What happened before in Chapter 3
Pindler and Gassly tell Mac that they too are searching for the Maltese Cube. Without actually saying so, they hire Mac to find it for them as well.
Chapter 4
Information Retrieval
I waited until I heard the outer office door close. I rose from behind my desk and made my to the office lobby and glanced around. Umax was sitting quietly at her desk, eyes downcast. She had been through a rough time tonight and didn’t deserve the treatment she had received from the likes of those two.
‘Are you alright Maxie?’ I asked.
‘Yes sir.’ She said quietly ‘Sometimes I manage to forget the past, until it’s shoved brutally in my face.’
I winced inwardly, knowing of her humble beginnings, bright promise, and rapid fall from grace. I walked to the always-full pot of Real Java(1) and poured myself a cup.
‘Who’s that on the phone?’ I asked.
‘Sherlock’ she replied ‘He seems very excited about something.’
‘I’ll take it in my office.’ I said, moving back inside and closing the door behind me.
I sat back down and girded myself with a quick gulp of joe. I hesitated before picking up the phone. Something about this case smelled bad. Worse than a web page created in Word 6 (2).
‘Hello Sherlock’ I began ‘How’s the search going?’
‘Hey boss.’ He said, ‘Like they say in bad satire (3), I’ve got good news and bad news.’
‘I’m having a bad day, so let’s start with the good news’ I said.
‘You got it’ he replied, ‘I looked up Apple in all the usual places and got back a ton of info. Quite the busy beavers over there. These guys seem to have their hands in everything’
‘Give me the condensed version. We can go over the fine print if necessary later.’ I said. ‘How do I get a handle on these people?’
‘Oh, that’s the easy part.’ He said ‘Ask.’
‘Excuse me?’
‘Ask. These people love their computers and will talk almost non-stop if you let them. It seems this Apple Company makes computers for people who like to get things done. It’s the preferred platform for Digital Video, Pre-press, Web design, Graphics, you name it.’
‘Interesting.’ I said thoughtfully ‘How do I get in to talk with these people?’
Sherlock laughed, ‘Join a user group.’
‘A what?’
‘A user group. These are enthusiasts who get together to support the platform. They help new users, offer classes, arrange events, some even help diagnose and repair your equipment.’
I hesitated before replying. ‘Do all computer companies inspire this kind of response from their customers?’
‘Not that I’m aware of boss. This seems to be unique in this form to Apple.’
‘Good work. Do you have a contact?’
‘Yeah. The premiere user group in this area is an outfit called’¦.Washington Apple Pi.’
‘Apple Pi eh? Sounds ominous.’
‘Not this group. Completely above the board.’
‘Ok, Thanks Sherlock. You have a phone number?’ I wrote it down as he called it off over the phone.
‘Got it. Any other good news?’
Sherlock waited before answering. ‘Depends on your definition of good news.’
‘Don’t sugarcoat, spill it.’
‘I may have found out who has the Maltese Cube’
Notes for Chapter 4
(1) Real Java ‘“ Sun Microsystems (A non-platform dependent Internet standard) sued Microsoft over Microsoft’s implementation of Sun’s Java. Hence the name Real Java.
(2) Word 6 ‘“ This refers to Microsoft Word 6 for the Macintosh. Microsoft was attempting to make Word look the same regardless of what platform it was running on to make things ‘easier’ for the user who might have to switch back and forth between operating systems. It was bloated, inefficient, a resource hog, and one of the fundamental reasons so many people continued to use Word 5.1.
(3) Bad Satire ‘“ You’re reading this and require an explanation?
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.