Dangerous Reality

by Malorie Blackman

  I wanted to rush over to him and kick him in the shins.

  ‘I don’t …’ Mum made a fist with her gloved hand and then pulled it towards her chest. VIMS continued to slam into the car. She ran over to the control panel, where Jack was busily pressing buttons. Mum pushed Jack to one side as she studied the monitor before her. And still VIMS kept slamming into the car. Smoke was beginning to fill the testing area now. It was horrible. It was all going wrong. The suits and uniforms started coughing. Then VIMS stopped and returned to its normal size. Seconds later it rolled off in the direction of the suits and uniforms.

  ‘Intruder alert! Intruder alert!’

  The suits and uniforms scattered to the four winds. There was yelling and screaming and smoke continued to billow out from the car.

  ‘INTRUDER ALERT! … INTRUDER ALERT!’

  ‘VIMS, what’re you talking about?’ I saw Mum stand in front of VIMS now. It was like looking at her through fog that was getting thicker by the second.

  ‘Dominic, we’d better get out of here,’ Liam hissed.

  ‘Desica International staff are as previously defined. Guests are as previously defined. Two unknown intruders. Do you require further details?’ VIMS asked Mum.

  I sat back against the wall at once. Liam had the same idea. But we were too late. Our cover was blown.

  ‘Where are they?’ Mum asked quickly.

  ‘Let’s go,’ I said quickly.

  ‘How? We can’t.’ Liam’s voice was frantic. ‘I can’t see the exits any more.’

  ‘Over there.’ I pointed in the direction of what I hoped was the nearest exit.

  There was a loud whirring noise and then I heard VIMS’ heavy footsteps, heading in our direction.

  ‘Run!’ Liam shouted.

  And he sprang up and sprinted for the emergency door. I tried to stand but my bad leg chose that moment to give out from under me. I collapsed back down onto the floor. Pushing my hands against the floor, then the wall, I tried to stand again. Only by this time Mum was in front of me – and she was twenty shades of livid.

  Chapter Five

  Roasted

  ‘DOMINIC, HOW COULD you?’

  ‘Mum, if you’d just let me explain …’

  ‘Explain what? How you ruined my demonstration?’

  ‘That’s not fair.’

  ‘Not only is it fair, it’s also accurate,’ Mum insisted.

  Liam had been sent home in disgrace after a tongue-lashing from Jack and my mum. I’d tried to tell them that it was my idea and my fault but that’d gone down like a lead balloon and Liam had still got it in the neck for following my lead. And now I was sitting in Mum’s office and it was my turn. I didn’t know what to do for the best. Should I bow my head and let Mum rage on at me, throwing in the occasional sorry whenever necessary, or should I try to defend myself? The mood Mum was in, one spoken word in my defence would probably have me grounded for the next millennium but at the same time, it wasn’t all my fault.

  ‘Do you realize how many months, how many years of hard work have possibly been ruined because of your reckless behaviour?’ Mum ranted. ‘We needed to get more funding from those people at the demonstration and now, thanks to you, they’ve gone away thinking that I’ve spent the last years of my life working on a talking pile of junk.’

  ‘I’m sorry.’

  ‘What did you think you were doing?’

  ‘I just wanted to see VIMS in action,’ I muttered.

  Mistake.

  ‘You had no right, Dominic. No right. This isn’t a game to me. This is my living. This is my career. This is my life you’re trying to ruin.’

  ‘That’s not fair either,’ I protested. ‘I’m not trying to ruin your career or your life. I’m sorry, OK?’

  And I was sorry – except the words came out all flip and defensive. Because I was hurt. I know Mum didn’t mean it that way, but it was as if she was saying that VIMS was her life – and I wasn’t.

  ‘No, it’s not OK. It’s a long way from being OK!’ Mum yelled. ‘The VIMS project requires more money and thanks to your selfish behaviour, we are extremely unlikely to get it.’

  ‘It wasn’t all me.’ I tried to defend myself. ‘VIMS started slamming into that car before it even knew that Liam and I were in the room.’

  ‘No doubt you fiddled with the control panel before we arrived in the testing room,’ Mum sniffed.

  ‘I didn’t touch it,’ I said indignantly. ‘Neither did Liam.’

