Chapter Awakenings

Mrs Hawkins had been fretting in the chair by herson’s hospital bed for two full days. Occasionally she would stroke her son’shair or hold his hand, but most of the time she just talked to him. Thenumerous holes in her usually perfect knitting indicated how hard she wasconcentrating on filling her voice with all the maternal reassurance she couldmanage.

“…and then Miss Goodison from down the road boughtsome curtains from the Oxfam shop. They were quite nice, but that snooty MrsMoyes across at number sixty couldn’t get over the fact that someone wouldadmit to buying something in a charity shop. So I bought some as well, just toshow her. I mean, it’s for a good cause isn’t it. Better than making fat catsfatter, that’s what I say…”

“Mum.” It was hardly more than a whisper, but itstopped the conversational juggernaut in its tracks.

“Toby? Are you waking up, love?” Mrs Hawkins shot outof her seat sending her knitting flying across the room. She stared into Toby’sflickering eyes. “You’re going to be okay. Mummy’s here.”

“Mum!” The voice carried the strength of teenageembarrassment.

“Yes, dear?”

“Can you please shut up about the curtains?”

Mrs Hawkins threw her arms around her son. “Oh, Toby.I was so worried about you. The doctors said there was a chance that you mighthave something wrong with you when you woke up, but you’re just as cheeky asyou always were. Come here.”

Even though Toby had regained some of his strength hewas helpless to escape the bear hug. After a while she let him go and juststared at him with a huge grin on her face.

“You gave me such a scare young man.”

Toby smiled back and thought about the scares he hadgiven himself. “I know mum, but it’s over now. I don’t think I’ll be messingaround with my computers for a while.”

“What happened, Toby?”

Toby’s smile faltered. “I…I don’t know. I suppose I’vefinally succumbed to too many flashing lights. There are warnings at thebeginning of loads of games.”

Mrs Hawkins put her hands on his upper arms and lookedsincerely into his eyes. “You would tell me if there was something the matter,darling, wouldn’t you? I mean, you hear about teenagers having…troubles and soforth. You would tell me, wouldn’t you?” She nodded encouragingly.

Toby shook his head and smiled wryly.

“No, nothing’s wrong mum. I guess I’ve just beenplaying too many computer games. I’m ready to go home now.”

Spokes emerged into her body with a start. She rippedoff her gloves and headgear before her eyes had focussed properly.

“Is Bandi okay? He was badly hurt online.” She was athis side in no time and carefully removed his visor. His eyelids were shut andthere was no movement beneath them. Spokes could see livid bruises developingon his face, and she knew they would be all over his body. He had sustained toomany injuries online. His body was obeying his mind’s commands and trying torepair the damage. Blood would be pumped to wounds that didn’t physically existand his body would lose all its natural harmony.

Kat was kneeling by her side. “What happened?”

“Please, Kat. Just let me try and help Bandi. Go andtalk to Josh. He’s not used to being online. It can be a bit of a wrench comingback to reality like this. He’ll need a friendly face to focus on.”

“Of course.” Kat got up and went over to Josh’s seat.DoomLord was already by his side and she saw instantly that there was somethingwrong. Josh’s visor had been removed and he had not woken up.

DoomLord shook his head. “He should have woken upfirst. He left the Vrealm with Toby. I saw him get out. We were just behindhim.”

“What does this mean?” Kat poked DoomLord’s skinnychest.

“I don’t know. He might just be slow to wake up, or…”DoomLord trailed off.

“Or what?”

“Or he might have got lost.”

“Lost? Online, you mean?”

“I’m sorry. I don’t know enough about it. I’m just aplayer really. Bandi and Spokes are the experts.”

“What about everyone else? They must be able to dosomething.” Kat was beginning to shout.

Spokes laid a hand on her shoulder. “Calm down, Kat.We’ll find him. Or he’ll find us. It does sometimes happen. He may have takenToby all the way back.”

Kat sighed deeply. “I’m sorry. It’s just that...he’simportant.”

“I know.”

“How’s Bandi?”

“He’s come out, but his wounds are terrible. He’ssleeping normally now, which is the best thing for him. All being well he’llwake up with just a few aches and pains, but...”

