Dangerous Reality

by Malorie Blackman

  Liam nodded.

  Who’s Liam? He’s my friend. A good friend. Probably my best friend actually.

  ‘Come on then.’ I opened one of the front doors of Desica International and we went inside.

  ‘Dominic? Your mum didn’t tell me she was expecting you today.’

  ‘Hi, Mike.’ I smiled wanly at the security guard behind the reception desk. For once I would’ve preferred it if Gareth, one of the other early morning security guards, was on the desk. He never took any notice of me, whereas Mike always chatted away. This was one occasion when I didn’t want to be noticed.

  ‘So what brings you to our neck of the woods?’ Mike smiled.

  ‘Mum forgot her key card.’

  ‘I know.’ Mike sighed. ‘I had to issue her with a temporary one for the day.’

  ‘She’d forget her teeth if she didn’t keep them in a glass by her bed,’ I told Mike. ‘She sees them as soon as she wakes up each morning and yet sometimes I still have to remind her that she’s about to leave the house with only her gums on show!’

  Mike stared at me. ‘Your mum has false teeth?!’

  I burst out laughing. ‘You won’t tell her I told you that, will you?’

  Mike gave me a wry look, verging on disapproval. ‘I should’ve known this was another of your wind-ups!’

  ‘Had you going though, didn’t I?’ I grinned.

  ‘Yes, you did. OK. Pass the key card here then. I’ll make sure she gets it.’

  ‘Actually, I wanted to see Mum to talk to her about something else.’ As Mike’s smile faded, I added quickly, ‘It’s very important, otherwise I wouldn’t bother her. Not today of all days. I know how busy she is with the VIMS demo.’

  Mike looked from me to Liam and back again. ‘OK. I’ll write out two passes, but once you’ve spoken to your mum, you’re to come right back down here. D’you understand?’

  ‘Yes, Mike. Thanks.’

  I watched, holding my breath as Mike wrote us into the visitors book before writing out the passes. As he gave them to us, Mike said, ‘Wish your mum luck for me.’

  ‘I will,’ I said, and grabbing Liam’s arm, I made a bee-line for the lifts.

  ‘Dominic, this is nuts!’ Liam muttered. ‘If we get caught …’

  ‘This was your idea too, not just mine.’

  ‘My idea! It was not!’ Liam spluttered at me. ‘You’re the one who phoned me and said that we should try to sneak into the testing area to see your mum’s new project.’

  ‘You didn’t exactly tell me to hop on my bike!’ I reminded him. ‘You certainly didn’t say no – not until now at any rate.’

  We stepped into the lift and I pressed the button for the first floor, even though Mum’s office was up on the fifth floor.

  ‘It’s just that … I’m sure the security guard will notice if we don’t give back our badges and leave soon.’ Liam didn’t look at all happy.

  ‘Yes, I know. I was thinking that as well,’ I admitted. ‘But hopefully we can see the VIMS unit in action then sneak out of one of the emergency doors and back up to reception without anyone seeing us and before Mike sends out a search party.’

  ‘What’ve I let myself in for?’ Liam shook his head as we stepped cautiously out of the lift. ‘Why do I always let you talk me into these things?’

  I flashed my best ‘swashbuckler-on-an-adventure’ smile at him and we got going. You should’ve seen us then! We slunk, we skulked, we tip-toed, we ducked and dived and raced down the corridor like two people in a spy film. I glared down at my leg, ordering it not to give out on me. Oh, didn’t I mention? – I walk with a slight limp. I was born with one of my legs slightly shorter than the other and even though I spent months and months with my leg in plaster when I was a baby, it still didn’t cure the problem. My leg is better than it has been, but it’s by no means perfect. And occasionally it gives out on me altogether, although not as often now as it used to do.

  But where was I? Oh yes! So there we were, skulking down the corridor, desperate not to be seen. Luckily, there were offices and partitions all over this floor and no one was taking too much notice of us. I wanted to get to the service lift but it was on the other side of the building. I reckoned this was the most dangerous part of my plan. If we got caught here, Liam and I would be out on our ears.

  By the time we were both outside the service lift, my heart was charging like a rhino with the serious hump!