  ‘So you say.’ Mum didn’t believe me. ‘But you must’ve touched something you shouldn’t for VIMS to behave in that way.’

  ‘I’m telling you, we didn’t touch a thing. We’re not stupid. I knew you had a big demo on today. Liam and I just wanted a quick look at VIMS and then we were going to leave but you all arrived too soon.’

  ‘So it’s our fault, is it?’

  ‘I never said that,’ I sighed.

  This was hard work, and the worst thing of all was, what if Mum was right? What if I had inadvertently blown her chances of getting further funding for her VIMS project. What if all those years of work were down the drain because of me? I’d only wanted to look at it. I hadn’t wanted all this to happen.

  Mum flopped down in her chair and rubbed her forehead with tired fingers. ‘Dominic, you have no idea what you’ve done. It took many months of planning to get all those people together on one day. It took months of testing and re-testing to make sure that nothing would go wrong today and just like that you come along and …’ Mum’s lips clamped shut.

  ‘And ruin it. You don’t have to say it again. I’ve ruined your project and your life.’

  ‘Don’t be ridiculous.’

  ‘I’m not being ridiculous. You said it, I didn’t.’

  Mum looked at me, her expression a mixture of disappointment and weariness and anger. And somehow that look was worse than all the ranting and raging. I’d let her down and we both knew it.

  ‘I really am sorry, Mum,’ I said. ‘Is there anything I can do?’

  ‘Dominic, I think you’ve done enough, don’t you?’ Mum said quietly.

  At that moment, Mum’s boss Julie Resnick appeared outside Mum’s office. Most of the offices in Mum’s building had all-glass doors and interior glass walls. Mum was always complaining about how it was like working in a fish bowl alongside a host of other fish bowls and how she couldn’t even pick her nose with any degree of privacy. And all that glass meant that if the air conditioning broke down – which it often did – they all roasted.

  ‘Carol, can I have a word, please?’ Julie opened the door and spoke to Mum whilst looking directly at me.

  I knew what that conversation was going to be about.

  ‘Dominic, wait outside my office,’ Mum ordered. ‘And you are not to move. D’you understand?’

  I nodded. Of course I understood. I was stubborn, not stupid.

  The moment the office door was shut, Julie laid into Mum. I couldn’t hear every word, just ninety-nine per cent of them. Julie was furious.

  ‘I have just finished apologizing to all our guests for your son’s behaviour,’ said Julie. ‘And believe me, your son hasn’t done our project or the company any favours. A number of our visitors wanted to know what kind of amateur-hour operation we’re running here!’

  ‘I know, Julie. It was inexcusable.’ Mum nodded.

  ‘I tried to rearrange another date for the demonstration but a number of our guests made it clear in no uncertain terms that they will not be coming back.’

  Mum turned to look at me, her expression stony. I swallowed hard and looked away.

  ‘Maybe if I spoke to them?’ Mum ventured.

  ‘And said what?’

  ‘I could tell them the truth. That it was just an unfortunate glitch and that another demonstration, any time they say, will prove that. In fact, I’m going to field test VIMS at the BFC power plant this afternoon …’

  ‘No way,’ Julie interrupted.

  ‘But I already cleared thi
s with you. And I promised Rayner,’ argued Mum.

  ‘No, Carol,’ Julie insisted. ‘We need to find out what went wrong this morning before exposing VIMS to anyone or anything else – and Jack agrees with me. Quite apart from that, you have a presentation and demonstration to give the board of directors on Monday morning – or had you forgotten?’

  ‘That’ll be a doddle,’ Mum dismissed.

  ‘That’s what you said about the fiasco this morning!’

  ‘Look, I think we should still go through with the field test this afternoon, just to—’

  ‘Carol, no! I mean it. I suggest you spend the rest of the weekend finding out what went wrong with VIMS and fixing it. If the demonstration on Monday goes wrong, the project will be cancelled and then we’ll all be out of a job. I don’t know about you but I have a mortgage and bills to pay.’

  ‘OK, Julie. OK.’

  ‘I’m going to spend the rest of the day trying’ – it was Julie’s turn to look at me now – ‘trying to repair the damage.’

