fandomhigh | Library, Sunday

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Library, Sunday

"So... where are the eggheads?"

Dante'd been fighting something out of a Japanese schoolgirl's nightmare out there. He'd been hoping someone was close to a solution. Instead the door was still closed, and... "Eight AM. I stayed up fighting shit until eight AM."

He nudged against the door and found it open. "'Kay then," he said, wandering inside. "Maybe there's some eggheads after all."

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"Research is not really my bag," Dante said.

He tilted his head at the library. "... But maybe I'll be back later with some pizza."

"That'd be cool if you did," Kathy said, reaching for her wallet. "If you hang on, I can throw you some money to cover it."

Someone had missed the news about him being rich. And was more than willing to pay for the privilege of not having to go back outside. The thought of fighting these critters made her feel...unsettled.

"Nah, I don't need anything," Dante said, waving her wallet off. "I'm good for it."

Kathy just raised an eyebrow at him, slowly tucking her wallet away. Wasn't this the guy that protested letting her have a single slice of pizza when he'd order them.

He must have been tired. "Okay then," she said. "Make sure at least one has veggies on it? But I won't make you suffer the indignity of ordering olives."

Dante noticed the look on her face and let out a wry huff. "I got money now," he said, by ways of explanation. "But fine, you get your veggie pizza. Just get our asses out of here stat."

Kathy snorted and resumed flipping through the book she was reading. "Finally, you admit that I'm--hello." Banter forgotten, she picked up a torn scrap of paper that had fallen out of the book. "What's this?"

"... A piece of paper?" Dante offered.

"Better than that!" Kathy said triumphantly, holding the paper out to him so he could see it. "It's part of a map! A map of the island, I think."

Based on the shape of the landmass, Kathy was guessing it was a map of the eastern side of the island. Except instead of the usual businesses and such on it, the map depicted a strange maze instead. Specific locations had been marked on it: RAIN FILTERS?, PORTAL ANCHOR, UNSURE - DO NOT TOUCH. And at the bottom, pointing at what would be Galactica Point on a normal map, someone had written a localhost website address.

"I wonder what Hardison would make of this," she murmured.

"Make of what?" Tip asked. She'd ended up rather deep in the cryptobiology section today, reading up on tree octopuses, but came out when she heard the sounds of things actually being found.

"This chunk of map I found," Kathy said, passing it over to Gratuity. "Hardison's a hacker, he might be able to trace back this address here and get more information about what it means."

"I hope there's not a minotaur in there," Tip said. "Huh. I mean. Have you looked at the actual address yet?"

Kathy shook her head. "I need a map of the island to compare it to and I haven't gotten one yet. Do you have one handy?"

There were almost certainly a slew about the library itself, but maybe Gratuity had one at hand?

Tip shrugged. "I'm sure there's one in here somewhere," she said. "But I meant the website there." She pointed to the localhost address.

Kathy shook her head. "Haven't had a chance, I was going to try to hunt down the third piece." She held out her chunk. "Do you want to take a crack at it?"

"Sure." Tip peered over her shoulder and quickly jotted down the address, then went over to one of the library computers. "It looks like it's on a local network, so not having the whole internet shouldn't be a problem."

She typed the address into the browser, then bopped her head for a few moments while the computer made the connection and loaded an image.

"That map. It looks kind of like Galactica Point, right?"

So did her image. A small horizontal sketch of it, to be precise. And arrow pointed to a particular rock formation, and there was some text added in all caps. "UP UP DOWN DOWN LEFT RIGHT LEFT RIGHT B-SHAPE A-SHAPE," Tip read. "Sounds like trying to teach someone to drive Slushious."

That was what happened when you had your family car repaired by someone who only vaguely understood the concept of one.

"That's the Konami code," Kathy said, blinking at it. "What's going on at Galactica Point that requires the Konami code?"

"Konami code? Is that . . . Japanese?"

Tip was not a gamer, no. Having to deal with actual alien invaders kind of took the fun out of digital ones for her.

"Yeah, sorta," Kathy said, peering at the computer screen like it would explain itself any minute. "It's an old video game reference. Putting that code into old Nintendo games would unlock new abilities and stuff."

"Huh." Tip looked at the sketch again, and the group of rocks it indicated. "I wonder what it unlocks out there."

"That's what we're going to have to find out," Kathy said. "I mean, send folks to find out. Send."

Doing it herself smacked firmly of heroics and she was done with that for now. Yes.

"Not the type for field work, huh?" Tip guessed.

"I've heard there are giant octopuses hanging around in trees out there," Kathy declared. "I'm way too East Asian for that nonsense."

Because it was that or saying 'not anymore' or maybe 'trying not to be.'

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Library, Sunday

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