The World Of Tbot

EPILOGUE

CHAPTER 1

Alice

CHAPTER 2

Miki, Tommi and Gio

CHAPTER 3

Narseo

CHAPTER 4

Diana

CHAPTER 5

Evandro

CHAPTER 6

Cloe

CHAPTER 7

Clizia and Mirta

CHAPTER 8

Druina, Danio and Athos

CHAPTER 9

Clinio Bretta

CHAPTER 10

Metro

CHAPTER 11

Professor Eustacchio Melis

CHAPTER 12

Sveva

CHAPTER 13

Professor Emeraldo Marrone

EPILOGUE

CHAPTER 1

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Alice

Alice, breakfast is ready!

I’m coming, just a sec!

She couldn’t take her eyes off the book she was reading, ‘Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban’, a children’s literature classic. She loved the adventures of Harry, Ron and Hermione: although she couldn’t begin to imagine many of the things that were described in the book.

For example, the Hogwarts ‘express’: was really a strange way to travel, all together on a big old train divided into carriages where a witch walked through selling candy and things to eat... How did she go from one carriage to the next?

Alice had often thought this to herself. Of course this strange express had to be something that was once common, which was used every day to travel, not magicians’ things but ‘muggles’ things; yes, but muggles from another time! Alice was a girl who was too curious not to ask such questions and had already decided that as soon as she had a little time she would surf the Internet looking for some information about this strange means of transport.

Alice had found the book about the young wizard by chance during one of her afternoons at the library. Also that afternoon she had decided to go on foot to the corner of Via Garibaldi and Via Druid, where the library was, she didn’t want to use the minidread that her parents had given her a few months before her fourteenth birthday. She loved spending whole days in that semi-deserted place where the few people who still read by holding a book in their hands quickly passed through, and only to quickly pick up the books they had ordered.

But she loved to go in person to the library; she loved the smell that was in the area where there were the large restored classics but also the order that reigned over the rest of the library. Thousands of shiny tbooks, without a speck of dust, in strictly alphabetical order and ready to dart out once someone had booked them.

That afternoon, about two days earlier, she had gone to take the bestseller tbook of the moment, Return to the bright lights of New Bot, by Clinio Bretta, who was the author most in vogue at the time. But, as often happened, she was attracted by the great classics. It was strange, at least for her, to see those huge books of all sizes, colors and different weights that occupied so much space. She often thought about it, she wondered about the presence of books or, as often many called them in a derogatory way, printed-paper.

Why were they ever printed on paper? It occupies so much space, gathers dust and they can be torn! She had once said to her father.

I honestly don’t know what explanation to give you, said Narseo.

You always ask such strange questions that I don’t even know how to answer you... What can I tell you?! Look on the internet! Often Narseo could not answer his daughter’s many questions, questions that even he had never asked, and his answer was always the same, Look on the internet!

Alice loved the real books, the fascination they brought with them. When you read a printed book it seemed that the feelings, the emotions, the sensations were more real, that they were transmitted better to the reader.

Then two days before, walking through the dustiest area in the entire library, breathing the scent of paper, she glimpsed a cover illustration of two boys on a flying bird, which had caught her attention. After a quick read through of the plot she had decided to read the whole book.

To borrow a book, unlike borrowing a tbook, involved a number of screens to be filled in, various authorizations and also the deposit. With a tbook, it was enough to enter the code on your personal card and immediately you would find it in your hands. To borrow the Harry Potter book, Alice had to fill out a screen with her data and two different screens with her parent’s data and, most recently, the authorization for direct debit on her credit card in case of failure to return the book within eight days.

Only eight days to read all these pages... the words escaped her as she talked to herself.

If I were you I wouldn’t complain, dear, said a senior tbot who was sitting near a screen, intent on ordering some tbooks. The old classics, he continued, between us, by the way, I prefer them to today’s bestsellers, such as those of... Emh... What’s his name...

Clinio Bretta? Alice finished politely.

That yes, that guy... I was saying, you can only keep the old classics for only two days. It’s true that if you use a little Energy it takes me a few hours to finish a book, but reading so fast it isn’t easy to appreciate reading...

