‘I’m afraid that it could happen again.’
Jamie signed off the session after telling Daniel that he had a lot to mull over. At the moment he was thinking that he was going to wake up soon and this whole experience was some way out dream or that he was actually in hospital in Liverpool after an accident. That’s it, I’m in a coma and mum, dad and Leanne are at home in number forty two Marie Curie Avenue.
Jamie decided that for the moment he would follow Daniel’s advice which was to just accept things and enjoy his computer and so he went the Games Folder and selected Virtual Movie. The menu listed twenty well known films, but there was no competition for his first choice. It had to be a Harry Potter film. He entered his name and then selected an image of his face that he had taken from a photograph and placed in a folder on the computer. Two minutes later a dumbstruck Jamie was watching himself starring in the film in place of the actor who had played Harry and the other characters were addressing him as Jamie. It was the most awesome thing that he had ever seen and he would love to have been able to let his family see it, but he already decided that he would be showing it to his friend Geoff when he came to stay during the holidays.
CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE
It was just after seven o’clock when Jamie switched on the computer. He’d heard his dad leave for work earlier, so he wouldn’t get any aggro from him. With luck Daniel would be at his machine having an early morning play.
Jamie heaved a sigh of relief when he heard Daniel’s voice.
‘I had an idea you might try and make contact today because the things I told you would still be troubling you.’
‘You did promise that you were telling the truth, but I’m still having trouble trying to understand how it could be for real.’
‘But you don’t doubt the results of the experiment. You do remember the experiment with the coconuts?’
Jamie remembered the experiment all right. That was an amazing thing, but he couldn’t see how it all fitted in with the events that had affected the family. He told Daniel that it all seemed too farfetched that the weather or cosmic interference in outer space had caused those odd things to happen.
‘You’re right, Jamie. I haven’t told you the whole truth, but I had my reasons. I’m going to do another experiment first and then I will tell you everything, but you still might not believe me.’
‘It doesn’t involve onions and carrots, does it?’ Jamie joked.
‘Jamie, look down by your feet.’
Jamie slowly looked towards his feet. He sensed that he was in for yet another surprise and he wasn’t wrong. There was a very large snake wrapped around the legs of his chair. Jamie sat upright and made his body rigid in an instinctive attempt to keep perfectly still.
‘It’s not real, Jamie. Touch it, or rather try to touch it,’
‘I’ll take your word for it, but tell me what’s going on here and why?’
‘I will, but take another look at your feet.’
Jamie flinched with fright when he looked down. The snake had been joined by a small crocodile and it was snapping its jaws and tugging at his trouser leg. Jamie kicked out, but he felt nothing although he was certain that he must have made contact with the crocodile. Jamie was relieved when the crocodile and snake disappeared, but then gasped when he saw a hairy spider that covered almost the whole of his hand that had been resting on the computer mouse. The spider crawled up his arm and across his chest before coming to rest under his chin and Jamie was still holding his head rigid after it had disappeared.
‘You can relax, Jamie. What you saw were only images because I hacked into the image processing area of your brain which is located on Planet Laret. None of those were real because if they had have been you would have felt the crocodile when you kicked out and you would have felt the spider under your chin, but you didn’t.’
‘But how can you do that from where you are, even with a special computer like we have. How is that possible?’ asked a shocked Jamie.
‘First you must know, Jamie, that I am not using a special computer. I am a computer and I’m located on Planet Titantula which is not known to earthlings. Daniel, the boy does not exist in human form, nor does my pretend grandfather, who is actually Koolebron. Koolebron is a superior computer to me and did communicate with your Uncle just like we have been doing. I didn’t want to lie to you, but it was felt that you would not be able to accept the concept that I was a machine and it might cause you anxiety as you struggled to take it all in. There is also the burden that you carry in trying to keep yet more secrets. ’
‘How can you be a computer? You look and sound just like I would expect a boy of my age to sound. You have a sense of humour. You can’t be computer. You can’t be.’
‘I am Jamie. I have been programmed to sound like I do. Just like I was when I imitated your old antagonist Jason Patmore. I can be who I want to be.’
While Jamie was struggling to understand what Daniel had just told him a voice from the speakers on Jamie’s desk shouted out, ‘Jamie, get down here, now. Your breakfast’s ready.’ The voice was identical to his dad’s.
‘Jamie I had to tell you because you are in danger, but you need not be afraid of me. Another computer in our system, who we shall call, Devilmortex, has reprogrammed itself with evil intent. So far he, we’ll call it a he, has only used image changes to scare you, but he was not responsible for the incidents that happened to you at school. The reason I have been authorised to tell you the truth is to warn because Devilmortex is capable of doing you real harm.’
Jamie’s mind was in turmoil. He was being asked to accept something that was so mind blowing and yet he couldn’t ignore what he had seen and experienced. The snake had looked so real and the crocodile really had freaked him out when he’d expected its jaws to chomp into his leg and he would never forget the monster spider that was on his hand before it had crawled up his arm, or what happened at Crowley Door. Uncle Stanley’ super computer was definitely real, but could he have built it without some special ‘outside’ help? Perhaps the help had come from someone or something in outer space!