“Can we do anything for Josh?”

“We need to wait for a while, first. If he doesn’twake up in a hour, then we’ll go looking for him.”

Josh brought his hands up to his face to remove thevisor, but there was nothing there. It was dark and he was curled up in a fieldof springy grass. He rolled onto his back and looked up at a night sky ablazewith stars much brighter than he had seen before. He didn’t know much aboutastronomy and the only constellation he could ever remember was Orion. He hadalways teased Toby about how they didn’t look anything like what they weremeant to represent. Dot-to-dot puzzles for idiots, he remembered saying. Butthis sky was different. The constellations were made up of thousands of starsand their twinkling made them look like they were moving. Orion was stridingbrightly across the heavens, directly above Josh, and beneath the hunter a hugedog chased a fleeing rabbit.

“It’s amazing isn’t it?” A voice to Josh’s leftstartled him.

“Yes. I’ve never seen anything like it.” Josh sat upand looked at his fellow stargazer. “You’re the farmer from Trinity Vale.”

The grizzled old man laughed. “Probably. I’m neverreally sure who I’ve been.”

“Pardon?”

“Well you know how it is. When your mind is almostinfinite and your memories so vast, sometimes it’s hard to keep track of whoyou actually are.”

“You made more sense when you were a farmer.”

“I am trying. I’ve brought you here now because I wantyou to understand.”

“Really?”

“Yes, you weren’t ready before.”

“Who are you?”

“I’m called the Gazetteer. It’s my job to keep theWorld balanced. The Earth is a complicated system that requires carefultending. Too many fruit flies in an orchard can spell disaster for a gardener.”The Gazetteer winked at Josh.

“What have fruit flies got to do with anything?”

“It was supposed to be a metaphor, but I’ve neverreally got the hang of that style of human communication. I seem to miss thepoint.”

“You’re not human?”

“Not really. Part of me is, but I’m just a part ofTrinity Vale.”

“You look human.”

“Yes, but I change from time to time. It’s onlyrecently I’ve taken on this form. It seems to fit in quite nicely now with thisWorld and I must say it does feel rather comfortable. Although I always used tolike being a turtle. And, obviously, there’s nothing quite like stamping aroundwhen you’re a diplodocus. Come on, I’ll be able to explain things better in myhut.”

Josh got to his feet and followed the Gazetteerthrough the springy grass and out of the meadow. He could feel an excitementchurning his stomach. Partly he thought it was because now, perhaps, he wasgoing to get some answers to everything that had been happening to him, butmostly he knew that somewhere out there in the dark was his mother.

They climbed over an old wooden stile and into a copseof some dark trees. He shivered and stayed close to his guide when heremembered the rich variety of life he had seen the last time he had been inTrinity Vale, and wondered what might be out there in the darkness watchinghim.

“Don’t worry Josh. Nothing will harm you here.”

“I wasn’t worried.” Josh said too hastily to beconvincing.

The Gazetteer’s hut stood in a small clearing and wasbasically a wooden pyramid with stilts at its three corners that lifted itabout ten feet off the ground. There was something strange about it which Joshcould not put his finger on until he realised that the stilts were actuallyhuge chicken legs that were straining to keep the hut aloft. As they approacheda door slid open and a rope ladder unrolled itself like a lolling tongue.

Josh stood at the foot of the ladder wide eyed, whilethe Gazetteer clambered up into the hut. Josh followed tentatively, feelinglike he was climbing into the mouth of an enormous beast.

Inside, however, apart from the gently swaying, it wasalmost normal, although Josh was a little bewildered about the dimensions. Ithadn’t looked quite as big from the outside and the room they had entered intowas square. And, Josh noticed, there were passageways leading off into thedistance.

The room was furnished with exotic rugs on the woodenwalls and wicker furniture. A copper kettle swung over a small fire in thecentre, the smoke from which disappeared through a small hole in the strawceiling.

The Gazetteer had seated himself in the mostcomfortable looking chair. He looked at Josh over steepled fingers and pursedhis lips. “I think it might have been better if I’d told you everything when Ifirst met you.”