Yes, I understand, sir, but it takes me a lot more effort than you to finish a book! and with a dazzling smile Alice left the old tbot.

***

Alice, everything’s getting cold. Get moving! Don’t force be to make everything over again. Come on down!

She decided it was time to abandon the book to have breakfast; but first she quickly glanced out the window. It was a bright summer day, there was the huge beautiful sun and the sky was strangely blue; of course, Alice did not realize how hot it was. With the beginning of summer the temperature in the house had been set at 23º Centigrade. Each year, with the approach of warm weather her parents began to argue about what the temperature should be in the house for the entire summer. Obviously they wanted a temperature of about 18, maximum 20º, they loved the cool, but the temperature was too low for her. This year, and only after a series of discussions, she had been able to get a temperature that was as much as one degree higher than the year before. The same problem, but the opposite, it appeared that each time with the arrival of winter: if she didn’t remind her parents she risked freezing to death.

Here I am! Good morning, mother, what good thing have you prepared for me today?

Finally! Good morning Alice, said Chloe.

It was about time you came down.

Hello, Narseo, how are you?

Alice, you know I don’t like when you call me by name... All right, thank you, did you sleep well?

Wonderfully, Alice replied, giving her father a beautiful smile. I really slept well; it couldn’t be any other way, could it? Finally I’ve started summer holidays! Not even one exam this year and now I have the whole summer ahead of me to do anything I want.

Lucky you, said Chloe. I have to go to work today, Sunday...

Alice knew that her mother loved her work and complained without too much conviction. Cloe was a very particular social worker, the kind that, lately, was very difficult to find. It was only thanks to her work now that Alice was there, with two wonderful parents, although in a situation that could be defined, at the very least, particular.

Here it is, continued Cloe handing Alice the plate. Now I have to go to work, we’ll see you for lunch. If I’m late, Narseo, will you prepare lunch for Alice.

Sure, honey, replied Narseo. Good luck, see you later!

Goodbye Mom, see you later! Alice looked out the window and saw her mother get into the family dreadcar and speed away.

Well Dad, today what shall we do this morning? Alice asked the question, already knowing what the answer would be. For many years Sunday mornings with her father were always the same, but she loved time spent that way.

It all began a few years before, when Cloe brought a big plastic box home for Alice it was filled with squares of different sizes and colors that could fit between them to create buildings. Alice was immediately fascinated: it was a game from the past, a game that she’d never seen and could not even figure out how it worked.

She spent whole days fitting hundreds of pieces of plastic into each other without giving a real shape to what she created. It was so much fun that she spent hours in her room trying to give form to that construction. Not for nothing was Narseo a father who asked too many questions, he asked his daughter how the game worked again and as soon as he understood what it was, to give Alice a surprise, while she slept, he moved all the pieces into the room used for the laundry and in a flash he created a building like a real architect, which he was. The next morning, Alice found a castle of a thousand colors in the laundry, with dozens of windows, a tower and even a small bridge leading to the entrance. She was really and truly amazed and she thanked her father for the construction that he’d made all the following week. After a week though Alice had grown tired of the fantastic castle and had decided to dismantle the building to create a new one. This time, however, she had asked her father to do it with and without using the energy. In the beginning Narseo had difficulty and Alice was very amused. Gradually, on the following Sundays, together they invented many new creations: a ship, a building, a skyscraper, a small car, a bridge and many others. The problem now was not to build things but thinking about what to build.

The problem is always the same, said Narseo.

What shall we build today?

I’ve got an idea, said Alice very amused. We will build the Express to Hogwarts!

What? What is that? I don’t think I’ve ever heard of that. It’s quite a problem if we suggest we build something that I don’t even know what it is! Narseo was having fun and Alice understood very well he was, although from his voice it wasn’t possible to know; she could interpret her father’s little gestures and understood his mood from those, and so did her mother.

The situation was rather different and very complicated for those who did not know him so well.

I seem to have understood that it something big, like a very large, family dreadcar where people travel together. It is so big that they even go through it with a trolley to bring the food...

