Skip to main content

story identification - Book ID: Boy plays a video game and has to to solve different tasks (the last being a maze that's an IQ test)


There is this boy who plays a video game where he has to solve a multitude of tasks. One was a tactical space battle and the last one was a maze.



Later, it's revealed that it was some IQ test and he ends up in a facility with some other kids. In the facility there are brain-washed adults that care for them. And they are supposed to solve some kind of problem for some ominous evil figure.


Also, the boy has a friend who, after the boy disappeared, also barely manages to beat the game to get to see his friend again.



Answer



Brainboy and the DeathMaster by Tor Seidler



Darryl Kirby is an orphan. He is also a whiz at computer games -- especially those conceived by Keith Masterly, the greatest software guru of all time. But when Darryl plays a new prototype of his favorite game, StarMaster, strange things begin to happen. After he finds his way through a tortuous maze and answers questions that could stump a scientist, a mysterious message -- "WANT TO PLAY?" -- invites him into a game in which the stakes are higher than they first appear -- a game that eventually lands him in a luxurious laboratory where Masterly has enlisted a brain trust of children for a secret purpose of his own. Befriended by Nina, who suspects Masterly's motives, Darryl slowly uncovers a sinister plan and finds himself the star in his own real-life computer game. But will he and Nina be able to stop Masterly and escape before it is too late?


Brainboy and the Deathmaster is a fast-paced, high-tech mystery-adventure by National Book Award finalist Tor Seidler, author of the modern-day classic Mean Margaret.



The German description found here (in German the title is "Danny und der Herr der Spiele" - "Danny and the Master of Games")




Aus dem Amerikanischen von Peter Knecht. Der zwölfjährige Danny ist ein Computergenie - da kann der gleichaltrige Boris nur staunen. Auch der reiche und geheimnisvolle Computerspezialist Keith Masterly ist von Danny fasziniert und bringt ihn in sein geheimes Labor, das "Paradise Lab". Zu Dannys Erstaunen trifft er dort sieben weitere hoch begabte Kinder, darunter auch Nina, die Schwester von Boris. Bald wird den beiden klar, dass es in dem paradiesischen Labor nicht mit rechten Dingen zugeht. Als sie entdecken, dass Masterly die Kinder nur benutzt, um die Formel der ewigen Jugend zu finden, beginnt ein Wettrennen um Leben und Tod. Gerade noch zur rechten Zeit taucht Dannys Freund B.J. auf, der ihn seit seinem Verschwinden sucht.



My own translation:



Translation from English from Peter Knecht. The twelve years old Danny is a computer genious - Boris, who is the same age, can only marvel at this. The rich and mysterious computer specialist Keith Masterly is fascinated by Danny, too, and brings him into his secret Laboratory, the "Paradise Lab". To Danny's amazement he meets seven other highly talented kids there, including Nina, the sister of Boris. Soon both will realize that some things are odd in the paradisaic lab. When they discover that Masterly just uses the kids to get the formula for eternal youth a race to the death begins. Just in time Danny's friend B.J. arrives, who was searching for him since he disappeared.



I remember that drugs were involved, though I can only distinctly remember that the kids were supposed to take drugs to be submissive and as a little enhancement for their IQ (not sure if that last part was just the promise of Keith Masterly to get them to take the drugs though). Of course the protagonists decided that it's better not to take them in order to discover the secrets of the laboratory.


Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Did the gatekeeper and the keymaster get intimate in Ghostbusters?

According to TVTropes ( usual warning, don't follow the link or you'll waste half your life in a twisty maze of content ): In Ghostbusters, it's strongly implied that Dana Barret, while possessed by Zuul the Gatekeeper, had sex with Louis Tully, who was possessed by Vinz Clortho the Keymaster (key, gate, get it?), in order to free Big Bad Gozer. In fact, a deleted scene from the movie has Venkman explicitly asking Dana if she and Louis "did it". I turned the quote into a spoiler since it contains really poor-taste joke, but the gist of it is that it's implied that as part of freeing Gozer , the two characters possessed by the Keymaster and the Gatekeeper had sex. Is there any canon confirmation or denial of this theory (canon meaning something from creators' interviews, DVD commentary, script, delete scenes etc...)? Answer The Richard Mueller novelisation and both versions of the script strongly suggest that they didn't have sex (or at the very l...

Why didn't The Doctor or Clara recognize Missy right away?

So after it was established that Missy is actually both the Master, and the "woman in the shop" who gave Clara the TARDIS number... ...why didn't The Doctor or Clara recognize her right away? I remember the Tenth Doctor in The Sound of Drums stating that Timelords had a way of recognizing other Timelords no matter if they had regenerated. And Clara should have recognized her as well... I'm hoping for a better explanation than "Moffat screwed up", and that I actually missed something after two watchthroughs of the episode. Answer There seems to be a lot of in-canon uncertainty as to the extent to which Time Lords can recognise one another which far pre-dates Moffat's tenure. From the Time Lords page on Wikipedia : Whether or not Time Lords can recognise each other across regenerations is not made entirely clear: In The War Games, the War Chief recognises the Second Doctor despite his regeneration and it is implied that the Doctor knows him when they fir...

story identification - Animation: floating island, flying pests

At least 20 years ago I watched a short animated film which stuck in my mind. The whole thing was wordless, possibly European, and I'm pretty sure I didn't imagine it... It featured a flying island which was inhabited by some creatures who (in my memory) reminded me of the Moomins. The island was frequently bothered by large winged animals who swooped around, although I don't think they did any actual damage. At the end one of the moomin creatures suddenly gets a weird feeling, feels forced to climb to the top of the island and then plunges down a shaft right through the centre - only to emerge at the bottom as one of the flyers. Answer Skywhales from 1983. The story begins with a man warning the tribe of approaching skywhales. The drummers then warn everybody of the hunt as everyone get prepared to set "sail". Except one man is found in his home sleeping as the noise wake him up. He then gets ready and is about to take his weapon as he hesitates then decides ...

warhammer40k - What evidence supposedly supports Tau as related to the Necrontyr?

I've heard of rumours saying that the Tau from Warhammer 40K are in fact the Necrontyr. Is there anything that supports this statement, in WH40K canon? I just found this, on 1d4 chan 1 : Helping Necrons? Or are they Necrontyr descendants? An often overlooked issue is that Tau have no warp signatures, just like Necrons, hate Warpspawns and Warp in general, just like Necrons, have the exact same skull shape,stature and short lives, and the overwhelming need for Technology and beam weapons, JUST LIKE NECRONS. GW may have planned a race that simply prepares a pacified, multiracial galaxy for Necrons to feast upon, supported by Ethereals that have a C'tan phase blade. Then there is a reference of "dark seed in east" by the Deceiver, so the tricky C'tan might give Tzeentch the finger in the JUST AS PLANNED competition. Or maybe GW just has so little creativity that they simply made a new civ conforming to an Old One's standards without knowing it. Is this the connec...