  ‘We did it!’ I exclaimed.

  ‘So far so good …’ came Liam’s cautious reply.

  Honestly! Sometimes he can put a real damper on things. Like two weeks ago. Listen to this. We were at the cinema watching a really funny movie – at least, I thought it was funny. And there was one bit which had me laughing so hard, I thought I’d bring back up my popcorn and hot dogs. And it wasn’t just me. The whole cinema was on the floor. I glanced across at Liam and d’you know something? He was smiling. I mean, smiling. And only just at that! Afterwards, when I asked him about it, d’you know what he said?

  ‘I thought it was hilarious!’

  ‘Why didn’t you laugh then?’ I asked, exasperated.

  ‘I did. I was laughing inside,’ Liam told me.

  ‘Why don’t you laugh on the outside too, like most normal people?’ I said.

  And then he gave me one of his smiles and didn’t answer. I hate it when he gives me one of his special smiles. It says, ‘I know something you don’t!’ all over it! It drives me nuts.

  ‘Come on then. What’re you waiting for?’ Liam asked impatiently.

  Which stopped me daydreaming, I can tell you. I took out Mum’s key card and held it up in front of the security panel. The security doors leading out to the service lift clicked open. We practically threw ourselves past the doors and I pressed the button to call the lift.

  ‘Almost there.’ I tried to sound reassuring, but my voice was a bit shaky.

  Telling myself to get a grip, I stepped into the lift to be followed by Liam. Once I pressed the button for the basement, I knew then that this was for real. I was going to see Mum’s top-secret project. At last. Finally. I’d done it!

  In the basement, I eyed the main double doors which led to the testing area. Just beyond them …

  ‘I want to go,’ Liam said suddenly. ‘Let’s go – now.’

  I couldn’t believe my ears. ‘You’re joking – right?’

  Liam shook his head.

  ‘D’you really want to leave? I mean, we’re here now,’ I asked carefully. ‘All we have to do is go through that door and we’ll see VIMS in action. You’re the one who’s been pestering me for a look at VIMS.’

  ‘But I don’t want us to get into trouble.’

  ‘We won’t get into trouble because Mum and the others won’t be down here yet.’ I glanced at my watch. ‘We have a good ten minutes before anyone else appears.’

  I could see that Liam was wavering. ‘Come on, Liam. We’ll just take a quick look at VIMS to see what all the fuss is about and then we’ll come out. OK?’

  ‘You’re sure we won’t get caught?’

  I grinned. Liam wasn’t going to bail on me! ‘Don’t worry. I’ve got it all figured out. No one will even know we were in the room.’

  And I did have it all figured out. It helps when your mum is one of the people chiefly responsible for the design of the testing area. The whole of the basement of the building was given over to the testing area – and it was huge. Bigger than a football pitch. There were a number of testing labs on one side of the basement. But at least half of the basement was given over to Testing Room One. And that was where the VIMS unit was. There were a number of fire exits all around the basement, some of which led into the corridors but some of which led directly to the outside of the building. I knew we couldn’t use those exits to sneak into the testing area from the road. They couldn’t be opened from outside, plus they were all alarmed.

  ‘Come on,’ I urged. ‘We don’t have long. We’ll go in, take a quick look around and then out
again. The SAS would be proud of us.’

  ‘Well, OK. If you’re sure you know what you’re doing,’ Liam said doubtfully.

  ‘Don’t I always!’ I grinned.

  ‘No!’ Liam replied at once. ‘That’s the trouble.’

  I huffed indignantly. Liam’s lack of confidence in me was totally underwhelming.

  We entered the double doors. And it was like entering another world. It was more than I’d ever imagined it could be. It was vast for a start. Filing cabinets and shelves and desks and computers lined the walls. There were a number of exits all around the room and lots of fluorescent lights on the ceiling which looked like something out of an Alien film. I took in all these incidental, inconsequential things like someone who eats their veggies and the so-so stuff on their plate first before allowing themselves to get to the best bits. There was a medium-sized red car against the far wall. I vaguely wondered why it was there before turning to the thing I really wanted to see. In the middle of the testing area was the VIMS unit.

  ‘Wow!’ Liam breathed.

