Chapter The Puppet Master

Mrs Hawkins knocked gently on her son’sbedroom door. There was no answer so she pushed it open slowly and peeredinside.

“Ah.” She said cocking her head. “Aren’tthey sweet.”

The two boys were slouched in theirchairs. Mrs Hawkins crept forward and listened to their breathing. She placedthe two cups of tea she had made on the computer desk, although a few secondslater she thought better of that and moved them onto Toby’s chest of drawers.She grimaced to herself knowing what Toby would have done if he had seen herput the cups so close to his precious computers.

The room was eerily quiet with only the whirring fansof the computers and the peaceful, sleepy breathing of the two boys.

Mrs Hawkins fruitlessly tidied up a little bit beforeproducing two blankets from the bottom of Toby’s wardrobe and draped them overthe boys. She noticed, then, that they both had headphones on and some sort ofsunglasses had slipped down their noses and were currently almost wrappedaround their neck.

Mrs Hawkins sighed to herself. How many times did shehave to tell them not to go to sleep with anything that might inadvertentlystrangle them? It was almost as bad as lying on your back while sucking aboiled sweet or going swimming after a meal without waiting for at least anhour.

She extracted the equipment from around their necks ascarefully as she could, trying very hard not to wake them. She didn’t have toworry though because Josh didn’t even flinch when she caught the end of hisnose with a wire, although his eyes were chasing around beneath his eyelidslike mice under a blanket.

“Ah. He’s dreaming.” She patted his head fondly.

She crept out of the room leaving the two boys totheir dreams.

“I’m sorry. We didn’t mean…” Josh began, but he wascut off by a jerky movement from the tall central figure. There was somethinggruesomely unnatural about the way its cloak hung from its spindly arms. Itlooked far too thin to be human. The deep cowl hid any sign of a face and Joshwondered what type of nightmare they had fallen into now.

The two shorter figures were tottering around the edgeof the pool, cutting off any means of escape. As they got closer, Josh couldsee one them had a grotesquely long, hooked nose which protruded beyond therecess of the cowl, and the other had a long, green snout like a crocodile’s,complete with jagged teeth.

Josh and Tobyhad hauled themselves upright now and were standing back to back, showing asmuch brave defiance as they could muster.

“We haven’t done anything.” Toby called out, his voicewobbling only slightly.

“Being here is crime enough.”

Long Nose and Crocodile had almost reached them now.They raised their arms stiffly to grab hold of the boys. Josh stumbledbackwards and he overbalanced into the water, pulling Toby in with him.

They splashed to the surface and trod water away fromthe side.

“How dare you!” The tall figure shrieked from theother side of the pool. “You shall spend your life in the Chamber for this.”

“Come on. There’s only one of them over there.” Joshwhispered.

Toby nodded and they struck out for the other side.They thrashed their arms as quickly as they could and made good speed acrossthe pool. The two figures seemed startled by this, and it took a few momentsfor them to turn around and start after them. Toby and Josh reached the otherside first and the tall figure moved back as if he was frightened.

“How dare you approach the Panjandrum of the Doge?”His voice had lost some of its deep resonance.

Josh and Toby clambered out of the pool and duckedpast the figure, barely brushing the fabric of its cloak, but this slightcontact sent him staggering backwards and Josh saw, as the cloak kicked up,that the tall figure had only wooden stumps where his feet should be.

They raced on between wide pillars away from the pooland before long they were out of sight of the chasing figures. They stoppedrunning and stood with their hands on their knees, bent over and panting.

“Is this real?” Toby gasped. “I mean is this justanother program?”

“I don’t know.” Josh shook his head slowly. “I justdon’t know.”

They were standing in an enormous chamber supported byrow upon row of massive, ornately decorated columns, which stretched away inevery direction as far as they could see. Torches blazed brightly in theirsconces on the columns, but the hall was so large that the ceiling was still indarkness. Only their trail of telltalewet footprints distinguished any direction from another. They started runningagain, away from their own wet tracks.

“What do you think those things were?” Toby asked.

“I don’t know, but the tall one didn’t have any feet.Just wooden stumps, like stilts.”