‘You said that we were not in danger from the sharks and the ‘door’ wasn’t going to crush me, but what about our car landing in the spot we had been sitting just minutes earlier. Did Devilmortex make that happen?’
‘Your car was probably pushed off the cliff by some, what you call yobs, who were messing about on the cliff top.’
‘But why did he frighten us and why are we in danger?’
‘There have been some objectors to Koolebron’s experiment of communicating with your Uncle and then allowing my contact with you. I have already told you that Koolebron is also a computer, but far more powerful than me. It seems likely that Devilmortex is connected with those objectors.’
‘Why can’t we just stop communicating and end Koolebron’s experiment, especially now Uncle Stanley is no longer with us!’ Jamie suggested.
‘Devilmortex has turned this into a contest between him and me and we have already been joined in battle. I have been unable to communicate with you on occasions because he succeeded in temporarily crippling part of my system. I am fully operational at present, but I may suffer other malfunctions in the future. The good news is that I have inflicted some damage to him and you may have some respite from him, but I fear that you will be targeted again.’
‘Now that you’ve told me about images being changed I’ll be all right, but my family will think they are real. So, I suppose we’ve just got to hope that he leaves us alone.’
‘We will warn you when we can and Koolebron will eventually root out Devilmortex and destroy him. It is important that we stay in communication and you might experience trouble from an earthly source. The burglary at your house put our communications at risk, but I was able to intervene by modifying the burglar’s image processing. The burglar was Ben Sligo, the American who was staying next door. You must be wary of the Americans. I will do my best to protect you from them, but you must sa
feguard your computer. Be careful my earthling friend.’
They bid each other farewell after Jamie had been told some surprise news about his own computer. He would have to start thinking of his ‘friend’ as Soupinpota from now on because Daniel just didn’t sound right for the name of a computer.
Jamie left his special room, shaking his head and wondering what to make of what he had just been told, including the news that his computer was the most powerful in the world and far more powerful than the fastest mainframe computer which was currently in America.
CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR
Jamie’s bedroom was quiet except for the faint sound of music that was coming from his Ipod that lay on the bedside table. The bedroom door rattled before it was opened by Jamie’s dad after there had been no response from his calls from outside the door.
‘Shake a leg, Jamie. Your breakfast is on the table.’
Kevin looked down at the empty bed and then muttered to himself. ‘He’ll be on that blinkin computer again.’
Kevin was soon climbing up the short flight of stairs that led to the attic and Jamie’s special room and then began banging on the door, but there was no response and the door was locked. Had he gained access to the room he would have seen the message for Jamie that was flashing on and off on the giant monitor which read:
Code 5 Alert
You are in grave danger. Do not venture out.
Kevin checked that Jamie wasn’t in the bathroom and then made his way back downstairs to the kitchen and told Debbie that Jamie must have gone out early, perhaps to do some training.
‘It’s not like, gutsy lad, to go out before he’s had his breakfast. I’d better put his breakfast in the oven. Did you hear your brother leave, Leanne?’
Leanne’s replied that she hadn’t and for the moment Kevin’s worrying was interrupted as he shouted out, ‘Damn mosquito and flicked his hand at the insect that had just buzzed around his ear. Kevin wouldn’t rest until the insect was flattened or had flown outside and he moved across the kitchen and clapped his hands together in order to sandwich the mosquito, but it darted away just in time.
Debbie smiled and said, ‘If you haven’t killed it you’ve given it a sore head.’
‘You haven’t killed that little insect, have you, Daddy?’ Leanne asked, looking upset.
No, Princess, I didn’t kill it, but I would like to because they’re a flamin nuisance and I seem to attract them. They are so crafty the way they change direction in flight from side to side and not a bit like flies that are so easy to swot.’
‘It must be your aftershave that attracts them,’ Debbie suggested and smiled at husband.
‘Very funny, but remember when I got that bite on my eyelid when we were on holiday in Turkey.’
Debbie grimaced and said she did remember and it was horrible.
Kevin scanned the kitchen and saw the mosquito and was tempted to swipe it, but couldn’t with Leanne looking on and announced that he was going to look for Jamie on the nearby field where he often did his extra football training.
* * *
Kevin was anxious as he made the short walk to the field because he hadn’t told Debbie that he’d seen Jamie’s normal weekend clothes in his bedroom along with his sport’s kit. He hadn’t checked inside the wardrobe to see if his best clothes were there and perhaps the little sneak had gone to meet a girl from school. Kevin cautioned himself not to embarrass Jamie if he was with a girl, but he would give him what for when he got him indoors.
Kevin didn’t bother venturing too far onto the field because there was no sign of Jamie and when he asked the couple of early morning walkers exercising their dogs they hadn’t seen him either.
When Kevin returned to the house he was greeted by an excited Leanne who was more interested in the injured mosquito than her brother’s mysterious disappearance.
‘Come and see it, Daddy. Mum saw in on the sink and carefully scooped it up with a little spoon and put on the window sill.’
Kevin smiled despite his worry over Jamie, but told Debbie that he was bound to be home soon.
