CLUE

22. RANGE

The screen flashed again, with another set of codes. And a note on the top.

"Ever played Jig saw puzzle?"

Brett read the line aloud so everyone could hear on their phones.
"What?" Eddy said.
"Jig saw puzzle? What does this mean?" Vaishnavi asked.
"Does it mean that they have to combine the code?" Sid asked.
"Like scrabble!" Bella said.
"Oh yeah!" Eddy and Brett said.
And underneath was another list containing again 11 letters.

01001011
01001111
01010110
01000001
01001001
01000011
01001000
01010011
01010100
01001011
01011001

"There is another list of codes. 11 codes." Brett said.
"But the numbers seem different in order as compared to the first one." Eddy said.
"Why don't you write the 3 letters of the first code, maybe it will help?" Bella said.
"That's a good idea." Eddy said as he got up to get a pen and paper.
"The first code till where we deciphered was M-E-N." Brett spoke.
"Ok." Vaishnavi said.
"Let's move on the present code." Eddy said.

Brett took a deep breath and said.
"01001011"
"It's the letter K" Sid said.
"Ok." Eddy replied.

"01001111" Brett said.
30 seconds, a minute passed by, 2 minutes passed by.
"Hello?" Eddy asked.
No reply.
"Brett, no one is replying! Sid? Vaishnavi? Bella?" Eddy said in frustration.
"Hello? No, no.... Please someone answer." Brett said.

"We lost signal with Brett and Eddy." Sid said.
"And I can't seem to call them. It says 'out of network reach.' Now what?" Bella said.
"We have now 45 minutes before we go for practice."

Meanwhile, Brett went to check what happened and why the phone got disconnected. Eddy could hear Brett's phone ringing from the other room, but no reply.
He checked his phone and called Brett.

"Brett!"
"What?"
"We can't make any calls."
"Why?"
"It says no network range."
"What? That's not possible."
"Wait, I'll go ask in the lobby what's happening."

Brett strolled from room to room to get network range to call Bella and connect to Sid. They only had 45 minutes to connect as afterwards Sid and Vaishnavi would be practicing the trio. It would cost them a lot of time.

Eddy came back.
"What happened?" Brett questioned.
"Remember when we misheard the first code because of a static?" Eddy asked.
"Yes?"
"A lightning struck on the near by tower. And that's why all the lines got disconnected."
"We have to do something."
"I know, Brett. Search for a cyber cafe nearby. Till then I'll pack the bag."
"Ok. And let's leave before it starts to rain."

A sound caught their attention. The sound of rain falling towards the Earth.