Alice the Amazing ⇒ STRANGER THINGS

[67] Schrödinger's Demobat

{The Dive, Part III / The Massacre at Hawkins Lab, Part I}

Quincy, Jonathan, Argyle, Mike, and Will rushed through UCLA's campus toward the computer labs. While they walked, the boys caught Quincy up to speed.

"Let me make sure I understand," Quincy said, avoiding a pack of drunk frat guys stumbling past them on the sidewalk. He held up the slip of paper with the Nina Project number on it. "I dial into this computer, find a location, and at this location is the Nina Project?"

"Exactly!" Mike said.

"And that's where El is being held?"

"That's what Unnamed Hero Agent Man told us," Will said.

"That's the dude that got shot for helping you guys, right?" Quincy said, nerves sending his voice into a falsetto.

"You're not going to get shot," Jonathan reassured. "Those guys didn't follow us."

"We don't think," Argyle said ominously. Jonathan smacked him across the shoulder.

Once they arrived at the computer science building, Quincy unlocked the doors for them and ushered them inside.

"Faster!" he said, annoyed at Argyle's slow, ambling steps. "If we get caught hacking a government computer using school property, I'll be in big, big trouble."

"Thanks again for doing this," Will said. "You're a hero, man."

"I'm no hero," Quincy said, navigating them through twisty hallways. "Just a tech nerd with too much time on his hands."

When they made it to the computer lab, Quincy was relieved to see it empty. He flipped on the overhead lights and settled at the teacher's desk, his friends pulling up chairs and stools around him.

Quincy punched the provided number into the phone. After clicking a few more buttons, a new window popped up on the computer screen.

"And, we're in!" he said, hanging up the phone.

"Holy shit," Mike said. "You did it!"

"Don't thank me yet," Quincy said. He scrolled through the options on the provided computer window. "I don't see an address, or a folder marked 'Here's El.'"

"That would make things much easier," Argyle said wistfully. 

"Office!" Jonathan said, pointing to one of the folders. "Try 'office.'"

Quincy obliged. The boys were met with scrolling green code that seemed to go on forever.

"What is all this?!" Quincy murmured, raising an eyebrow.

"Maybe it's hidden in the code somehow?" Jonathan said.

"Yo, man," Argyle said. "What you just said makes no sense."

"I'll just trace the IP," Quincy said, typing rapidly. "No big."

"The I-what?" Will asked, squinting at the screen.

"The internet protocol address," Quincy explained, speaking each word slowly as if he was speaking to a bunch of computer science novices—which, technically, he was. "It's a unique numerical label given to all information technology connected to the internet."

"What's the internet?" Jonathan asked.

"Oh, you'll find out soon enough," Quincy said. He grinned slyly. "It's totally gonna change the world."

Quincy continued his work, the boys thoroughly intrigued as they watched him type.

"What are you doing now?" Mike asked, after a minute.