curiousers under way

Part 23 - The Great Mother Board

We waited until Scott was out of the school before we told Dr Zhang what had happened. But then we all started talking at once so Dr Zhang raised both hands in the air begging for silence. 'Let's go to my office and start again.'

Back in his office we all found somewhere to sit. Licia and Miguel on the side table and me on the up-turned waste paper bin, as usual. Dr Zhang unscrewed the top of his vacuum flask and poured a cup of oolong tea. We stared at him until he produced a bag of fortune cookies for us and then we explained.

'Let me see if I got this right,' he said after a few minutes. 'Ah-um. Two men from RockPhase Research break into my office claiming that it is the source of attacks on U.S. government computers. Meanwhile, two characters showed up on Licia's computer looking for their mother. They then showed up on the interface computer monitor yesterday when Denny was using it. They claim to be from the future and they seem to know a lot about us.'

He looked at each of us in turn. 'Ah-um. So far, so good?'

When we nodded he continued. 'What happens if I turn on my computer?'

'They were on the screen a few minutes ago,' Licia said.

'Before you turn it on,' I suggested, 'they could be the hackers, even if Licia believes them.'

'Perhaps we should prepare some questions,' Miguel suggested. 'Let's see if we can trip them up.'

'If they are from the future, they might be able to tell us something more about Murga,' Licia suggested.

'Hey,' Miguel exclaimed, 'I just had an idea. Why don't we simply get Oppy to go forward in time and check up on them.'

'Ah-um, that's not possible at the moment,' Dr Zhang said. 'I asked Oppy about forward time travel but her algorithms were loaded with imaginary numbers.'

Licia and Miguel both looked at me but I didn't know what that meant either. I shrugged helplessly.

Dr Zhang grinned. 'Ah-um, imaginary numbers contain the square root of minus one, which is imaginary because everyone know, if you multiply minus one by minus one the answer is plus one. This means that computations with imaginary numbers must be made separately from real numbers. I haven't had the time to check Oppy's calculations.'

'Okay,' I said. 'How about asking them to check on me being born in the future. If their story agrees with Triple Oh's story, it will give us some confidence that they are not just trying to con us.'

'They will know that,' Miguel pointed out, 'if they are hackers working for Murga.'

Dr Zhang sipped his tea. 'Ah-um, good ideas but I'm the board certified genius. If Yonnie and Treeka are trying to get information from us, or Oppy, you must say nothing to them about my work.'

'Ah-um.' Dr Zhang switched on his laptop. 'Let's see if they are still around.'

The monitor screen slowly lit up but we waited more than a minute before it changed. Then, Yonnie and Treeka suddenly appeared and chanting, 'All hail Supreme Genius Lee Zhang and his Great Prophets, Licia and Miguel and Our Father Ziff Dion. At last we have found you together. This is auspicious.'

'I am Yonnie,' said the one with dark brown face surrounded by curly blue hair. The last time we had seen her hair had been green.

The other was white with pale blond, waist length hair and luminous green eyes. 'I am Treeka.'

They both wore long silvery dresses with a pale intricate patterns woven into the fabric.

'How do they know it's Dr Zhang?' I whispered, aghast at the thought of me being their father while Oppy presumably was their mother. I must be allegorical, I thought.