Hat Kid arrived at the place at a hurried pace. While she never saw any interest in going to Info Cern, she knew it held part of her answer to her frustrating puzzle. The website took the form of a marble white museum with renaissance architecture. As Hat Kid walked through the threshold, she noticed gift shops and robot employees holding flyers but there weren't any visitors. As she walked through the entrance hall, none of the employees made any movement. Hat Kid ignored the irregularity and looked around. There were infographics displayed on frames that explained the life of Tim Berners-Lee, the purpose of Hypertext as well as the history of the internet. It was standard stuff but not what Hat Kid was looking for. She continued looking and found four doors that lead to different areas of the museum. Hat Kid didn't want to spend time looking through all four doors so she grabbed her hat. The purple tophat changed into something that looked like a fox mask. As she pulled the mask over her head, the world around her turned a light shade of green. She immediately spotted a bright green glow down the entrance that was labeled with "Browse the first website using the line-mode browser simulator". Hat Kid sprinted into the area and immediately collided with a brick wall.
"Crud..." groaned Hat Kid as she rubbed her head, "Who put this here?"
The brick wall was obscured by darkness which greatly concerned Hat Kid about this place's safety precautions. Hat Kid spotted a light switch at the entrance and turned it on. Like most of the museum, the brick wall was painted white although some of the paint was peeling off. On the front was a portrait of a person. But parts of the portrait were ripped away including the head area. The person in the portrait was wearing a white lab coat and a grey shirt. Hat Kid checked the name of the person on the portrait but there was no name. She grunted in disappointment. She had to get past this conveniently placed brick wall. She didn't need to look for long until she found some loose bricks. Hat Kid carefully removed them until there was a large hole in the wall that had more than enough space for her to crawl through. Once she was through, she put the bricks back where they were before, leaving a few bricks out so that she knew where to find her way out again.
The light from the holes in the wall illuminated the hallway which had a rusted metallic texture, a far cry from the smooth marble of the museum. Pipes and vents snaked along the walls of the hallway like veins. Hat Kid's shoes clanged against the metal walkway, echoing too loudly for anyone not to hear. The place looked abandoned, judging by the inch of dust that covered the floor. Lights flickered on as Hat Kid continued down the hallways. Values spewed gas in Hat Kid's direction. It was almost as if the entire place knew that she was there. What the place thought of her intrusion was not clear but she didn't like the signs. She turned left at an intersection that had a sign which had words that were scribbled out. Soon she found herself in an office-like area. The place was barren, stripped of what former decorations it once had. All that was left was a metal desk that was bolted to the floor and a few cardboard boxes. As she approached the desk the wall split open with a metallic groan. Electricity crackled as monitors emerged. Hat Kid noticed that they were floating. They stopped above the desk, hovering and waiting. Hat Kid nervously tapped one of the screens. A few seconds after, an insignia appeared on the screen. It was a cloud with a single eye on it. The eye remained on the screen for a minute, staring directly at Hat Kid. It unnerved her. Suddenly the insignia disappeared and the screen switched to a desktop homepage with a single video file in the middle titled, "qu3sti0n".
"Why does this seem really suspicious..." thought Hat Kid but she was never one to really consider the consequences. She clicked the file. Suddenly the room that Hat Kid was standing in appeared on the screen. Only it was more lively and active with decorations and chairs. That was what Hat Kid could make out of the footage considering it was extremely corrupted and glitchy. Suddenly someone appeared in front of the camera. Their face was difficult to make out but Hat Kid could see a lab coat.
"Is this thing on?"
The person lifted the camera and inspected it. Through the static, Hat Kid could make out an eye.
"I just moved in. All the equipment has been brought here. I am ready to begin the project."
The person flipped the camera and pointed towards the screens that Hat Kid was viewing.
"So the first thing to know is that the purpose of this place is to connect all information online to one big web. The framework or the proverbial stage is set. Now I am to help the clients navigate it. And I have the perfect solution."
On the screen in the video, there were schematics and blueprints of something that Hat Kid couldn't see.
"Oh, the users are going to love this."
The video ended abruptly. The screen returned to the home page. There was another video file in the middle of the screen, "test1". Hat Kid grimaced. If she had to participate in a game of follow the leader to find her answers, she will be willing to play along. Hat Kid raised her hands and clicked the next video file.