“Weird,” I said, grabbing the keyboard to examine it more closely. That was when we both saw the brand name and model number. It wasn’t just a keyboard. It was a Memotech MTX512—the vintage computer that Gary and Wyatt used to create Lisa in Weird Science, which had （in revolutionary-at-the-time fashion） hidden its 8-bit CPU in the chassis of the keyboard itself. It looked pretty beat-up. A few of the keys on the keyboard were missing.
I turned to address the John Hughes NPC.
“What’s this doing here?” I asked. But Hughes didn’t even seem to hear me. He just kept on writing. I turned back to Art3mis and handed the computer to her.
“When I ran into Wyatt’s house earlier, I noticed that his computer was missing from his bedroom,” she said. “The FDX hard-drive add-on was still there, but this keyboard was gone. Which would appear to indicate that someone took it from Wyatt’s and brought it here…”
I leaned forward to study the keyboard more closely. There were four missing letters—the R, A, I, and K keys were gone.
Then it hit me.
“Og!” I said. “He was here earlier today, when he collected the Third Shard. And he put the computer here, where he knew we would see it.”
I pointed at the Memotech MTX512. “In Weird Science, a nerd used this computer to create a simulation of his dream girl,” I said. “Maybe Og is trying to tell us that Halliday did the same thing. That’s why he knocked out these four keys…K, I, R, and A.”
“Holy shit!” Art3mis said. “Kira!”
I nodded. Then another lightbulb went on over my head.
“If Og was able to leave behind a hidden message for us here, maybe he did the same thing when he was collecting the first two shards!” I said. “I should have realized it on Kodama.”
I explained to Art3mis how Og’s strange high score on the Ninja Princess videogame had puzzled me.
“Did you spot anything else on Kodama?” Art3mis asked. “Anything else out of place?”
I thought it over for a moment, then shook my head.
“I don’t think so,” I said. “I don’t remember seeing anything like that on Middletown either. But there are 256 different instances of Middletown spread across the planet, and Og could have obtained his shard from any one of them.”
“That’s hopeless,” Art3mis said, shaking her head. “We don’t have time to search all those instances. We still have four more shards to collect, and only about five hours to do it.”
“You’re right,” I said. “We don’t have time. But I bet I know someone who does. Hold on. Give me a minute…”
I pulled up my HUD and selected L0hengrin’s name from my contact list, then I tapped the icon to send her a text. Then, on the off chance that Anorak was monitoring my video feeds, I closed my eyes and typed out my entire message to Lo without looking at it:
Dear Lo,
I could use some more of your help after all.
I need you to go back and locate the instance of Middletown where Og obtained the First Shard. It should be the only other instance on the planet that is currently set to the year 1989. You’ll have to teleport around and check them all one at a time until you find it. Once you do, I need you to look for anything unusual or out of place. Something around Og’s home, or in Kira’s bedroom. If you find something, message me immediately and I’ll send you my coordinates so we can meet in a secure location.
Thanks, Lo. I can’t tell you anything more right now, but I promise, it’s important.
I owe you a Wookiee Life Debt for this.
Sincerely,
Z
I used a keyboard shortcut to send the message without looking at it. Then I opened my eyes, closed my HUD, and turned back to face Art3mis.
“I emailed a friend who might be able to help,” I said. “Fingers crossed.”
Art3mis gave me a dubious look and folded her arms.
“A friend?” she repeated. “What friend?”
Was that a hint of jealousy in her voice?
“I’ll tell you later,” I said as I threw open the door of Hughes’s office and sprinted off down the hall. “Come on!”
As we headed down the stairs, I cast a glance back down the hall. Through his open office door, I caught one last, brief glimpse of John Hughes sitting at his desk, hunched over his typewriter in a thick cloud of cigarette smoke, clacking away furiously on his typewriter keys, writing as if his life depended on it.
* * *
Art3mis drove us back to the Shermer Hotel, where the NPC of Robert Duckie Jr. was standing frozen out front. She handed him the script we’d retrieved from John Hughes. RDJ opened it to the last few pages and scanned them in a matter of seconds. Then, as soon as he finished reading them, the script suddenly vanished in a shower of glittering gold dust.