Crescunda 34

30 Merchant Taylors’ Prep School Newsletter - 25.03.2022 MTP English “Yeah, it’s only a primitive human, so it can’t have gone far,” responded Tap. In anticipation, the pair of resolute robots raced enthusiastically into the bustling cafeteria. Tap and Switch found it easy to search inconspicuously; they were wasps in a swarm. Expecting the baby to appear in a bag of tantalising microchips, like a meerkat emerging from its mound. At one point they both needed a break and sat down on the hot glowing, metal chairs with a book each. Books in their world are just links to restricted web pages, the books also have videos! While Switch became more absorbed in her book, Tap saw a strange coloured bean. Suddenly, it struck him that the baby had a packet of these in his pocket! “Look Switch, it’s the jelly beans, the baby had earlier and it looks like it could be a trail!” shrieked Tap, full of excitement. “We have to follow it,” he demanded. “Ok,” agreed Switch. The jelly beans were everywhere and led to a door that said “DO NOT ENTER”. Tap and Switch ignored the sign and followed the jelly beans. They led to a staircase they had never seen before. Part 5 They followed the trail to a staircase they had never seen before The two robot spies walked silently down the dark, creaky, rusty staircase. Cobwebs were hanging from the ceiling. A Cogop, one of the deadliest spiders that had ever lived, was hanging from a security camera. Tap and Switch weren’t worried about the spider because they each had a label called ‘spidi-proof’ and if the spider bit them, it wouldn’t hurt. The staircase had steps that were unevenly spaced and it plummeted downwards like a stone slide into nothing. Switch’s gas was leaking and Tap’s battery was low. “How much have you got left?” complained Tap. “I really don’t know. Stop asking, I beg you.” replied Switch. After a while, they finally reached the bottom of the stairs. They cautiously opened the door and found themselves in a dark, muddy tunnel. At the end, they found a luminous portal swirling around in front of them. Just as they entered a pool of some kind of red liquid trickled in splodges at their feet. “EEEK!” screamed Tap. They emerged out the other side into a world that was absolutely silent. As well as that, there was nothing on the planet, apart from its chalky, white surfaces. This was complete opposite to what they had seen on their planet. Suddenly, they could both see the baby in front of them! And as they turned, they saw a door. It had a retinal scanner, a fingerprint scanner and a keyhole. Switch, being the oldest, told Tap to work on the key hole, while she worked on the fingerprint scanner. She remembered the oldest trick in the book: tape! She had tape in her back pack and also a pair of scissors for emergencies. She cut a piece of tape and pressed it onto the fingerprint scanner. She took it off. She looked at it in the light and smiled. She pressed the fingerprint on to the scanner and saw the light turn green. She asked Tap if he had made any progress, but he just shook his head. She knew exactly what to do. The baby! She put him up to the scanner and watched as that too turned green. Now they were facing the biggest challenge of all, to unlock the keyhole: a ‘hacker’s lock’. Switch wondered whether Tap could use the internet for codes and then Switch could input them. The lock had several numbers on it in a green colour. They tried Switch’s clever idea and not surprisingly, after a few codes, the door unlocked. They opened the door and stepped inside. There it was. Right in front of them. Another door, a huge, pitch black door that read ‘The Inventor’ in bright golden writing. Part 6 There it was. Right in front of them. A huge, pitch black door read the words ‘The Inventor’ in bright golden writing. With a cautious step, they went through the door. They froze at the sight of the crazy creations that were scattered all over the room. The room was filled with electronics and gadgets shining and reflecting beams of light. There was one chair made from pure gold and a table engraved with detailed and elegant patterns. At that point, Tap called out, ‘”Hello?!” No response followed. Suddenly, a beam of light blazed from the ceiling. There, right in front of the robots, was the Inventor. She wore a large, white, thick lab coat with the word ‘Inventor’ on it. Surprisingly, the inventor was a cyborg and her name was Techventor the Inventor. Each individual hair she had was made of a wire. In the middle of her head was an antenna. “Hello,” said Techventor. “It looks like you have brought my latest invention with you.” Tap and Switch both looked at the baby. “Invention?” said Tap with a confused look spreading across her face. “We thought this was some weird creature!” “He’s an android…” started Techventor. “An android?” interrupted Switch. “Yes,” continued Techventor. “A robot which looks like a human, see?” Tap walked up to the Inventor. “The reason we are here is to return it to you. How did you lose it – I mean, him?” “I was travelling to the cafeteria to take my half-human, a half-human fluid called milk, when I realised she had managed to escape!” “We have to get to class to Professor Processer’s ‘Binary Code Speaking’ lesson.” “Oh yes, but before you go, let me give you a gift,” Techventor said. She searched in a box and pulled out two walkie-talkie-like looking things. “These are teleportation phones. Whenever you want to go somewhere, say the name of the place into it, and you are there! Use it to get back to class. Bye!” “Thank you so much!” exclaimed Tap. Three seconds later, they flew up into air, down a tube and landed with a thump. They got there for their lesson just in time!