[SN: 03-11-1960-WALTER-01] STATUS: DECOMMISSIONED. LAST SEEN: HOSPITAL, RM 217. REASON: END OF SUPPORT LIFE.
Leo spent the next hour scanning everything. The toaster. SN: 06-14-2019-TOAST-04. STATUS: DEPRECATED. The oak tree in the backyard. SN: 04-01-1972-OAK-09. STATUS: GROWING. END OF LIFE: 2031. The mailbox. The car. The neighbor’s kid’s bicycle. Everything had a serial number. Everything had a status. Active. Deprecated. Paused. Pending recall. Serial Number Checker Switch
Leo looked at the dog. Then at Mira, who was now watching him with worried eyes. Then at the photograph of his father, who had quietly hidden this thing under his workbench instead of destroying it. [SN: 03-11-1960-WALTER-01] STATUS: DECOMMISSIONED
End of support life. That was the cancer. The chemo that didn’t work. The night the machines beeped in a flat, final way. His father hadn’t died . He had been decommissioned . Leo spent the next hour scanning everything