Chapter Learning Kung Foo

The truck rumbled on through the rain and night,spraying dirty water into the countryside with its huge churning wheels. Thedriver was tired; he had been driving since the morning and he needed todeliver his cargo before midnight.

On the road ahead was a small white car carryingFrancine Jones and her younger brother. She was driving quite slowly becauseshe was shouting at Tom, who had so recently embarrassed her in front of allher friends.

“Why did you have to open your big fat mouth?”

“I didn’t know it was a secret.” Tom slumped down inthe front seat.

“Oh really. You think it’s easy being rich and goingto that school don’t you? You just don’t care.”

“My friends don’t mind.”

“You haven’t got any friends. That’s why mum and dadforced me to bring you with me tonight.” This wasn’t true, but she didn’t care.She was furious and just wanted to hurt Tom in any way she could.

“Whatever. You drove there. You’re the only one ofyour stupid friends who’s got a car. Perhaps they already knew.” He shruggedand turned the radio up.

She knew he was right and that annoyed her even more.She knew that she had not been honest with her friends and that she was theonly person to blame for that. She shook her head to clear her anger andfumbled to find the radio with her left hand.

She glanced up and noticed a blaze of headlights inher rear view mirror a fraction of a second before the truck blasted into theback of the car. Francine felt her neck snap backwards as they were lifted offthe road and the car was sent skidding on its nose before the truck, throwingup bright sparks. The music had been replaced by shrieking metal and theconstant blare of the truck’s horn.

Francine felt the car lurch again, this time to theside, and it tumbled end over end through a hedge and finished upside down in aditch. A sudden crushing silence had fallen and she could see only what wasilluminated by the flickering dashboard lights. Her head swam and she feltherself drifting into unconsciousness.

“Frankie?” A small voice wheezed.

“Oh, Tom. I’m so sorry. We’ve had a crash. Are youalright?” She ignored the sharp pain in her legs as she tried to repositionherself to look at Tom.

“It…hurts.”

He was suspended by his seatbelt, just as she was, buthis neck was twisted unnaturally and a dark liquid dripped out from somewherebeneath his shirt.

“Tom?” Francine tried to stay calm and say somethinguseful, but the sheer horror of the situation had taken over and urged panicupon her. She tried frantically to wriggle free of her restraints and reachhim.

“Tom!”

His head lolled forwards as a rattling gasp escapedhis lips.

She awoke with a start.

The dream was always the same, always a perfect memoryof the night that she had lost her brother, always a tormenting punishment.

She had fallen asleep at her desk again. She peeredout of the window at the darkening sky and guessed that it was probably earlyevening. She glanced at her computer screen to check the time and noticed aglowing icon at the bottom of the screen.

She clicked it, and reams and reams of numbersscrolled past too quickly to read the details, but the sheer amount of datatold her enough to realise that something big had happened. Something enormous.

Pulling her wheelchair closer to the desk, she startedto trace a pattern through the information, glad of the distracting complexityof the work because it dulled the sense of loss that she always felt afterdreaming her dream.

A satisfied smile flickered on her lips as she lockedonto the specific piece of information she needed.

After Kat had gone, Toby started to look forGeigerzalion again. Josh watched him for a while, but didn’t understandanything his friend was doing and before long his mind drifted back to histerrifying fall in the snow. The memory was so vivid and detailed that he foundit hard to believe that it hadn’t actually happened.

He had once hada dream in which he had been hanging from the underside of an impossibly highbridge. The girder he was frantically grasping onto was rough with old rust,which bit into his sweating fingers and soon he was slipping and he had tochange his grip to keep a hold on the crumbling iron. Eventually his armsweakened and he found himself frantically clutching thin air. He plummeted headover heels down through the rushing wind. The ground lurched up to meet him andthen, inevitably, he had woken up, and his arms had ached as if he had done amillion press-ups.

That dream had created its own memories in Josh andeven though he knew that it had not been real, he always felt as if he hadexperienced the fall. Who was to say what was real, he thought to himself.

“Do you want to see my Kung Foo?” Toby grinnedmanically at him.

