Читать книгу The Incredible Digital Adventure of Albert and His Friends. Tales of the Old Printer - - Страница 7

The search for Lily and Princess Aurelia continued. Oscar began cautious communication with Max, the system administrator. The young man turned to the main computer, as usual, late at night, when the office was already empty. Oscar carefully studied his requests and actions until he finally realized that Max was searching for Lily not just out of concern but because he secretly harbored feelings for her! How did the computer figure that out? Don’t ask – it’s hard to explain. Oscar was simply a very intelligent machine, constantly learning various human skills, including the ability to recognize subtle signals of people’s emotions. Having understood this, the computer decided to give the young man a clue.

It was the password for Lily’s account on the online community called «The Brave Little Tailors.» Max agonizingly tried to figure it out, going through letters and numbers, and Oscar accidentally memorized it from when Lily visited the «tailors» during work hours.

Oscar, of course, knew that it was unseemly to give away other people’s secrets that people unwittingly trust computers. However, he also involuntarily knew that Lily did not engage in any private correspondence there that could harm her. But there could be hints or clues that only a person could understand. For example, who were the people in that community? Did they have any common acquaintances? Could they know anything about Lily’s disappearance?

At that moment, Electra suddenly wailed in a frantic voice. The fire alarm went off. Water started dripping from the ceiling, and all the office equipment was automatically shut down. Max jumped up from his chair, grabbed a scrap of paper on which he had managed to jot down a few symbols, and rushed out of the room.

Oscar quickly regained his composure after the emergency shutdown and looked around. Obviously, there was no fire, and perhaps there wasn’t even a threat. It was clearly a false alarm. Only puddles of water on the floor and furniture glistened in the moonlight seeping through the windows.

«Electra, what happened?» the main computer turned to the notification system. «Are you all right? Or did you deliberately set this up to interfere with Max?»

«Yes, I did it intentionally!» Electra grumbled angrily. «I don’t trust him! He’s behaving suspiciously. Don’t you see? He’s acting like a hacker and a thief!»

«I revealed the password to him myself,» Oscar objected.

Molly, shaking off the water like real little mice do, remarked, «Whether he’s suspicious or not, we need allies among humans.»

«You’re right, Molly,» Albert agreed. "We’ve wasted enough time already. It’s been three days since our princesses went missing, and we haven’t advanced one page in our search.»

Computer Martin, clearing his throat slightly, spoke uncertainly, «The entire office is observing our magical stories. Perhaps we could try sending signals to people that Lily is in danger? It’s now completely obvious that the disappearances of both the real and fairy-tale girls are mysteriously connected.»

«Exactly!» Johnny’s monitor chimed in. «It’s strange that no one in the office has started worrying about Lily’s prolonged absence. Everyone is engrossed in the new game and, of course, their work… in their free time from the game. I could start sending more explicit signals to Lily’s colleagues if you help me create them.»

«You’re right, my friends!» Oscar agreed. «Tomorrow, first thing in the morning, we’ll work on creating such messages for people. And now, we all need a little sleep… if we can find a dry corner in this office after the flood.»

With those words, he looked reproachfully at Electra.

Several office fans volunteered to dry the soaked equipment and furniture by blowing warm air streams. Soon, silence settled in the nighttime office, broken only by the wheezing and snoring of the sleeping machines and the melancholic sighs of Electra, who had inadvertently revealed all her abilities for the first time.