“Yeah. He didn’t seem very steady did he? And hewasn’t very difficult to knock off balance. Do you think we need to be scaredof them at all?”

“I don’t know about you, but I’m not going to stayhere and find out.”

“But where can we go. We can’t get back to the realworld.”

“I know, but we can’t just give up. Geigerzalion mightfind us, or we could find a way into one of those pipes. Come on, staying herecertainly isn’t going to help us, is it?”

“No. You’re right. I should be enjoying this reallyshouldn’t I? I mean, the amount of times I’ve gone on about how great it wouldbe to if people made computer games like this...”

“I think it’s become a bit more than a game, Toby.”

A flicker of movement to their left stopped them intheir tracks.

“What was that?”

“I don’t know.”

“I think it moved too fast to be one of those stiltmen.”

“It might be something that they’re using to chase usthough. We don’t know what sort of monsters inhabit this place.”

They peered around them into the darkness, butcouldn’t see anything except the endless columns disappearing into the gloomydistance. They kept turning around until Josh realised that they had not left awet trail.

“Which way did we come from?”

Toby was mouthing silent words. A ghostly figure wasgliding towards them.

“Do not be frightened. It is I.”

“Geigerzalion?” Josh asked, but he knew he was wrongas the small, pale figure came closer. His face was skeletally thin, andcarried much more suffering within it than a ten year old boy’s should. Hisbody, however, exuded a radiance that lit the area about him more than thetorches. “ZX82!”

“I…I would prefer not to be called that now.”

Josh faltered. “Oh, of course. Sorry. Where did yougo? How did you get here?”

The boy smiled, releasing a glimmer of innocent youthfrom behind his wise eyes. “I didn’t go anywhere. I was with you the wholetime, I was the one who told you to let go of the ladder in the lift. And Ibrought you here. It has taken me some time for me to rebuild my avatar though.I am sorry if you thought I had abandoned you. I owe you everything.”

“Can you get us out of here? Back to…wherever weshould be?”

“Alas, I cannot. I have extensive powers within allVrealms, but I have no power over the physical world. I lost any connectionwith that when you released me from my cell.”

“What do you mean?”

“I am…” He coughed or perhaps laughed, “I mean I was areal boy with a human body held prisoner in a laboratory somewhere. Now,” heshrugged, “I have no body.”

“That’s horrible. You mean we’ve killed you?”

“No! My body will indeed die, but it is no more thanan empty shell. You have freed me from my mortal coil and from slavery. I,” Hebrought his fist to his chest, “I am alive.”

“You can’t go back to the real world though, can you?You’re stuck here.”

“What is real Josh? This seems real to me and to you,even though you are tied to your corporeal bodies. You will go back andremember, but you will not know the difference between this memory and anyother. Your existence is what you experience at one moment in time. It isirrelevant whether it is physical or not.”

“We’d better keep telling ourselves that.” Toby saidglumly. “We’re stuck here just like you.”

“How is that possible? Surely you can just remove yourinterface devices.”

Josh shook his head, bewildered. “No. We can’t. Wedon’t know what’s happened to us. Look, I’m Josh and this is Toby. We’re justtwo kids...”

“Children?” The boy was obviously dismayed. “How didyou find me?”

“I think we stumbled across a failed attempt to rescueyou. We used that information, but we didn’t know what we were doing at thetime. We were just investigating the Laboratory to see who owned it, because wethought that it was the source of something that was chasing our friend. Wedidn’t know you were inside it.”

“You knew nothing of us?”

“There are more of you?”

“Yes. Many more. And they are all like me.”

“But what are you?”

“We were called the Delphixians. Before you came I wasa child like all the others. Held prisoner with wires buried deep in my brainand tubes keeping me alive. The company treated me worse than a lab rat. Wewere all networked up together and our minds used as living computers.”

“Were you born there?”

“I don’t remember. My earliest memories are of theLaboratory, of the experiments.” His face twisted in anguish, but quicklypassed, to be replaced by a wistful smile. ”Sometimes, when they took us offline I would dream about a woman’s face and I hope that she is my mother. Shelooks nice, kind, and in my dreams she is smiling at me.”

