Ascension II: Absolution

Yrtl felt his plant activate, like a spring uncoiling in his brain, as it began downloading details of his moral transgressions over the past few days. Apprehensively, he watched the figures accumulate on the screen:

*Venial Sins: 47*

Ouch – that was going to cost some.

*Mortal Sins: 3*

Three! It must be a mistake: sure, he’d cursed some when they’d lost the big contract, and he’d wished that bad thing on his mother – but what else? Unless it was what he’d thought about Murt’s wife when he’d seen her sunbathing yesterday…

*Mortal Sins: 4*

_Shit!_

*Venial Sins: 48*

Hurriedly, he thrust his credit fob into the slot.

*TOTAL DEBIT: 99,784 credits*

*Absolution in progress…please wait*

A progress bar began to crawl across the screen; Yrtl breathed a sigh of relief as he felt his moral slate being wiped clean – until the bar suddenly froze.

*ERROR 327B4. Please contact your System Administrator. Shutting down.*

The screen went blank and the lights in the booth clicked off, leaving Yrtl in darkness.