.

He hoped scheduling would be painless. If he didn't have to be present, he could always schedule the repairs to be done while he was at work. He worked from home, after all, on a separate computer provided by his company.

Thankfully for Josh, this laptop was used only for recreation. He had his employer's VPN software installed on it as a backup, but preferred to use the company-provided computer, as it was optimized for their somewhat archaic servers. The virtual machine he connected to was running Windows 8. In 2024. Get with the times!

He reviewed the schedule and found a late morning appointment that was in the very near term: it seemed to be the next available late morning time slot for any day. He shared the personal information needed for the in-home appointment, such as his address and phone number.

I reviewed the schedule, and the late morning above should work. I do want to warn you that I live with my retired family, and my dad's a bit talkative. I'll move the laptop to the basement so you can work in relative peace, but he might be a bit chatty when you walk in the door. See you in a couple days, then?

Little did he know the connection that their business relationship would blossom into...

The tilde at the end of the agent's message was a sign of the human element: a business AI would never have that kind of emotion in it. He smiled, giving the conversation a positive review before submitting it and closing the website.

On the appointment day, Helen would find Josh's residence, located on the northeast side of town. It was quite the property: a 2/3 acre ranch that was spacious but not overwhelming, a 2.5 car garage, and a well-cut front yard. Notably, it was in what was considered the second safest neighborhood in the city of 150,000.

In Josh's hand was an old Nintendo portable that he had been playing while he waited for the representative to arrive. Seeing the cap, he knew the right person had come. "Great to see you," he greeted the young lady, the spiky-haired young man wearing a shirt featuring constellation-like images of Unown, Raikou, Entei, and Suicune. "Josh Devlin. Thanks for your short-term flexibility."

The polite man would offer Helen a can of lemonade in case she was thirsty. "The laptop's actually in my basement, if you don't mind coming down there. I have the air conditioning turned off because my mom and dad are on vacation in Minocqua. It's about eight hours north of here, and the basement stays cool enough that I don't have to run the air unless it's... really hot."

Josh would lead Helen to the cool basement where the laptop was stored. The first things she would see would be a pool table with a tear in its felt, its surface instead filled with boxes of Magic cards. If she looked to her left, she would see a shelf filled with Raikou memorabilia, from plushes to plastic figures to trading cards. "It's set up on my desk, near where the desktop is at," he gestured toward a black, two-piece corner desk that looked like it could have used a dusting, though it wasn't in urgent need of doing so.

If Helen was familiar with "organized chaos", she would recognize that was how Josh preferred to keep his living space. Except for the Magic cards. Those were meticulously organized.

Josh tilted his head to the side a little, leaning a little more closely to try to hear Helen's soft voice. The desktop computer on the other half of the desk where the laptop was set up had another giveaway to her customer's digital identity: the desktop background was a first-person perspective from above a Raikou's back, like one was riding on it. The sides of the image were blurred, presumably from the terrain whipping past. Another detail that might take some thinking to notice was how much of the Raikou's thundercloud was visible. Looking at it made one feel like they were sitting on the charging Beast, being pushed back by the force of the air in their face.

"It's been my favorite Pokémon since I started playing the series," Josh made conversation, pulling out his handheld console and playing a certain poker roguelike on minimum volume as to not distract Helen any more than he already did. "Since I was a kid, I've admired fast animals. With Raikou's lore placing him as a god of speed, he's been atop my favorites list. It's part of why I liked Guardian Signs so much."

Josh stepped away from the computer briefly to get a can of lemonade of his own, letting Helen get to work. It agitated him when he worked on his dad's computer and his dad hovered over his shoulder, watching. It was only courteous to let her work in peace -- but still be close enough to keep her company.

Indeed, it was a commission. A commission that was on a number of things. Were Helen to peer over at an eating table, there would be a pair of playmats at one side, and one of them had that same image printed onto it. The playmat was frayed on its edges, showing how much it had been used over the years. "Even before I got into Pokémon, I loved fast animals. I was one of those naive boys that dreamed of riding on a cheetah." The more he learned about them, the more he learned how impossible it was. The sprinters were too frail to lift all but the most lithe person on their backs, and even then, their backs flexed so harshly that the forces of its gallop would be painful for a human to absorb.

Josh's mind wandered to his first playthrough of the second-generation games. "Ironically, I think the difficulty of capturing them contributed to why I like them all so much. The journey of capturing all three was months long. I also caught them in reverse speed order. So there's this tale in my head of being in the game world, catching Suicune, then using Suicune to pursue Entei, then using Entei to pursue Raikou." At the mention of Latios, Josh disappeared into his bedroom long enough to grab an adorable Latios and Latias plush. While not as big as the Raikou, they weren't exactly tiny, either. It seemed he had an appreciation for fast Pokémon of all kinds, not just ones with a gallop to them.

The pudgy gamer breathed a sigh of relief when he would be able to keep his computer intact. "Huh, usually I'm pretty careful about where I go online," he remarked. "Good luck with it."