Professor Stacy Williams lounged back in her office chair, kicking her feet up on the desk. What was the harm in it, after all? Her office hours were nearly done, her emails were read, assignments graded, and it was increasingly clear at this point that no one was going to show up. Her eyes wandered, looking idly at the posters on the walls of her office, at her monitor, still showing no unread emails, and at the smartphone still sitting on her desk.
Part of her was surprised that it was still here. She'd confiscated it from a student earlier that day during her lecture - since he couldn't seem to help but be disruptive with it - but oddly, he'd just up and left after class, not bothering to come and collect it. Stacy had figured that he'd just forgotten, and that she'd be getting an email or a visit to pick it up in short order, but... nothing. She couldn't even seem to recall what the student looked like, beyond pale skin and dark hair.
Her curiosity soon got the better of her. She picked it up, turning it over in her hands. There were no markings on it, other than the normal handful of scratches that came with not having a phone case. Figuring that there'd be something on the phone to help her identify whose it was, she gave the power button a quick click, waking the screen up.
Surprisingly, there was no lock screen. No home screen either, no list of apps, none of that. Just a plain grey text box with the words "Enter your command:" and a small microphone icon beneath it. Not thinking much of it, Stacy instinctively pressed the home button at the bottom of the screen... to no effect. The phone stayed as it was. She clicked the power button twice, turning the screen on and off... and it was still there.
"Huh," Stacy grunted, perplexed. She wasn't exactly a stranger to technology, but she'd never seen anything like this before. What exactly did it mean by 'enter your command'?
Her thumbs gravitated down towards the keyboard as she mulled over what to try. She wasn't even sure what context it was being asked in. One surefire way to get at least some information, though... !help
The space above her entry scrolled as it populated with text... though nowhere near as much as she was expecting.
"Enter a command to make changes."
No list of commands or arguments to go with them, no explanation, no help at all, really. If anything, it was even more vague than before.
Her thumbs danced across the screen again on impulse, typing the first thing that came to mind.
Office hours are over.
The instant she pressed 'enter', a wave of dizziness passed over her. The ambient noise of the building seemed to skip for a moment, and the sunlight coming in through the window seemed to jump. Stacy's heart raced at the sudden change. What had she just done, had she...? A quick glance at the clock confirmed that it was now 6:00. She'd jumped almost thirty minutes in an instant... which meant...
She stared down at the device in her hands, dumbfounded. What had she stumbled across?
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