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Crazy World (8) The magnet hat is clamped round my head. I'm strapped into the chair. Bernard presses the switch. Electricity shoots through my brain.1 My body jumps with shock... Then it comes again --an explosion of heat and light inside my head. Dr Webber's voice pleads, "Josef! Don't do it!" But it's too late now. It's started. His voice is blasted out of my skull. But these shocks are too strong! 2 I can't speak. I can't open my mouth! My brain is frying, like a burning steak... I can't see...!3 Half an hour later, I staggered4
out of the basement and back up into the market. Plummet was waiting.
- Hi! Great to meet you! You want neon6 in your tea? - No, just tea. And try not to say anything else. - Okay, but remember: life is what you make it! It filled itself with water and started brewing7 quietly. In the middle of the market, a hologram showed the latest Crazy World News... A robot called Big Bucks had escaped from the Robot Republic. - Good luck to him! I know how he feels. Small fragments of memory came into my mind... I couldn't make sense of them. I saw a young woman's face. She had a beautiful smile. Was it my girlfriend? My wife? Someone I used to work with? We were tapping into a computer. We were
exploring the secret "Keep Out!" web sites on the Internet. We were
trying to break into them, past the security guard programs or "guard
dogs" as they call them. Then my memories faded away. I was trying hard to remember more when the teapot interrupted my thoughts. - Think like a winner and be a winner! - Shut up and make the tea. Everything's got an opinion these days. Chairs tell you how to sit, cars tell you where to drive, even your cutlery tells you what to eat.8 - Don't worry about it, said Plummet. - I might be crazy, but I don't need a teapot to tell me how to live.9 Plummet had stopped listening. Something had caught his eye. I turned to see. On the news-stand, the image of Big Bucks had disappeared. In its place... I saw a huge hologram of my own face. It was 2 metres high and it rotated slowly. Underneath it, a warning flashed in neon letters. It said, "Wanted! Josef Serge. Escaped Mental Patient. Left Brain Disorder. Extremely dangerous. Reward: 400 globs."I couldn't believe it. I was the news-flash.10 - You always wanted to be famous, said Plummet. - It's okay! This message is only being shown
here! If I can get away from London, I'll be fine. - No, you won't. Right now, your face is lighting up street corners all over the world. - Why? Why am I so important? - Who knows? Maybe ?because of what you've seen. - Why isn't your face up there as well? - I didn't go to the police. - But 400 globs? That's more than Big Bucks! - You must be important. - What the Hell do I do now? - The first thing to do is get out of this market. Fast! I looked around. A small boy was staring at me, then staring at the hologram, then back at me. Then he whispered something to his mother, and she turned round and stared. All around us people were starting to look
and point. We had to get out of there fast. But then what? |