Thunderfunk the Superchicken - Chapter 9

Power Naps Can Be Evil

The lights flashed to full brilliance, bathing the room in a warm glow. Straw walked up to the computer monitor and sat down heavily, completely full. He had probably overeaten yet again, but the food had been so delicious that it was worth it. "All right," he muttered under his breath. "Let’s see where we were." He moved the mouse and hit a few buttons. "Aha," he breathed. Turning his chair, he faced his boss, who was leaning weakly against the railing, holding his stomach. "Thunder," said Straw, to no response. "Thunder," he repeated louder. Still the evil genius did not answer. "THUNDER!" he yelled.

Finally the giant bird’s eyes focussed and he looked at his assistant. "What? I am sorry, Straw. I do believe I overate at that restaurant. What were you saying?"

Leaning back in his chair, Straw nodded understandingly. "It would appear," he began, turning his chair around and tapping on the keyboard again, "that the computer is frozen and we will have to reboot." He reached down and hit the power button. They waited as it slowly shut down. They waited longer as it began to restart. They waited even longer as it processed whether it wanted to restart after being shut down so rudely only moments before.

Straw looked at his boss with a glassy stare that was equally matched. The two of them sat and waited, digesting together. The room swam before his eyes.

With a beep, the computer announced that it was finished its start up procedures and ready to begin...as soon as someone typed in the password. Straw stared blankly at the screen, finally turning to regard his boss once more. "I have no idea what the password is," he mumbled sleepily. "Do you?"

Thunder merely shrugged. "Try ‘breadbuuter must die’, or ‘curse that infernal woman’. Perhaps it was ‘death for everyone, clemency for none’." He flopped into a chair. "I’m not sure I much care at this moment." His eyes drooped closed and soon he was breathing deeply, snoring softly in his sleep.

Straw turned back to the computer. "I should get this set up before he wakes," he said to no one in particular. He tried the first suggested password but it did not work. He tried the second one, but had trouble typing around his nose. By the third password he was asleep on his keyboard.