THWUMP.
Elias keyed in the coordinates: X=0.000, Y=0.000. Width: 120mm. Height: 30mm. Font: Univers 55, 18pt. The text was pre-loaded: . signmaster cut product serial number
Elias peeled the small, white rectangle from the roll. He held it up to the light. . His own product number. Or rather, the product number of every sign, every letter, every piece of his life’s work that had ever passed through this machine. It was the base serial. The root. The first. THWUMP
The canister was gone, sucked into the building’s circulatory system, headed for a server farm in Arizona where a furnace would melt the vinyl and a camera would confirm the smoke. the product number of every sign