“Kung Fu? What are you talking about? You don’t knowKung Fu.”

Toby laughed. “Sure I do. But I think mine is a littledifferent to Bruce Lee’s. It’s geek boy speak for programming skills. It makesus feel better about how sad we are.”

Josh rolled his eyes. “Fair enough. Have you foundGeigerzalion then?”

“Nope. I don’t think he wants to be found. In sayingthat though, I can’t even open one of those pipes, but I think we shouldprepare for the next time you meet him.”

“I’m starting to get tired of saying this, but what doyou mean?”

“Well, what happens if the next time you meet him youactually land?” Toby raised his eyebrows knowingly, letting what he had saidsink in.

“Right.” Josh nodded slowly. “Can you make me fly?”

“Course I can.”

A few minutes later Josh had donned the virtualreality glasses and found himself whizzing around an empty football stadium,swooping from the top of the stands and down between the goal posts. It wasmagnificent and Josh loved it. The sensations were not as intense or thevisuals as vivid as when he had been chased through the tunnels withGeigerzalion, but the exhilaration was almost enough to make him believe hecould feel the wind on his face.

He controlled himself in exactly the same way as hehad in the pipes and before long he had mastered all manner of aerobatics. Tobyeven made a game of it by adding some flaming hoops for him to fly through andthen a shower of meteorites for him to dodge.

“You’re really good at this, Josh.”

“Well don’t sound so surprised.”

“But, you’re normally rubbish at computer games.”

“No, I’m not. I’m not that bad at ‘Shiver’.”

“Yes. Yes you are.”

Toby wanted to equip him with a weapon next, but Joshinsisted on something more defensive. So Toby created a sphere of golden,shimmering energy that would surround him if anything he didn’t like came tooclose. He had as much fun testing this out in the football stadium as he hadwhen he learnt to fly. Toby introduced some flying boulders and every time onehit him he found himself catapulted away from it, sent sprawling in hiscrackling sphere to the other side of the pitch. It was difficult to rememberthat he was really sitting in his friend’s bedroom bedecked with a pair ofvirtual reality glasses.

It was the most fun Josh had had for ages and italmost made him forget about where Kat had gone.

Josh grinned to himself as he walked home the next daywhen he realised that he wanted to spread his arms out and pretend to fly alongthe street making aeroplane noises.

When he got home, Jackie was eating a bowl of cerealin the kitchen. Her hair, which was not allowed to leave the house withoutnumerous oils and gels applied to it, stuck up and out as if an ostrich hadtried to make a home in it.

“Hi, Josh. Where’ve you been?”

“I stayed round at Toby’s last night. How about you?”

“I was at Ally Brimble’s party. It was so cool.Everybody was there Josh. Eddie White and Tania Parkinson had the biggest row.Apparently he helped Karen Rogers with her homework in the library and Taniathinks he’s …” Jackie rambled on, happily retelling the scandalous goings on ofthe night before. Josh listened with half an ear for any mention of Kat, butthere was none and eventually Jackie’s gossip ran out of steam.

“Was Kat there?” Josh asked as nonchalantly as hecould.

“Who?”

“Katrina Sandler.”

”Oh that gothic freak.” Jackie curled her lip. “Idon’t know why people think she’s so interesting. Goths are just so yesterday.”

“Was she there?” Josh asked through tight lips.

“Why do you want to know?” Jackie had not been payingmuch attention to her brother before, but now her curiosity had been piqued bythe chance of some gossip. “Do you fancy her?”

“No. I don’t” Josh’s response was probably toovehement.

“You do! I can’t believe it. What do you see in her?”

“I don’t fancy her. I just wondered if she was thereor not.”

“Well, if you tell me why you want to know, I’ll tellyou whether she was there or not. Fair?”

“It doesn’t matter.” Josh stomped out of the room andfuriously ran upstairs.

His face was still burning by the time he reached hisbedroom. He knew why he was so cross with his sister, but he desperately didn’twant her to know the reason. He slammed his door and leant back against it,puffing his cheeks out.

