Chapter Back To Reality

Josh could see light sparkling in front of him likesunlight on a tranquil sea and slowly a grey shape began to resolve itself.Other things appeared and soon Josh realised he was in Toby’s bedroom. Kat wasleaning over him and peering under his eyelids.

“Josh? Are you waking up?”

“Kat? What are you doing here?” His voice was huskyand his tongue had stuck to the roof of his mouth. He pushed himself up ontohis elbows and only then did he realise he was lying on Toby’s bed. “How’sToby? Is he still there?”

“He’s not woken up yet, if that’s what you mean. Whathave you been doing? Did you meet Geigerzalion again?”

“No, we… Yeah we met him ages ago.” He paused for amoment. “What time is it?”

“About nine.”

“Saturday night?”

“Yeah, of course it’s Saturday night, Josh. What areyou talking about?” Kat frowned.

“I’ve no idea Kat. I…we found Geigerzalion…It seems…Ithink I’ve been away for hours…”

“Slow down Josh? Where did Geigerzalion take you?”

“He didn’t take us anywhere. Well, not directly. Hetold us he knew who was chasing him and took us to a world where he thoughtthey were.” He remembered ZX82’s wasted body floating in the column of liquid.“We found a child.”

“A child?”

“Yeah,” he said bitterly. “Tech-Tonic have been wiringkids up together to make supercomputers somehow. We rescued one of them, butthen the thing that’s chasing Geigerzalion turned up and we were transported tothis other world where the inhabitants think they’re real people, but reallythey’re puppets, but they hate puppets. And there’s a man there who controlsthem and he was chasing us and…” He had been speaking faster and faster, hiswords tumbling over each other. He could feel the dryness in his throat gettingworse. A racking cough shuddered through him.

“Calm down, Josh. It’s just virtual reality. It’s notreal reality, nothing can happen to Toby.”

“You don’t understand. Something can happen to Toby.It can hurt him. It’s not virtual reality at all. It’s just as real as thisis.” A sudden thought occurred to him. “How do I know this is real?” Hewhispered to himself.

“Stop that Josh. You’re starting to sound really crazynow.”

“I’m not crazy. How do I know you’re you, Kat?” But ashe said it he knew. It wasn’t that he was completely sure he wasn’t in anothervirtual world, it was that he suddenly realised that you had to believe insomething and there was something about Kat that made her seem very real. “I’msorry. But we’ve got to help Toby.”

“How?”

Josh went across to one of Toby’s computers, andlooked for something that he might understand. After a few seconds it becameobvious that he just didn’t know what to do. He sighed. “I don’t know. We’vegot to wake him up.”

“Josh, I’ve been trying for half an hour to wake youtwo up, but you didn’t seem to respond to anything.”

“How did you wake me up, then?”

“I didn’t Josh. I’d just moved you onto the bed, andthat’s when you woke up.”

“Well, let’s move him.”

They heaved Toby off his chair and lifted him acrossthe room onto the bed. Josh marvelled slightly at how Kat had managed to movehim all by herself. They gently placed his friend onto his bed and stood back, holdingtheir breath for him to wake up.

He lay still, barely breathing.

They tried shaking him and pinching his cheeks. Theyeven tried pouring water over his forehead and shoulders, but nothing worked.Toby lay on his bed almost as still as death. Only the faint raising andlowering of his chest and the very rapid movement of his eyes gave anyindication that he was still alive.

“What are we going to do? Is he in a coma?”

“I don’t know, Josh. We’ve got to tell his mum.”

Toby’s mum caught her breath when she saw her sonlying still on his bed, and Kat started to cry a little. Mrs Hawkins creptforward and carefully sat next to her son. Josh felt his bottom lip quiverevery time Toby’s mum stroked her son’s forehead.

Then she calmly went downstairs and called anambulance which arrived in a flurry of blue lights and green clad paramedics.Everyone was very efficient and kind and understanding. They all assured Toby’smum that they had seen this type of thing before and they were sure Toby wouldbe fine once they got him to the hospital.

Josh had expected to be blamed for everything that hadhappened. He thought it was only a matter of time before the police came toquestion him, but Toby’s mum and the paramedics were just as concerned abouthis health as they were about Toby’s. He began to feel like a fraud and coward.He wanted to explain that he didn’t leave Toby on purpose, but Mrs Hawkinsdismissed his apology attempts before he really started.

By the time Josh, Kat and Mrs Hawkins arrived at thehospital, Toby had been installed in a single bedded room with loads ofequipment monitoring his vital signs. A young nurse was attaching a tube toToby’s arm. She looked up when they walked in.

