2 10 Servers

After returning to the hotel, Aida flopped onto the bed and stared blankly at the ceiling. 'What if there actually was an apocalypse? Am I prepared?' She thought to herself.

Mentally taking inventory, she realized she was not at all prepped for the apocalypse even in the most general sense, let alone as an otaku. She had zero bottled water at home as tap water was drinkable (why kill the environment with plastic right?), no canned food, no first aid kit. In her mind though, all those items were trivial. The important part is that she had no survival guide and no offline download of any of her favorite novels or shows!!

'This won't do.' she thought to herself as she planned her next steps to prepare herself for what she believes to be inevitable. Everything will take its natural course and what begins must come to an end at some point in time. Just look at the dinosaurs, they were living happily up till asteroids came and bombed the Earth, changing the atmosphere and preventing plants from photosynthesizing thus killing off all the dinosaurs. There was nothing the dinosaurs could do. In the current society, humans have continually damaged the Earth, so it's just a matter of time before Earth or some otherworldly force retaliates.

Her plan wasn't particularly extensive given her limitations, she knew she would never be rich enough to own a bunker or bother to earn a gun license and own a gun. Instead, her focus was shifted to survival guides and maintaining her sanity. Aida continued pondering how to address these concerns for a while longer before turning in for the night.

***

The next morning, Aida woke up early, brushed her teeth and went down to breakfast. At breakfast, she kept to her usual routine -- an omelet with a side of avocado and tea. Finding a quiet corner to sit down, she began to do her daily check-ins for all her f2p mobile games. It was a tedious and mildly time consuming process, but without having that to start the day, she would be at a loss.

As she immersed herself in her games, someone placed their plate on her table and spoke while yawning, "Good morning Ai, how was your sleep?"

Hearing the yawn, Aida also reflexively yawned in response. She looked up to see a colleague from another team, Ace, as he sat down at her table. She was mildly annoyed at him for interrupting her morning ritual, but still responded politely, "I slept well."

Ace was a simple and kind individual who was amazing at his job. Due to his excellence and quietness, he was ostracized by the "jocks" at the company and loved by the motherly. Although they were not on the same team, they have collaborated on a couple projects. There was one incident on one of their projects where someone on her team blatantly took credit for her work, and just as she was beginning to feel frustrated at the injustice, Ace intervened and helped her claim credit as the lead developer on the project.

After quickly finishing up her meal, Aida got up to leave and initiated her survival plan from last night. Seeing her rise, Ace stuffed the rest of the food in his mouth and followed suit. "Where are you going?? I'll come with you!" he said with bright curious eyes. This was the first time that she noticed Ace with some dog-like qualities.

Finding it hard to reject Ace, Aida allowed him to tag along. They walked to the conference together and went straight into the conference shop. After the product release yesterday, the conference was selling their advertised servers at an unprecedented 40% discount. Initially, her plan was to purchase 10 of the mini-servers but the store attendant informed her that the limit was 5 per person. She shrugged helplessly and purchased 5 servers to be sent to her hotel, then turned around to find Ace so they could leave for the next session.

Looking around for a while, Ace seemed to have disappeared. Then she felt a tap on her shoulders and saw Ace grinning widely while holding out a receipt for her to see. Raising an eyebrow to show her skepticism, she took the receipt and looked down to read that he had also purchased 5 servers that were to be sent to her hotel room. Looking back up, she saw Ace standing there eagerly, waiting to be praised.

Shaking her head silently, she resisted the urge to pat Ace's head. He was looking more and more like the golden retriever that she always wanted. "Ace, I'll repay the favor." She was also making a mental note that the number of favors she owed Ace had increased yet again.

Ace shook his head rapidly, "No no no! This was no problem at all, it was my pleasure to help you. I enjoyed accompanying you."

With that, they split ways and went to their respective sessions. Neither of them noticed that behind them was a t.v., announcing that an odd virus was spreading along the coast line with many afflicted people getting feverish, breaking out in rashes, and behaving oddly.