alfvaen | Damage Report

Found this handwritten in one of my clipboards. I think I did it at a writer's group meeting, perhaps as part of a timed exercise or something; I don't remember anymore.

"Damage report?" Lord Zarkon asked.

Kreb tapped the digital readout in front of him, then frowned at its lack of response. He whacked it once, then twice, with the palm of his hand, then sighed and referred to the pile of sticky notes on the less blackened side of the console.

"Most of the curtain wall has fallen, milord," he said. "There are large enough pieces left that we may be able to rebuild half of it without needing more stone. The sewer pipes have backed up into the dungeons, and half of the prisoners escaped when the security system shorted out. Three others drowned. Some of the escapees holed up in your libraries, and caused incalculable damage to several rare works before we could subdue or kill them.

"The computer system then crashed, and a substantial portion of data was lost. The most recent backups were also damaged in the resulting fire, but we shouldn't have to go back further than a few months. The fire itself spread to your sleeping quarters and much of your wardrobe was damaged. The toxic cloud that resulted has not yet been dealt with because of problems with the ventilation system."

Lord Zarkon pounded his fist on the panel in exasperation. It broke off and crumbled onto the floor. "That's it!" he roared. "We are never hiring that contractor again!"