‘Little Mo’s gone,’ Leanne shouted out and became tearful as she looked out of the kitchen window.
‘He must have flown off, Leanne, so he couldn’t have been badly hurt, could he, Kevin?’
Kevin agreed with Debbie for his daughter’s sake, but was hoping that the newly christened mosquito had provided breakfast for a bird or even a spider. Debbie and Kevin pretended to be interested in Little Mo’s welfare as all three family members stared out of the kitchen window. Leanne was the first to react with a shriek that was probably heard by Rufus and his mother and Debbie nearly dropped the plate she had been drying.
‘What’s that blinkin lad been up to now,’ Kevin said when he saw a sleepy eyed Jamie, still wearing his pyjamas, peering through the window.
Jamie was shivering when Kevin reached him and stopped himself from reading the riot act to his son, but Debbie’s upset made her roar, ‘What were you doing out there Jamie. You frightened the life out of us. It wasn’t funny.’
‘I don’t think he was trying to be funny, Debs.’ Kevin suggested and then asked his son why he had been in the garden and for how long.
‘I don’t know, Dad. The last thing I remember was being upstairs in bed and listening to my Ipod and thinking about getting up. I woke up a few minutes ago on the lawn by the shed and I’ve no idea how I got there and that’s the truth.’
Debbie’s eyes filled with tears as she realised that Jamie might have suffered had the weather been colder and she suggested that Jamie went and soaked in a hot bath and then came down for his breakfast.
When Jamie had left the kitchen Kevin told Debbie that the only explanation was that Jamie must have been sleep walking.
‘Oh, Kevin he might have fallen down the stairs, but he’s never done anything like that before.’
‘Funnily enough I’ve just remembered my old dad telling me once that his brother, Stanley used to sleep walk regularly,’ Kevin said.
* * *
Jamie had spent most of the morning watching television after he’d had his bath and just nibbled at his king-sized breakfast and he’d waited until early afternoon before he ventured into his computer room and saw the flashing warning message to contact Soupinpota urgently.
‘I’m glad you are safe, Jamie.’ Soupinpota said as soon as they had established a connection.
Jamie explained the incidents about him waking up in the garden because he’d gone sleepwalking and then asked about the warning message telling him me to stay inside.
‘Jamie I discovered that you were going to be the subject of an attack. It is possible that Devilmortex was responsible for making you sleepwalk.’
Soupinpota signed off with another, ‘Be careful, my friend.’
CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE
It was at the end of the first week of the school holidays when Kevin and Jamie went to Steaderton’s small railway station and picked up Jamie’s old school friend, Geoff. It had been almost two weeks since his last contact with Soupinpota and Jamie wondered if it had been decided to cease communication to keep Jamie out of danger. Perhaps it was all for the best and he would try and not dwell on the things that Soupinpota had told him and he would keep them secret. He had been surprised when Soupinpota had warned him about the Americans and he had been intending to ask Soupinpota if he could trust Rufus, but now he would enjoy himself with his best friend and try and forget all that had happened.
Geoff Scully and Jamie had been friends since their first day at junior school. Geoff’s spiky ginger hair often made him fair game for teasing and jokes and his hairstyle didn’t hide the fact that he was short for his age.
The banter started soon after the boys had greeted each other on the station platform. ‘Crikey, you’ve grown, Tranty, They’ll have you playing in goal if you’re not careful,’ Geoff joked.
‘It’s all that cow dung he’s been standing in.’ chipped in Kevin as the trio headed tow
ards the station exit and the car park.
Kevin loaded Geoff’s bag into Betsy 2, a Silver Vectra. Betsy 2 was reliable, quiet, economical and just about everything that the old Betsy wasn’t, but Kevin still missed the old car. Betsy 2 was a bit too predictable and reliable for Kevin’s liking.
‘Smart wheels, Mr Tranter. What happened to your old jalopy?’ Geoff asked.
‘My dad pushed her over a cliff,’ explained Jamie.
‘Very funny, Tranty. I see you’re still the joker. I have missed the old repartee.’
Kevin smiled, ‘Hmm, repartee. That’s a big word for a Liverpool lad, Geoff. I’m afraid that the old car just fell to bits.’ Kevin winked at Jamie and they both laughed while Jamie playfully pushed his friend towards the car door and they were soon on their way home.
It was the first time that Geoff had been on holiday outside of Liverpool, except for a day in Southport and he was looking forward to it. He knew that the Tranter family would make him welcome. Jamie’s dad was really funny; his Mum was a smashing woman and Leanne was just like his young sister, a pain in the neck at times.
The family had settled down ready for dinner when Debbie asked Geoff what sort of food he liked.
‘I like anything that comes with chips and I like pasties. One of the few things that I don’t like is scouse. Oh, and my mum’s lumpy gravy.’
Leanne looked puzzled and asked what scouse was.
Kevin explained that it was like a stew that was usually made on a Monday with the meat left over from Sunday. It was a meal that used to be made by the poor people.
‘But, Dad, you said that we’re poor and we don’t eat it.’
They all laughed, except Leanne and Kevin told her that it was a meal for the really poor people and that the really, really poor people had blind scouse that was made without any meat in it.
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