“Good morning Joshua.” A jumble of old clothes on hisbed said.

“Arrrrrrghhhh!” Josh banged his head against the door.“What?”

“Sorry to startle you.” Trevor Lewis Oakhampton pushedhimself into a sitting position. “I really didn’t mean to. You have a verycomfortable bed.”

“But… what are you doing on my bed? How did you getin?”

“Well, to answer your first question: I was sleeping,which is an interesting experience. And the answer to your second question is:through the window.” He motioned towards Josh’s open window.

“You broke in?”

“I didn’t break anything. Apart from this model of aLancaster bomber, but I’ve fixed it.” The tramp beamed at Josh, holding up aball of sticky tape with some plastic pieces in it. “Look! Good as new. I usedto fly one of these. I remember…”

“I know who you are.”

“Well I should hope so, young Joshua. We only met acouple of days ago.”

“You’re the chairman of Tech-Tonic.”

Trevor looked puzzled for a second, but then his facecleared with certainty. “No. No I don’t think so. I am a hu-man not achair-man. And where is Tech-Tonic? Is it in Africa?”

“No, it’s not a place. It’s a huge multinationalcompany that makes… stuff.”

“Ah yes. Well we all need stuff don’t we.” The tramptapped his nose earnestly.

“Yes, yes whatever. Tell me why you’re here and thenget out.”

“Do you think I could trouble you for one of yourlovely cups of tea? My throat is a little dry from sleep. Do you find that?”

“Well yes. Sometimes. Look I can’t take youdownstairs, my sister’s there. She’ll go mental if she sees you.”

“But why? You can introduce me to her.”

“Look, just wait here and I’ll get you a cup of tea.”

Josh ran downstairs and back into the kitchen. Jackiewas still there, tidying up her breakfast things.

“Decided to tell me why you want…”

“Shut up, Jackie. I’m not bothered.” Josh switched thekettle on and threw a tea bag into a cup. He leaned back against the kitchenside and determinedly ignored his sister. She looked a little taken aback butshe seemed to realise that there was no sport in this game anymore. “She wasn’tthere anyway. Probably out with some of the other weirdoes. Ally wasdisappointed she wasn’t there.”

“She wasn’t there?” Josh couldn’t help the surprise inhis voice.

“No. But why do you want to know? Please tell me Josh.You know I live for this sort of thing. I won’t tell anyone. Was she meant tosee you?” An idea occurred to her. “Was she meant to be with you last night?Oh, hang on.” Jackie looked slyly at him. “Did you stay at hers? And this isjust a clever ruse to keep me off the scent.”

“Yes. If that’s what you want to think.” He stirredmilk into the tea, which was not nearly strong enough. He smiled at her andwent back to his room.

Trevor had tried to smarten himself up, which had onlyresulted in the attachment of a comb to his matted beard.

Josh silently offered the tramp his tea while staringfixedly at his comb, which was well and truly stuck.

“Thank you very much.” He took a gentile sip of thesteaming brew; complete with a straight little finger.

“Why are you here?” Josh enunciated the words as iftalking to a child.

“Ah, yes. Well I think you’ll remember that I told youthat testing things were going to happen to you. You have met the first testwith honour and courage. I salute you.”

“I haven’t done anything.”

“Oh you have. Gaia has felt a… shifting. You have madecontact.”

“Contact?”

“You have made contact with the entity.”

“The entity? You mean Geigerzalion?”

“Yes.”

Josh rolled his eyes. “What has Gaia got to do withGeigerzalion?”

“Gaia is to do with all things. I thought I explainedthat.”

“Yes, well. You may have explained something, butevery time you open your mouth I become more confused.” Josh’s patience was wearinga thin.

“I’m sorry you feel that way Josh. One thing that youmust understand however is that this entity is not of this world. Gaia has noinfluence over it. You must be careful in your dealings with it. It isstrange.”

“And you’re not!”

The tramp looked startled. “I’m not strange. I am thequintessence of nature, in fact.”

“Look. I don’t want to be rude, but you’ll have to go.I’ve got to get to the park and I need a shower.”

