Young Writers Society

“Okay, Robert. What do I do next?” Sunny glanced at the ambassador expectantly.

The robot lifted an arm slab to his face as if pinching the bridge of his non-existent nose. “If you’re really dead set on this… well, I suppose the first step is to define extraneous code.”

Despite his complaints, however, Sunny and Robert were soon standing on the train platform, looking at a map of Method City. Sunny pointed to a cartoon depiction of a mountain range near the top of the map. "I'm assuming Spaghetti Code Mountain is there?"

Robert snorted. "No, Sunny, it's actually down there, in the middle of the ocean."

“Wait, really?” Sunny looked to the bottom of the map.

Robert stared at her incredulously until she realized it was sarcasm.

"Wow, thanks." Sunny rolled her eyes.

Sunny stared at the rest of the code. “Robert. What are those lines and exclamation marks and ampersands doing there?” As if curly braces and semicolons weren’t enough, Java had to use other random symbols as well?

Sunny hid her fear with hero-like quips. Humor in the face of great evil and all.

Despite her tiredness, however, she noticed the squiggly clumps of code that squatted on the mountain like lumpy bushes. Were they the spaghetti code the mountain was named after?

The pair left the train station. As Robert and Sunny navigated through the streets of Method City, Sunny craned her neck backwards to look up at the tall buildings. Then she was distracted by a person juggling numbers on the sidewalk, and some street performers singing a song about arrays. Her head whipped back and forth as she tried to absorb all the sights and sounds.

“Robert, look! Are those dancing semicolons?”

“Mhmm.” Robert made a left turn.

“Another variapet show! Ooh, a building with percent sign decorations!”

“The café will be on our right.”

“And those people wearing dresses with ampersands on them, and that bracket burger place, and that surprisingly normal-looking taxi–”

“We’re here,” Robert announced.

The robot looked like Robert had when he'd first revealed himself in Javaland– a smooth white oval. Except this one was firmly on the ground, and not hovering as Robert did.

She waved her notebook at him. "Read this."

Jasper squinted at the notebook. "Swords are awesome?"

"No, no, the one right above that."

Jasper paused for a moment, letting Sunny enjoy the food. Then he said, “And it’s not like you’re perfect either. You’re assuming things about me without knowing the context. I think the way I did things ended the war and destruction in the fastest way possible.” He looked grim, as if recalling the war.

Sunny stopped mid-chew. Was that true? Well, she supposed it was true that she hadn’t been there… She swallowed. “Oh. Um. Sorry.” She looked down at the burger. “I guess we both have things to work on?”

Jasper’s expression softened. “Yeah.”