Hello, readers!  In this post I bring you the glad tidings of Alecia’s success in contacting the Computer Programmer, and in improving her protein shake recipe!

In order to create the better shake recipe, she simply — excuse me, but of course the shake is important!  Sorry, Peter keeps interrupting me while I write.  She added some fresh strawberries and peaches to her blend.  Yum!

Now, let’s move away from this relatively unimportant stuff (as Peter calls it), to tell you how Alecia got a hold of the Computer Programmer and repaired the Rift!  She knows more than me, though, so I’ll just let her tell the story.

Friday, the ninth of August, year 2013 A.D.

What I time I’ve had of it, just trying to contact the Computer Programmer!  If I had known it was going to be this difficult, I doubt I would’ve kicked out Al Gene!

As you might remember from the last diary entry, I have no cell phone reception in this place.  Due to this seemingly slight inconvenience, I have gone through some of the most ridiculous ordeals while trying to let a far-off person know that I needed him here.

This recently-abandoned lab is full of computers that could access the information needed to reverse the Rift, but unfortunately, all of them are protected with security measures far more complicated than your average user password.  Solution?  Call in someone capable of hacking into the system.

Now, back to actually contacting him.  After I drank my protein shake, (never underestimate the power of drinkable energy!) I brainstormed ways to make contact without a phone.  First I wrote a letter to him, before realizing that there was no nearby post office, as well as no guarantee that he’d actually be at home when the letter arrived.

At one point I found a perfect glass bottle, so I scribbled out a message, put in inside, and realized that there were no oceans anywhere in the vicinity for me to send my message in a bottle with.

Eventually I found a radio and Morse Code guidebook, so I managed to send the Computer Programmer a message.  He must have known Morse Code, because he came!

I showed him the broken voodoo world machine, then showed him the computers.

After a few failed hacking attempts, he discovered a completely melted hard drive labeled “Passwords”. Then it only took him three minutes to hack into the computers.

“Here, Alecia, I think that this should do it,” he said as he successfully logged on.

“Thanks, um… Computer Programmer?  Typhon had said a lot about you, and I was sure you could do it, but he’d never mentioned your name.”

“Yeah, to be honest, very few people know my name. I guess my super catchy nickname just spreads around too well.”  He pushed his glasses up, then continued,  “I’m Carlos.”

“Well, thank you, Carlos.”

After that, we agreed to see if we could figure out how the voodoo machines worked, but met with very little success.  Despite the crucial state of all of Aether, we were getting ready to call it a day.  Zero-success labor is no joke!

However, before giving up, we discovered a program on the computer called “G.E.N.I.E.”  It seems that this was created by the notorious world-destroyer Dr. Al Gene.

I suggested we not use it, lest it blow something up, but Carlos seemed fascinated by how it worked.

“Alecia, we have to use it!  Just look at this!  Isn’t this just the fastest data processing you’ve ever seen?  And look at the user-friendly profile!  I’ve never seen such a sophisticated piece of software in my life.”

I reluctantly agreed to let him have a crack at it.  I didn’t really understand most of what he did, but hours later he managed to restore the landscape of Aether to its pre-Rift state!  When explaining what he did, he likened it to saving a video game before taking a big risk, then dying, then reloading that saved game. (The Mad Scientist had recently saved the game, apparently.)

Now that Aether and its inhabitants were no longer in a critical state, we unplugged and switched off the voodoo machine, preparing to destroy it and avoid further crisis.  Then we checked again to make sure it was unplugged.

Only a few paranoid screams and six (even more paranoid) double-checks later, we finally managed to completely obliterate the “voodoo world” machines and burn/melt the rubble.  No longer will the mad scientist’s evil inventions endanger the lives of innocents!

I must say, this whole ordeal has been quite stressful.  Believe it or not, I think it was even worse than that “Adventurers’ Reunion” of Typhon’s.  Really, I came here to visit him, not piece together shattered worlds.  I don’t even know where he is, and there’s not much reason to stick around without him.

*Breathes a huge sigh of relief*  Well, now that Aether is fixed, perhaps Alecia will finally be able to forgive Dr. Gene.  I sure hope so!