Dangerously Placed Read online

  ‘Maybe we should go in now,’ suggested Budi, in an obvious attempt at damage control.

  ‘Okay, well, just let me know if there’s anything you need, all right, Alex? Dale?’

  ‘We will,’ promised Dale.

  Elena hurried off. Budi seemed to debate whether to comment on what she’d said, then shook his head.

  ‘Never go in here without knocking,’ he told us, and banged his fist against the massive, iron-studded door.

  ‘Enter,’ came a muffled voice.

  The door swung open. Inside, a man with flamered hair sat behind an enormous, angular desk of black marble. The room was dark, with only a couple of small spotlights illuminating the computer and its owner.

  ‘Alex, Dale, I’d like you to meet Pierce Grody, Head of our division and Chief Conceptual Advisor to the CEO.’

  Budi pushed us forward. Grody stared at us with pale, cold eyes. Behind the desk, something large and sinuous moved, and I let out a gasp, ruining my efforts to look mature and confident. A huge black dragon was lounging on the floor of the office, its scales rippling in the dim light, its red-rimmed eyes flickering at the sound of Budi’s voice. Beside me, I felt Dale move closer. It’s only virtual, I told myself as the dragon bared silvery fangs. It might look like a fire-breathing reptile with a body as big as Sky’s car, but it’s no more real than that water couch is.

  ‘Alex? Dale? Ah, yes,’ drawled Grody, ‘the work experience tykes. Now, I wonder how on Earth you could make yourselves useful around here?’

  Was that a question? I opened my mouth, ready to say the first thing I could think of that would prove I was worthy of my placement, but then Grody spoke again.

  ‘But of course! A task that’s perfect for your skill level …’ His lips curved contemptuously. ‘Go fetch me a cup of coffee, will you, kiddies?’

  ‘Man, that is so rude!’ said Sky that evening, as we went into her room.

  ‘I know.’ I sat down on a sunflower cushion. ‘This Grody guy seems to think being sixteen is like being in kindergarten. Later on he told me and Dale not to use the bathroom in his wing of the office “in case of accidents”.’

  ‘Hilarious,’ remarked Kiyoko. ‘It sounds to me like the rest of the day went well for you, though.’

  I nodded. ‘I think so. It’s pretty easy to get the hang of Virk if you’ve played a lot of virtuadventures. The main differences are that everyone you meet is a real person, except for a bot or two, and that the Virk Room has a floor that moves as you walk when you’re in the Virk Suit, so you don’t need much room in realspace to simulate a really big virtual area. The suit’s amazing, though. The power cords don’t restrict you at all, because their power source moves around too; it’s in a box that’s attached to a kind of wire rigging on the ceiling. And when you’re wearing the suit, everything feels so real! The masks mean you can see people’s expressions in full-on detail – it’s like they’re actually there with you.’

  ‘Isn’t it kind of claustrophobic?’ asked Sky. ‘Having a mask so tight on your face?’

  ‘The mask isn’t tight,’ I explained. ‘The rest of the suit is, but the mask sits on pretty lightly to make sure you can breathe if the power goes out and the filters switch off. Plus, Budi told me they’d tried a tighter version early on, and a bunch of people complained that their hair looked all crushed.’

  ‘Virtual hat-hair?’ Sky laughed.

  ‘Yeah, pretty much! So now the mask uses cameras to detect your facial movements and your hairstyle. There’s an air-pressure system to make you feel anything touching your face, instead of the compression system the suit uses on the rest of you.’

  ‘Why would you need to feel anything touching your face?’ asked Ki.

  I shrugged.

  ‘I guess everything’s just geared up to be as realistic as possible. Although …’ I grinned. ‘Budi did tell me that it’s a good idea to wait a few seconds after opening the door to the Mainframe Room before you go in.’

  ‘Huh?’ Sky frowned at me.

  ‘The Mainframe Room is where you can link up to the main servers for the workplace and get things backed up, copied, erased and so on – it’s kind of like the photocopier room in a realspace office. And apparently, people use it just like a copier room …’ I let the significance of that hang in the air.

  Sky’s eyes widened.

  ‘You mean people get it on in there?’

  ‘Hey, it may be virtual, but office romances still happen!’

  ‘Seriously?’

  I laughed.

