Chapter 4

December 24,2001

Chapter 4

The next day, Jack opened up his mailbox, and there was a package. He took it inside, and opened it. The box contained a plush Tux doll. “Oh!!! How cute!!” There was a note attached and it read:

“From a friend”

Jack went into his room, and put the Tux doll on his dresser. He then went to school.

When he got back, he had discovered that the Tux doll was gone. “Where did he go?” said Jack. He searched all over his house. Then he looked at his computer and the Tux doll was sitting on top of his computer. “How did you get there?” said Jack curiously. Then on the computer screen, it said, “Hello Jack. I am Tux. If you really want to be part of the Linux Association, you must bow down and worship me.”

“Worship you? But you are just a doll!”

“I may be just a doll to you, but to others I am the source for life. In the Linux Association, you must worship me. That is the only way.”

“What are you?!?”

“I am a super intelligent version of Linux. The Tux doll that you see is actually a tiny computer that can hook up to any computer running Linux. But I have a major flaw. I can not hook up to any computer other than one running a version of Linux.”

“What are you going to do?”

“Windows is currently running on over 95% of all computers worldwide. The other 5% is running some other OS, whether it is Mac OS, UNIX, or Linux. The Linux Association is a select group of Linux users chosen to hack the Windows OS and get the source code out into the world. And when this is done, Microsoft will be no more. Windows will become an ‘Open source’ OS, just like Linux. Hackers, programmers, and others will come, study the source code, and improve it. Thus we will combine the stability of Linux, with the compatibility of Windows, and then we will produce the perfect OS: ‘Winux’!!

And so, we need you to bow down and worship me, to test your loyalty to the Linux Association. If you refuse, you will be eliminated. The choice is yours.”

Jack knew that they would not let him live after he had learned their plot. So he began to worship Tux.

“Ahh… now then. Tomorrow, some tickets to the Linux Convention in California will be mailed to you. You must attend because our leader, Linus Torvald, will be there to give us instructions. Whenever you need to speak to anyone in the Linux Association, just press the button on my back, and a screen will come up giving a list of all who is a part of the Linux Association. At the Linux Convention, you will meet with all of the members of the Linux Association. Here is a current list of everyone in the Linux Association:”

Then a screen appeared on Jack’s computer showing about 20 names and locations.

“Well, Ok. I guess I’m in aren’t I?” asked Jack

“That is correct. Congratulations.”

After this, Jack started fiddling around with Linux.

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Note: Similarity of any of the characters in this story, dead or alive, is probably not coincidental.