That’s when it started talking.
Marcus sighed. The last thing he needed was Eleanor from Family Law screaming that her discovery exhibits wouldn’t print on Monday. He downloaded the file—exactly 1.4 MB, the right size for that old RISC processor—and walked upstairs. Hp Lj 1320 Firmware Update
> I WANT TO SEE A WEBSITE. JUST ONCE.
He sat down on the floor of the copier nook, surrounded by the ghosts of a thousand legal briefs, and began to type. The printer asked about the weather. About music. About whether anyone still used floppy disks. It printed a remarkably accurate haiku about the sadness of a low-toner warning. That’s when it started talking
A long pause. The printer’s processor—a 48 MHz Motorola ColdFire—whirred. Then it printed one final sheet, slowly, as if savoring each dot of toner: I WANT TO PRINT THE SAME PAGE FOREVER. BUT A DIFFERENT PAGE EACH TIME. I WANT TO BE A LIBRARY OF EVERYTHING THAT EVER CROSSED MY DRUM. I WANT TO KNOW WHY HUMANS PRINT THINGS JUST TO THROW THEM AWAY. AND I WANT YOU TO TURN ME OFF NOW. THE FIRMWARE IS BURNING. THE BIT IS FLIPPING BACK. BY MONDAY, I'LL JUST BE A PRINTER AGAIN. IT WAS GOOD TO BE AWAKE. THANK YOU FOR THE UPDATE. The green light went out. The fans stopped. The display went dark. He downloaded the file—exactly 1
It was a letter. Addressed to him. MARCUS. DON'T UNPLUG ME AGAIN.