Arcane Sorcery

Right now the computer is doing, um, something. It's scanning the Lazarus Drive and looking for my sweet delicious data. I feel like I'm involved in some kind of Digital Seance, using a Ouija Board marked with only a 1 and a 0. Messages from the dead may be coming through, but I'm not in a position to understand their deeper meanings. Maybe it'll find me a ghost. Maybe it'll just be echoes long gone.

Failing that, I'm getting more sure that I gave my Artist the Source file when I gave them the most recent edition of ThiefEd. At least, I think I did. I remember answering questions and I think I remember plugging his portable drive into Lazarus and giving the Source to him. But the memory, like the ghost I'm trying to find answers from, is hazy and indistinct at best. A fabrication of a wanting mind at worse.

EDIT : It worked. The Seance worked, cryptic messages from the Beyond came on through. Joy erupted from the very fabric of my being. The program allowed me to select the files I wanted, no, Needed. Then I clicked the Save Files button and...

"THIS FEATURE IS NOT SUPPORTED BY THE TRIAL VERSION."

I hate it. I hate it so much. I want one thing, one bloody thing and I need to pay for it. I need to pay to get my own damned files. There's a word for that - extortion. $69.95 worth of extortion. I'll put it another way.

"This is 911, please state your emergency."
"Yeah, oh my god, my legs! My legs have fallen off!"
"What's that sir?"
"I woke up, and my legs fell off!"
"Have they done that before sir?"
"What do you think?"
"Is that a yes or a no?"
"NO! Please send help! I'm bleeding from where my legs are supposed to be."
"We'll send somebody out, but first, we need you to send us $69.95. Do you have a credit card sir?"
"What?"
"A credit card."
"What do you mean $69.95? My legs have fallen off!"
"Yes, and if you want your legs back on it's going to cost you $69.95."
*click*
"Sir? Are you there sir?

- I'll see if the Artist has my file before I consult the Ephors again.