Mystery in the Computer Game (5 page)

C.D. looked confused now. “We haven’t had any network problem that I know of. We’re still looking for bugs in
Ringmaster II.
And I’ve been having problems with that new feature for
Ringmaster III
that Jane created. Now she’s telling me she can’t get it to work anymore. She went off to Hampstead this morning for a special computer chip she heard about that might get her idea working again.”

“Does it have anything to do with
Ringmaster II?”
Benny asked. “There’s a two-headed character named Nadje.”

“Nadje?” C.D. asked. “Are you sure of the name? I’ve never heard of any two-headed character. Sounds interesting. When did you discover this character?”

“This morning,” Henry said. “That’s the weird thing. When we played the
Ringmaster II
software here the other day and then at home, we didn’t see any Nadje character.”

“Or any sign on the castle that said ‘The Brass Horn,’ either,” Violet added. “That’s the same name as the restaurant in Greenfield where we just saw—”

Jessie gently poked Violet. She didn’t feel right about telling C.D. that they had spied Jane Driver in the restaurant when C.D. thought she was in Hampstead.

C.D. booted up the nearest computer, which happened to be Ned’s. “Okay, Aldens, see if you can bring up this Nadje character somewhere in this game.”

Henry and Jessie tried to remember what keys they had hit when they discovered Nadje. But every time they got to the onscreen castle, only the evil Wumps appeared.

“Are you sure you’re doing it right?” C.D. asked. “I don’t see this Nadje character. And there’s no sign over the castle, either.”

“Maybe we accidentally hit some wrong keys,” Jessie said. “That might have brought up parts of the game someone left in by mistake when they were designing it,” Jessie said.

Before they could say anything to C.D., though, he had turned off the game, for something else on Ned’s screen caught his attention. “What on earth ...” he murmured. He opened up a file marked “Head Shots,” and suddenly several rows of color photographs appeared on the screen.

“Wow!” said Henry.

“Ned shouldn’t have these,” said C.D. in a serious tone.

“Is it the secret?” asked Soo Lee.

“They look like pictures of people who work at QuestMaster,” Jessie said. “And some of their dogs. I’m confused. Why shouldn’t Ned have them?”

C.D. didn’t answer right away. When he did, he spoke very carefully. “I can’t really tell you every detail. These photos are part of Jane’s new idea. It’s too complicated to explain here, but there’s no reason Ned should have these.”

C.D. walked over to Jane’s workstation.

He clicked to open a file on her computer screen and the same row of photos appeared. “Ned must have copied her files,” he said.

“He was spying on Jane at the Brass Horn Restaurant,” Benny blurted out before anyone could stop him. “We saw him spying when we were hiding behind our menus.”

“Benny!” Jessie interrupted. “We don’t really know what was going on, C.D. All of us were just having lunch today at the Brass Horn, and so were Jane and Ned.”

“What?” C.D. said, his voice rising. “Jane is in Hampstead. She left a couple hours ago. As for Ned, I sent him over to your place to drop off a new computer mouse that works better with
Ringmaster II.
Then I asked him to run some errands for me. Of course, he can go anywhere he wants for lunch, so I guess he did.”

“So that’s why Ned was at our house today,” said Benny. “He came to our door, but Watch started barking, then Ned went away.”

C.D. smiled. “Well, Ned gets kind of grouchy with the way I run QuestMaster, what with dogs and kids and all. And he didn’t want to go to your house in the first place.”

“How long has Ned been at QuestMaster?” Henry asked.

“Since before there even was a QuestMaster,” C.D. said. “I brought him over from another computer company. And when I realized how good Andy was with computers, I asked him to work for us, too. Ned’s always been the one with the big ideas,” C.D. continued. “Now Jane is coming up with some amazing things to do with our games. But it looks like Ned is spying on Jane’s work.”

The dogs began barking. They raced to the hallway. A door banged.

Ned Porter walked in, carrying a pile of boxes. “Call the dogs away, if you don’t mind,” he said to C.D. and the Aldens in a grouchy voice. “Is this an office or a dog pound?”

“Both!” C.D. said.

If C.D. hoped this would make Ned smile, he was wrong. Ned set the boxes down on a nearby table. He gave one of them to the Aldens. “I was supposed to give you this new computer mouse this morning, but that dog of yours chased me away.”

“It’s because you ran away,” Benny said. “Once Watch meets most people, he’s friendly.”

“I came back to get a few things from my desk before I head home,” Ned told C.D. “I’ve been fooling around with some new things on my home computer.”

C.D. paused before he spoke. “Anything you want to share with the staff, Ned?”

“Nope,” Ned replied. He stuffed the photos on his desk into a folder and headed for the door.

“Had lunch yet?” C.D. asked.

Same answer. “Nope,” he said, then he left the studio.

C.D. shook his head. “I’m going to have a private talk with Ned about those photos and about the ‘Head Shots’ file. I hoped he’d tell me on his own, but no such luck. And he lied about having lunch, too. I don’t know what I can say about that.”

Violet looked a little upset. “Maybe Ned didn’t lie about lunch. He was just standing in the restaurant right behind Jane Driver and the two people she was with.”

C.D. straightened up. “What two people? Do you remember what they looked like, Violet?”

Violet wasn’t sure.

“I remember,” Benny said. “I think one was tall with a bushy beard.”

C.D.’s face went pale. “A man with a beard and ... was the other man bald?”

“We couldn’t tell,” said Benny. “He was wearing a hat.”

“I hope they don’t turn out to be who I think they are,” said C.D.