  And with that, Julie flung open Mum’s office door and strode off. She marched straight past me without saying a word. Usually Julie smiled and asked me how I was feeling, what I was up to or doing at school and other general chit-chat. But not today. I was definitely not flavour of the month.

  ‘Mum, I—’

  ‘Go home, Dominic.’

  ‘Mum, please. If you’ll—’

  ‘I said go straight home. I’ve got some thinking to do,’ Mum told me harshly.

  Without another word, I grabbed my bag off her office floor and headed down the corridor.

  ‘I don’t care what you and everyone else thinks,’ I shouted back at her after I’d managed to swallow down what felt like a concrete block stuck in my throat. ‘I didn’t touch your stupid machine and neither did Liam. If it didn’t work then it had nothing to do with us.’

  ‘Go home,’ Mum called out again.

  And she slammed her office door shut.

  Chapter Six

  Sabotage

  JACK AND I were in the kitchen preparing Saturday’s dinner – spaghetti bolognese with lamb mince. At least, that’s what Jack was doing. I was slouching about getting in his way mostly. Occasionally I’d give the mince a half-hearted stir but that was about it.

  ‘Are you still angry with your mum?’ Jack asked.

  The shrug of my shoulders was so slight, I’m not surprised Jack missed it.

  ‘Well, are you?’ Jack prompted.

  ‘I’m the one who messed up her demonstration. I’m the one who made all the suits and uniforms back off, unimpressed. I could cost Mum her project, even her job. Why should I be angry?’

  Jack smiled drily. ‘I agree with you – your mum’s the one who should be angry, not you. But that doesn’t alter the fact that you are.’

  ‘Liam and I didn’t touch VIMS.’ The words exploded from me.

  Jack’s smile vanished. He and I regarded each other.

  ‘You believe me, don’t you?’ I asked uncertainly.

  ‘Of course I believe you.’

  ‘Do you?’

  ‘Yes,’ Jack said, his voice serious.

  ‘Thanks,’ I breathed. ‘It’s nice to have someone on my side for a change.’

  ‘But that still doesn’t excuse what you did.’

  ‘I know.’ I sighed. ‘I’ve been racking my brains all day, trying to come up with a way to make it up to Mum but I can’t think of anything.’

  ‘I think your best bet is to stay out of your mum’s way for a couple of hours when she gets home,’ said Jack.

  ‘What d’you suggest? Should I hide under the table? I’ll tell you what! If you cut a hole in the skirting board, I’ll try to disappear through it.’

  ‘That’s exactly the wrong tone to take if you want to get back in your mum’s good books,’ Jack told me evenly.

  ‘Don’t worry. I’ve got more sense than that,’ I sniffed. I glanced up at the kitchen clock. ‘Where is Mum anyway? It’s past six o’clock.’

  ‘I was wondering that myself,’ Jack said.

  An hour later, Jack and I sat down for dinner and Mum still hadn’t arrived. We started eating in a strange, gloomy silence. And then I heard a key in the front door. I wanted to leap up and run into the hall, but something held me back. Mum came into the living room. I put down my fork and spoon and looked at her. And that one look told me that Mum’s mood hadn’t changed from that morning. No, I take that back. Her mood had changed. It was worse. She obviously hadn’t had a very successful day. Jack was at her side in a moment.

  ‘All right, love?’ Jack said gently.

  ‘No.’

  ‘Couldn’t you find out what the problem was with VIMS? Maybe if I went into work with you tomorrow …’

  I groaned inwardly but had the sense to keep my mouth shut. I hated it when Jack and Mum worked at the weekends, especially on Sundays. I should’ve been used to it by now, but I wasn’t.

  ‘There’s no need. I found out what the problem was. Now I just have to find a way to fix it,’ said Mum.

  ‘Isn’t that good news?’ Jack frowned. ‘Why the long face?’

  ‘Because I’ve checked and rechecked and there’s only one possible explanation for what happened to VIMS today.’

  ‘Which is?’

  ‘He was sabotaged.’

  I stared at Mum. ‘What d’you mean – sabotaged?’

  ‘Just what I said,’ Mum replied grimly. ‘Someone reprogrammed VIMS so that when I ordered caution on approaching the car, he interpreted the command as moving an obstruction out of the way. That’s why he kept slamming into it. The car was against the wall so he didn’t get very far but that’s what he was trying to do.’