  Me? I couldn’t say a word. I walked slowly over to the VIMS unit, taking my time and yet longing to get there. Now I could understand why Mum was so proud of her creation. It was stunning. There’s no other word for it. It was like something out of science fiction but it wasn’t fiction, it was fact. How to describe it … I’ll start from the bottom and work my way up! It was balanced on two metal tripods which had to be its version of feet. Attached to these, however, were wheels. I assumed that this was so that it could ‘walk’ on its tripod-like feet – or run on wheels. Above these, it had a number of short, jointed metal strips. We only have one joint in each of our legs – our knees – but the VIMS unit had four or five that I could see. They were all folded down, one on top of the other, with a number of cables and wires running along them. And sitting on these folded-up ‘legs’ was the main body of the thing. It was a cuboid in shape, rectangular and smaller than I expected. It had a monitor at the front along with a number of other buttons and circuits and lights. At each side of the box-like main body were ‘arms’ folded in on themselves just like its legs. At the end of each ‘arm’ were at least eight or nine ‘fingers’. Each finger was a tool slightly different from the others and the whole lot was mounted on a revolving disc. Its fingers were like the contents of a Swiss Army knife. And at the top of the box was a smoky-grey dome-like structure which had to be its head. It had a section running around the middle of the dome which looked like an elongated black visor. It looked bizarre and exciting and wonderful all at once.

  ‘Oh no! Quick!’

  I hardly heard Liam. I carried on staring at the VIMS unit. Mum said VIMS was an artificial intelligence masterpiece and I believed her. I stood still watching it, wondering if it was switched on and watching me. Was it studying me? What did it make of me?

  ‘Dominic, come on. I can hear them coming.’ Liam grabbed my arm and pulled me towards the nearest set of filing cabinets. Only just in time too. The door opened the moment Liam and I ducked down behind the cabinets.

  ‘You moron! What’s the matter with you? D’you want us to get caught?’

  ‘Sorry. I was totally caught up in the VIMS unit,’ I whispered back.

  ‘I thought you said we had plenty of time before your mum came down here. Now what?’ Liam hissed at me.

  ‘Now we scarper.’ I had a quick look around, then pointed. ‘That way, towards the exit at the back there. That’ll take us into the corridor outside and then we can sneak back to the service lift.’

  We crawled on our stomachs, commando-style, past boxes and crates which were good cover. But all at once the cover stopped. We had another eight or nine metres to go before we got to the next set of filing cabinets and there was absolutely nothing to hide us.

  ‘Ladies and gentlemen, I’m sure you’re all as keen as I am to get right to it. So let’s start the demonstration right away,’ Mum announced.

  I peeked out from behind my crate. Mum stood next to Jack with Abby, her assistant, on the other side of her. There were a number of men and women wearing suits and military uniforms standing behind Mum. The others on the VIMS project stood behind them. Mum had on her ‘I’m a serious scientist’ face. If she caught me in here, my life wouldn’t be worth living. Mum walked further into the testing area. Jack moved over to the control desk in one corner of the room.

  ‘I have every confidence that by the end of this demonstration, you will all see the potential of what we are trying to achieve here. The power of VIMS is only limited by our own imaginations. VIMS can do anything that we can do, only it can do it better, faster and more efficiently. For example’ – Mum nodded in Jack’s direction – ‘VIMS can make itself flat enough to work beneath cars to disarm a car bomb.’

  At her words, VIMS unfurled like a flag and then rearranged its limbs and stretched out so that the whole thing was no higher than its main body.

  ‘There are a number of monitoring devices built into the unit so that we can see at all times just what the VIMS unit can see.’ Mum pointed to a large screen I hadn’t noticed before. There on the monitor was a blue-tinted image of Mum standing with the suits and uniforms. ‘VIMS also has infra-red detectors to allow it to move, see and assess any situation at night. VIMS can also grow to over three metres when the situation requires it.’ Once again, Mum nodded at Jack.

