8 Beep Boop

Chapter Eight Beep Boop The explorers all clambered into the stomach. There was Finn, dangling from the ceiling. And below him was an enormous computer. Its screen took up one whole wall of the stomach. Lights randomly blinked red, blue, green, and yellow across the screen. "Finn, are you okay?" yelled Elias. "Yeah," said Finn. "Except for the whole being trapped upside down, hanging from the ceiling thing." Elias looked closer at Finn. It wasn't a web surrounding him. It was paper. The computer had an enormous reel on one side of it. And the reel constantly spun a thin stream of paper onto the floor. "Interesting," said Elias, picking up a strip of the paper. "The stomach must have a defense

mechanism. It thought Finn was a threat, so it spun him up in a web of this paper." "Finn, I will be right up," shouted Foggy. He shot off toward the ceiling, but only made it halfway. Like a lasso, the supercomputer whipped paper around Foggy's legs and arms, until the robot was trapped in a paper cocoon. "Stop," said Jern. "I've heard of this before. Yeah, Saphrite swallowed this one world where everyone would go to play all sorts of games. A real arcade planetoid. I bet that's where this computer came from." Elias sat down. "I'm really not feeling so great," he said. "Okay, we need to get Elias out of here," said Abigail. "Actually, we need to get all of us out of here. Jern, how do we get Finn and Foggy down?" "I'm not sure," whispered Jern. "But look. A computer is kind of like a brain. Or a brain is kind of like a computer. And that zombie back at the shack said to look for brains." "So you think this thing can tell us how to get out of here?" asked Abigail. "Yeah," smiled Jern. "Or at least how to get to my friends."

The beetle took a confident stride toward the screen. "Hey, you!" he shouted. "Jamoke! Let go of our friends and tell us how to get to the prison tummy, wouldja?!" The computer shot out a small piece of paper. It landed at Abigail's feet. She picked it up and read it out loud. "It says, 'Where do astronaut computers hang out?'" "That makes no sense," said Jern. "Is it a riddle?" said Elias. "It kind of sounds like a joke," said Abigail. "But it's only half a joke," said Finn. "Maybe we need to come up with the punchline." "Oh great," said Vale. "I'm the funny one. I'll solve it." "We can all solve it together, Vale," said Abigail. "Yeah, but I'm the sergeant-at-arms," said Vale. "And this is a battle. This is my thing." "I got it!" said Finn. "Where do astronaut computers hang out? At the space bar." A million lights flared on the computer's screen, and bells and horns sounded. Finn had

obviously guessed the correct punchline. Another piece of paper shot out and landed at Abigail's feet. "Okay, awesome," said Abigail. "This one says, 'What does a robot use to find its keys?'" "Easy, a flashlight," said Vale. "It needs a light to find the keys, flash drives are... like... a thing that computers use. Flashlight! Final answer!" The computer screen lit up entirely in red and buzzed loudly. The paper web around Finn and Foggy tightened. Another piece of paper fell to the ground. "The answer is: search engine." "Not as good as mine," mumbled Vale. "Ow!" said Finn. "Okay, now we know what happens if we get one wrong."

该页暂无翻译

"Don't just shout it out, Vale," said Elias. "We need to work together." The computer spit out another piece of paper. "I'll read it," said Vale. He grabbed it before Abigail said anything. "Okay, it says, 'Why couldn't the computer find its home?' I know, I won't answer it. It doesn't even make sense, really—" "Because it had lost its keys," said Elias. Again, the computer lit up in a rainbow. Bells and chimes filled the cavern. "That doesn't make sense," said Vale. "Sure it does," said Elias. "Every keyboard has a home key. The computer couldn't find its home, because it had lost its keys. Its home key. Or maybe not. I don't know. Guys, I'm really dizzy." "You jamokes need to speed this up," said Jern. "Unless you want the computer to squeeze your friends harder than an aunt at Thanksgiving." "Okay, fine," said Vale. "I didn't know there was a dad-joke stomach in Saphrite." The computer buzzed and another piece of paper landed at Abigail's feet. Both she and Vale grabbed it. They began tugging it back and forth.