“Who?” Henry asked.

C.D. looked upset. “They’re two people I used to work with a few years back. Now they’ve founded a game company, too. It’s called Comet Interactive Games. We went our separate ways when I discovered I couldn’t trust them.”

“Do you trust us?” Benny asked. “We were hiding behind our menus and spying in the restaurant.”

C.D. smiled a little. “Everybody enjoys people-watching in restaurants, Benny. I think that’s okay if you don’t stare or make them uncomfortable.”

“They didn’t see us,” Benny continued. “Then lunch came, and that was more fun. And now we’re here.”

C.D. thought about this. “Yes, you’re all here. Now I wish Jane were here, too. I need to get to the bottom of this.”

Grandfather and Mrs. McGregor were back home when the children returned from QuestMaster.

“I read your note about your meeting at QuestMaster,” Grandfather said to the children. “So how did Watch do on his first day of work?”

“Watch took a long doggie break instead of a coffee break,” Henry said, trying to look serious. “C.D. isn’t sure he wants to hire Watch unless he learns how to type with his paws.”

Grandfather and Mrs. McGregor laughed at the thought of Watch sitting at the computer instead of under it.

“Seriously, though,” Henry continued, “there wasn’t any meeting. C.D. thought someone at the studio was playing a prank on us.”

“You know, I wondered about this meeting,” Mrs. McGregor said, “since Andy Porter came by again while you were gone. It seemed odd that he wouldn’t be at the meeting, too. Since he worked on the computer before, I let him in. Oh, dear, I hope there isn’t a problem.”

Jessie felt sorry for Mrs. McGregor. She was only trying to help. “That’s okay. We were having a bit of trouble with the computer. Now maybe Andy fixed it. Thanks.”

The computer was still on in the den.

“Gee, why is the
Ringmaster II
screen on if Andy was working on the network?” Jessie asked.

Henry tried to check his e-mail, but the QuestMaster network still didn’t work. “I guess Andy didn’t have any luck. Now, I wonder why he booted up
Ringmaster II.
”

Henry hit the start button. The Magician came on-screen. “I’m not going to play a real game,” Henry said. “I just want to try a few things, like finding Nadje again. When we were with C.D., I was beginning to think we imagined her.”

“There she is, Henry,” Soo Lee said when she saw the two-faced woman again.

“Good. I guess our minds weren’t playing tricks after all,” Jessie said, looking on.

An amazing thing happened when Henry slid the computer mouse over to Jessie. When she mistakenly brushed the right button on the mouse key, a message came out of Nadje’s mouth. Henry read it to the others:

“I need to discuss the situation as soon as possible. Let’s meet at 3:00 Tuesday. I just hope no one follows me.”

“What does that mean?” Soo Lee asked her cousins. “Is Nadje a real person? Is she going to come over here?”

Henry sat back in his chair. “Something is definitely going on that isn’t part of
Ringmaster II.
Part of a real message got mixed up with the game.”

“This is getting spooky,” Soo Lee said.

Violet put her arms around Soo Lee and Benny. Soo Lee was right. This game was getting spooky. The computer seemed to be giving the Aldens messages somehow!

“Okay, there’s Arthur, the older boy character,” Jessie said. “He’s watching Nadje chase the Magician, and he looks really worried.”

“Let’s see if Arthur has any spells to rescue the Magician,” Henry said. When Henry clicked on the boy’s saddlebag, a stone fell to the ground and a message appeared.

Violet read the words:

“Now the son must save the father,

So use the spell to help another.

Nadje’s watching, so take care,

To use the stone that’s fallen there.”

Before the Aldens had time to use the computer mouse, Nadje grabbed the stone.

“Should we call C.D. and have him come over to see what’s going on with this game?” Henry said. “He didn’t even know about Nadje.”

“Not yet,” Jessie answered. “I have a funny feeling this game is just for us.”

“The only character who can move now is Arthur,” Violet noted. “He must be the one who has to save the Magician.” The children studied the screen for clues.

Benny noticed a fountain by the side of the road. “Maybe the fountain has magic water. But be careful in case the water is poison like in the other game.”

Like Benny, Soo Lee had sharp eyes. “Look, there are birds drinking the water and flying around. That probably means it’s safe to drink.”

When Violet clicked on the fountain, the children heard the tinkling sound of water on the computer speaker. This meant the boy, Arthur, could drink the water.

“The water’s safe!” Henry said. “Good for you for figuring that out. Maybe you can even figure out how to help him get the magic stone away from Nadje.”

Jessie had some ideas. “Can I try? I have a feeling Arthur is the key to freeing the Magician from Nadje.”

Because of the many odd sounds coming from the computer speaker, the children barely heard the phone ring.

Finally Henry realized the ringing sound was coming from the hallway, not the computer speaker. He raced to answer the phone. The children heard him talking to someone.

“That was C.D.,” Henry said when he returned to the den. “He’s curious about how we’re doing with the game, but he won’t have time to meet today. He said he’s driving up to Hampstead to get the special chip Jane was supposed to pick up. It turns out she never showed up. And know what else? He can’t find Ned or Andy, either.”

“Did you tell him about all the strange things happening in
Ringmaster II?”
Violet asked.

Henry shook his head. “Not yet. I want to figure out a few things on our own first. But he said there’s a meeting tomorrow when he gets back. He wants everybody there. Let’s talk with him then.”

“Sure thing. Hey, you know what?” Jessie asked. “We’re not getting anywhere with this game right now. Why don’t we go into town and pick up a copy of Fix-It software so we can fix the network?”