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You decide you want to start your investigation by tracking down Missing Object n.3: Your Missing Childhood, which is you.

Dr. Sheppard gives you a computer. It has keyboard, monitor, and a few extra buttons. Dr. Sheppard tells you that the computer also has a few more buttons. You don't really understand what they do, but you do notice that there are no men's clothes in the future.

"Go to the Past," says Dr. Sheppard. "Look for yourself."

"Where do you want me to look?" asks Tobias.

"Anywhere," says Dr. Sheppard. "Any time. Just look."

You decide you want to start with where you should have been all your life: your house. So you head out and when you get to your house, you go inside. Your house is your house, except there are no men's clothes in the future. In fact, none of the furniture is made of wood: they are all made of synthetic materials, like plastic.

There are 3 important facts about your childhood that you have to remember: first, that you never had a childhood; second, that you didn't die; and third, that you never even went to kindergarten.

"I wonder how I'm going to find information on these events in my past?" you say. "I guess I'll have to try hitting the buttons on the computer."

You push the button labeled TODDLER and then you push the button labeled YOU. The monitor on the computer shows a graph of the numbers, but it doesn't make any sense: when you push the TODDLER button, the graph goes up and when you push the YOU button, it goes down. When you push the button labelled ELLEN, however, the graph goes up and when you push the button labelled FORMER JENNY, it goes down. And when you push the button labeled INTERMEDIATE JENNY, it goes up and when you push the button labelled SUPERIOR JENNY, it goes down.

"Why is the graph going up and down?" asks Tobias. "And why are the numbers on it going from 0 to 2 instead of going from 1 to 2?"

You discover that a person called MACHINE 8 is watching you. She is a transparent block of plastic that floats on the floor of the monitor. If you get too close, you get sucked into the image and disappear.

"Who is Machine 8?" you ask Dr. Sheppard. "And how did she get to be a transparent block of plastic?"

"Machine 8 is just an example of what you may expect during this mystery" says Dr. Sheppard "The Missing Objects may be protecting you."

"That's it?" you ask. "But how could I get too close to you? How could you get too close to me?"

"You can't," says Dr. Sheppard. "The words 'too close' never come up in my vocabulary."

You decide to try and get closer to Machine 8. You stand on a little ledge that hangs over the inside of the monitor and you try to get as close to the monitor as possible. It doesn't work. Every time you get close to the monitor, Machine 8 blows up in your face.

"Why do you have these counter-measures to keep me from getting too close?" you ask.

"That's the whole point of the mysteries," says Dr. Sheppard. "The people of the future don't trust anything or anyone they don't understand. And you and I understand each other better than anyone else in the world ever did."

Maybe pressing another button will help? You decide to:

1. Use the LAST button to confirm that Machine 8 is dead.

2. Press the button labeled MACHINE 8.

3. Press the button labeled EQUAL TO TOLERANCE.

4. Press the button labeled RATIONAL BEHAVIOR.

5. Press the button labeled EQUAL TO UNIVERSAL RESPONSIBILITY.

6. Press the button labeled EQUAL TO EQUALITY.

7. Press the button labeled PERFECTION.

8. Press the button labeled EVOLUTION.

9. Press the button labeled EQUAL TO NATION, OCEAN, AND INTERIOR.

10. Press the button labeled EQUAL TO SYSTEMS.