“We didn’t have time. I woke up, didn’t I? I met mymother and I woke up.”

The old man smiled and the deep lines in hisweatherworn face made Josh wonder how old this man was, until he rememberedthat he wasn’t really a man at all.

“That wasn’t the first time we met Josh. The firsttime we met was at your back door. I looked considerably different then,though.” He smiled and rubbed a hand against his chin.

“Mr Oakhampton. The tramp?”

“Yes. I can enter an individual mind and use thephysical body as my own. I don’t like doing it. The mind has to be emptiedfirst to make room for me.”

“So what’s happened to him now?”

“Well I left him in a ditch. Somebody should find him.He’ll be taken to a hospital, where hopefully they’ll realise who he is andthen he’ll have the best care money can buy.”

“That’s as bad as killing him.”

“It’s worse, Josh. That’s why I don’t normally do it.I’m sorry Josh, but he was a bad man. He might be the source of all ourproblems.”

“They’re not my problems. I wouldn’t have any problemsif you hadn’t pulled me into all this.”

The hut began to shake and Josh thought the stilt legshad collapsed beneath them. The fire had flared up so that it looked like itwould consume the straw ceiling. The flickering red light gave the old man’sface a sinister quality.

“They are your problems Josh. This affects the wholeWorld. If Trinity Vale falls, then there will be nothing left of life on thisplanet Josh. Living things tread a fine line between survival and extinction.The ecosystem is an immensely complex machine that needs constant tuning.” Theflames had receded and the hut had returned to its previous slow swaying. “I’msorry, Josh. I didn’t mean to frighten you. This isn’t what I wanted to talk toyou about. I’m not used to dealing with individuals.”

“It’s alright.” But Josh’s heart wasbeating ten to the dozen. He had seen something inhuman in the old man’s rheumyeyes that had chilled him to the bone. It wasn’t cruelty, rather anindifference to suffering that no human could possess. “Why are you telling methis? I’m just a boy.”

“Well, that’s true, but your age doesn’t matter. Youhave an attribute that most adults of your species have lost. ”

“Like what?” Josh snorted.

“Your imagination. When you read a book, you create aworld inside your head that seems as real to you as anything else, don’t you?And you love writing stories. Sometimes your head’s so full ideas you can’twrite or draw them fast enough into one of your notebooks.”

“So? There must be loads of people who do that.”

“There are, but only a few can get into Trinity Valewhile they are still living.”

“But what is Trinity Vale?”

“It’s a dream. A shared dream of every living thingthat exists on the Earth. But it’s more than that. It encompasses all yourmemories and fantasies and hopes and fears and creates a living world out ofthem. Instead of using cells, like your primitive brain does, Trinity Vale usesthe minds of all things. Instead of neural pathways to carry informationbetween cells, it uses conversation and books and any other means ofcommunication available. Every random spark of thought will find its way hereand add something to the rich tapestry of the dream.”

Josh shook his head. “So I’m inside this dream?”

“Yes.”

“But... what’s it for?

“It calculates the way the entire physical worldshould work.”

“How?”

“By regulating the entire ecosystem. You don’t thinkthe world runs at random do you? A system as complex as that would break downbefore it really got started. Trinity Vale controls the world just as yoursubconscious mind controls your body.”

“Um…” Josh was trying desperately hard to follow whatthe Gazetteer was saying. “So Trinity Vale is a consciousness made up of allhumanity that controls the world?”

“Yes. Yes that’s right, although it’s not justhumanity. It’s all life.”

“So it’s like a computer? And looking at all this islike looking at a website on that computer?”

“If you like. Although technically I suppose it’s morelike a visualisation of an operating system and it’s the most complicatedexample ever created on the most powerful computer imaginable.” He chuckled. “Idon’t mean to joke.”

“That was a joke?”

“Never mind. This brings us back to Mr Oakhampton. Hiscompany created a bridge between the Internet and the Weave.”

“Hang on, what’s the Weave?”

“Oh, now that’s a bit tricky.”

“And the rest of what you’ve been saying is simple, isit?”

