Zulu

Zulu. What a discovery. No-one had even begun to unravel the
intricacies of the code until now. Then, on chance, without plan or
consideration of direction, he had literally tripped over the solution,
like finding a crack in uneven pavement. Zulu. It was so obvious once
you had the keyhole, not the key. No, not a key he thought, it was too
obvious for that kind of mind. It had to be the opposite of what you
might expect, like a hole in the door rather than something as
substantial, comfortable as a key. Well well, Zulu it was then, and
onward and inward through that mysterious, irresistable doorway.
There in front of him, glowing chill and green as a cypher written in
anti-freeze, that great screenful of meaningless data. The entry code
page, that unflinching, unrelenting map of madness. He typed in the
single word, once. "Zulu". Then "enter", And, breathlessly,
incomprehensively and totally, he stepped through the great void.
The screen flickered for a millisecond. Then the whole indeshiperable
pattern unravelled, zipped into infinity, leaving a single word,
"Alpha". He felt himself inverted, turning inward on his own
consciousness, like stepping into a black hole inside his soul, and
connecting as he did with the very centre of the universe, he knew, and
was glad.....
Morning. The cleaner came as always, muttering something about
"bleedin' technos" and dusting the bright screen, with its still-urgent
insistance like a child wanting attention, "Alpha"... She bent,
unplugging the socket to the computer array, and switching on the
vacuum cleaner, Muttering gave way to singing, wafting out over the
drone of the machine, "somewhere, over the rainbow....."
Alan