“Hello. I’m Mandy.” She smiled at Toby’s mum.

“How is he?”

“He’s comfortable, Mrs Hawkins. His heart is fine andhe seems relaxed. The only thing we’re a little bit concerned about is theamount he seems to be dreaming. It’s very unusual.”

“Dreaming?”

“Yes. His eyes indicate that his mind is beingstimulated while he sleeps.”

“Oh yes. I’ve heard about that. Rapid eye movement Ithink they call it, don’t they?”

“Yes. That’s exactly right.”

“Why are you concerned?”

“We’re not really worried about it as such, it’s justthat it’s so strange. Normally people who dream this much would be thrashingabout in their beds or even getting up and running around, but, as you can seeToby’s so still.”

Josh looked at his friend and thought he looked verysmall in the big hospital bed.

“What do you think is the matter with him?” Kat, itappeared, was the only one brave enough to ask the question.

“We’re not sure. We need to run some tests.” Mandygave them a professional smile and finished wrapping a bandage around the tubethat she had inserted. “The doctor will be round soon. He’ll be able to answeryour questions.” She seemed to almost hurry out of the room and Josh was surehe saw her face crumple into a frown as she left.

Mrs Hawkins waited a few seconds after the nurse hadgone, and then slumped onto the bed and cried very quietly. Kat motioned withher eyes that Josh should try to comfort her, but he suddenly felt terriblyself-conscious.

“It’ll be okay, Mrs Hawkins.” He muttered as heawkwardly patted her shoulder.

“He’s all I’ve got. I can’t lose him.”

“You won’t. He’ll be alright.”

Josh was about to tell Mrs Hawkins everything that hadhappened to them in the virtual worlds, but just then a doctor entered carryinga clipboard on which he was adding some notes. He was small and had a pointed,almost ferret like face. He wore glasses which were askew at the end of hislong nose.

“Ah. Hello. You must be Mrs Hawkins. I’m Dr... ah...Gibson. This is a very interesting case. Can I ask you a few questions?” Heseemed to be addressing Kat.

“Er, not really. I’m just a friend. This is hismother.” She pointed out Mrs Hawkins who had regained her composure.

“Ah, yes. Of course. What am I thinking? You’re fartoo young. Ha ha.” He hardly looked up, but shuffled over to Toby’s mum. “Doyou mind if I ask you some questions?”

“No. Not if it’ll help.”

“We just need some background.” The doctor adjustedhis glasses nervously. “Erm… Did Toby play video games at all?”

“Yes. He did. He was always messing about with thecomputer.” Mrs Hawkins glanced at Josh. “He was playing games before he… becameill wasn’t he Josh?”

Josh nodded. “Yes, we had a virtual reality game setup. We were both playing.”

“Ah, good. Where did you go?”

“I don’t know really. We started off in these sort oftunnels that Toby said ran underneath the Internet, but I don’t understand it.Toby’s the expert.”

The doctor raised a quizzical eyebrow. “So you’re nota computer whiz then?”

“No.”

“And you managed to get out?”

“Yes.” Josh said unhappily.

“Did you stay in the Plexus or did you go somewhereelse?”

Josh paused. “The Plexus?”

“Yes. You said you’d been in the pipes, didn’t you?”Dr Gibson peered at him.

He remembered then, that Rose had used that name, andToby had never heard of it. It must be more widely known than Toby suspected.He fought down a sob when he thought about his friend. “We went into a gameworld called ‘Shiver’”

“Shiver, eh? Was it the European hub or one of theAmerican ones?”

“I… I’ve no idea. It was a castle.”

“Okay. No problem. So what happened there?”

Josh couldn’t think of any reasons not to tell thedoctor what had happened in the worlds that they visited, so he told himeverything about going to the factory where they’d found ZX82 and theterrifying puppet society in Vienopolis. He tried to convey how real everythinghad felt. The doctor nodded and took notes, and seemed quite unfazed by thestory Josh told.

When Josh had finished, he stood up and clipped hispen into his top pocket.

“Well thank you Josh.” He reached forward and shookJosh’s hand. “You’ve been very informative.”

“Are you going to examine him?” Mrs Hawkins askedsharply.

“Erm. I need to check some charts.” The doctor almostdropped his clipboard in his haste to leave.

“Well! I don’t know. Doctors seem to be gettingyounger every day. I hope he’s not in charge of looking after Toby.”

Josh was turning something over in his hand. Thedoctor had passed it to him when he shook his hand, and very subtly winked athim. The wink had been at odds with the doctor’s bumbling manner. It had givenJosh an uncanny feeling that the doctor knew more about Toby’s condition thanhe was saying.

