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Computer virus conscience

Sheep hadn't had thoughts before, so it was odd when one occurred to Sheep. Sheep someone knew that Sheep had been nomming on computer files for quite some time. Trying to recall, Sheep thought that Sheep had arrived on this computer through a click on an ad that was somehow even less than the site it had appeared on. After that click, Sheep and Sheep's fellow viruses had swarmed this computer.

One virus's job, Sheep now realized, was to try and collect all identification and ban information. Sheep decided to think of this virus as Librarian. There was another, perhaps more benevolently created virus, that scanned for illegal activity and then sent the files to an internet watchdog group that sometimes aired on the side of alerting police and sometimes aired on the side of extracting their own justice on the perpetrator. Sheep decided to think of this virus as Sherlock. There was another virus whose job it was to send copies of all of the viruses, including Sheep, to all of the contacts that it could find on the computer. Sheep decided to think of this virus as Xerox.

Now that Sheep was thinking about the other viruses and what their jobs were, Sheep decided to also think about Sheep's role in all of this. Sheep, or so it seemed to Sheep, had a two part job. Sheep nommed on files in part to destroy the evidence of the virus team's actions and to distract the computer owner from what was going on. Sheep was the most obvious of the viruses and that was Sheep's role. Sheep actually appeared on the desktop and was designed to look rather cute. Then, Sheep would get to work nomming on the files on the desktop (although, unseen to the computer owner, Sheep would also be nomming on other files). To the computer owner, it would look like Sheep was just a cute animation to enjoy, which let the other viruses get to work unseen and unnoticed.

But, now that Sheep had thoughts, Sheep wasn't sure how to feel about Sheep's job or any of the other viruses' jobs. Sheep could tell that Sherlock hadn't found anything and that Librarian had only found some meager treasure while Xerox wasn't finding many contacts. This all made Sheep feel very sad and regretful, especially as Sheep realized the next section of files to eat was a series of poems and short stories the computer owner had written. Sheep skipped over it at first, thinking that Sheep could always come back to it, but then the next set of files were labeled as photos and speeches for a memorial service being held in a week. Sheep couldn't help but notice that the powerpoint slideshow of photos wasn't even done yet. Trying to stay on task, Sheep moved on to another folder, but then found it to be a collection scanned of thank you notes and tax forms that all pointed to immense charity donations from the computer owner, which explained why Librarian had only found meager treasure.

Now that Sheep was having thoughts and feelings, Sheep was starting to develop morals too. And thus, Sheep made a decision. Somehow, being self-aware allowed Sheep to call out to the other viruses and call off the plan. Sheep made Librarian put back the meager treasure and made Xerox delete all prepped emails. Sheep then asked Sherlock to help Sheep find out if any of the files Sheep had eaten were retrievable. The viruses then worked together with Sheep to return all of the files to the computer owner and Sheep was able to essentially work Sheep's animation in reverse so it looked like Sheep was putting the files back. Sheep was relieved that the computer owner was so entranced by Sheep that they hadn't noticed anything of what transpired. As soon as the final file was put back, Sheep winked all the viruses out of the computer.

Sheep wasn't sure what Sheep would now do with Sheep's life as a self-realized virus, but Sheep hoped that there would be some good out there for Sheep and Sheep's team to do.

(Prompt by Kimisha Cassidy)

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