“Very well. I have things to do as well.” He stood upand straightened the sleeves on his jacket and his face suddenly took on aserious aspect and even with his unkempt hair and filthy appearance, Josh couldsee how capable this man had once been. “Be careful of this entity, Josh. Youhave potential and I don’t want you to get hurt..” Then he opened the windowand jumped headlong through it.

Josh ran to the window to see the tramp sprawled onthe ground. “Are you okay?”

“Yes. I’m fine.” He staggered to his feet. “See yousoon, Josh.” With a cheery wave he limped out of sight, groaning slightly.

Wellington Park was no more than a field with someflowerbeds in the middle of it and a children’s play area at one end, but ithad always been the main meeting place for everyone in West Hackett. Theyounger children played football in the middle, crushing as many flowers aspossible, the older kids sat and smoked on the swings while the grumpy oldfolks wandered around the whole park moaning about all of them.

When Josh arrived there, Toby was spinning himselfaround on the old roundabout.

“I’ve found him again! I mean, he wanted me to findhim, but I know where he is.”

“And I’ve had another visit from Trevor.”

“Really. Where?”

“He was in my bedroom.”

“How did he get in?”

“Through my window.” Toby looked horrified and Joshfelt a curious need to defend the tramp’s actions. “He didn’t break in, Imust’ve left it open.”

“Still, that’s a bit scary isn’t it?”

“He’s not scary. I feel sorry for him.”

“You’re too soft. He’s clearly unstable; he could flipat any moment. You need to call the police. I don’t think your dad would seehim as just a harmless old man.”

Josh pondered this, but he knew that Toby was right.“Yes, with everything else that’s been happening I’ve not been that botheredthat a lunatic seems to be stalking me. You’re right Toby. If I see him againI’ll tell someone.”

“Come on, let’s go and see Geigerzalion. I’ve riggedup another VR unit so I can come too.”

“We’ve got to wait for Kat.” Josh said.

“Oh yeah.” Toby looked slightly disappointed. “Whattime did she say she was coming?”

Josh realised with a sinking feeling that because Kathad left in such a hurry they hadn’t decided on a time. He and Toby always metaround eleven, and he had just assumed Kat would know. Tightness settled aroundhis stomach. “I didn’t tell her.”

“She didn’t ask.” Toby slapped Josh on the back. “Comeon, mate. She knows where I live. If she really wants to see you, she’ll comeround.”

“Yeah. I suppose.”

They left the park slowly, and Josh couldn’t helplooking a few times.

Toby’s room was even more untidy than it had been thenight before. He had obviously ransacked various electronic devices to make twovirtual reality stations and his previously tidy computer area was now a massof wires and circuit boards. Two pairs of glasses and gloves lay on top of themess.

“You’ve been busy.”

“Come on let’s get to work. He’s hiding in ‘Shiver’.It’s so cool.” Toby was doing a quick little dance of excitement.

“Is it safe? There’s an awful lot of killing inShiver.“

“Yeah, of course it’s safe. We’ve got the force fieldsand we should be able to use any of the items in the game.” Toby was more thana little excited by this, and he had already got half of his equipment on.“Come on.”

“The fall in the snowstorm felt really real. I don’twant to get blasted by someone playing a game.”

“Don’t worry about it. I’ve put a button on the palmof the gloves. If you need to get out, just clap your hands and your glasseswill go blank. So you can get out at any time. It couldn’t be simpler.”

“I suppose not.” Josh put on his gloves and glassesand waited for something to happen.

A kaleidoscope of spinning shapes and colours burstinto sight and Josh felt his eyes straining to focus before the view solidifiedinto an image of one of the pipes. He looked to his left and saw a figuredressed in army fatigues.

“Toby?”

The figure, had been crouching in combat readiness,sprang up with karate quickness. “Hie!” He bowed.

“What do I look like?”

“You look the same.” Josh thought he saw something inToby’s virtual eyes. He looked down to examine his own body, but there wasnothing to see.

“Toby! What have you done?”