Then an elderly doctor entered carrying anotherclipboard. He looked very much like a doctor should with friendly, tired eyesand a stethoscope wrapped loosely round his neck.

“Ah, Mrs Hawkins. I’m Dr Gibson.” He extended a large,competent hand towards Toby’s mum who shook it enthusiastically. “And this mustbe Toby. Let’s see how the little feller’s doing. Has he been feeling alrightrecently?”

“Well I think so, he’s not complained about anything,and you know what teenage boys are like, don’t you. They complain about everylittle thing that’s the matter with them.”

Dr Gibson laughed politely. “Yes. Indeed.”

“Doctor?” Kat asked quietly. “Did you say your namewas Gibson?”

“Yes, young lady. That’s right.”

“That must cause some confusion.”

“I’m sorry?”

“Having two Dr Gibson’s in the same hospital…” Shetrailed off when she saw Josh trying to convey something to her using onlyeyebrow code.

“No, you must be mistaken. I’m the only Dr Gibson inthis hospital.”

Both he and Mrs Hawkins were looking at Kat now, andthis gave Josh a chance to examine the thing in his hand. It was like abusiness card, but it was made of shiny plastic that diffracted the dim lightof the room across its surface. One side it was embossed with a single flamingeye. He slid it into the back pocket of his jeans.

Dr Gibson performed a thoroughly professional lookingexamination of Toby, from his chest to his ears, and his scalp to his feet.

“He appears to be perfectly healthy, Mrs Hawkins. Hisheart is strong and there is nothing wrong with his lungs. We’ve taken someblood and sent that up to Toxicology. We should get some results back thisevening sometime. He is sleeping. Very soundly, admittedly, but he is not in acoma.”

“Thank you doctor. You’ve been a great comfort. Is itall right if I sit in here with him?”

“Yes, of course. Are these two yours as well?”

“No, no. They’re Toby’s friends.” She turned to Josh.“You should get home Josh. Your dad will be worrying about you.”

“Will you be okay?” Josh asked.

Mrs Hawkins cocked her head and cupped Josh’s cheek.“Bless you Josh. I’ll be fine. And so will Toby. I’ll ring you if anythinghappens. Go home and get some sleep. You can come back tomorrow. And stopthinking this is all your fault.”

Kat leaned over before she left and kissed Tobytenderly on the forehead. Josh just waved gently at his friend lying so still.They left in silence until they were clear of the hospital and then they bothstarted talking at once.

“That young doctor was definitely called Gibson. Ithink he was an impostor.” Kat said.

“I know. He gave me this.” Josh produced the shinypiece of plastic. “What do you think it is?”

“You wally. It’s a CD.”

“What? But it’s not round.”

“It doesn’t have to be. My dad gives these out insteadof business cards. Have you got a computer, Josh?”

“Yeah. It’s not very good though.”

“It shouldn’t matter. We’ll just see what’s on it.”

“Okay.”

It was well past midnight when they arrived at Josh’shouse, and nobody was home. Jackie was probably still out partying the nightaway or more likely gossiping the night away, and his dad hadn’t come back fromwhatever meeting he was attending. Josh was glad.

He made Kat and himself a cup of tea and went upstairsto his bedroom. He silently cursed himself for not having tidied up and it tookages for him to reassemble his rarely used computer; he found his mouse hidingunder his bed. He crossed his fingers and then pressed the button to turn iton.

Somewhat to his surprise it whirred into life and heinserted the business card into the CD drive.

Nothing happened for a while and Josh was about toeject the card when suddenly the screen went black as if it had been switchedoff. A tiny white dot floated in the centre. The dot became a tiny ball of firewhich expanded to fill the entire screen. There was a bright flash and theyoung Dr Gibson’s head appeared on the screen.

“Hello again Josh.”

“Er. Hello.”

“Are you alone? Or is that young lady with you?”

“Kat’s here.”

“Do you trust her?”

“Yes, of course.”

“You must be very careful about who you trust, Josh.”

“I trust her.” Josh said firmly. “Why should I trustyou?”

“Excellent question. You shouldn’t of course. But youwill have to if you want to save Toby.”

“Who are you?”

“My name is DoomLord.”

“DoomLord? What sort of name is that?” Kat snorted.

“Well, its my handle rather than my name. I…”

“So what’s your real name?” Josh interrupted.

“Look. That doesn’t matter. I’m a member of TheBurning Eye. We’re a group of hackers. We know about the Plexus. We saw you goin and thought you might get into trouble.”