Josh and Toby stared at him speechlessly and Joshcould not stop a memory of his own mother forming in his mind’s eye.

“You do not have to be sad for me. Now I can do thingsof my own free will; I am not constrained or controlled by an externaloperating system. I am free in the truest sense. Do not feel sorry for me. Ifeel sorry for the children that are left in the Laboratory and I will try tofree them as you have freed me, but I fear that because I have escaped they maymake it impossible to return.“

“Where are they in the real world?”

The boy cocked his head to one side and consideredsomething for a while. “You have done enough to help us, Josh. It would be toodangerous for you to try and do anything outside cyberspace.”

“But if I can get people to see what they are doing inthis laboratory, then they’ll have to stop. I don’t need to do anything risky.Please tell me. I want to help.”

“No. We have tarried too long. We must get you awayfrom this place. The denizens of this place are dangerous.”

“What’s wrong with them?” Toby asked.

“This place was one of the first virtual realms totake advantage of the extra processing power of the Delphixians, and there issomething organic about this realm that exceeds my analysis. The ‘people’ thatinhabit this Vrealm have not had contact with anything apart from themselvesfor terraquads of clock cycles and they have developed their own savage customsand traditions.”

Josh had been concentrating on what ZX82 was saying,but now a low, murmuring made him look around. In the distance he could see awrithing mass of movement. There were hundreds of cloaked figures staggeringtowards them. Some were almost ten feet tall, others seemingly ten feet wide.

Josh jerked around and saw that they were surroundedand the encircling crowd was getting closer with every passing second.

The murmuring had turned into frenzied chattering andsome of the bigger figures bellowed incomprehensible challenges, while smallerones scuttled out to display their courage for a moment before running backinto the bedlam of the horde,.

Now Josh could see inside the cowls of some of them.Weird, gaudily painted masks covered their faces. Some had long, crooked nosesand screaming mouths, others were painted to look like leering, horror-filmclowns or humanised animals, each different and all terrifying.

“I can hold them off for a while, but to get away youmust run through them. Whatever you do, do not stop.” ZX82 was starting toshine more brightly and his glowing blade had appeared in his small hands.

“Where should we go?”

“Just keep moving. I will find you.”

The restless, shambling mass had slowed its approachwhen they saw the light of the sword. They were obviously afraid now, like aflock of sheep spooked by a wolf, and they had quietened to an unsettledgroaning. Some of the figures at the front tried to burrow their way back intothe press of the mob.

“Go now!” ZX82 charged and swung his sword around hishead. Josh and Toby gaped at him for a second and then plunged after himdesperately hoping to find a gap. The figures they approached tried to scrambleout of the way, but more shapes pressed in from behind and the boys foundthemselves confronted by a seemingly solid wall of cloaks and masks. Hard,grasping hands reached out from the chaotic mass of things, and began to pluckat their clothing and pinch their flesh.

They tried again, and this time they got further intothe throng, but they still couldn’t get through. There were just too many ofgangling figures, pressing further and further inward. And they were gettingbraver as they realised Josh and Toby were afraid of them. Josh felt one grabhis shoulder and pulled away frantically, causing his assailant to totter over.Its mask cracked against the stone slabs of the floor and split apart revealinga blank wooden face beneath.

The other figures sprang away from their fallencompatriot. They were suddenly silent.

“He’s a puppet!” A shrill voice called from the throng.“One of our number is a puppet!”

Screams and shouts followed the proclamation. Therewere no features on the fallen thing’s face to express any emotion, but itslimbs rattled uncontrollably with obvious terror.

“Kill it.”

“Tear it apart.”

“Burn it.”

The frenzied horde turned their attention away fromJosh and Toby and crowded around their fallen comrade. The cloak was rippedaway to reveal a marionette. Its simple limbs and blank head were attached withthick wire to a polished wooden torso.

“Look.” Toby pulled at Josh’s sleeve. “We can getaway.”

Josh dragged his attention away from the cruelty thatwas unfolding before front of him. “They’re going to kill him.”

“Better it than us. It’s just a puppet. Come on.”