  ‘Yes! I even heard a woman got fired once for sneaking in a guy who didn’t work for Simulcorp so they could have a bit of Mainframe Room fun. I guess some people just like that sense of danger.’

  Kiyoko looked thoughtful.

  ‘It would have the advantage of being extremely safe,’ she mused. ‘After all, the participants could hardly catch anything when their actual bodies aren’t even in the same city.’

  ‘Ewww!’ Sky screwed up her face in disgust.

  ‘Yeah, thanks for that image, Ki.’ I shook my head at her. ‘So, how was your day?’

  ‘Excellent. My mentor, Evan, said my meticulousness and inquisitive nature make me perfect for pathology work. And the lab was fascinating – they even let me help with blood cultures and use the phase-contrast microscope on urine samples.’

  ‘Every girl’s dream job, in other words,’ I said. Sky looked even more disgusted than before.

  ‘Mine, certainly.’ Ki’s eyes gleamed. ‘Evan told me that if I keep up the good work, he’ll let me work with the forensic pathologist in the morgue across the road.’

  I didn’t dare look at Sky.

  ‘And clearly there’s no need to ask if Sky’s first day went well,’ continued Ki, pointing at a bunch of gerberas in a vase on Sky’s dressing table.

  ‘A present from your mentor for all your hard work?’ I guessed.

  Sky grinned. ‘Actually, the delivery guy gave them to me. He said they matched my sunny personality.’

  ‘Nice work, Sky – one day in the place and you’ve got a not-so-secret admirer! So what’s he like?’

  Sky flicked a strand of hair over her shoulder.

  ‘Well, his name’s Robbie, he’s twenty, he has a motorbike, he’s studying Fine Art part-time, he has light brown hair and these cute freckles …’

  ‘How tall is he?’ asked Kiyoko.

  Sky put her head on one side, considering.

  ‘About 180?’

  ‘Any distinguishing marks?’

  I looked at Ki and saw she was making notes on her phone.

  ‘What is this, a police investigation?’ demanded Sky.

  ‘I just like to keep track,’ Ki told her, saving her note. ‘In case anything goes wrong.’

  ‘Man, Ki, it’s not like I’m moving in with the guy! I thought he was cute, okay? Didn’t you like the look of any of the guys at your placement?’

  ‘I was busy focusing on my work,’ said Ki sanctimoniously.

  ‘Oh, come on!’ Sky turned a look of appeal on me. ‘You must have noticed some cute boys at Simulcorp, right, Alex?’

  ‘The “boys”, as you term them, are mostly twice my age, Sky!’ I let her look disappointed for a moment. ‘But … some of them are quite cute, yeah.’

  ‘Nice! See, Ki, we all know how work-focused Alex is, and she still had time to check out the menfolk. So who were these guys?’

  ‘Well, Budi, who’s kind of my second mentor, is only twenty-one.’ I didn’t tell them that it was Dale who’d finally plucked up the courage to ask Budi his age. ‘He’s pretty handsome, and he’s really kind and funny too. Actually, I think you’d like him a lot, but he lives in Indonesia, so it’s not like I could really introduce you.’

  ‘And what about this Dale you mentioned?’ asked Ki.

  I knew they were watching me carefully, but I couldn’t help going a bit red.

  ‘Ooooh!’ Sky laughed. ‘Tell us!’

  ‘He just seemed like a ni
ce guy, okay? I really don’t know that much about him yet. And it’s kind of tricky; I mean, he’s competing against me at work. When Inge took us down to Data Analysis this afternoon, he practically broke a sweat making sure he read through the graphs as fast as me. At least, his face looked kind of shiny; the rest of the Virk Suit doesn’t sense sweat, actually …’

  ‘Not that you would’ve minded seeing the rest of him all sweaty, though, huh?’ teased Sky. Even Ki was smirking.

  ‘Shut up!’ But I couldn’t help giggling. ‘All right, all right, he is pretty hot. He’s tall and blond, with really blue eyes …’ I stopped, remembering how he’d smiled down at me when we met.

  ‘Is that it? He’s just a handsome face?’ asked Sky.

  ‘Well, he does have the cutest butt I’ve ever seen!’

  ‘Talking about me?’

  A face appeared around the door.

  ‘Nix!’ Sky whirled around. ‘Don’t just barge in here – what if we’d been changing?’