  And even though I heard Mum say the words, I kept trying to convince myself that I’d heard her wrongly. That somehow I was misinterpreting what she was telling us.

  ‘So who reprogrammed him?’ Jack asked.

  ‘I don’t know – yet. But it was done either late last night or early this morning and reprogramming VIMS before a demonstration is strictly forbidden unless it’s cleared through me first.’

  ‘How d’you know it was reprogrammed?’ I asked. ‘Maybe VIMS just … got its wires crossed or something!’

  ‘VIMS did not get his wires crossed,’ Mum said icily.

  ‘But Dominic does have a point,’ Jack ventured. ‘Maybe something happened to one of VIMS’ circuits …’

  ‘You two aren’t listening to me,’ Mum said impatiently. ‘VIMS WAS SABOTAGED!’

  ‘I can’t believe it, Carol. I mean, who would do …? You must’ve made a mistake.’ Jack didn’t get any further.

  Mum flared up like a rocket on bonfire night. ‘And I’m telling you, I haven’t.’

  ‘How can you be so sure?’ Jack asked.

  ‘Because four days ago I added a special program to VIMS’ system.’

  I opened my mouth, but Jack got in before me.

  ‘What kind of special program?’

  ‘A special diagnostic protocol.’

  Mum and Jack regarded each other.

  ‘I thought the diagnostic protocol was Mario’s project and that it wasn’t working yet?’ Jack said.

  ‘I took it over last month and that’s what I’ve been spending every spare second working on for the last three weeks,’ Mum informed him. ‘I was determined that if, on the slim off-chance something did go wrong today, I’d be able to get straight to the source of the problem.’

  ‘You didn’t tell me that.’ Jack shook his head.

  ‘I can’t come running to you with every work-related problem I may have. I’m meant to be the Project Manager. Besides, I didn’t want to worry you.’ Mum sighed. ‘And I didn’t want to jinx the demo. I thought it’d be almost like admitting that I was expecting something to go wrong.’

  ‘What’s a diag-whatsit, diagnostic protocol?’ I asked. It sounded like a brand of insect spray. Or a James Bond film title!

  Mum turned to me. ‘It’s just a
special program that records who changes, adds or deletes which lines of code and it also monitors any other changes to VIMS’ system. And it also allows me to step through VIMS’ instructions, one line at a time or one function at a time. Luckily for me, I was able to trace through step by step and instruction by instruction just what VIMS was doing before he went haywire. It’s a faster and more efficient way of checking for errors in VIMS’ programming. That’s why I know which part of VIMS’ programming was changed.’

  ‘And that’s what you’ve been doing all day?’ I asked.

  Mum nodded. ‘I was checking through to see what went wrong but then I found that a number of sections of code had been changed. It’s taken me this long to check and recheck my facts.’

  ‘So there’s no doubt about it? It was sabotage?’ Jack said sombrely.

  Mum nodded again.

  ‘Who did it?’ I asked Mum.

  Mum’s expression became even more grim. ‘I wish I knew. When I connected up VIMS to his control panel, all the diagnostic reports were supposed to be loaded up from him onto my computer system, but someone got in before me. All the relevant files that would’ve identified who did this have been deleted.’

  ‘I thought you were the only one who was working late to look into VIMS’ problems,’ I said.

  ‘By the time I realized what had happened, everyone else had gone home. But that doesn’t mean that the saboteur couldn’t have deleted the files before he or she left.’

  ‘Can’t you get them back?’

  ‘Whoever deleted the files knew what they were doing. I tried to retrieve them off my computer’s hard disk but the sections of the disk containing the data I wanted have been over-written with a number of large files, all full of gibberish. There was no way to get back any of the previous information on the disk.’ Mum shook her head.

  ‘D’you have any way of finding out who’s responsible?’ asked Jack.

  ‘I’ve still got a move or two left.’ For the first time since Mum had set foot through the living-room door, a faint trace of a smile flitted across her face. ‘I’m hoping that the person who deleted the files at work didn’t realize that VIMS routinely sends out two debug logs. One to the computer at work and one to my computer upstairs. They may have deleted the files at work but there’s no way they could’ve got their hands on the ones here.’