April prompt - Easter Eggs
Title: To the Next Level
Author: Spikesgirl58
Prompt: Easter Eggs
Rating G
My thanks to Sparky955 and Kittenmommy for the beta!
Sapphire leaned down impatiently, her blonde hair falling down, over the keyboard. The light from the computer screen washed her face in an eerie white light.
"It’s hard enough typing without your hair getting in the way," Steel snapped, pulling the keyboard away as far as the cord allowed. "Now I have to start over again. You are being a hindrance."
She scowled, but was used to his short temper. "You’ve been at this for three days. I was just seeing if I could see anything that might help."
"There isn’t." Steel pressed the reset button and frowned as music filled the air. "I have come to loathe this song."
"Then stop."
"I can’t. This is the key to the problem."
She straightened and stared at the screen. "Is that what Copper said?"
"No, he merely said that we needed to be aware that Time was hiding in plain sight and planning something disastrous. Also something about Easter eggs, which is pointless. It is no longer Easter." Steel attempted to punch keys, smirking as nothing just a jumble of letters appeared. "This is useless. I am an Element, not a speed typist."
"Copper isn’t in the habit of passing pointless or useless information." She made a gesture. "Let me try. My fingers are a bit more slender."
"Very well." Steel stood and moved away from the computer. The noise coming from the screen was giving him a headache. He rubbed his eyes, frowning as his head seemed to pound in time with his heart. There were days he hated being human, hated his job, hated Sapp… How odd.
What’s odd? Sapphire scowled and typed in a new series of letters, watching the icon on the screen move to her commands.
I have a headache. Sapphire, I do not get headaches.
She hit the pause button. "Now that you mention it, so do I."
"Step away from the computer for a moment and see if it eases."
"Or is this a thinly guised attempt to regain control of the game." She looked back at the screen and leaned forward. "What is this?"
"What is what?" Steel came closer, squinting slightly. "I have not seen that screen before. It’s a message and apparently it is telling you... how to cheat? What sort of game would do that?"
"I believe this is what Copper was referring to when he said to look for the Easter eggs."
"I beg your pardon?"
"From the explanation that I was given, it is an unexpected or undocumented feature in a piece of computer software or on a DVD, included as a joke or a bonus. In this case, it tells you how to skip several levels and win the hand of Princess Cuddlebottoms." Sapphire typed in the series of letter and commands and festive music began to emit from the machine. "That’s it?"
"And to think it only took us four days and several hours to achieve this." Then Steel paused. "Perhaps that is the trick. What else has happened around us during that time?"
Sapphire sat back and thought. "Nothing that They thought we needed to know about."
"Or were we merely concentrating too hard upon that to realize it?" Steel let the smallest of smiles escape his lips. "That’s it all along and we were just proving its point."
"What point?" The music finished and the words, Want to Play Again? scrolled across the screen. Without even realizing it, she hit the reset button.
Steel leaned down and pulled the computer’s plug from the wall socket. "This is the insidious scheme that Time is thrusting upon civilizations. The masses become too involved in this make believe world and humanity crashes down around itself. Time triumphs because people are simply too engrossed in this to even realize it."
Sapphire’s mouth opened for a moment in disbelief. "Steel, I believe that you are right."
"We must warn humanity about this."
"Yes."
"Right after we defeat the next level…"
Author: Spikesgirl58
Prompt: Easter Eggs
Rating G
My thanks to Sparky955 and Kittenmommy for the beta!
Sapphire leaned down impatiently, her blonde hair falling down, over the keyboard. The light from the computer screen washed her face in an eerie white light.
"It’s hard enough typing without your hair getting in the way," Steel snapped, pulling the keyboard away as far as the cord allowed. "Now I have to start over again. You are being a hindrance."
She scowled, but was used to his short temper. "You’ve been at this for three days. I was just seeing if I could see anything that might help."
"There isn’t." Steel pressed the reset button and frowned as music filled the air. "I have come to loathe this song."
"Then stop."
"I can’t. This is the key to the problem."
She straightened and stared at the screen. "Is that what Copper said?"
"No, he merely said that we needed to be aware that Time was hiding in plain sight and planning something disastrous. Also something about Easter eggs, which is pointless. It is no longer Easter." Steel attempted to punch keys, smirking as nothing just a jumble of letters appeared. "This is useless. I am an Element, not a speed typist."
"Copper isn’t in the habit of passing pointless or useless information." She made a gesture. "Let me try. My fingers are a bit more slender."
"Very well." Steel stood and moved away from the computer. The noise coming from the screen was giving him a headache. He rubbed his eyes, frowning as his head seemed to pound in time with his heart. There were days he hated being human, hated his job, hated Sapp… How odd.
What’s odd? Sapphire scowled and typed in a new series of letters, watching the icon on the screen move to her commands.
I have a headache. Sapphire, I do not get headaches.
She hit the pause button. "Now that you mention it, so do I."
"Step away from the computer for a moment and see if it eases."
"Or is this a thinly guised attempt to regain control of the game." She looked back at the screen and leaned forward. "What is this?"
"What is what?" Steel came closer, squinting slightly. "I have not seen that screen before. It’s a message and apparently it is telling you... how to cheat? What sort of game would do that?"
"I believe this is what Copper was referring to when he said to look for the Easter eggs."
"I beg your pardon?"
"From the explanation that I was given, it is an unexpected or undocumented feature in a piece of computer software or on a DVD, included as a joke or a bonus. In this case, it tells you how to skip several levels and win the hand of Princess Cuddlebottoms." Sapphire typed in the series of letter and commands and festive music began to emit from the machine. "That’s it?"
"And to think it only took us four days and several hours to achieve this." Then Steel paused. "Perhaps that is the trick. What else has happened around us during that time?"
Sapphire sat back and thought. "Nothing that They thought we needed to know about."
"Or were we merely concentrating too hard upon that to realize it?" Steel let the smallest of smiles escape his lips. "That’s it all along and we were just proving its point."
"What point?" The music finished and the words, Want to Play Again? scrolled across the screen. Without even realizing it, she hit the reset button.
Steel leaned down and pulled the computer’s plug from the wall socket. "This is the insidious scheme that Time is thrusting upon civilizations. The masses become too involved in this make believe world and humanity crashes down around itself. Time triumphs because people are simply too engrossed in this to even realize it."
Sapphire’s mouth opened for a moment in disbelief. "Steel, I believe that you are right."
"We must warn humanity about this."
"Yes."
"Right after we defeat the next level…"