Dangerous Reality (13 page)

I whistled appreciatively. I’d had no idea it was that vast. Rayner was bobbing about, waiting for us outside a huge bungalow-type building as we pulled up. He waved and immediately ran over.

‘This is great, Carol!’ he grinned when Mum was barely out of the car. ‘You are really helping me out here.’

Rayner and Mum kissed each other. Rayner was weaving about so much I was surprised he didn’t end up kissing the back of Mum’s head instead.

‘We’re helping each other.’ Mum smiled. ‘I’m going to have VIMS record everything he does and we can play the tape back to the board at Desica.’

‘Will you get into trouble for this?’ Rayner asked.

‘Probably,’ Mum said. ‘But it’ll be worth it. I’ll save my creation!’

‘And I’ll save the power plant thousands of pounds if VIMS can find out what the problem is.’

‘Then let’s get cracking.’ Mum smiled again.

Rayner and I carried the virtual reality equipment into the main control room of the building – what Rayner called the Operating Room. And the room was huge. They certainly believed in doing everything on a big scale at the power plant. There were monitors and different types of computers as far as the eye could see.
The
noise of the fans and the machinery in the room was uncomfortably loud. I hoped what we had to do wouldn’t take longer than a couple of hours, otherwise we’d all end up with raging headaches.

Mum brought in the CD disks which contained all of VIMS’ remote control programs. We had to wait until Mum had downloaded the programs onto one of the plant’s computers and made sure everything was working before she could put on the VR visor and glove and direct VIMS out of the boot of our car and into the building.

‘Actually, I’ve had a better idea,’ Mum said once VIMS was outside the Operating Room. ‘Rayner, I want you to command VIMS. That way, no one can say it’s a set-up on my part.’

‘But I don’t know how …’

‘That’s OK. It’s really simple,’ said Mum. ‘It’ll only take me twenty minutes to take you through it.’

Whilst Mum was showing Rayner how to issue commands and how to operate VIMS, I wandered off to look at VIMS through the glass door. It just sat there, looking back at me. It didn’t look particularly frightening or menacing now. It stood perfectly still, folded up on itself. Just a few days ago I’d thought it the most miraculous, wonderful thing I’d ever seen. But now it almost gave me the creeps. A frown tightened over my lips as I regarded VIMS with growing loathing. It really
had
been nothing but trouble. Still, this was its chance to redeem itself.

‘VIMS, don’t mess this up,’ I mouthed at it.

‘OK, Dominic, we’re ready to go,’ Mum called out a little later.

I walked back to Rayner and Mum, eager to begin.

‘The lifts that allow access to the pipes are in the small machine room across the hall,’ Rayner told us. ‘So I’ll direct VIMS there first.’

Rayner issued his commands with confident ease. He forgot to say VIMS at the beginning of a couple of his commands, but that was about the only thing he got wrong. I glanced across at the glass door, just in time to see VIMS turn and trundle off.

It was a long process after that. VIMS had to go into a tiny lift which took it down and down and down towards the underground pipes.

‘That lift is how we get the mechanical pigs down to the pipes,’ Rayner explained. ‘It’s too dangerous down there for people. If we did send someone down there, we’d have to shut down the power plant or at least a major section of it. That’s why VIMS is ideal for this.’

When at last VIMS did reach the pipes, Rayner consulted another computer with what looked like blueprints on the screen.

‘What’s that?’ I asked.

‘That’s a diagram of all the pipes and access tunnels
down
below us,’ Rayner told me. ‘I want VIMS to carry out a systematic search of each pipe in the Alpha section.’

Rayner began. He directed VIMS up one pipe and then down another. Turn left, turn right, straight ahead, turn round. On and on it went, until I don’t know about VIMS but my head was certainly swimming. I looked at the monitor which showed us what VIMS was seeing, but apart from pipework and tunnel walls there wasn’t anything else to see. The pipes must’ve been about ninety centimetres across and some of them were much, much bigger, but believe me, when you’ve seen one pipe, you’ve seen them all.

‘Rayner Alten to the phone please. Rayner Alten to the phone.’ A man’s voice boomed out over the tannoy, making me jump.

‘What’s the matter now?’ Rayner grumbled.

He pulled off the glove and visor and handed them to Mum before heading for the nearest phone. Mum continued to direct VIMS through the pipes and tunnels, carefully following the schematic on Rayner’s computer. I watched as Rayner stuck a finger in his ear whilst holding the phone to the other ear.

