Author's Note: Hello all my readers! I was sad that I only got two reviews for my previous chapter. Is no one else reading or willing to comment on my story? I know, I took a risk in not centering on the main characters, but I didn't think my story was too shabby. Oh well. Thanks J-lyoko for hinting oh so discreetly about a certain person and his crush (see, I can do it more discreetly). And thanks Beverly for, well, clapping! Thanks again to all my readers and reviewers out there! Read and enjoy!
"We have got to open that locked door," Cynthia said suddenly.
The five of them were sitting at one table in the cafeteria. They all weren't officially to the "friend" status yet, but they seemed to have a mutual and silent pact that they would be bound together by this shared secret until it blew over. Little did they know that it would not blow over at all.
"What a revelation," Ian said sarcastically but a severe look from Lori shut him up and made him more serious. For some reason, Angela noticed that Lori seemed to have entire control of Ian. Even though Lori was oblivious, Angela smiled slyly inside. Ian was playing his cards. Hahahaha…Ian and Lori…
Cynthia had enough sense to ignore the useless comment. "But how?" she said instead.
Charlie shrugged and poked at his mysterious green blob of food. "Maybe we could try every single number combination on that thing and see which one it opens at." This was greeted by silence and when he looked up, the other four were staring at him sullenly. "What?" he asked after a time. Then he raised his hands up in defeat. "Okay, okay, it was a stupid idea. Anyone else got any others?"
Cynthia picked at her mystery food as well. "We could try resetting it."
"Well wouldn't that require us to gain access first?" Angela shot back. After she finished speaking, she took a tentative nibble of her applesauce and then made a very attractive disgusted face.
"Hmm…true. But I saw a mass of wires below the keypad. Maybe we can just cut a few of those and reset it that way. Or make it open."
Lori shook her head immediately. "But we wouldn't know what we're doing. It would just be like shutting down that huge computer chip without knowing what it was doing there." Ian, Angela, and Charlie nodded in agreement.
The next few minutes passed in loud silence. Each of them were racking their brains for anyway they could somehow get in. Ian briefly touched on breaking down the door but quickly dismissed the idea as idiotic. Lori thought of trying to pry open the door but she knew that would only take a miracle. Cynthia wondered if the number-created password had any relation to any famous number sequence but knew it would take forever to try them all. Charlie pondered if there was any key that could also gain them access but knew that it most probably wasn't the case, and if there was then it would take them forever to try and find the key.
It was Angela who finally stood up in such a hurry that all their milks were in danger of toppling over and spilling everywhere. Charlie looked up in bewilderment and saw a gleam in her eye that made her determined face glow with confidence. He didn't even have to guess what the words out of her mouth were going to be. He knew.
"I have an idea."
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The trip through the sewers to the abandoned warehouse went by in silence. This time the silence was more oppressing to the other four members of the group, however. Angela had not yet revealed her plan and with that gleam in her eye, none of them were particularly fond of the idea of asking her. They had already made a mental note to help them in the future: Law 1) never disturb Angela when she gets that gleam in her eye. You know…that one. Yes. That means she's in deep, deep thought and it is the equivalent of someone with a big DO NOT DISTURB sign in neon flashing letters over their head. So, therefore, never disturb the Angela when she is like this. Of course, this didn't prevent them from wondering and wanting to strangle her because they wanted to stop wondering and know, but they resisted. And their forced patience was rewarded.
When they reached the elevator and stepped inside, the four of them stepped back to lean against the back wall of the elevator. Angela stood up front and pressed the down button. It looked like they had rehearsed this previously, all of them just going automatically into position.
The elevator ride was rather short though and when they stopped they did not expect the door to open. When it started to, the other four almost reeled over in shock but then realized that they weren't on the locked door's floor. They were on the floor above it. The computer chip room.
They filed out in an orderly fashion as the door finished opening. Once again they were each taken aback by the eeriness and mystery this room held, along with all the others. Even Angela was filled with the feeling. But when the elevator door closed shut with a bang, she was jolted back to life and her idea once again pushed everything else out of her mind.
"Okay," she said, sounding like an army general. "We have to work quickly because we don't have much of the lunch break left. Everyone spread out and try to find a thick sturdy rope. We can use the wires if it comes to a last resort but I would prefer a rope instead."
Obediently, the five of them separated to their own space in the room and started combing it for a rope. Obviously, Angela had failed to mention what her plan actually was, but they trusted her and once again suppressed the urge to strangle her.
A few unsuccessful minutes later, Angela was just about to call off the search when Lori gave a shout. In seconds, everyone was helping her get the long rope over to where Angela wanted it. It was thick and sturdy, just as Angela had requested, although it was a bit dusty from years of no use. They set it down next to a little circle part in the floor next to the giant circle where the computer chip was standing. The little circle part looked like a miniature round hill with a steering wheel type structure on top. Without another word, Angela bent down and started rotating the rusted wheel. It took her a while and a little help from Charlie to get it started, but once it got moving, it was easier to keep turning.