  ‘Don’t encourage him, Sky!’ I groaned.

  Nix just grinned. ‘Come on in, Joel,’ he called. A lanky, blond-dreadlocked figure followed him into the room.

  ‘Dudes,’ said Joel, by way of greeting.

  ‘Don’t be shy, Alex,’ said Nix, throwing himself down on Sky’s bed and winking at me. ‘No need to stop describing my many fine qualities just because I’m in the room.’

  I rolled my eyes.

  ‘I suppose we must assume from your demeanour that your first day of work experience was a positive one?’ asked Kiyoko.

  Sky had told us Nix had a placement at a special effects studio.

  ‘Oh, yeah! Did some awesome stuff.’ Nix bounced on the bed like an eight-year-old, his brown hair flopping over his eyes. ‘You know that ad where the two zombies are walking down the street and everyone’s screaming, and it turns out they’re just after the raisin toast some kid’s having for breakfast?’

  ‘“Smells good enough to wake the dead,”’ I quoted. ‘Pretty lame slogan, if you ask me.’

  Nix’s green eyes glittered.

  ‘Good thing they didn’t ask you, then. Apparently that ad’s boosted sales massively, and they’re making a sequel. I got to help make all these latex prosthetics to put on the actors today: squashed eyeballs, rotting flesh, exposed muscles …’

  ‘Gross!’ Joel said appreciatively. ‘Hey, you should make one of them look like their bones are sticking out through the skin.’

  ‘And I thought Ki was the only one with an unholy desire to look at corpses around here,’ I said.

  ‘Who needs to look at the real thing when you can create something so much gorier?’ asked Nix.

  ‘Okay, enough with the corpse talk,’ ordered Sky. ‘Did you just want to gross us out, Nix, or did you guys actually have a reason for coming over here?’

  ‘As a matter of fact, we did,’ said Nix, with an offended air. ‘We came to invite Miss Skydreamer Pedersen and her companions to go bodyboarding with us.’ Sky scowled at him. She hates it when anyone uses her full name. I can’t really blame her – being called Skydreamer isn’t exactly a ticket to being taken seriously. ‘However,’ Nix continued, ‘if you would rather not favour us with your company, we shall depart, alone and unwanted …’ He put a tragic hand to his brow, which might have been a more effective gesture if it hadn’t revealed the words ‘clean eyeball moulds’ written in pen on his palm.

  ‘Okay, okay, I’ll come,’ muttered Sky. She turned to us. ‘What about you guys?’

  ‘The beach does have its appeal after a hard day’s work,’ said Kiyoko, getting up. ‘Though I would prefer to stay out of the water.’

  ‘Alex?’ Nix looked at me.

  ‘I should be heading home. See you guys tomorrow, okay?’

  ‘Call me when you finish work,’ said Sky. ‘Nix, Joel: get out of the room while I change.’

  Ki and I followed them out.

  ‘So, how was your day, Joel?’ I asked.

  ‘It was cool. Sold a couple of boards and some wax.’

  ‘Oh. Good work.’ Obviously Joel was doing his work experience at his brother Ryan’s surf shop, which was where he worked on the weekends anyway. Oh well, I thought, I guess if you know what you want in life …

  ‘Sure you don’t want to come down to the beach?’ Nix ran a hand through his unruly hair.

  ‘You can borrow my board,’ offered Joel.

  ‘Thanks, but no thanks. I’ll come down another day.’

  ‘You used to love boarding. I hardly ever see you out there any more,’ said Nix. ‘You don’t even come down to Virtuadventures as much as you used to.’

  ‘I’m a lot busier these days.’

  Nix gave a jaunty shrug. ‘Your loss. I’m just sad you won’t be there to make my boarding look better.’

  ‘Well, gee, I’m glad I’ve been so helpful in the past.’ I frowned at him, but it just made him grin. ‘But tonight I’ve got a whole lot of reading to do.’

  ‘Homework?’ Joel looked confused. ‘I thought none of the teachers were giving any while we were on work experience.’

  ‘It’s not homework, Joel.’ I stepped out the front door. ‘It’s work prep.’ I waved to Ki and set off for home.

  As it turned out, however, nothing I read that night could have prepared me for what the next day was to bring.

