355HIGH WIZARDRYfull of programs was copy it; working on the original disk could cost you a lot 0 f money to replace if you hurt or wiped it accidentally.The Apple logo came up on the screen, and below it the A> prompt that said the computer's basic operating system, called DOS, was ready to accept commands to its "A" or onboard disk drive and the disk inside it. Dairine was about to start typing when something about the logo caught her eye. It was the famous striped Apple, all right: but it had no bite out of it. She stared for a second. Pirated software? she thought, but that was ridicu-lous. Her dad had bought the computer and its system software from an approved dealer, and the various warranties, manuals and end-user agree-ments were all over the floor. Huh. Maybe they changed the logo. Oh, well. Let's see the directory. . . .dir a: , she typed on the keyboard, and hit the carriage return. password? said the screen, and sat there apparently waiting for a response, for the A> prompt hadn't come back. That was no response she'd ever seen on the machines at school, dir a: , she typed, again, and the carriage return. password?"Huh," she said to herself, as possibilities flickered through her head. Did Dad have the software encrypted somehow so that Nita and I can't get into it? But why? He wants us to use it. She let out a breath. Maybe it just wants an ID code for the user—there're some programs that do that. She squinted at the screen a moment, then smiled and typed in a private joke: the code name that a certain untrained farmboy used in his fighter run on the Death Star, a name that suited Dairine since she had inherited her mother's red hair. red five, she typed, and hit the carriage return. PASSWORD RED FIVE ACCEPTED. A> Weird, Dairine thought, and typed again. dir a:
