The Forgetting Machine Read Online Free

and flies had died. I made a mental note to avoid getting between Alfred and any invasive species.
    When we reached the stairwell, Alfred opened the door and stood aside.
    â€œThank you, Alfred.” I headed down the stairs to Billy Bates’s lair. If I lived there, I would want one of the round rooms in the turrets, but Billy had claimed an old subbasement bomb shelter as his domain. As expected, he was sitting in his swivel chair facing a bank of high-definition screens. Four games were running. I recognized Black Ops XIV, Ghast Wars, and Interzone Apocalypse. The fourth display showed shadowy figures moving in and out of a nearly black image space, with occasional splashes of red. Blood, I assumed.
    â€œWhat’s that?” I asked, pointing.
    â€œNew MOG,” he said.
    MOG, in case you don’t know, stands for multiplayer online game. Billy was the only person I knew who could play three or four of them at once.
    â€œIt’s called Deathdark.”
    â€œVery catchy,” I had to admit.
    â€œI hacked into their servers—you know, just to try it out. It’s a pre-beta release.”
    â€œSpeaking of pre-beta—did you know that your butler is punching holes in your walls?”
    Billy turned to look at me, flipping his thick dark hair off his forehead. Have I mentioned his hair? Have I mentioned his molten-brown eyes to die for?
    â€œHe’s still doing that?” he said.
    â€œYou knew? And you let him answer the door? What if a fly had landed on my forehead?”
    â€œGood point. I’ll mention it to Gilly.” Gilly was Billy’s father, better known as Gilbert Bates. Most people called him Mr. Bates, but Billy and I called him Gilly, because we were friends with him before we found out he was actually Billy’s father. III
    â€œI have a problem,” I said. “I need to find out why Flinkwater is called Flinkwater.”
    â€œBecause of all the flink in the water ?”
    â€œWhy do people keep saying that?”
    â€œIt’s the obvious inference,” Billy said.
    â€œWell it’s wrong! Come on, Billy. I have a report due for history class on Wednesday, and I need help. Can’t you use your Web magic?”
    Billy sighed and switched off his game screens. “Okay, but I have school problems of my own, you know.”
    â€œYou?”
    â€œMe.”
    â€œTell me! Maybe I can help!”
    Billy gave me a look I can only describe as nervous, or perhaps fearful. I may have come across as a little too eager. Also, the last time I’d tried to help Billy with a problem, we’d both ended up in jail. IV
    â€œSeriously,” I said. “What’s the problem?”
    â€œI failed a couple tests, so Gilly hired a tutor.”
    â€œOh.” A tutor! That was embarrassing. Especially for a kid so smart he’d skipped three grades. “How come you failed?”
    â€œI got bored. One was an American history test, multiple choice. I chose B for the whole test. And then I had to write this essay for language arts and I did it in pig latin. Mr. McPhee said ix-nay on at-thay .” He shrugged. “I was just messing around.”
    â€œCan’t you just explain to your dad?”
    â€œGilly’s off on one of his work binges. He’s practically living at ACPOD. Last time he came home, I’m not sure he even recognized me—you know how he gets.”
    I did know. Gilbert Bates was the smartest person I’d ever met, next to Billy, but he could be quite absentminded.
    â€œYeah, my dad’s been a little spacey too,” I said. “What’s he working on?”
    â€œIt’s top secret.”
    â€œ Everything at ACPOD is top secret, but that never stopped you from unsecreting it.”
    â€œTrue,” Billy said, “but you have to promise not to tell anybody. It’s a drone.”
    â€œWhat’s so hush-hush about a drone?” I asked.
    Drones, of course, have been