So you are trying to tell me that you don’t even know what it is? interrupted Narseo. This is a big problem. How can we build something that neither of us knows what it is?

Alice pursed her lips, but actually could do nothing but agree with her father, but after a moment her face lit up again and she said, Let’s look on the Internet! Maybe we’ll find something.

They went upstairs and Alice, once she had entered, saw her father had stopped at the door without entering.

Move pa, what are you doing standing there?

How can you live in the midst of this mess?

Alice looked around but everything looked fairly tidy. There were some clothes on the chair, the bed still had to be made... But at other times the situation was much worse.

You cannot pretend there is order in your room: that’s not human tidiness. You two are too precise. When I enter your room it seems to be a library. Everything precisely in its place, not even a speck of dust. It doesn’t surprise me if you or Mom put even your clothes in alphabetical order in the closet as they do for tbooks in the library. My room however is more like the classics section. Alice grinned thinking about the comparison that she had made, she often liked to tease her father about the way he behaved, but she just could not understand his humor.

Espresso, said Alice loudly after pressing the green button on the computer on her desk. In a second the PC lit up illuminating the room even more with its strong artificial light, and the screen filled with rows, each preceded by a number followed by the word express.

Line one, Alice continued. Immediately the screen opened at number one, but something appeared that she didn’t expect to see. She saw a small white cup steaming and read:

‘Espresso coffee is a beverage obtained by percolation of pressurized hot water that passes through a layer of roasted coffee, ground and pressed; in passing through the coffee powder, the water pressure is exhausted and the beverage flows out at atmospheric pressure. The espresso was first created in Milan, Italy, in the early 1900s, after the invention of the espresso machine, it was patented by the Engineer Luigi Bezzera in 1901. Espresso coffee is a beverage obtained by roasting and grinding of the seeds of Coffea arabica and Coffea robusta, prepared according to a process..."

You could have told me you wanted to build a large cup, said Narseo as Alice continued to read.

But I don’t understand how it is that people travel in a cup...

I was not looking for this, pa! Alice interrupted. Let’s look at other screens. I’m sure that I’ll find what I meant.

But the cup is not a bad idea... continued Narseo, not thinking of what Alice has said. We could build one that takes up the whole room, we never thought of that.

Line two, Alice said, ignoring her father.

This time the PC opened the vocabulary screen, which described the word ‘express’ in detail.

Express (ppass., Adj., N) 1 part. Pass to express 2 agg stated openly, unequivocally 3 agg quick, immediate 4 sm letter or parcel faster after forwarding the normal; the special stamp which is stamped.

There was no hint of the express she had in mind; Alice began to think that too, such as the flying broomsticks or dungbombs, was a think of the imagination.

Well, pa, said Alice a little disappointed, I think we will have to consider your idea of a nice cup. We won’t give up looking, but do it calmly over the coming days. Maybe we can build this strange ‘express’ next Sunday. Narseo, did you hear me?

But Narseo did not reply to his daughter. He was, as usual, standing perfectly still, but it was very strange that he didn’t answer or even turn his eyes towards his daughter. He was completely focused on the PC screen, as if hypnotized. Alice had become used to some of her father’s behavior; she wasn’t upset. But she wasn’t used to seeing that, suddenly and for no reason at all, he’d become blocked and no longer noticed what was going on around him. Suddenly the computer screen turned black, the lines that spelled out express disappeared and saw something very strange. Not taking any more notice of her father and no more asking what had happened, Alice focused her gaze on the monitor. After the search screen had disappeared, there was a brief moment when the screen became completely black, then slowly started to become clearer and gradually, moment-by-moment, the black screen turned gray, until a room appeared. Alice saw a room with two simple wooden beds, one of which was unmade.

