Imagination's last hope: The quest to save the unseen world

Chapter 25

Glitterpaws had a huge house. It was a giant cat tower transformed into a house. It was mostly white and had only a bit of light pink with glitter. The actual house was on the second floor.
They walked up the stairs to the second floor. Finnigan knocked on the door. Rachel looked through the big windows but couldn't see anyone inside. There were flowerpots right underneath the windows. They had the same glowing flowers in the pots as those in the rest of the world.
Finnigan knocked on the door again. 
"Just wait a moment!" A voice came from inside the house. The door opened, and a white cat flew to right in front of them. Rachel looked at her paws, trying to figure out why everyone called her Glitterpaws, but she couldn't see anything. 
"Well, look what the cat dragged in. Finnigan, and who is this person that looks very much like a human?" Glitterpaws waved to them that they could come in. 
"Hi, Glitterpaws, this is Rachel. She is human." 
Her house was really white and pink on the inside. Rachel liked it. It reminded her of the Barbie dreamhouse she used to play with when she was younger. 
"Interesting. As far as I can remember, we're not allowed to bring humans through the portal." 
"Glitterpaws, we don't have time for this. We need your help. It's a disaster." 
"Well then, come and have a seat."
She took them through her house to the living room. She only had two small sofas. Rachel and Finnigan sat down on the one, and Glitterpaws sat on the other.
"So why do you need my help so urgently? As far as I can remember, Hootwiggle almost banned me from this place." 
"I'm sorry about that, but it's in the past. I still can't understand why you two can't forget about it." Finnigan said, but Glitterpaws just rolled her eyes. "The portal between the world of imagination and the real world is closing. Children are losing their imagination, and they just aren't creative anymore. We went to the world of technology, and our suspicions were correct. One of the robots isn't looking at what technology is supposed to be sent to the real world; he's just sending everything. And-" Glitterpaws interrupted the sentence.
"But that's impossible. Something must be wrong in the part where they manufacture everything, not where it gets sent out."
"No, it is in that part. We're sure."
"It can't work that way. The bots only make the technology that is supposed to be sent out now; that's why the one sending everything through the portal doesn't have to look. There must be something wrong with a bot at that stage."
"But that's not all. We tried to take down this robot, sending everything out, but he had no power button. Could it be a fault in the manufacturing or what?"
"No. Robots never make mistakes like that. The only explanation can be that the bot isn't actually a bot." Glitterpaws stood up. She was walking up and down the room.  "How? That can't be." Finnigan said.
"It is. That's the only explanation for why he doesn't have a power button. It's definitely something else." 
"Well, what do we do now?"
"That's what you need to find out. I can only help you so far. I have no idea how something like this could have happened."
"So basically, what you are saying is that it isn't a robot. If that is the case, then couldn't whatever this thing is have done something to the rest of the robots so that they would malfunction?" Rachel said. 
"I think you have a point, kid. But whoever this person is has to be smart enough to figure this out and know how to write codes." 
"We'll just have to return and bring the robot here. I have no idea how, but that's the only way." Finnigan said. 
"I think Riley, or whatever her name is, might be right. This has to be someone who hacked into their systems." 
"But who would be able to do something like that?"
"You'll have to go and figure that out. I have never heard of something like this happening before."
All three of them were silent. No one knew what to say about all of this. This situation was getting more and more complicated. 

"Could you find out what might be happening?" Hootwiggle asked Rachel and Finnigan as they got back to the office.
They both sat down at the big table, looking as if they were exhausted.
"I want to say that we have good and bad news, but I'm not sure what we have." Finnigan held his head in his hand. You could tell he was tired after the rough day that they had.
"Just spit it out, Finnigan. It's bad enough that you had to go to Glitterpaws for advice."
"The robot that we found isn't a robot. It's something else." Everyone was listening now. "It had to hack into the systems and cause the robots in the part where all of the devices get made. This causes them to produce all the devices even though they're not supposed to be sent out now. The robot must only check for errors, or if the devices are damaged, then send them through the portal. It doesn't have a power button because it isn't a robot."
"But then what is it?" Mira asked.
"We have no idea. We'll have to find some way to get the bot and bring it here to see what it really is." Rachel explained.
"How are we going to take it down? You saw what happened the last time." Paws asked. Rachel and Finnigan haven't thought that part through.
"We'll have to think of a plan. It has to be someone who knows how to code and how robots work. Someone who knows the place inside and out, and that is super smart."
No one said anything. This was the first time they had heard of something like this happening, and none of them knew what to do. Having to go and get one of the robots from the world of technology was hard enough, but bringing one back and being unable to power it off makes the whole mission ten times more difficult. Usually, Hootwiggle always has a plan, but this time she had nothing. Paws and Mira didn't have anything either.
"This has been a long day. Everyone should go home and rest. We'll have new and fresh ideas when we get back, but trying to think about everything now is no use. I'll see all of you tomorrow." Hootwiggle said
Usually, everyone was so relieved to be able to go home, but not today. They struggled to get out of their chairs and weren't as talkative as usual. You could tell that everyone has had a really hectic day and is exhausted. No one said anything except for a short and stern "Goodbye" when they left. 
"Rachel, I'll take you to the portal," Finnigan said. Rachel rejected the offer. She has travelled to the portal and back lots of times. She was getting used to it. Finnigan just nodded. Rachel said goodbye to everyone and then hurried to get home. She still had a few hours to get a good night's sleep before she had to help make plans for this huge mess.