“Well, no. I don’t suppose it is. Your human languagesare not very well equipped to communicate these ideas I’m afraid. The Weave isthe network of minds that dream Trinity Vale. It’s like the difference betweensoftware and hardware, I suppose. The Weave is the computer and Trinity Vale isthe program that runs on it.”

“Are there other places in the Weave? Other programs?Like Trinity Vale?”

“Perhaps there are. Perhaps your friend comes from oneof these other places.”

“My friend? Geigerzalion?”

“Yes. He does not belong in Trinity Vale. He hasextraordinary power on the Internet and it may not be long before he visits ushere.”

“He says he’s a prisoner.”

“He may well be, Josh. I can’t know anything aboutthings that aren’t part of Trinity Vale. I know nothing about him or hissituation. I just know he is there.”

“So, how does Mr Oakhampton fit in. How did he createthis bridge?” Then it dawned on Josh that he knew the answer to this. “It’shuman computers, isn’t it. Michael and the rest of those poor children.”

“Very good, Josh. The fusion of electronic and organicthinking created the link between the two systems.”

“So that’s why we stay ‘online’ even when we aren’tconnected to a computer. Because we were connected by the Weave to theInternet. Our minds were all we needed. Is that what Tech-Tonic are trying todo?”

“No. They have no idea what they were dealing with. Orthe power they are unleashing.”

They sat in silence for a while. Josh’s mind churnedaway trying to make sense of what he had been told. He wasn’t sure whether hewas still connected to the Internet or if he was dreaming this, but he thoughtperhaps he was beginning to understand.

“So what do you need me for?”

“As I said before there is an imbalance somewhere. Itmay be caused by your friend Geigerzalion or it might be happening because ofthe connection between the Internet and the Weave. I don’t know what it isexactly. But you are at the centre of it.”

“Why?”

“I don’t know.”

“Then how do you know I’m at the centre?”

“Well I have a computer that shows me.”

“You’re joking. Surely computers are part of yourproblem.”

“It’s not the same thing.” The Gazetteer sigheddeeply. “Because people on Earth know about computers, and in fact some of thepeople who reside here are computer experts, I can use one. It’s powered by thedreams of the cleverest computer scientists in the world, so it’s pretty good.”

“I can imagine.”

“Yes, you can. That’s why you’re here.”

Josh frowned. “I just meant… What does this computertell you about me?”

“I’ll show you. That’s actually why I brought youhere.” The Gazetteer twisted his fingers in the air and one wall of the roomlit up showing millions of shining lights as brilliant as the stars outside.

“What is it?”

“It’s life. All the minds in the World.”

Josh couldn’t make any sense of what he was lookingat, until the Gazetteer filtered out everything but humans and then thefamiliar outlines of the continents blazed at him. A few specks of light thatmust have been ships or aeroplanes travelled across the dark oceans. The mapthen zoomed in to focus on England and got closer until there were gaps betweenthe lights.

Josh was peering at some twisted lines that connectedthe larger, blazing areas. Light flowed along them, and Josh realised that theywere busy roads. They looked like twinkling veins connecting the glowing organsof a vast creature.

“There you are. That’s West Hackett there and you arecurrently over here.” He pointed out two small concentrations of lights on themap.

“It doesn’t mean much to me.”

“It should. West Hackett has more than a thousandpeople living there, and the barn that your body is currently sleeping inhouses about ten. You burn as brightly as a thousand people, Josh.”

Josh stared at the map. “Well, then perhaps I’m theimbalance in the system.”

“Well done.” The old man smiled at Josh like anindulgent dog trainer does to a bright pupil. “I’ve thought of that, but Ireally don’t think you are. I’ve seen similar luminaries before and theyhaven’t affected anything. You are the brightest I’ve seen since the computerwas invented though.”

“But what does that mean?”

“It means two things. One is that you have an enormouscapacity for imagination, it shows how much mental energy you are supplyingTrinity Vale with. The other thing it indicates is that you are a vital nodewithin the system. You will be involved in great events, Josh.”

“Like what?”

“Hopefully saving the world for one.” The old manlaughed a comfortable laugh and reached over and slapped Josh on the back. “I’msure it won’t come to that Josh. Don’t worry.”

