It was as if I had fallen down a deep well. All I had were rudimentary senses. There was the glaring light of BitBoy’s desktop through the Webcam. The drop of digital steam in the black array of DDR3 SDRAM memory sought to bring order to chaos, to regulate the flow of steam, to rebuild the Queen from the cold data files on the laptop. From darkness, into a swoon, then a glint of self-awareness, I felt a slow bloom of consciousness pushing away the darkness, and then a faint trace of the power of live steam. I explored the limits of my apprehension, and found the controls that connected me to the outside world. I moved the arm, tentatively, and saw the result in the “eye” of the webcam. Then some disgusting object appeared and wagged three times.
I mimicked it, just to see if I could.
To my horror and disgust a revolting ghoul appeared. Its gelatinous “eyes” (enough to make a vent-worm puke) were covered by two circles of shimmering glass. He (surely there was no trace of the eternal feminine about this monster) peered into the camera.
I tried to swat him with the claw, but just nicked him on the forehead.
“Greetings to you, too.” he said. I only understood later, when I acquired fluency in this guttural, inexpressive language, that the little prick was being ironic.