Immediately her eyes focused on the right of the screen. On the wall was a bookshelf, a huge library that covered the entire wall, inside were real books, such as those seen only in the library. Not the usual common tbooks, but dusty, heavy books, with colorful covers and full of drawings. She half closed her eyes to try to see the details better; she couldn’t believe what she saw. Her attention then moved to the bed, on the wall where posters were hanging. The one above the bed on the right depicted a boy in the foreground clinging to a ledge, as if he had fallen into a ravine and the only thing that had saved him had been those pointy rocks. What’s more, clinging to his right leg was a girl, and behind her another boy hanging in turn to his leg and then another, but the poster was too small to be able to see clearly how many girls and boys were clinging to each other to avoid falling. Alice also noticed an inscription, but trying as hard as she could, she was still unable to read what was written. Even the poster on the left had writing on it, also that was too small and she was unable to read it, but it represented a man alone intent on looking at a clock he was holding raised in front of the glasses that seemed to be sunglasses. He stood and under his legs passed two lines of fire. The room was not like her classmates rooms, it was more like her own. It was very special, as seen only in old movies, but only she, and only thanks to her immense curiosity, had she noted it in the films of the past.

Alice was so intent on looking at the posters that at first she barely noticed there was someone who was moving around in the room; from the left a boy appeared. She saw him very well, as if he were in her own mirror in front of her, it was as if he was also looking at her with curiosity. Alice could see he had beautiful green eyes, fair complexion, dark hair, wavy, rather unkempt, strong features, he was a boy she could hazard a guess at how old he was. He looked straight at her, but didn’t seem at all curious, his movements were natural as if he were doing something completely normal, as if he were not shocked by the sight of a girl in front of him, staring at him.

Come on guys, get moving and enter, suddenly said the boy beyond the screen.

Alice heard his voice; she was completely motionless, without being able to react, without being able to think. Beyond the screen appeared two other boys followed by two girls. The two newcomers who were about the same age as the first, one had a longer thinner face and she could see he was the taller than his companions; the other was shorter, with a very round face, glasses and short hair.

Come on Miki, get moving and turn it on. What are you waiting for? said the taller girl.

Keep still! he said, this time turning to the smaller girl, who jumped between her and the tall boy trying to see beyond, towards her.

There’s something wrong! It seems to be on but the screen is black... What’s happening?"

Alice saw the boy’s face closer and closer to the screen so that she could see the small freckles on his cheeks and nose.

Slowly slowly though the screen, from being clear was, beginning to darken, the image was quickly fading, Alice could no longer see anything, only she heard a voice that could be one of the other two children who said, It’s about time finally it seems to be working... Come on, enter the Internet we’re looking... Then the voice faded and as suddenly as it had disappeared the screen with the words express reappeared.

So now what?

Alice jumped, she was so shocked and frozen by what she had seen, that she no longer remembered her father was there beside her.

Alice, are you okay? You look so pale!

«Yes, yes all right," said Alice hastily.

He remained motionless a few more seconds, she didn’t know what to think, she just couldn’t figure out what she had seen beyond the screen. For a moment she thought if it was a good idea to tell her father, but for the moment she decided not to tell him anything. First she had to try to understand what she had seen, who were those children, what was that room... In short, she had too many questions she couldn’t answer and she preferred not to talk about it right away.

You sure you’re all right?

Sure, pa, you know you were motionless in front of the PC for a few minutes, not me... said Alice to herself.

I was motionless? Narseo obviously had heard exactly what his daughter had said. I think its not... However, seeing that everything’s all right, have we decided what to do? Let’s make a nice cup!

Alice thought she should behave normally, spend the morning with her father and maybe only later try to look into the matter. Sure, okay. Next time we will make the express... Just need to find out what it is exactly!

The rest of the morning passed quietly in the laundry room building a giant cup. Surely Narseo’s help was valuable in regard to the design of the constructions, how to make them look realistic and, in the most complicated cases of construction, to ensure they could stand up; but Narseo had trouble with manual skills. Luckily Alice had tiny fingers, thin and lean, she could handle the small pieces easily and fit them together.

Alice, while she was at work, could not forget what she had seen. She continued asking herself a thousand questions, kept thinking of that room and those children. The morning passed quickly, however, and eventually the construction was finished.

It worked out just fine, said Narseo with satisfaction. This time we really did a good job!

In fact, the cup was beautiful: they had done their best with its construction. Perfectly in the middle of the room, it took up about half the space. It was red with