“But I’m just not important. Most of the people at myschool don’t even know who I am.”

“That’s true. And even if you save their ungratefullives they still won’t know you. Most people live out their lives withoutseeing the real world happening around them. But you are destined for greatthings nonetheless.”

“What do you want me to do then?”

“We need more information, Josh. We need to find outwhat is causing the imbalance. You’re the only one who has had any contact withthis Geigerzalion as you call him. See if you can find out what he is and wherehe’s from.”

“What about Michael and his friends?”

“They need to be freed. There is no doubt about that.Their suffering is spilling into Trinity Vale. The Black Valley is growing moredangerous and restless. Their pain seems to feed the power that resides there.”

“The Black Valley?”

“All things in Trinity Vale aren’t necessarily good,Josh. Since the evolution of the larger brained species, malice has slowlyinfiltrated our paradise. There has always been anger and fear along with allthe other bestial, natural emotions, but hatred and greed have only appearedrelatively recently. We try to keep these feelings contained, along withparticularly foul memories and nightmares, within the Black Valley.”

Josh leaned forward and stared at the floor for a fewmoments. “I’ll need time to think about all this. I want to help, but I need toget things straight in my head.”

“You can’t take too long Josh.” The old man smiled andJosh thought it was probably meant to be encouraging, but it was not enough torelieve the enormous weight of expectation he felt from looking into theGazetteer’s frightening twinkling eyes.

“I won’t. How do I get out of here? Click my heelstogether?”

“Not exactly, but it is just a question of willingyourself home. Close your eyes and imagine yourself waking up.”

“That’s it?” Josh snorted incredulously. He hadexpected some specific, complicated instructions.

“Yes. Try it.”

Josh closed his eyes obediently and waited.

Nothing happened.

He opened his eyes and saw Kat’s worried frowntransform to elation. “He’s woken up. He’s back.”

The van was cold enough for Josh to see his breathbillowing, but he had been shivering since he had left the Gazetteer in hischicken-legged hut. A deep ache had spread through his body topped off by athrobbing headache. He slumped with his head against the cold window andwatched the orange streetlamps reflecting off the wet road.

He felt miserable and alone. He didn’t know whether hewas going mad or if the fate of the world really did depend on him. Either wayhis future didn’t look very promising. The only glimmer of pleasure he had felthad been had seeing the look on Kat’s face when he had woken up.

She was nestled into his shoulder now, asleep andpeaceful. He looked down at her and felt some of his sadness lifting. Perhapsthings might work out. He raised a tentative hand and stroked her soft, blackhair. She stirred slightly, snuggling in tighter to his side with a smile onher dark lips.

DoomLord was driving them home, constantly squintingthrough the rain-lashed windscreen and muttering about funds for a new van.They swung around the corner into Josh’s street and he suddenly wanted thisjourney to continue for longer.

The van swayed to a stop and he tried to gentlyextricate himself from Kat’s embrace. She woke up with a start, and then smiledbroadly at him.

“Where are we?” She stretched.

“My house… Do you want to come in?”

“No, I’d better not. I’m really tired.”

“Yeah, me too, but it’s not worth going to sleep now,is it? It’s almost time to get up.” He clambered out of the van and looked backup at her. He was suddenly embarrassed, although the rain cooled his burningcheeks.

“Oh, Josh...“ She was going to say something else, butDoomLord interrupted.

“Come on, Kat. Let’s get you home. It’s freezing.”

Kat smiled apologetically. “I’d better go. See youtomorrow?”

Josh nodded. “Yeah. Okay.” He turned and walked alongthe path to his house. The van door slammed shut and the van rumbled off.Involuntarily he turned to try and catch one more glimpse of Kat and found herstanding in front of him.

“Josh, I… There’s something I need to tell you.”

He looked into her eyes and for a wonderful, lurchingmoment he thought that she was going to kiss him. Instead, she wrapped her armsaround him and rested her head on his shoulder. Tentatively he hugged her backand felt her shivering in his arms.

“Are you okay, Kat?”

“I’m fine, Josh. Come on, we’ll freeze to death outhere.”