Chapter Four

Inez stared at herself in the mirror. She had tried countless times to tell Slider her big news, but the restaurant had not really been the ideal place. Not to mention, that darn cookie kept dinging every few minutes with crazy suggestions: bizarre foods, miniature furniture, colored cyber-wool… Okay, maybe not extremely crazy suggestions.

Slider's face had grown increasingly perplexed with each new ding! Inez laughed now as she reflected on the evening, but at the time she had only gotten annoyed with the cookie and Slider's questions.

"C'mon, Nezzie," she chided herself. "You're back in your apartment. Now is a great time to tell him." She tried starting her speech several times in front of the mirror, trying to envision Slider's response. "Well, you know how you always wanted an assistant in the garage…no, that's no good. You know, we have about the same hair color, what do you think is the probability that…no, too scientific. Slider, I'm going to make you the happiest person in Cyberspace. Yeah! That sounds good…until Slider says something like 'That sounds like a tall order' or 'Lame, let's have an adventure instead.' That's it! Slider, how would you like to go on an adventure?"

"Was that directed at me or the mirror?"

Inez whirled around to find her husband leaning against the doorframe of their bedroom door. His arms were crossed and there was a mischievous glint in his eyes.

"I thought you were locking the garage."

"I finished with that," Slider replied with a shrug. "Now, what did you want to ask me?"

Inez gulped. This was not the romantic moment she had been hoping for, but at least that cookie from Amazin' seemed to be nowhere in sight to interrupt her. She tried to take a calming breath before she began.

"Slider, would you like to go on an adventure?"

"Naw thanks, not tonight. I'm hitting the couch and bag of popcorn." Slider jerked a thumb towards the living room. "So, are we watching Pirates of the Calculation Sea or not?"

Inez felt a little hurt by the response, but this still was not the ideal setting for her announcement either. "Yeah," she said, brightening. "I love watching that movie with you."

o.0.o

Jackie was still staring at the large screen in Al's office while the frantic cyborg contacted different departments of his company to stop the snelfu transactions. Just then, Jackie noticed that one of the broken links was suddenly mended, traveling its normal course. For a second she hoped that the technology department had restored the transaction link, but the worried and frenzied voices coming from the various departments through the small screen on Al's desk suggested otherwise.

"Can you trace this link?" Jackie asked, pointing to the screen. "It appears to be placing an order like normal."

Al gave a frazzled look. "We keep our customers' names confidential!"

Shari rolled her eyes. "That's evident when you allow little drones to pursue your customers like puppy dogs to other cybersites!"

Al frowned, but Jackie spoke up before he could make a retort. "This link appears to have been fixed. But if your technologies department did not correct it, then someone else has."

Reluctantly, Al pounded some keys on his desk, and a dialogue box appeared on the screen above the questionable link.

"Don't let this leak out that I allowed cybercitizens' personal purchase orders to be reviewed by non-employees," Al grumbled.

"Don't send pop-up drones to your customers so that everyone around them know what your company suggests based on their purchases," Shari remarked under her breath.

Jackie read the new name from the dialogue box that showed up on the screen. "Wicked?"

Shari rubbed her chin thoughtfully. "This wouldn't be the first time that witch has tried to take over Cyberspace. Too bad for her she gave herself away by hacking everyone's accounts but her own!"

"But this account was hacked," Jackie mused. "I thought…" Jackie read the list of purchased items below the customer's name. "A Zoom-Broom 3001?"

"What do you mean it's your coffee break?" Al sputtered at the small screen before glancing over at Jackie, his tone abruptly changing to his usual salesman lilt. "It's our latest model." Then turning back to the screen, "I'm not paying you to drink coffee!"

"You know, I'm still flying around on a Wimbus 2000?" Shari muttered. "It's so old I can't get an upgrade. But Zoom-Brooms are so expensive…and only last until the next version comes out."

Jackie ran her finger under the words as she read two additional purchases. "A blue bunny…thirty cases of donuts?"

She and Shari exchanged a glance. "Delete and Buzz!" they exclaimed together.

"Why do I get the sneaking suspicion that Wicked isn't just buying presents for those two robots?" Jackie asked with a frown.

"Would Buzz and Delete purchase a gift for Wicked using her own account, or…"

Shari and Jackie glared at one another as the same thought occurred to them. "Hacker! Hacker bought Wicked a fancy broom, using her own money. Now, Buzz and Delete are draining the rest of her account. Wicked won't know until it's too late!"

Another link suddenly seemed to correct itself and more purchases were being made. "Hacker is going to steal from everyone!" Shari paled.

"Stop all purchase orders and snelfu transactions from being completed!" Al shouted at the little screen.

Jackie turned back to Al. "Wait, stop all deliveries except the Zoom-Broom. I have an idea."