I could see rather than hear him say, ‘Pardon? Pardon? What?’

Then he started talking into the phone and I couldn’t lip read any more.

‘How’re we doing, Mum?’ I asked.

Mum was looking at the monitor before her. The image VIMS was playing back to us was of yet more tunnel walls.

‘Nothing so far,’ Mum sighed.

Rayner came over. ‘Jack’s here – and he’s none too pleased with either of us. I didn’t realize you’d discharged yourself from hospital, Carol.’

‘You’re not going to nag me, are you?’ Mum pleaded.

‘I think you’re about to get all the nagging you can handle. Jack is driving here now.’

‘So where is he? At our house?’

‘No, he’s at the security gate.’

Mum sighed. I think she was hoping to have a bit longer before Dad arrived to have a rant at her.

Rayner smiled wryly at the expression on Mum’s face. ‘Any progress?’

‘None so far.’

‘Jack’s going to make you go back to hospital,’ I told Mum smugly. ‘And quite right too. You shouldn’t have left.’

‘Dominic, darling …’

‘Yes, I know – shut up!’ I finished Mum’s sentence for her.

‘Not the words I would’ve used but …’

‘But the meaning’s the same!’ I smiled.

‘Let me have a try again,’ Rayner asked.

Mum took off her visor and was just about to take off the VR glove when we heard VIMS’ voice.

‘Obstruction found,’ it said.

We all turned to look at the monitor. The three of us gasped in total horror. There on the screen, we could see … a body.

Chapter Nineteen

The Truth

A BODY
…

I couldn’t believe it. I turned to Mum, thinking my eyes must be playing tricks. But Mum’s expression looked to be a mirror image of my own. She had the same astounded look on her face.

‘A body?’ she whispered. ‘It can’t be. There must be some kind of mistake. Either that or it’s a sick joke …’

Both Mum and I turned to Rayner, but he was absolutely still and staring at the screen.

‘Rayner …?’

‘This is no joke,’ Rayner said grimly. ‘It really is a body.’

The person had their back to us but I could see it was a woman with light-coloured hair and wearing a blue dress. My stomach churned horribly. I had to take several deep breaths before it began to quieten down. A
body
…

‘How did a body get down there?’ Mum whispered.

‘It must’ve been put in there when the pipes were laid years ago. There’s no way a body could get down there and that far into the tunnels now.’ Rayner’s expression was stony.

‘But it doesn’t look like it’s been down there for years and years.’ I shook my head. ‘It’s not a skeleton.’

‘The dry, airless conditions down there have more or less mummified it,’ Rayner said. ‘Once we get it out it shouldn’t be too difficult to identify.’

Rayner went over to the nearest phone and pressed 999. Mum and I watched in silence as he asked for the police.

‘Hello? This is Rayner Alten from the BFC Power plant on the Preston Way. We just discovered a body in one of our underground pipes … Yes, that’s right … Yes … No, it’s on one of our monitors. That’s right … OK.’ Rayner put down the phone. ‘They’re sending someone right over.’

The door to the Operating Room opened, making us all jump. Dad walked in, only to stop in his tracks when he saw all our faces.

‘What’s the matter?’

‘Oh, Jack, look!’ Mum said, distressed. ‘Look what VIMS found.’

Jack walked slowly into the room and up to the monitor. He stared and stared at it, never turning his head.

‘How did that woman get down there?’ I asked.

‘I can only think that she was put in the pipes the day before they were sealed and covered over. That means it had to be someone who worked here at BFC or someone who worked for the construction company. It had to be someone who knew the construction schedule,’ Rayner mused.

‘Or it might’ve been someone who dumped the body there and then was just lucky,’ I said.

‘Well, there’s no point in speculating. The police will be here soon and then I’ll turn the whole matter over to them.’

A body. I still couldn’t believe it. An Antarctic chill went trickling down my back.

‘Jack …’

The note of horror and intense pain in Mum’s voice had my head whipping round. Mum and Jack were looking at each other. Mum had tears trickling down her face and Jack looked so, so sad. They regarded each other as if they were the last two people in the world. The rest of us had ceased to exist.

‘Tell me I’m wrong,’ Mum begged.

Jack didn’t answer.

‘Jack, please tell me I’m wrong.’

Frowning, I tried to work out what was going on.

‘It’s Alison, isn’t it?’ Mum’s voice was the merest whisper.