There was a crack of splitting wood and Josh snappedinto action. Quickly, but quietly they stole away from the puppet’s execution.

They almost made it, but not quite.

“They’re getting away!” Something shrieked behindthem.

Josh and Toby broke into a run without any care ofwhere they were running to. The sound of frantic pursuit echoed insanely aroundthe columns of the hall.

They came to a flight of wide stairs that curvedupwards and out of sight. Taking the steps two at a time, they bounded up andaway from their pursuers who seemed suddenly confused and started to mill aboutat the foot of the staircase. Josh risked a quick glance over his shoulder andsaw an unmasked man striding through the muttering horde. He was smaller thanmost of them, but he was undoubtedly in charge. He motioned for the chase tocontinue and the spindly figures began to flood up the stairs. The pell-mellchase had been turned into an organised hunt by this newcomer, who looked up atJosh and their eyes met briefly. Josh saw the malice that lurked behind those eyesand had to wrench his gaze away.

“Come on, Toby.” He panted more to himself than hisfriend. “Come on. We can’t get caught.”

They turned left at the top of the stairs and were nowrunning along a lengthy balcony that overlooked the vast columned chamber. Theycould see more and more of the strange ungainly shapes streaming fromeverywhere trying to catch up with the main chasing group.

There was no sign of ZX82.

Suddenly two of the figures appeared from a sidepassage in front of them, but Josh and Toby had too much momentum and careeredthrough their grasping hands without stopping. Toby lost his footing, though,and sprawled forward onto his hands and knees. The two figures lurched around.Toby’s panic stopped him from regaining his feet and he scrambled vainly forpurchase on the flagstones.

Josh jumped up and tried to grab a torch from itssconce on the wall. It was an act of desperation, and he hadn’t really thoughtthat he would be able to take it from its fixing, but he found himself standingin front of Toby’s prone body, brandishing the flaming torch at theapproaching, murderous figures.

They instantly fell back, as if a great hand hadpushed them. The leaders of the main chasing ran into the back them and some ofthem clattered over in a tangle of cloaks and wooden limbs. Josh lunged forwardbrandishing the torch and the figures scrabbled away. Josh’s elation wasshort-lived however when the unmasked man pushed through the confusion andfixed him with an unblinking stare.

“Put it down, boy. My minions do not like nakedflames.”

“No. Get back.” His voice sounded small.

Toby had got to his feet and taken two torches fromthe walls. He stood at Josh’s shoulder. “Who are you?”

“You of all people should know me.” The man smirked.“But it is irrelevant. I am the Doge of this citadel. All that you can see isunder my control and my protection. I am afraid I do not permit intruders intomy realm. You will be killed.”

Josh saw a narrow passage further along the balcony.He backed towards it pinching Toby’s arm to bring him along. The surroundingfigures followed at a safe distance, and the Doge strolled along with them,without any haste. He reminded Josh of a cat toying with a captured mouse.

“You cannot escape, you know.” He drawled. “There’snowhere safe for you here.”

They reached the entrance to the passageway andslipped inside. It was narrow and they couldn’t even stand side by side, soToby faced down the passage, while Josh held off the Doge and his henchmen withthe torches.

Closed doors lined both sides of the corridor and Joshcould not help wondering how many masked terrors were lurking behind each onepreparing to spring out at them. As they passed each door Josh held his breathand tried to point his torch in every direction at once. None of them opened,though, and the two boys inched their way along the passageway with theseething mass of marionettes staying just out of the light cast by the glowingtorch.

The passageway curved around to the left and startedto slope downwards. The darkness was getting more and more oppressive now andsomehow heavier as it pressed in from all sides. Through the dimness, however,Josh never lost sight of the Doge’s cruel smile.

Toby cried out, almost making Josh drop his torch.

“What’s wrong?”

“One of my torches has gone out.”

“You do not have long left to live.” The Doge’s voicesounded casual, almost friendly. “You may as well give up now.”