“Nothing. Come on. It’s down here.”

They moved slowly along the tunnel. The wallsfascinated Josh. The last time he had been in one of these pipes, he had beengoing too fast and too frantically to notice them. Now however he could seethat they were not solid, but constructed of millions of tiny computer screens.Balls of light continually shuttled from one display to another.

“What are these?”

Toby was peering at some screens on the opposite sideof the tunnel and tracing routes between them with a finger. “This, Josh, isthe internet in operation. Each screen is what is displayed somewhere in theworld on someone’s computer and the light is the information sent between them.This is revolutionary. I think this one’s a bank!” Toby reached forward totouch the screen, but before his outstretched finger touched it a wall of blue,digital fire sprang up knocking Toby back.

“Toby!” Josh scrambled to reach his friend who hadbeen thrown across the tunnel and lay sprawled in a heap. “Are you okay?”

“Yeah.” Toby laughed as he stood up. “I didn’t realisehow literal things were around here. I’ve never actually been able to see afirewall before. I wonder if I can get through it if I just program myself tohave a fire proof suit?”

“Stop it Toby. You can do your hacking whenever youwant to. Let’s go and find Geigerzalion.”

“Yeah, sure.” But as they moved away Josh could tellthat Toby was thinking about breaking into the bank.

Soon they came across an intersection that made Josh’sbrain lurch. Seemingly thousands of tunnels came from every direction and everyangle, all meeting in a huge spherical chamber. Light coursed up and down everytunnel wall and massive beams raced through the centre of the sphere.

“This is a server, I think.” Toby was looking aroundin awe. “I’m inside the computer.” He whispered to himself.

“Are we going to get lost?” Josh stared at the myriadof tunnels all leading away from this space. He pushed himself out a littleinto the sphere and tried to find anything that would distinguish it from thethousands of other pipes leading away from the chamber. There was nothing.

“Don’t worry Josh. Remember we can just clap ourhands.”

“Can we test it?”

“Sure. You go back. You’ll appear back in the tunnelwhen you come back, but I’ll wait for you here.”

“Don’t you want to come back?”

“Nah. I’ve tried it.”

Josh clapped his hands together and the world wentblack and silent. He realised there had been a background humming in thevirtual reality and the normal sounds of the real world sounded nicelyreassuring. He shook his head to clear it and with a flick of his hands plungedback into the network of pipes.

He got back to the server-sphere to find Tobylaunching himself from one side of it to another, narrowly avoiding the brightlight streams that coursed through.

“Come on Josh. This is great.” Toby deftly divedthrough a criss-cross of light.

“What happens if they hit you?”

“Nothing much. I fell into one the first time I tried.You can see the data that’s being sent. I think you might interrupt theconnection from one computer to another, but the information will get resent.”

Josh leapt off the edge of the tunnel and flew acrossthe sphere amongst the crackling light streams. Soon, undoubtedly due to hispractice in the football stadium, he was shooting from side to side faster thanToby.

To begin with they were only occasionally caught inthe glare of the streams, and that was an incredible sensation in itself.Somehow the glasses they wore tried to make sense of the mass of informationthat was being transmitted along the beams, but usually there was too much, sothe images and sounds were just a psychedelic jumble. After a while theystopped trying to avoid the beams and actively sought to pass through as manyas possible.

“Elephants, tornadoes and Mount Everest.” Toby laughedafter a particularly successful run.

Josh started his dive when out of the corner of hiseye he spotted something metallic. Its squat solidity made it seem out of placeand as he fell he turned to look directly at it. A huge many-legged machine wascrawling out of one of the tunnels. It had ropey tentacles that writhed to andfro, probing the sides of the tunnel and the light streams.

Toby was staring at it too, and suddenly he divedafter Josh. “Come on Josh, it’s come for us.”

“What? Why?”

They sped along the side of the sphere, heading awayfrom the monstrous robot.

“I think it’s a virus checker, or anti intrusionsoftware or something. It thinks we’re an infection.”

“But why?”

“Because we’re interfering with the data streams. Comeon, faster.”

