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Chapter 7 (I think)
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A short while later, he left the tea shop, full of spotted dick pudding and tea. Something was tugging insistently at the back of his mind. Something he had seen earlier had triggered the recollection of a memory of an insinuation of a hint in a reference in a book referred to by a manual mentioned in passing in some notes he had casually, but hurriedly, read one day. And as the notes were upside down and he was trying not to let on to the person they were the right up for that he was trying to read them, he couldn’t be sure.
It was something about superior computing in a small device.
No. Not superior.
Advanced. That was it.
Advanced computing visual something or other.
Visual detection web.
No. Not that. Transmitter, maybe. Advanced computing optical detection transmitter.
No. Still not it.
Advanced computing optical recognition transmitter.
No. The devices had both transmitters and receivers in them.
He paused in front of the post office, idly scanning the advertising cards - cleaners, builders, plumbers, IT consultants… all peddling their services. A nearby village was advertising its monthly local business networking event. Several cottages were up for let in the holiday season. A prize-winning Siamese had a litter of kittens looking for good homes.
He popped in and bought a bottle of water and some stamps, for no reason beyond a very strong belief that village post offices should be supported by any means possible.
Something about the noticeboard stuck in his mind. He scratched absent mindedly at his head, and discovered that not only was something from the notice board stuck in his mind, but a large-ish splinter from it was also stuck in his head. He pulled out it out, wincing, then yelled as the word fell into place. Network.
That was it.
The device was known as the advanced computing optical recognition network.
Something about that made him think of the squirrel. He couldn’t quite place his finger on it. He walked on, not paying enough attention to his surroundings, especially given his profession.
Something landed on his head. Followed by another. He broke out of his reverie and realised he was walking under an oak tree, which was dropping acorns on him. Pulling himself together, he walked on, far more aware of his surroundings, and acutely conscious that the missing piece of the jigsaw puzzle was hiding in plain sight.
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