"

Wyrdrune's eyes flickered open. He grunted and shut them once again, rolling over onto his side.

Thunk, thunk, thunk.

"Wyrdrune! Wake up?"

Thunk, thunk.

Wyrdrune opened his eyes once more. "What?" he mumbled sleepily.

"Wake up! Get out of bed!"

Thunk, thunk.

He grunted and raised his head slightly. There was no one in the room. Kira was still asleep beside him,

her knees drawn up. She always tended to curl up like a cat when she was asleep.

Thunk, thunk.

"What the hell . . .?"

"Wake up! Get out of bed!"

The voice was not on the other side of the door. It was in the bedroom, right beside him. It sounded like

a chipmunk breathing helium. Wyrdrune sat up in bed and glanced over the side. A boxy little personal

computer, about a foot tall, was standing on the floor beside his bed, waddling about on its stumpy little

legs. It kept knocking itself repeatedly against the wooden bed rail.

"Archimedes!" Wyrdrune said, rubbing the sleep out of his eyes. "What are you doing? Stop that!"

"I had to wake you up," the little computer said, the words appearing in glowing letters on its screen as it

spoke.

"How the hell did you get off the desk?"

"I jumped."