Chapter 8 - Family Matters


"You know me?" Mikey asked, unable to hide his pleasure.
"It can't be you," Bray murmured, his face pale. "You're dead!" Bray put his head down, trying to work out in his mind what was going on. As he sat there, one of the Technos walked past and stopped behind them.
"Back to work guys," he said with authority.
"Could we possibly have a break?" Bray asked, trying his hardest to remain calm. "I've been working all morning and I need to talk to Martin." The Techno nodded his head reluctantly, and Bray stood up swiftly and practically dragged Mikey from the room by his arm. Once they were outside and out of earshot of the Technos he began to speak.
"You're not supposed to be here," he said simply. Mikey was confused. He obviously meant a lot to this person; he had figured that out by the look of pleasure on his face when he had first seen him, and yet somehow, he didn't think it was that simple. Bray noticed the confused look on his face.
"I saw you die," he continued. "You fell from the balcony in the mall and I was at your funeral!" Mikey looked at Bray in shock. He was dead? He didn't feel like a ghost, but then again what did a ghost look like?
"So what?" Mikey asked. "You think I'm a ghost?"
"Ghosts don't exist!" Bray exclaimed. "I told the kids that enough times to make myself believe it. No, there is a reasonable explanation for this. All this time I've thought that my brother was dead; meanwhile you're walking around without a scratch on you. Don't you remember? That time so long ago when you came to the mall and fell from the balcony?"
"I don't remember anything," Mikey admitted. "I've been trying to find someone who knew me."
"And now you have!" Bray smiled happily. "We have so much to catch up on." Bray pulled Mikey into a hug, and Mikey, overcome with emotion, couldn't stop the tears flowing down his cheeks.
"Get back to work!" a Techno guard spoke as he walked past the pair.
"We'll catch up later," Bray said as they reluctantly wandered back to their computers.
"So what are we doing here anyway?" Mikey asked as they sat back in front of the screens.
"They're testing us, checking our programming skills," Bray said.
"Why?"
"I have no idea, they haven't let on to us yet. Just complete the tests that come up on your screen, they get harder each time."
"OK," Mikey said, although he was dreading the prospect of having to take a test in his current state. He had set out to find someone who knew him, and had found a brother, a brother who thought he was dead. He turned to the computer, sighed and set off on his task.

Mikey's head was spinning as he stood up after the announcement that they had finished for the day. When he closed his eyes he could see rows upon rows of green lettering. The tasks they had been assigned had been tough and Mikey had only gotten through two of them before the day was up, according to Bray, it would get easier.
"Martin," Bray whispered as he left the room. "This way."
"Where are we going?" Mikey asked.
"My room, you're sharing with me." Bray unlocked the door to a room on the right hand side of the corridor and walked in. Mikey followed. The room was scarcely furnished; there was a bed in one corner, a shelf from floor to ceiling and a desk with a computer on.
"They give you your own computer?!" Mikey exclaimed. "I thought this was a rough tribe."
"They can be when they want to be," Bray explained. "But if we can learn how to create computer programmes we can be useful to them, so they keep us well fed."
"Why do they want to make computer programs?"
" I don't know for sure but I heard from one of the others here that they wanted to create a virtual world."
"Wow!" Mikey said. "Do you think they'll succeed?"
"Well I'm not a computer expert or anything but the people here are very intelligent."
"What would it mean for us if they did?"
"I don't know." Bray shook his head. "Anyway, no more talk of the Technos, lets talk about you!"
"I'm afraid I can't tell you much, like I said I can't remember anything."
"OK then I'll start. You have a daughter called Brady who's two years old, and hopefully you also have a new niece or nephew as well." Mikey gasped. He had a daughter? He racked his brain to try and remember but no matter how hard he tried he couldn't remember anything. As he thought harder and harder tears began to roll down his cheeks. There was nothing there.