told them the computer was in the central tower and that meant they had to
go to the center of the castle to reach it. That wouldn’t be easy, Wiz
knew. Not only was the place enormous, Lannach said there were guards
everywhere.
Don’t think of it as a problem, Wiz told himself. Consider it a challenge.
Their first challenges were just around the corner. Three of them, all
nearly seven feet tall. Their faces were piglike with tusked snouts and
red eyes that looked mean even as they laughed uproariously at something
one of them said. They were wearing armor of fantastic designs and
carrying an assortment of wicked-looking polearms. Curved swords and
daggers hung from their studded metal belts, and nickel-plated machine
guns were slung over their backs.
Wiz peered around cautiously and then jerked his head back before they
could see him. Danny, Jerry and June also peeked around.
June laid a hand on Danny’s arm and looked at him quizzically.
“We’re going to sneak up on them and knife all three of them when they’re
not looking,” Danny whispered sarcastically.
Wiz signaled his companions into a huddle twenty feet or so back from the
corner.
“We’ve got to go this way,” he whispered to them. “Lannach says this is a
blind corridor and there’s only this one way out.”
“Can we distract them?” Jerry asked.
“Without them raising the alarm? How?”
When they looked back, June was halfway down the corridor. All three
motioned frantically for her to come back but June ignored them. Then she
whipped around the corner.
“Oh shit! Come on.” Danny set off at a dead run with Wiz and Jerry
pounding after him.
As they came around the corner June was walking back toward them, wiping
her knife on her skirt. Behind her were three large steel-clad forms lying
in a heap.
“Now what?” she whispered to Danny.
“Uh, now we keep going,” Danny whispered hoarsely. Wiz and Jerry just
goggled.
Just past the guards was an open door leading to a room with masses of
wires running down the walls.
“What do you suppose all this is anyway?” Danny asked, looking around the
room.
“Hard to say, but if I was to guess I’d say it was a wiring closet for
their phone exchange.”
Wiz looked over the mass of wiring speculatively.
“I’d say it was a good place to start sabotage then.” He raised his hands.
“Let’s see how long it takes this stuff to melt.”
“I got a better idea,” Danny said. “We’ve got a couple of minutes, don’t
we?”
Wiz looked down at the bodies of the three guards. “Uh, yeah.”
Danny grinned. “Good. Let’s see what happens when they get their wires
crossed.”
Wiz looked at the wall of hair-fine wires dubiously. “I said a couple of
minutes, not a few hours.”
“Oh, I’m gonna have help. Emac!”
Instantly one of the little demons stood before him.
“backslash,” Danny commanded.
“?” the Emac responded.
“list spaghetti exe”
As Wiz and Jerry watched the demon scribbled furiously, filling the air
with glowing symbols. Danny knelt down and began giving the creature
commands in a low voice.
“You know,” Jerry observed, “it’s kind of handy carrying your own software
development environment with you wherever you go. Kind of like having the
world’s niftiest laptop-except you don’t get tired lugging it through
airports.”
Wiz eyed his friend. “I think you’ve been here too long.”
With a final whispered exe!, Danny stood up. There was a quick swirl of
air and another little demon stood next to the Emac. This one wore a blue
denim work shirt, jeans and construction boots-much like the one Danny had
produced to connect up the computer. However this demon bore a striking
resemblance to Alfred E. Neuman.
Danny pointed at the wiring panel. “Kill!” he commanded.
The demon grinned and swarmed up the panel, clinging with its feet while
it swapped wires with both hands.
“That was fast work,” Wiz said as the quartet left the wiring room. Behind
them the demon was still furiously switching connections.
“It’s something I’ve been kinda working on for a while,” Danny admitted.
Wiz shook his head. “I don’t think it’s ever going to be safe to let you