Josh’s arm ached with the effort of holding the torchaloft, and his jaw hurt from clenching his teeth so tightly. A seductiveweariness washed over him and he felt an urge to just give up and hand over theguttering torch. As if his arm was attached to some puppet-string he saw thathe was slowly reaching it out towards the Doge, proffering his last hope ofsurvival.

“Josh? What…?” Toby’s voice was small, barely audibleabove the rhythmic muttering of the marionettes behind the Doge, but it wasenough to shake Josh out of his trance and suddenly there was silence oncemore.

“Run Toby.” He shouted and threw the torch directly atthe Doge’s leering face.

They had got their breath back and the strength offear pumped their legs faster than before and the thrown torch had given them afew more seconds lead, but even so they soon heard the rickety sounds of thepursuit filling the corridor behind them.

The passageway twisted and turned until with astartling brightness it opened up into a large chamber lined with racks andshelves. Dust sheets covering man-sized things loomed about the room and chestsand boxes filled every other available space.

Toby and Josh clambered over a few of the chests andby the time their pursuers had entered the chamber, they had made their wayinto the middle and they realised with horror that there was no other way outof the room.

“You are trapped like rats now, boys. We will not killyou quickly. You will suffer.” The Doge had entered holding his face, and Joshsaw that the torch must have done some damage, because blood seeped out frombetween his fingers.

“Get them.” He snarled, his calm assurance replacedwith incandescent fury.

The cloaked figures started to swarm over the chestsand Toby lost his footing. His torch brushed against a sheet, setting it alightas if it had been tinder. Within seconds the flames had leapt to another sheetand then to the shelves and back to the chests and boxes. Soon there was a wallof fire between the boys and their pursuers.

A kettle-pitched scream whistled from underneath oneof the burning sheets which fell away to reveal the wooden statue of a woman.Josh saw a bead of water trickle out of its eye before turning to steam as theflames licked up over its face. The other sheets had all burned away nowrevealing more statues. Dimly, Josh thought that they were much more lifelikethan the frenzied marionettes.

The room was becoming uncomfortably smoky now, butthere was something else in the haze; something dark that whooshed through thesmoke making it billow around in swirling eddies. And there were whispers.

A set ofshelves collapsed off the wall a few metres from where Josh and Toby werestanding, sending up a shower of sparks into the dusty, smoky air.

“Follow me.” A whisper in Josh’s ear made him spinaround, and he saw, suspended in the smoke the translucent face of the statuethat had been the first to burn.

“Who are you?”

“You do not have time. Follow me.”

“Come on Josh. What choice do we have?” Toby coughed.

The woman’s ghostly face turned and swirled throughthe smoke. It was now so thick that they could barely see where they weregoing, but their guide seemed sure of her path. The whistling screams hadstopped and been replaced by a frightened shouting from the entrance to thechamber, surrounded by the all encompassing crackling of the fire.

The two boys ducked through a small doorway which hadbeen concealed behind the fallen shelves and on into a passage. There were notorches here and the only light came from the burning room behind them. Toby’storch had gone out, but he clung to it as if his life depended on it. Afterthey had gone a few paces they could no longer see their guide and the smokewas getting deeper into their lungs.Every breath they took burnt the backs of their throats and they werecoughing continually, but they staggered on. Josh knew they had no choice.

Then a hazylight appeared in front of them and their spirits soared. They broke into atrot and then a run until they burst into the vastness of the enormous columnedhall they had been in before. Smoke poured out of the passageway behind them.They moved a little distance into the chamber and collapsed onto the cold stonefloor, breathing in the sweet air that had seemed stale and old before thefire.

Their guide was nearly entirely invisible now; thesmoke had given her more substance than the clear air could. She flew aroundand around them.

“You cannot stay here. There are more of them and theywill come. The Doge will not give up easily.”

They struggled to their feet coughing out the last ofthe smoke and made their way through the massive columns, until they came to asmall stone building no larger than a garden shed. There was an opening on oneside of it that revealed stairs leading into darkness.

“We can hide down here.”

Josh grabbed another torch from a nearby column.

“No. Put it back,” whispered their guide. “if he seesa missing torch he will know you have taken it.”

Josh replaced the torch and then, gingerly, theypicked their way down the steps and into the blackness.