  Liam and I watched, amazed, as VIMS’ limbs clicked and whirred and drew apart vertically like a telescope being pulled out to its maximum length. By the time the VIMS unit had finished it was at least three metres high. I mean, it was huge. I couldn’t believe that the little squat, shoebox-like thing we’d just seen could turn into something so big and overpowering. I looked at the crowd behind Mum. One or two of them were stepping backwards surreptitiously. Mum nodded at Jack again. He pressed another button. VIMS took a heavy step forward, then another and another. Only Mum and her staff didn’t move. The suits and uniforms were tripping over themselves trying to get away from the thing.

  ‘It’s perfectly OK.’ Mum smiled at them. She walked over to the VIMS unit and took hold of one of its hands. It towered over her like a Goliath. Anxiety flashed through me. And then reason took over. VIMS was perfectly safe. Mum had designed it. I knew that she hadn’t done it alone, not by any means, but in that moment, I was so proud of her. It was as if she was the first person from Earth to land on the moon. Or the first person on Earth to climb Mount Everest.

  ‘Good morning, VIMS! How are you today?’

  ‘I am fine, thank you.’

  Liam and I weren’t the only ones to gasp at that point. I had no idea the thing could talk.

  ‘Everything functioning OK?’

  ‘Yes, thank you,’ VIMS repeated in its monotone. It sounded a bit like a woman with a deep voice trying to speak with her head in an empty bucket. VIMS folded in on itself then until it was down to its small, squat size.

  ‘Now then,’ Mum continued. ‘Let’s really get down to it.’

  Chapter Four

  The Demonstration

  ‘WE’LL BEGIN BY showing everyone just what you’re capable of.’ Mum walked over to the control panel and picked up what looked like sunglasses and a thick dark-coloured glove. She put them on as she walked back to her audience. ‘VIMS can be operated via the main control panel or by using these two virtual reality control units.’ Mum tapped her glasses and held up her gloved hand. ‘The glasses allow me to see what VIMS sees, almost as if I’m an actual part of the VIMS unit. And I can manipulate and manoeuvre it with this specially designed glove. Different finger movements and hand positions allow me to direct it and control it. A special microphone in my glasses also allows me voice communication over several hundred kilometres if necessary.’

  ‘That’s all very well,’ piped up a woman in a dark blue uniform with a lot of ribbons and stars on her jacket. ‘But what exactly do you have in mind for this … this contraption of yours?’

  Mum smiled – which is more than I would
’ve done if I’d been asked the same question in that sneering tone of voice.

  ‘I haven’t limited my thinking. VIMS can be used for anything you can imagine, from strong-arm work like pulverizing concrete to something as delicate as holding a baby.’

  There were more than a few sceptical looks at that, but Mum continued.

  ‘I see no reason why by this time next year, VIMS shouldn’t be performing intricate surgery, undertaking rescue missions from earthquakes, underground caves, et cetera. The list is endless. That’s what we’ve designed it to do and that’s what it can do. Let me give you just a taste of what I mean. VIMS, there’s a suspect car over in the corner. Maximum caution is advised.’

  ‘Of course, Carol,’ VIMS replied.

  The suits and uniforms shuffled a bit closer as VIMS rolled over to the red car. It rose up on its legs until it was about one metre high, then moved around the car very carefully without touching it, as if searching for something.

  ‘I’ve set up a smoke bomb in the car to simulate a car bomb. VIMS is programmed and equipped to disarm bombs …’

  ‘How can a machine disarm a bomb?’ a uniform asked dubiously.

  ‘VIMS has the most sophisticated artificial intelligence of any machine in the world,’ Mum told him. ‘I designed it myself. Not only is it programmed with information about different types of bombs and devices, but it can also think for itself, improvise and make decisions. That’s what’s so unique about our machine.’

  I grinned at Liam. That was my mum, that was!

  ‘Device detected,’ VIMS reported.

  All attention was back on the VIMS.

  ‘I shall attempt … I shall attempt …’ And then without warning, VIMS slammed into the car.

  It made me jump.

  A stunned silence echoed throughout the testing room. VIMS slammed into the bonnet again. And again. And again. There was a hiss and all of a sudden smoke started billowing out from beneath the car.

  All the suits and uniforms started looking at each other.

  ‘Not much evidence of intelligence there, Dr Painter,’ a suit said with sarcasm.