Dangerously Placed (3 page)

‘Yes, you're both right,' said Budi. ‘Ravi Chander was a Marketing executive, like me, when Simulcorp first tried out non-traditional work environments. Having people work from home in a standard internet-based system seemed like a good idea for Simulcorp: the employees provide their own workspace, there are no transport costs, work safety issues are practically nil – it's a low-risk arrangement and very cost-efficient.'

‘So why did Mr Chander want to try another way?' I asked.

‘Because he listened to people,' said Budi. ‘He
watched his fellow employees and he realised that they weren't happy. You see, when all you see is an image on a screen – perhaps one or two people at a time, usually in arranged meeting formats – you never really feel like you know your colleagues. Sure, you can chat with them, send them funny videos you found during your coffee break, that sort of thing … but it's just not the same as being in an office, watching people interact in groups, having real conversations. And Ravi also found that, after a while, people who worked at home often felt resentful of the fact that work was always there, not really separated from their home life. He spoke to people in the CGI and IT divisions, and formulated an idea for a virtual workplace, which would have its own separate room in or near the employees' homes while allowing them to feel as if they were in the same office as their colleagues.'

‘Thus reaping all the benefits of the work-from-home system,' said Dale.

‘And promoting a happier, more productive, team-oriented workforce – yes. Ravi Chander pitched his idea, which he'd named Virk, to the Board, and won the right to trial it – as well as a percentage of any profits. He made a fortune and got a lot of good attention at the same time, and it wasn't long before he became Simulcorp's new CEO. So you can see the value of paying attention to what people around you are feeling and saying.'

I nodded. I suspected it wasn't just Mr Chander that
Budi was talking about, it was himself. Being so young, he'd obviously risen a long way in a short time, and he must have done it by paying attention to what people were saying about things you might think were trivial, like what colour their phone was or how tight they liked their jeans.

‘So why hasn't my Virk Room – AU-3, I mean – been relocated?' I asked.

‘These days it's actually handy for us to have Virk Rooms that aren't permanently occupied,' said Budi. ‘It means we have places to allow major clients to log in to Virk, for our tech staff to conduct testing before we do upgrades, and for interns to work. And occasionally students too, obviously.'

‘There's one thing I still don't understand, though,' frowned Dale. ‘If Simulcorp is the only company using Virk, how did Mr Chander make so much money out of it?'

‘Excellent question!' Budi smiled. ‘Partly it's because the technology that he developed also allowed Simulcorp to make a niche for itself in virtual marketing. And partly it's because although we're the only ones actually using Virk right now, Simulcorp has sold licences to several other large corporations, who are still working on implementing the technology at the moment.' He lowered his voice to a conspiratorial whisper. ‘In fact, I hear our boss here in Marketing is about to sign off on a huge deal with a modified version of the system, but that's top secret at the moment.' His
eyes twinkled. ‘You'll meet Pierce later, but I wouldn't mention the deal if I were you – he's not a very trusting man, and he might just decide to have you confined to the Mainframe Room for the rest of your placement to stop you spreading any gossip.'

I exchanged a glance with Dale, who raised an eyebrow.

‘You're kidding, right, Buddy?'

‘Not in the slightest,' said Budi seriously. ‘And it's not Buddy, Dale – my name's Budi. Like Buddha, but with “ee” on the end. Try to think of me as the source of all enlightenment, and I'm sure you'll remember.' He winked at me, and I tried not to smile at Dale's mortified expression. ‘Now, a few technical details,' continued Budi, ‘and then we can get to work. Firstly, make sure you open doors slowly, so the next environment has time to load properly. Secondly, lunch is at 12.30 – you get forty-five minutes where you can be out in realspace to eat, though you don't have to be out the whole time if you don't want to. And thirdly, if you need the bathroom, they're always in the top right-hand corner of any major room.' Budi caught sight of my expression and laughed. ‘Don't look so frightened, Peaches! The bathrooms are basically just doorways to realspace. When you go in, your image disappears from Virk temporarily to give you – and anyone else who might come into the same bathroom – some privacy. Your suit visor will display your Virk Room. There's a real bathroom in your Virk
Room for you to use, and when you have a good look at your suit, you'll see there are quick-release seals at the wrists and hips so you can undo it without taking the whole thing off. At other times, of course, we expect everyone to leave through the main entrance and log off before they take their suits off – otherwise people's suits would just be projecting them lying all crumpled up around the office whenever they're out! All right, let's go meet the boss.'

He got up and headed for the side door. Dale fell into step beside me.

‘Peaches?' he asked.

‘It's a private joke,' I told him with dignity.

‘Oh, that's right!' He grinned, obviously already over his chagrin at mispronouncing our mentor's name. ‘I forgot – you know Budi better than I do.'

‘That's right. We have three whole minutes' history together that you know nothing about,' I said, trying to keep a straight face. ‘And don't you forget it.'

‘No, ma'am.'

I felt my lips twitch in spite of myself.

The corridor we headed down was much more subdued than the one I'd come in through. There were only two doors on the sides, one marked ‘Mainframe' and one marked ‘Conference Room'. And at the end of the corridor was a double door that looked like the gates to Hell: huge, dark and forbidding. If you were lost in here, you wouldn't have had any trouble guessing where the boss's office was.

‘Do you think this Pierce guy is actually some kind of demon lord?' whispered Dale.

I was about to tell him to keep his imagination under control when the big door burst open and a woman in a navy suit tottered out, tears streaming down her face.

‘Elena!' Budi put a hand out to steady her. ‘Are you okay?'

The woman looked up. She was very pretty, with a golden colour to her skin, thick black hair twisted up in a bun and enormous dark eyes. She blinked, then wiped the tears from her cheeks.

‘Yes, I'm fine,' she said, giving Budi a shaky smile.

‘What did he do to you?'

Elena's lip wobbled. For a scary moment I wondered if Dale's demon lord idea was really that far off the mark.

‘He said … he said I was useless and outdated, and that he was going to talk to the CEO about getting rid of me.'

Budi gave her arm a squeeze.

‘He's just edgy because of this deal he's about to secure. And if he did talk to the CEO, there are thirty-seven other people here who would tell Mr Chander you're the best office manager we've ever had.'

Elena beamed at him.

‘Besides,' said Budi, with an expression of deep distaste, ‘what would that man know about outdated? Did you
see
the tie he's programmed on himself?'

Elena giggled. Then she noticed us standing behind Budi.

‘Oh, I'm so sorry! You must be the new work experience students. I am Elena.'

‘I'm Alex,' I said, shaking her outstretched hand.

‘Dale,' said Dale.

Elena smiled warmly. ‘I just love it when we have students! So full of ideas, so eager to learn …' She looked so pleased, I thought she might actually hug us. ‘I don't want you to feel nervous, okay? It must be scary to be new here, but we all really want you to feel at home.' Her smile faltered for a moment. ‘Oh! And I've made you worried about Mr Grody now, haven't I? But there's no need to be, honestly – it was my fault he shouted at me! I'm sure he'll be so pleased to meet you …'

‘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.'