Page 21 of Once Upon a Curse for True Love
Clearing his throat, Donatello turned toward Arcanet.“Did you have enemies, Mr.Thorn?”
The flowing characters reorganized, changing to a uniform stream of ones.
“Yes,” Donatello translated.“Not surprising for someone in his line of work.”
“Be more specific,” Andromeda needled him.“Narrow it down.”
“Rival hackers?”Donatello asked.
Ones.
“Collaborators or former partners?”
This time, the pattern shifted to zeros.
“Are you certain about that?”Donatello pressed, skeptical that a man in Arcanet’s position hadn’t made any enemies among his associates.
Ones appeared on the screen.
“Were your collaborators loyal?”Donatello continued.
More ones.
“Could it have been a former client?”
Ones again.
“A fan or a copycat trying to prove something?”
The cascade of ones persisted.
“Someone else?”
Still ones.
Donatello ran a hand through his hair, frustrated.“Well, that’s not very helpful.Do you have anyone particular in mind?”
Ones.
“Who?”
Zeros.
Andromeda chewed her lower lip.“He can’t answer that with a yes or no.”
“There’s got to be a better way to communicate with him,” Donatello said, pacing in front of the screen.“Why can’t he spell better responses?Or speak?”
Andromeda shook her head.“We can go letter by letter, but it’s tedious.We run through the alphabet until he says ‘yes’ to a letter, then start over for the next one.”
“Seriously?That’s the best option?”
“Unless you want me to spend a month building a code-to-speech interface,” she replied.
Donatello sighed.“Letter by letter it is, then.”
They circled through the alphabet multiple times, with Arcanet’s consciousness approving various letters until they formed H.E.X.A.C.O.R.E.
“HexaCore?”Donatello asked for confirmation.