After a while, she stopped. The other four watched as she slowly and laboriously lifted the little dome shaped circle and pushed it away. The others looked down into the uncovered hole. What they saw gave them such a shock that they did back away a few steps to steady themselves. They all stared at Angela with amazement, but she just gave them a radiant smile. What they saw underneath them was the floor that belonged to the locked door.
"Now," she said, still matter-of-factly. "We need the lightest of the five of us to go down first and reset the lock on the door. Once we do that, the rest can get back into the elevator and get in the easy way."
"I'll do it," Cynthia said immediately. Everyone nodded in agreement. All of them had already expected Cynthia to do it without her volunteering.
"Okay," Angela said. "Now, we'll just lower the rope into the room and we'll tie it to something on this end. Then we'll all hold onto the rope as Cynthia slithers down there. Got it?"
Everyone nodded and Ian took one end of the sturdy rope and tied it around a thick, heavy batch of cords and wires. Then he took the back while Charlie positioned himself in front of him. Lori joined them next and finally Angela took the lead, placing her hands lightly on the rope. She gave an encouraging smile to Cynthia and said, "Be careful."
Cynthia smiled back brightly and lowered herself gently through the hole. Then she grabbed hold of the rope and slowly eased her whole weight onto the rope. The rope tightened in the other fours' hands and they pulled tighter as the wires and cords that the rope was rooted to groaned. The rope started jerking a few times as Cynthia lowered herself down slowly. Then they heard a muffled thumping sound as Cynthia's feet hit the floor and the rope's slack loosened.
Everyone immediately crowded back around the circular opening. Cynthia waved up at them from below. "Hey guys! I'm fine! This floor is even more amazing. I can't wait until you can come and see it. Go into the elevator. I'm going to go reset it right now."
The other four beamed grins down at Angela and congratulated each other when they straightened up. Then, without a speck of hesitation, they all ran pell-mell to the elevator.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
As the elevator door opened onto the second floor, the four of them waited and held their breaths. Then they all relaxed and exhaled as the door to the floor slid open for the first time. Without another moment hesitation, they ran out onto the level in as dignified a manner as they could muster.
This particular floor was the best out of all of them. Perhaps it was all the work they had to do to actually get in. Perhaps it was the mysterious and aloofness of this floor that had drawn them to it. Perhaps it was even the great sense of reward that made them value this floor more than the others. In any case, once they got in, all they could do was pretty much gape.
Angela's eyes were immediately glued to the circular area in the middle of this floor. It was raised in a sort of circular platform and hovering delicately above the platform was a hologram of some odd sort of map. Lori was first in tune to how much bigger this floor was to the others. It gave off a more complex air and made her like it even more. Charlie was astonished as he found himself looking at even more wires twisting and winding around other wires. They were in clumps all over the place. And Ian's eyes settled on what all the rest of them would look at next.
Cynthia. She sat happily in front of a giant computer screen. She gave them a little cheerful wave as she watched the other four move their heads from one side to the other, admiring. Then she heard the sound of four pairs of feet walking toward her. She waited until they were all gathered around her swivel chair. Then she turned to look at each of them severely.
"In the time it took you to get here," she said importantly, "I reset the number combination to one that we all would know. And that would be the Fibonacci numbers backward." She stopped talking to gaze at each of them even more severely. "And you better all know what the Fibonacci number sequence is." When all of them nodded their heads accordingly, Cynthia allowed a slight smile and continued. "It will go backward starting from the number 13. Any questions?" The silence answered her. "Okay then," she said resolutely. "I also found some information on what exactly this whole big set up is." She sighed then. "What I found was a bit surprising and disturbing."
She pressed a few buttons on the keyboard and the main computer screen whizzed into action. When it stopped the five of them all leaned closer to see what was being displayed. To Angela, it seemed exactly like the hologram that was hovering in the middle of the room.
Cynthia confirmed her thoughts. "That map," she said, gesturing toward the screen of the computer, "corresponds with that hologram." She waved a vague hand over to her left. "What it is there and on this computer screen for, I can only guess. But, I do have one guess." Then she settled into an uncomfortable silence.
"Well, go on then," Charlie said impatiently, staring uncomprehendingly at the computer screen.
Cynthia sighed again. "It seems to be some kind of…computer game."
"Sweet!"
Everyone turned to glare at Ian, who seemed to shrink apologetically under all the harsh gazes. "I-I mean, that's fascinating," he mended weakly, giving each of them a wistful smile.
Cynthia turned back to the computer screen. "Right," she said with a hint of sarcasm. "Anyway, from what we've seen, it can't be any ordinary computer game. I have a hunch that it's a game that you can really get into."
Ian shook his head. "Well, duh. Every computer game you can really 'get into.'"
Cynthia shook her head in turn. "No, I mean really get into. Like live the game. Be the game. Play the game in the game."
"Oh." Ian's word seemed to echo around the room. Everyone was stunned.
Angela was the first to recover, like always. "Well," she said in a satisfied manner. "I'm glad we figured this out. I hope we can come back here soon to, er, try and actually play the game, but I'm sorry to report that the lunch break has been over for five minutes and therefore, we are late to our next classes."
There was silence, and then another mad dash for the elevator door.