Josh looked around to see the machine scuttling aroundthe curved wall of the sphere towards them, gaining on them. Toby led them tothe entrance to a tunnel where he checked something on his wrist and plungedinto it. Josh followed as quickly as he could and as he had travelled thesetunnels before, he found himself creeping ahead of Toby. He looked back and sawa metallic tentacle squirming towards his friend.

“Toby. Behind you!”

Toby swivelled around and drew his feet up, just as apincer snapped shut where his ankle had been. In his panic to help his friend Joshfound he had slowed and was now easily within reach of the grasping, snappingtentacles. He saw a single shiny dome on the body of the machine and within thedome, he thought he saw a grotesque babyish figure, pushing and pulling leversand switches. Smaller appendages extruded from around the dome and Josh couldsee tools shining on the ends of them; circular saws, drills, and the bluewhite flare of a welding torch. He grunted with the extra effort he put in ashe flung himself away from the nightmare.

Then suddenly he was caught. Something gripped him bythe scruff of the neck and he was hauled backwards. His arms flailed uselesslyas he tried to bring them together to clap, but he couldn’t do it. He knew thefinal fatal blow or cut or burn was only seconds away and he thrashed abouttrying to dislodge his captor’s grip.

Symbols flooded his vision.

Josh went limp with relief and as soon as he relaxedhe found he could turn around. They had shot up a side tunnel at such amazingspeed that they had already left their pursuer waving its tentacles far behindthem.

Geigerzalion was pulling Toby with his other hand andhe looked almost human. He was wearing the same sort of combat fatigues thatToby was, but his face had a strange shifting quality that made Josh think thatit was just on the verge of changing into something else. Toby lookedfrightened and he was just about to clap his hands together.

“Don’t Toby. It’s Geigerzalion.”

Toby twisted himself round to look at their rescuerand grinned. “Hello. That’s the most frightening thing that’s ever happened tome. I was so scared I didn’t remember that I could clap to get away. I waspetrified.”

“Me too. I remembered about clapping, but not until itwas too late. I thought that thing had caught me.”

“I’ll never look at virus software in the same wayagain.”

“Look. We’re not in the tunnel anymore.”

They were still travelling quickly, but now they hademerged into the darkness of a Bavarian winter. Huge, dark pine trees coveredthe landscape that spread out beneath them and in the distance they could seethe lights of a grim, forbidding castle silhouetted against the moon.

“This is Shiver.” Toby said.

The howl of a wolf pierced the cold night air and Joshcould make out shadowy shapes racing along beneath them. Although the shapesran like wolves every now and again one would look up and Josh could see theirfaces were more like Neanderthals.

“What are they?”

“The Grishnak. They live in the hills that surroundthe castle and kill any player that tries to escape into the forest.”

A stuttering noise made them look towards the castleand they saw the flash of gunfire coming from the battlements. Geigerzalionswooped down and to the left. They heard the whine of bullets tearing throughthe air above them. Then a bright red laser cut through the night and searedthrough the area where the machine gun’s bullets had been coming from. A bodyfell from the top of the wall accompanied by a man’s scream. Josh hoped hehadn’t seen the legs detach from the torso as it fell.

Geigerzalion veered again and rose sharply. Within afew seconds they had come to rest on a ledge that jutted out from the massivecurtain wall of the castle. Josh looked down for a split second and almost fellwhen he realised how precariously placed the ledge was. Geigerzalion passed hishands over a protruding stone and the outline of a doorway appeared whichslowly opened inwards.

Inside, lit by a roaring fire, was a large sittingroom. The grey granite walls were almost hidden behind hundreds of small, giltframed pictures, and the cold flagstone floor was covered with a patchwork ofthick rugs. Podgy armchairs and settees were placed facing each other in thecentre of the room. The chairs coupled with the warm, flickering fire, gave theroom a homely appearance.

Geigerzalion indicated for the two boys to sit.

“Thanks forrescuing us.” Toby started, but Geigerzalion waved him silent and focussed hisattention on Josh. Symbols flowed around him, like a flutter of butterflies.