“Can you get in and out of it? Can you get me back into help Toby?”

“We can get in at certain times, and we’ve developed atechnique for exiting on demand. We lost some people in it at the beginning,but we got them out before they went crazy.”

“Crazy?”

“There are theories that say if you stay submergedwithin these Vrealms for too long, your mind will never be able to tell what’sreal and what’s not. You are confined to a life of dreams and illusions.Madness.”

“How long?”

“We don’t know. The longest anyone stayed in wasforty-eight hours. It took him weeks to recover, and still he thinks that if hewraps a certain cloak around him he becomes invisible. Other than that he’sfine.”

“We’ve got to get Toby out.”

“It’s easier said than done, Josh. You’re the only onewho’ll be able to help him, and you’re not trained properly.”

“I don’t care. I can do it. I’m not scared.”

“You should be. You know how dangerous it is, how realit can seem.”

“I don’t care. What do I need to do?”

“You need to come to our facility. I’m outside yourhouse. In a white van. I’ll take you there.”

“I’m coming.”

DoomLord disappeared from the screen.

“Josh. You’re not going are you?”

“You heard what he said. I’ve got no choice. I’ve gotto try and save Toby. If I hadn’t told him about Geigerzalion we’d never havegot into this mess in the first place. It’s my fault Kat.”

“Well I’m coming with you.”

“No. You should go home. Go and see Toby tomorrow,though. Please”

“You must be joking. Someone’s got to look out foryou. You’re too important.”

They argued for a little while, but Josh didn’t havethe energy or time and Kat easily won him over.

Josh had expected the van to be a high tech, gleamingsuper van, so he was a bit disappointed when he saw the battered white transitparked opposite his house. DoomLord was leaning against it and watching thehouse.

“Glad you decided to come, Josh. This is the firsttime we’ve had the opportunity to help anyone who’s fallen into the Plexus.”

“Where are we going?”

“The facility is about thirty miles away. It’ll takeabout an hour.” He had pulled some black cloth out of his pocket.

“You’re not going to blindfold us are you?” Kat asked.

DoomLord looked puzzled. “No. Why would I? I’m justgoing to clean the windscreen. The wipers don’t work.”

The inside of the van looked as though DoomLord livedin it. Fast food containers littered the seats and there was a sleeping bagcrumpled up in the passenger foot well.

“Sorry about the mess. I’ve been too busy to keep ittidy.” He grimaced embarrassedly and brushed some cartons off the seats to makeroom for Josh and Kat. They sat gingerly, half expecting to stick permanentlyto the dark fabric.

Josh didn’t realise how tired he was until they setoff. Sleep tugged at his eyelids as the streetlights passed overhead and Katand DoomLord’s interrogation of each other started to sound as if it wasgetting further away. He slid into a dream.

He was walking along a dirt road at the side of a haywagon, being pulled by the largest horses he had ever seen. A grizzled oldfarmer slumped in his seat at the front of the cart, chewing a straw andswatting huge horseflies away with his hat.

“Hello there.” He said when he noticed Josh. “Do youwant a lift?”

Josh didn’t know where he was going, but he thoughtriding on the cart would be easier than walking wherever he was going. Hehoisted himself up onto the seat next to the farmer.

From this height he could see much more of thesurrounding valley. It was beautiful.The surrounding hills rolled down into the valley’s woodland bounds androcky sheep walks crisscrossed the high pastoral coves. Willowy hedgerowsseparated gilded turf and emerald meads, and glistening streams babbled into ameandering river. Josh breathed in through his nose and thought he had neversmelt such sweet air.

“This is your first visit. Yes?” The farmer said toJosh after a while.

“I think so. Where are we?”

“This is Trinity Vale.” He said it in the manner of aperson who is saying something amazing, so Josh nodded appreciatively. Hehazily remembered something about the name. Another dream, perhaps, with aunicorn.

“Wow.” He added after what he considered a respectfulpause. “It’s lovely. Do you live here?”

The farmer chuckled. “Not exactly. You don’t knowwhere you are do you?”

“No.” Josh admitted. But then something else grabbedhis attention and it was all he could do to keep himself from falling backwardsoff the cart. “What’s that?”

An enormous, long-necked dinosaur had rounded a curveahead of them and was plodding ponderously towards them.

“It’s what your scientists are currently calling aBrontosaurus, I think.”

“What do you mean?”

“To understand, you will have to know where you are.”

Josh sighed. It seemed that now even his dreams wereconspiring against him. “Where am I?”

The farmer smiled at him and Josh quickly added. “Anddon’t just say Trinity Vale.”