  My second day at Simulcorp started out so well. Budi had put in a request for changes to my all-grey look, and when I entered the office, I was delighted to find that I was wearing a beautifully tailored, chocolate-coloured skirt and jacket, with a cream shirt and calf-length boots. I was even more delighted when Dale came in wearing a stripy shirt that matched his deep blue eyes, and pants so well-fitting they would have attracted even Kiyoko’s attention.

  ‘Alex!’ he said, raising his eyebrows. ‘Looking good!’

  ‘You clean up quite nicely yourself,’ I said, trying very hard to sound casual and not to stare at anywhere too inappropriate.

  I had plenty of opportunity to sneak peeks at Dale that morning. Budi set us to work together on a marketing proposal of our own, for Impression Jeans. He told us one of the other employees was already working on an official one, but that it would be a great learning experience to try doing a proposal ourselves. I was excited – not just because this was real work, but because unlike the marketing campaigns Mr Guildenhall had taught us about in year ten Commerce, everything Simulcorp Marketing did involved virtual elements. That was their specialty, the reason big clients came to Simulcorp: they made virtual environments work in the real world. What Dale and I had to design went way beyond billboards and magazine pages; we had to take the Impression brand by the seat of its dark denim bootcuts and lift it into the future.

  ‘So I guess we start with a basic SWOT analysis before we work out how we’re going to use virtual marketing,’ I said as we sat at the little table in our shared cubicle.

  ‘Sounds good,’ said Dale, dividing the paper in front of us into four squares with his pencil and labelling them ‘Strengths’, ‘Weaknesses’, ‘Opportunities’ and ‘Threats’. ‘Hey, how do you think this works?’ he asked, pointing at the paper.

  ‘The paper’s just a visual that’s linked to an individual memory file – when you’re happy with what’s on it, you put it in the Mainframe Room to get saved. Didn’t you read the stuff Inge emailed us yesterday?’

  ‘Not all of it. A guy’s got to have a little time to relax,’ Dale said.

  ‘You do realise it’s possible to have time to relax and still take your work seriously, right?’ I told him, trying to sound professional. But I couldn’t help smiling as he shot me a look of mock horror. ‘Okay, so what do you think are Impression’s strengths?’

  ‘That they’re already high-profile, I guess,’ Dale said, noting it down. ‘I did manage to read enough of their background file to know that their previous campaigns have been pretty popular with people our age …’ He paused, tapping his pencil on the table. ‘What do you do to relax, t
hen?’

  ‘Oh, you know … gaming, hanging out at the beach, that kind of stuff.’ I took the paper. ‘We should put down that they’re a Fair Trade brand – that’s got to be a strength, right?’

  ‘That must be cool, living near the beach. I’m up in the hills, in a suburb called Blackwood Heights. Do you know it?’

  ‘Yeah, we went up that way for our camp in year seven.’ I looked up at him. ‘Wait, you mean we live in the same city?’

  ‘It’s a happy coincidence, don’t you think?’ Dale leant closer, and I felt my face heating up. I quickly looked down at the paper again to hide it.

  ‘It might not be,’ I said. ‘If you’d read the company history, you’d know that the CEO lives in Australia too. There are more Aussie employees than any other nationality in Simulcorp, because a lot of them were already working here before they started using Virk. Obviously that means there’d be more Virk Rooms available here too. I guess I thought you might have been from Sydney or somewhere, though.’

  Dale shook his head. I found myself noticing how dark his eyelashes were despite his golden hair, and how soft his lips looked …

  ‘So … weaknesses,’ I said, pulling myself together. ‘Impression haven’t really brought out a new look for a while, so that’s probably a bad thing – not keeping ahead of fashion enough.’

  ‘Do you know if anyone else in here is local?’ asked Dale as I wrote on the paper.

  ‘The company profiles Inge sent were only about the top-level people, so there could be plenty for all I know. But there is Mr Grody.’

  ‘The dragon-keeping Demon Lord? He lives around here?’ Dale suddenly looked a whole lot more interested. ‘Do you know where exactly he –’

  He stopped as Elena walked into the cubicle.

  ‘How are you both going?’ she asked, putting one hand on Dale’s shoulder and the other on mine.

  ‘Fine,’ I said, making sure I looked extra happy so she wouldn’t get all worried again. ‘We’re just working on our own proposal.’