 X-NEWS: spcvxb junk: 35066P Relay-Version: VMS News - V6.1B4+SPC1 6/9/92 VAX/VMS V5.5-2; site spcvxb.spc.edu< Path: spcvxb!rutgers!uwvax!uchinews!linac!convex!siemens!aad$ Newsgroups: alt.horror.shub-internet+ Subject: The Lurker in the Inter-Record Gap ( Message-ID: <C4EynG.2o8@scr.siemens.com>, From: aad@scr.siemens.com (Anthony A. Datri) Date: 24 Mar 93 22:04:27 GMT& Sender: news@scr.siemens.com (NeTnEwS)$ Organization: Siemens Weyland-Yutani( Nntp-Posting-Host: lovecraft.siemens.com	 Lines: 87     * [the-lurker-in-the-inter-record-gap.humor]    0               The lurker in the inter-record gap    G   The occasional visitor to Miskatonic University's Information Science K Department can hardly help but remark on the contrast between the lowering, N inbred looks of the head porter, as he unloads the visitor's portmanteaux fromM the railroad station, and the comparatively frank and open expression of your " average Yankee university student.  N   Certainly Edwin, returning to the involuted and claustrophobic region of hisM upbringing in the belief that the creatures of the deep were quiescent again, L suspected that the man who carried his disk packs was one of his Arkham half+ brothers, possibly a three-quaters brother.   N   "Did they seal up the window in the granite tower above Arkham?" he asked byM way of experiment. As a consequence of the man's multiple speach defects, the L answer was unintelligible, but Edwin caught the sense from the livid patchesM that sprang up on the fellow's forehead and from his letting fall six volumes N of operating manuals. Clearer than words came the message that one could stillH -- if imprudent enough -- look out the window that faced no point of theK compass, and that certain things could still look in.  Meddlers might still 0 give Cthulhu and the Old Ones their opportunity.  K   In contrast, Dr. James Pendline was like a breath of fresh air when Edwin M sat down with him to plan how they would generate the new operating system on M the Miskatonic computer.  Young, hair trimmed in the en brosse style affected M by New York academics, he stuck but one faint, discordant note:  His tie-tack L was fashioned into a shape familiar to those who have studied the abominable+ writings of the satanic Arab, el Oufkr aft.   J   The main problem was to get rid of the old Arkham monitor, Reptilian 13.9 Into the dusk they worked, poring over the vellum sheets.   D    Once a student came in to report slimy things creeping out of theK multiplex channel.  James Pendine looked at him levelly.  "Did you invoke a I recursive procedure?"  He at last admitted it, was given a temporary fix,  and sent away.  N   They went into the computer room just after midnight.  Little by little theyD cut away parts of the Arkham monitor, trying to leave only an amountI sufficient for the reading in of the clean new code.  Edwin heard a muted K scream as the job scheduler went.  There were toads everywhere.  Grim-faced  they continued.   $   At two o'clock the telephone rang.  E   "That's project MAC" said James Pendine. "We let them hook into our N processor when theirs is down for maintenance."  The telephone stopped ringingM and a light came on to show that the line had been connected automatically to 
 the computer.   G   Edwin shrieked and pulled the cable, fizzing and sparking, out of the 1 communications front-end.  Pendine had not moved.   M   "Pray Heaven I was quick enough," said Edwin. "Why had you not disconnected L that telephone?" Pendine smiled.  "You are fearful that somehow the remnantsA of the Reptilian might have fled down the line to Massachusetts?"   I   "I hardly know what I feared," answered Edwin, and he began loading the K disks and tapes and cards that would make the Miskatonic computer a healthy  thing again.  K   Rosy-fingered Dawn broke, cloudless, serene.  The computer was compileing M Algol, working much more slowly than it used to under the old monitor, but at N least there were no more toads.  Edwin and Pendine had some kidneys brought in on a salver for breakfast.  N   Across the dewy campus lawn the porter was seen approaching.  Absently EdwinM noticed he left the prints of three feet behind him. He proffered a telegram.   >      TO PENDINE MISKATONIC STOP SINCE CONNECTION YOUR CPU LAST@      NIGHT OUR GRAPH PLOTTER WONT DRAW PENTACLES STOP ALSO TOADS@      EVERYWHERE STOP HOWEVER WELL WORTH IT STOP EXECUTION SPEEDS'      MUCH IMPROVED STOP THANKS MIT ENDS   D   As is the case with many telegrams, the text was followed by a fewH meaningless characters--random ripples on Mr. Bell's fluid that appendedN themselves as parasites to the real symbols of human intercourse. For the sake6 of this narrative's completeness they are given below:& CTHULU...CTHULHU...HAHA...CTHULHU..... --    J ======================================================================8--<