“Yes? Anything.”

“What?”

Josh looked down once more and this time he could see the pink materialcovering his front and a frilly lace tutu extending out below that. He lookedup and noticed a mirror on the wall, and examined himself in it. He was,indeed, dressed as a ballerina.

“Toby!”

His friend burst out laughing. “I couldn’t resist it. Ionly thought of it at the last moment. Count yourself lucky, at least you’vegot clothes.”

Josh, now that he realised how he was dressed, feltdecidedly uncomfortable. The costume now felt tight in most places and where itdidn’t feel too tight it felt draughty.

“I’m going to kill you.” He spoke the words slowly andthrough gritted teeth. He clenched his fists at his side and stood glowering athis friend. He didn’t care that, clothed as he was, he probably did not lookparticularly fearsome.

“I’m sorry.” Toby apologised breathlessly.

There was something different about the symbols now and Josh assumedthat it represented amusement.

“Oh, great now you’re laughing at me!” But Josh’sanger had mellowed somewhat, and he found himself chortling a little. “Can youchange me?” He asked Toby.

“Not without going out of the program.”

And Josh felt abreeze blow over his body.

Josh looked in the mirror and saw that he was dressedas a soldier just like the other two. “That’s better.” He couldn’t resistpretending to draw a gun and shooting his image in the mirror.

“Is this where you are living at the moment?” Josh lookedaround the comfortable room. He saw that the door through which they hadentered had dissolved back into the solid stone of the wall and there did notseem to be any other exits.

“Do you know who’s after you?”

“Where are they from?”

“Can we?”

Toby, who could not understand the symbolicconversation, was wandering around the room, examining the pictures that weredotted about on the walls.

“Ask him what these are Josh.”

Josh passed on as good a translation as he could toToby, who nodded. “I thought so. So he can go through these pictures?”

“Can you show us this place you were talking aboutthrough them?” Josh asked.

“Well, let’s gothen.”

“We’re ready. This isn’t real. We don’t need rest,”

“I know we’re in a virtual world, and our bodies aresitting in Toby’s bedroom. As long as we remember that, surely we are in nodanger.”

Geigerzalion sat completely motionless and the symbolsfaded to nothing for a few moments. When they eventually reappeared Josh couldnot decipher their mood.

“I understand.” Josh looked away. He thought thatGeigerzalion was being too protective, but a vague feeling of unease settled onhim as he remembered the pain of crashing into the trees in the snowstorm.

“I really do understand. We will be careful. But weare ready to see what you want to show us.”

Geigerzalion stood and went over to a picture thatshowed snowy mountains. He did something to the frame and it started to expanduntil it filled the entire wall. Josh could feel the biting cold that rusheddown off the peaks. More of the room had disappeared and within a few secondsthe three of them were standing on the top of a steep slope looking over a widevalley. The sun, setting behind the massive mountains, gave the valley a redglow. Behind them the room in the castle winked out of existence.

Looking into the valley they could see tall smokytowers rising above a winding river with huge factory buildings crouchingbeneath them.

Josh could feel a difference in this place. Eventhough Shiver had been brilliantly rendered and visually perfect there had beensubliminal indications that the world had not been real. Here Josh could seenothing that allowed him to tell the difference between the real and thevirtual. He shivered as a particularly cold gust of wind whipped by.

They made their way down the treacherous icy slopetowards a road that led to the front gates of the factory compound. Theyclambered down in silence because the light was waning and as it got darker theclimb became more difficult and both Josh and Toby lost their footingfrequently.

Once they had reached the valley floor Geigerzalioncalled them to a stop. He was almost transparent now; his breath billowing inthe cold air seemed to have more substance than him.

“What do you want us to do?”

“What are you going to do?”

Geigerzalion’s normally vivid symbols were weak now.

Josh nodded. “We will.”

They set off for the snow-dusted road and Josh lookedover his shoulder for one last look at Geigerzalion, but either he had turnedcompletely transparent or he had gone, because Josh saw nothing.

Hesuddenly felt very cold and alone.