“The right question would be: What is Trinity Vale?”

“Okay, then.What is Trinity Vale?”

“Aha! Now that’s a good question.” The farmer laughedgood-naturedly. “But I think it is too soon to burden you with explanationsnow. Use this visit to get used to being here. If you are who I think you are,we’ll be seeing a lot of you.”

Josh wanted to protest, but there was something in theway the farmer was determinedly chewing his straw that forbade discussion. Hesighed and watched the dinosaur crash past them. Dreams weren’t normally thisdetailed. He could make out every crease and wrinkle on the dinosaur brownhide, and even see the muscles moving underneath. Its tail swished up highabove their heads, avoiding any contact with the wagon.

“Why don’t they destroy everything around here?”

The farmer looked puzzled and considered Josh’s questionintently for a while. “Why would they? They’re herbivores.”

Josh spent the rest of the journey staring in awe atone impossible sight after another. He saw a shining silver unicorn rearingonto its back legs and whinnying on the top of a nearby hill, and a lumberingmammoth drinking from a pond in the middle of the one of the meadows. He saw afat, waddling dodo cross the road just in front of them, so close in fact thatit was almost crushed by the huge horses pulling the cart. There were also hundredsof normal animals roaming around the countryside.

They rounded a corner in the road and came upon aquaint village consisting entirely of round, dry stone huts. Smoke rose fromthe chimneys of some of the buildings and the smell of cooking made Josh’s mouthmoisten instantly.

Some children, who had been playing a chasing gamebefore, ran up to the hay wagon and called out to the farmer.

“Have you brought new stories, Farmer Brandreth?”

“We caught the troll down by the bridge. It was justwhere you said it would be.”

“My mother’s made pastries for you coming to thevillage.”

The farmer dismounted leaving the horses to plodforward on their own. The children were all so excited by the arrival of thefarmer, that Josh started to think that he must be the most important man inthe land. He handed out trinkets and sweets from his pockets as he strolledamongst them.

The cart stopped when the horses reached the centre ofthe village and started to graze on the lush grass growing there. Joshclambered down and looked about. He could see mountains rearing beyond therolling hills of the valley and he idly wondered how far away they were.

“Josh?”

The voice pierced his heart as truly as an arrow. Thevoice of the person he had most wanted to see for over a year; the voice of hismother.

Hardly daring to breath he turned around.

She stood on the edge of the grass, clothed in anold-fashioned country dress. Her hair fell loosely around her shoulders and hermouth was stretched wide in that smile that had met him from school or cheeredhim up after a scraped knee so many times before.

He ran to her, not bothering to try to wipe the tearsaway from his eyes. He hadn’t shed tears like this since the day she died.

He wrapped his arms around her and buried his headinto her soft hair. He remembered her as being taller; his head did not use toreach her shoulders. The air, which had seemed so gloriously fresh, was nowfull of her smell, and Josh found himself sobbing uncontrollably.

“I’ve missed you mum.” He repeated over and overagain. His throat hurt already with the effort of crying.

His mother just stroked his hair and said nothing, butshe squeezed him a little tighter with her other arm.

Eventually Josh pushed himself away and looked intohis mother’s eyes, which were as wet as his own. “This is a dream, isn’t it?”

“Not exactly, Josh. I’m not from your imagination. I’mas real as you are here.”

“But how?”

“It’s my memory that exists here. The memory ofeverything I did, or every interaction with every other living thing. I havemelded into a greater whole, but I have still retained myself. I live in thisvillage for most of the time, but sometimes I have visited you and Jackie, andyour dad. I’ve been there Josh. I’m still connected to you.”

Then suddenly and terribly Josh’s vision began toswim. Darkness reached from behind the huts and everything winked out ofexistence.

“NO!” He screamed and reached out, trying to grasponto his mother’s dress; stretching his fingers, trying to find anything thatcould keep him in this world. “Mum!”

“Josh, wake up. You’ve slept all the way here.” Katsaid. “You’ve been dreaming.”

“It wasn’t a dream. I met my mum.” Josh’s throatached.

Kat stroked his hair, just like his mum had. “Josh,you’ve been asleep. You must’ve been dreaming.”

Josh closed his eyes and tried to will himself back,but the cold reality of the rain lashing against the windscreen was now so muchmore tangible than the idyllic village. He felt despair tugging at the cornersof his mouth and fought the urge to cry. “It seemed so real.” He managed to sayhoarsely.

“Oh, Josh. I’m sorry.” Kat wrapped her arms around hisshoulders and kissed the top of his head.

DoomLord cleared his throat rather too loudly. “Well,we’re here.”