CHAPTER Four

“All right, ” said Pirate, leaning back in his chair and scratching

his unruly head, “I give up. What the hell did you do to it?”

His tools were spread out all over his cluttered work desk.

Archimedes sat before him, its casing removed. Pirate had worked

with the little computer for about half an hour while they watched,

growing more and more impressed as he went along. Then he

removed the casing and examined the interior. Now he sat there,

staring at it, looking faintly puzzled.

“I thought you were the expert, ” Modred said with amusement.

“Not on magic, I’m not, ” said Pirate, shaking his head. “I know

what thaumaturgically etched and animated chips can do, but don’t

ask me how the hell they do it. I’m no adept. I can see where you

replaced the standard board with a TM-1000 upgrade and increased

the storage capabilities, but that still doesn’t explain what this little

guy can do. He’s got the capabilities of a far more sophisticated

unit, only his hardware doesn’t bear that out. So the only possible

explanation is that you used some kind of enchantment to further

enhance the chips. Only I don’t know anybody capable of doing

work like that.”

“Pretty neat, huh?” said Archimedes.

“Yeah, pretty neat, ” said Pirate. “Who worked on you, little guy?

Who gave you the boost?”

The little computer hesitated.

“Go ahead and tell him, Archimedes, ” Modred said.

“Merlin did, ” said the little unit proudly.

“Merlin? Merlin Ambrosius? That Merlin?”

“The very same, ” said Modred.

Pirate gave a low whistle. “God damn. I didn’t know Ambrosius

was a hacker.”

“He wasn’t, ” said Modred, deciding that there was no point in

telling Pirate that Merlin Ambrosius was standing right behind