The Hologromputer

Hank couldn’t believe his good fortune. Had he been ten seconds earlier or later, he would never have found the hologamputer on the ground. He hoped it still worked after being dropped out of a hurling transporter.

He began to wonder who might have been so careless; after all, these are generally worth a man’s yearly wages. He knew that his fortune must be great to receive this gift. He just couldn’t wait to get to his pod to see what it had in it.

His day went slowly, as it does when one is anxious to do something else and his mind wandered to his new little device all day long. He would reach into his pocket and caress it just to make sure it was still there. He would smile and go about his duties, wishing his day was over.

Finally, he walked through the door of his pod and sat down on his favorite air cushion. He didn’t bother to tell the pod to lock the door or what to make for his dinner; he just sat there, looking at his new-found item. He rubbed the outside, anxious to open it and play.

Finally, he opened the lid and turned the hologamputer on. It whistled and whirled, and lights began to brighten. He watched as the monitor came to life and the operating system began to work. His eyes almost welled up with tears as the thing came seemingly alive and he almost fell out of his air cushion as it asked him what he would like to do.

He looked through the applications available and found one that intrigued him. It was called the virtual bible. He had heard of something called a bible, but thought it was some relic never understood and rarely looked at now. He had always been taught that it was full of myths and legends, not really meant to be believed.

With all of that, he couldn’t believe that it would have ever made it onto a machine such as this. He knew that only accurate information could ever be put on a hologamputer, so seeing this made him wonder about his own beliefs.

He opened the program and a hologram came up with the words “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth” sounding as if they were amplified. As the words were spoken, the hologram showed a vast dark expanse suddenly being filled with the earth and the sun and all of the stars. Hank was amazed. This went against what he was taught in school and what he had always believed was truth. He spoke to shut the program down and asked for a different program.

“Give me the program that deals with the beginning of the universe.” He said. The hard chip made a beeping noise and the virtual bible came to life again. He spoke to shut it down and asked again, with a different question.

“Bring up the program dealing with Darwin’s evolutionary theories.” Again, the hard chip beeped and a hologram of a face came into view.

“I’m sorry sir. The Toney 2045 Hologamputer is equipped to only carry programs and applications that can be verified to be accurate. The program you are asking for cannot run on this hard chip due to inaccuracies in the programming and in the information. Please refrain from asking for this program again. The virtual Bible 4.5 has been loaded to fill all questions concerning the universe beginning due to the accuracy of the information. Thank you and have a good day”

Hank almost fell off his air cushion as the virtual bible once again started and the hologram came up with the words “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth” sounding as if they were amplified. He watched in amazement at the virtual display of the actual beginning of the world.