Poem: "LCD"

This poem was inspired by prompts from xjenavivex, stonetalker, and puffbird.  It was sponsored by xjenavivex.  The title, of course, is a riff on Liquid Crystal Display.

The year Al Gore invented the innernet,
human resource consumption plummeted
as people became fascinated with exploring
the infinite realms that lay within them.
Despite some grumbled references
to the holodeck being humanity's last  invention
Lucid Crystal Dreams became an overnight success
as people dreamed up software for dreams --
hundreds of programs for games and simulations,
for movies and somnovels, for recording
all the cool stuff that went on in peoples' heads at night
(minus the clowns ice-skating on frozen chocolate milk),
and for a while it was terrific.

Then the spammers invaded the innernet,
and people's sleep was ruptured by advertisements
for penis enlargement and bank scams, tampons and pills.
There was no more "down time."
There was no way to be off duty,
out of reach, away from the office.
Everyone could be contacted 24/7
and the constant stress was driving humanity insane.

Fortunately, a 13-year-old nerd saved the world
by writing a virus that sought out and devoured
every bit of programming in the innernet and all its records,
then swallowed its own tail and disappeared without a trace.
No one ever discovered who had written the Ouroboros Worm
but they were all was profoundly grateful.