Computerklang

It had been known for a while that Welle: Erdball had a new member. What wasn't known, was exactly who she was, because her identity was kept a complete secret from the world outside the Welle: Erdball broadcasting station.

Honey, Alf and Venus were having plenty of fun keeping it a mystery. Of course, it wasn't so much fun for Lady Lila, the new group member herself, as they had to go to extreme measures to keep her identity a secret. She couldn't be seen with any of the other band members out in public. Not yet.

---

That all changed one day, when Alf decided to book the four of them a table at some restaurant in Hannover, despite Honey's protests. Alf was annoyed that they never got to talk properly in the studio, the presence of all the computers, especially the Commodore 64, being a huge distraction for the group. And so, he decided a meeting would be better held in here. But Honey still wasn't too pleased with Alf's decision.

"It's almost as if you want us to get caught, Alf," Honey said, annoyed, almost hiding behind the large menu.

"Don't worry. We won't get caught," Alf said, "Geez, calm down Honey, I bet no one'll even recognise us!"

Lady Lila looked around at all the different tables, and almost immediately, spotted a problem.

"Uh oh," Lila said, pointing to a table, "I think those guys might be from the German media..."

Indeed, they were holding cameras that had the logo of ZDF on them. Honey glanced over to another table. Das Ertse. And another. ProSieben. It didn't end. It seemed that all of Germany's major TV channels were here, and they were all getting their cameras ready. But why?

"No, we're not ready to reveal her yet," Honey said to no one in particular.

"Calm down Honey, they're probably here for something else," Alf whispered, "I'm sure it'll be fine."

"It won't be fine," Honey hissed, "They'll see Lila!"

"Oh Honey," Lila said, "Alf's right, I'm sure that-" But she was cut off. Quickly thinking, Honey grabbed an empty cardboard box that was sitting beside their table and put it on Lila's head.

"Honey!" Lila yelled, trying to shake the box off her head, "What the hell are you doing?!"

"Honey, stop it!" Venus shouted, "You're only drawing more attention! Everyone's looking at us now!"

Honey stopped. But it was too late. All around them, everyone stood still. People stopped talking, and the band in the corner stopped playing. The entire restaurant had stopped. And turned to look at them. Now they had everyone's attention. The attention that they hadn't wanted.

"Heh heh heh heh," Honey said, "S-sorry about that."

Lila still had the box on her head as the rest of Welle: Erdball dragged her out of the

Hoping that they had left quickly enough to avoid the media. But, it was too late, the damage was already done. The inevitable media onslaught. Cameras flashed, mobile phones recorded. Honey cursed the new technology. But, as embarrassing as that had just been, at least they hadn't seen Lady Lila.

---

So Lila's identity hadn't been revealed, but Welle: Erdball were all over the news. The worst part was afterwards, when Honey found out that the media weren't even there for them. They had been waiting for the band Wir sind Helden and the singer Peter Fox, who had all booked tables but had also turned up at the restaurant later than expected. So this all could have been avoided. Honey looked down at the newspaper.

'Robot Rampage! Honey's box attack in restaurant!', the headline read, and what followed was a highly sensationalised version of events, including parts that had been entirely made up for effect. Honey read the story in the papers, only to become even more annoyed. It was incredibly fictionalised, and essentially the media equivalent of a fanfiction.

'Beep boop! Welle: Erdball smashes up tables in restaurant!' The paper read as it spun a fantastically false story which involved the group members pushing chairs and tables over.

"But that didn't even happen!" Honey yelled, "It's all made up!"

Just then, the Commodore 64 beeped and the words 'HA HA HA' displayed on the screen.

"Even C64 is laughing at you, Honey," Alf grinned, as he took the newpaper from Honey's hands and put it where it belonged. In the trash can.

---

But, there was some good news, at least. Shortly after the newspapers came out, some footage had been revealed. Some visitors to the restaurant had filmed the 'box incident' on their mobile phones and posted the videos onto Youtube. This of course, proved that the version of events spouted by both the television and the newspapers to be, at best, mostly fabricated, and, at worst, potentially damaging, and they were forced to apologise to Welle: Erdball for making stuff up.

---

It was later that week, when news about the 'box incident', as it was now known in the Welle: Erdball studio and throughout all of Germany, had died down, that Honey decided to reveal Lady Lila to the world. A big fuss wasn't made about it. They simply posted the picture on Facebook of her along with her name. So that was it. The secret was out. They also posted a picture of the band, all with cardboard boxes on their heads. Well, might as well join in with the joke, right? That's what Honey had reasoned, in any case. And he was right. The incident was over, and the five of them were again ready to face the world. Four humans, one machine. Welle: Erdball. They would try harder to avoid another 'box incident'. Yes, the next time they found themselves in the media, they promised it would be for good reasons.

Fin.