Dangerous Reality Read Free Page B

totally underwhelming.
    We entered the double doors. And it was like entering another world. It was more than I’d ever imagined it could be. It was vast for a start. Filing cabinets and shelves and desks and computers lined the walls. There were a number of exits all around the room and lots of fluorescent lights on the ceiling which looked like something out of an
Alien
film. I took in all these incidental, inconsequential things like someone who eats their veggies and the so-so stuff on their plate first before allowing themselves to get to the best bits. There was a medium-sized red car against the far wall. I vaguely wondered why it was there before turning to the thing I really wanted to see. In the middle of the testing area was the VIMS unit.
    ‘Wow!’ Liam breathed.
    Me? I couldn’t say a word. I walked slowly over to the VIMS unit, taking my time and yet longing to get there. Now I could understand why Mum was so proud of her creation. It was
stunning
. There’s no other word for it. It was like something out of science fiction but it wasn’t fiction, it was fact. How to describe it … I’ll start from the bottom and work my way up! It was balanced on two metal tripods which had to be its version of feet. Attached to these, however, were wheels. I assumed that this was so that it could ‘walk’ on its tripod-like feet – or run on wheels. Above these, it had a number of short, jointed metal strips. We only have one joint in each of our legs – our knees – but the VIMS unit had four or five that I could see. They were all folded down, one on top of the other, with a number of cables and wires running along them. And sitting on these folded-up ‘legs’ was the main body of the thing. It was a cuboid in shape, rectangular and smaller than I expected. It had a monitor at the front along with a number of other buttons and circuits and lights. At each side of the box-like main body were ‘arms’ folded in on themselves just like its legs. At the end of each ‘arm’ were at least eight or nine ‘fingers’. Each finger was a tool slightly different from the others and the whole lot was mounted on a revolving disc. Its fingers were like the contents of a Swiss Army knife. And at the top of the box was a smoky-grey dome-like structure which had to be its head. It had a section running around the middle of the dome which looked like an elongated black visor. It looked bizarre and exciting and wonderful all at once.
    ‘Oh no! Quick!’
    I hardly heard Liam. I carried on staring at the VIMS unit. Mum said VIMS was an artificial intelligence masterpiece and I believed her. I stood still watching it, wondering if it was switched on and watching me. Was it studying me? What did it make of me?
    ‘Dominic, come on. I can hear them coming.’ Liam grabbed my arm and pulled me towards the nearest set of filing cabinets. Only just in time too. The door opened the moment Liam and I ducked down behind the cabinets.
    ‘You moron! What’s the matter with you? D’you want us to get caught?’
    ‘Sorry. I was totally caught up in the VIMS unit,’ I whispered back.
    ‘I thought you said we had plenty of time before your mum came down here. Now what?’ Liam hissed at me.
    ‘Now we scarper.’ I had a quick look around, then pointed. ‘That way, towards the exit at the back there. That’ll take us into the corridor outside and then we can sneak back to the service lift.’
    We crawled on our stomachs, commando-style, past boxes and crates which were good cover. But all at once the cover stopped. We had another eight or nine metres to go before we got to the next set of filing cabinets and there was absolutely nothing to hide us.
    ‘Ladies and gentlemen, I’m sure you’re all as keen as I am to get right to it. So let’s start the demonstration right away,’ Mum announced.
    I peeked out from behind my crate. Mum stood next to Jack with Abby, her assistant, on the other side of her. There were a number of men