I hope it’s something edible Sorry Max it’s definitely not dessert Jessie gets up and disappears into the storage room at the back of the workshop I hear her clattering around for a minute or two and then she jogs back to the table with a tiny metal box in her hands I found this in a box of junk marked Space Travel It must have been a mistake There’s nothing spacey about it at all It looks a lot like something we just ate Jessie hands me the little box and I flip its lid open Inside on a little red cushion is a tiny shiny device that looks like a very well-polished grain of rice 3
Wow I say I’ve never seen anything like it I roll it over with a fingernail and see that its other side seems to be made of some kind of glass Through the glass I can see something that looks like a tiny microchip from an old computer Any thoughts about what it could be asks Jessie My guess is hmmm a very well-preserved bunny-bot dropping 4
Very funny Max I think I’d better take a closer look Is your microscope still on All yours buddy I hurry over to Jessie’s desk and put the shiny grain onto her microscope plate Angling the lens toward it I lean over the microscope I can now see the microchip up close It’s one of those extremely old ones with blobs of solder and actual metal inside it From what I know about microchips this one must be at least 300 years old As I’m squinting into the microscope I feel something tapping against my leg I look down and see Oscar peering up at me with sad eyes Sorry Oscar I say Of course you can have a look too 5
I pick him up and he looks into the microscope with his mouth wide open Does it look familiar I ask him He shakes his head vigorously Do you think you can use the Splinternet to find out what it is I ask him Oscar shrugs and looks up at me with his big electronic eyes He doesn’t seem very confident that the Splinternet is going to be able to help us I have a feeling it’s too old for the Splinternet too I say but why don’t we find out I put Oscar down on the floor and take the strange ricey device out of the microscope He angles his scanner toward it and makes a soft whirring noise First he prints a little plastic 6
