A Code-Burner worked remotely from his countryside house. While abstractions took care of much of the lower-level boilerplate, someone was still required to “burn” disparate hints, rumors, and functional assertions to non-volatile, replayable storage. The turnaround requirements demanded someone capable of intense bursts of productivity - and being ethically OK with unclean code that sometimes resulted. This kept him busy and provided a good life, but he was lonely.
One day, his friend from school, The Fixer, stopped to visit. In the 22nd solarpunk future, the title of Fixer has become esteemed. These individuals were specially trained in exhuming old code from a century’s worth of detritus, circumventing the licensed parts, and rolling back unused features introduced later in life. When their work was done, the conservatorship released these pieces of abandonware back into the public domain.
Hoping to rekindle the companionship of their youth, The Code-burner invited The Fixer to come and live with him, offering to split the housekeeping chores.
The Fixer replied, “I’m flattered, but it is impossible as far as I’m concerned. Whenever I’d find you working, I would be overcome with anxiety that I was witnessing my next project to maintain.”