‘Who’s Alison?’ I asked. And then it clicked. ‘You mean Alison, Dad’s first wife?’

Dad didn’t take his eyes off Mum.

‘Shall I get VIMS to turn over the body so we can see her face?’ Mum whispered.

Dad shook his head. ‘It’s her. It’s Alison’s body down there in the pipe.’

‘Oh, Jack …’

‘Carol, I didn’t kill her. I mean, I didn’t murder her. It was an accident. I was up on the scaffold tower working late. She came up to see me and we started arguing. That was all we ever did. I didn’t want another hateful, hurtful argument and I told her so. I told her I wanted a divorce and she flew at me. She started punching and slapping and I lost my temper and pushed her.’ Jack buried his head in his hands. ‘I didn’t hit her, I swear. I just pushed her. She staggered backwards and fell off the scaffolding. By the time I’d got down to the ground, she was dead and I … I just panicked.’

‘So you hid her body down in the pipes, knowing they were due to be sealed the following day,’ said Rayner. ‘And all this time you got away with it.’

‘Got away with it? I don’t think so,’ Dad said bitterly. ‘If you’d had my nightmares over the last eight years, then you wouldn’t accuse me of getting away with anything.’

‘But that can’t be Alison.’ What were they all talking
about
? Everyone had gone mad except me. ‘Alison is living in Australia. You said so.’

Only then did Dad turn to me. He didn’t say anything. He didn’t have to. It was all in his eyes.

‘I don’t understand.’ The words were a shocked whisper. ‘Why wasn’t the body found years ago, even after the pipes had been sealed?’

‘We only started using the mechanical pigs a month ago,’ Rayner said slowly. He was working it out as he spoke. ‘The pigs in this section of the pipes must’ve repeatedly disturbed the body. That’s why they kept reporting problems, because Alison’s body was causing an obstruction.’

‘That’s why you didn’t want me to let Rayner use VIMS,’ Mum realized. ‘You knew what the problem here was all along.’

Jack bowed his head, no longer able to look at Mum.

‘Jack, was it you who sabotaged VIMS to make sure Rayner wouldn’t get it?’ Mum asked quietly.

‘Yes. The two of us …’ He looked at me. ‘The three of us were happy. I was desperate to make sure nothing changed that. I care about the two of you very much.’

‘But VIMS knocked Mum off the stage,’ I flared at him. ‘If you care so much about Mum, how could you let VIMS do that?’

And in that moment, I almost hated him.

‘Dominic, that was never meant to happen. You have
to
believe me. I swear VIMS was never meant to hurt anyone – especially not Carol. I changed VIMS’ software so that he’d fail the demo to the suits and uniforms. It was the only way I could make sure that he wasn’t lent to Rayner. I wanted to get rid of all the changes I’d made to VIMS’ system, but your mum locked everyone out so I no longer had access to his programming,’ Jack said, anguished. ‘I couldn’t change the software back in time. I never, ever wanted him to hurt Carol.’

But VIMS
had
hurt Mum. And all because Jack was so busy trying to hide what he’d done in the past that he didn’t think about the consequences of what he was doing in the present. Each lie had led to another. Every attempt to hide the truth had backfired. Jack wasn’t going to get off that easily.

‘Mum’s accident was still your fault. You’re the one who … who …’ I stared at Jack as something else occurred to me. ‘It was
you
. You were the one who sent VIMS after me last night.’

‘What’s this?’ Mum asked, startled.

‘That’s why VIMS was in our house, Mum,’ I told her. ‘He crashed through the window in your work room and came after me.’

‘You sent VIMS after my son?’

‘I …’

Mum flew out of her chair. ‘YOU SENT VIMS AFTER DOMINIC?’

‘I think I went a little mad.’ Jack groaned. ‘I changed his programming from Julie’s account at Desica. It only took me a couple of minutes to come to my senses, but by then Dominic had used his VIMS password to lock me out. I couldn’t delete the command. So I drove like a demon to get to the house before VIMS did.’

‘You tried to hurt my son?’ said Mum, appalled, her eyes aflame.

Jack shook his head but he didn’t say a word. He couldn’t. Mum’s expression began to set as she stared at Jack. Strangely enough, in that moment, my own anger dropped away.

‘No, Mum,’ I said slowly. ‘Dad saved my life. He made VIMS come after him instead. He saved my life.’

‘Jack, where were you this morning?’ Mum asked.