[RLacey]

Failed Thread™-killer Giligan flung himself backwards in his chair, sliding away from the computer. In the dim light from the monitor he saw the blood on the floor, and knew that it was his own.

"You should have turned off the printer," cackled the voice of the other man.

Staring into the face of the large, red-faced clown, Giligan arched an eyebrow, trying in vain to give off the impression that he couldn't care in the slightest. Though he knew that the dot matrix printer, perched on the desk to his right, was one of the early models from 1970 - the Digital Equipment Corporation's LA30 - he found it hard to believe that a small deviance from the 30 character/second speed limit could have caused the printer ribbon to fly off the printer, striking him in the chest.

Giligan stared at the clown, his eyebrow raised. "How? And why?"

"Sabotaging the LA30 was simple," came the reply. Giligan knew instinctively that this was true; the model had always been susceptible to damage due to its lose hood.

The clown continued. "As for why, it is to do with the Thread™. You know too much. Or perhaps you just think that you do. Either way, your elimination was a necessary measure."

Giligan winced. He was wondering when that subject was going to come up. Summoning up every remaining ounce of energy that he possessed, he struggled to his feet.

"You should not have done that, Mr Giligan."

As the vintage P08 Parabellum fired a shot, and Giligan collapsed to the floor, his final thoughts were those of satisfaction. He had left the required message, and now he just had to hope that they would see it.