Read Online The Demon Headmaster and The Prime Minister’s Brain by Gillian Cross - Free Book Online Page B
Authors: Gillian Cross
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meals they could eat. Robert looked grimmer and more solemn.
‘You see what’s happened?’ he murmured.
Dinah nodded. ‘The computer’s been programmed so that the robots feed us all the same meal. All average portions. And we’re not all average.’
‘That’s right.’ Robert pulled a face. ‘Worse than school dinners. At least the dinner ladies listen when you tell them you can’t eat something.’
‘But it’s quite fun watching all the things work, isn’t it?’ Bess said timidly. ‘Now we know how they all fit into the main computer system. Fancy the Director having programmed in everything we’re going to do while we’re here!’
‘No!’ Robert said violently. ‘I don’t fancy it!’
Bess looked hurt, as though he had kicked her. ‘What do you mean?’
‘Don’t we get any choice about what we do?’ Robert murmured. ‘Or are we just another set of things for the computer to control? Like the rest of the robots?’ He waved an arm at the figures all round the room. The Brains had sorted out the food and now they were silent except for the sound of rustling paper as they turned the pages of their notebooks. ‘Look how we’re being forced to work with our meal!’ Robert sounded disgusted. ‘It’s bad for us. We’re not machines. We’re people. We need time to rest.’
‘But Robert don’t forget this is special,’ protested Camilla, ‘and if we don’t work as hard as we can we’ll be wasting it so you’ll be sorry if you’re lazy and you don’t do what the Director said—’
‘I’m not lazy,’ Robert said quietly. ‘I’m worried. It’s all too—too efficient. Clean and precise and mechanical. And controlled. We’re so controlled that we don’t even know how we got to this canteen.’
‘Oh Robert don’t be stupid of course we know we came up in the lift and—’
Camilla’s voice died away suddenly as she realized what Robert meant, and Bess finished the sentence for her.
‘—or down in the lift. But we don’t know which, do we? Because we were all too busy watching the octopuses wriggling.’
‘Exactly.’ Robert nodded. ‘Don’t you think there’s something peculiar about the way the Director uses the octopuses to distract our attention? It’s as though he can switch off our minds with them whenever he wants to. And that’s creepy.’
At the back of Dinah’s head, an uncomfortable memory stirred. A miserable, strange memory of herself screaming at Mum and Dad to buy her an S-7 so that she could see more octopus patterns. ‘It’s like an addiction, isn’t it?’ she said slowly. ‘Like when people get stuck on drink or drugs. We’re all stuck on the octopuses. That’s terrible .’
‘It might not be the most terrible thing said Robert. He was looking even gloomier. ‘The important question is—if we are addicted to the octopuses, why is the Director using them to control us? Why does he need to control us? What does he want us to do ?’
9
Harvey Walks into Trouble
‘Shut your mouths! Close your eyes! Hold on tight! ’ yelled Lloyd.
He just had time to screw up his own face before the great scoop full of rubbish tipped right over. A mountain of wet carrot-scrapings showered down on to his hair. Slimy potato peelings slithered over his neck and something that smelt like sour milk dripped down his nose and his chin. On and on went the stream of rubbish. He spat out tea-leaves, brushed flour away from his eyelashes, and peeled burnt rice pudding skin off his cheek. And all the time he was frantically pressing his back and his feet against the sides of the chute so that he did not get knocked down on top of the others.
Their shouts didn’t help, either.
‘Eugh!’
‘Yuck, yuck , YUCK!’
‘Lloyd, what are you doing ? Have you forgotten we’re down here?’
‘Stop it, Lloyd!’
As if he was responsible for all the rubbish, instead of catching the worst of it himself. But he couldn’t answer or explain, because if he opened his
‘You see what’s happened?’ he murmured.
Dinah nodded. ‘The computer’s been programmed so that the robots feed us all the same meal. All average portions. And we’re not all average.’
‘That’s right.’ Robert pulled a face. ‘Worse than school dinners. At least the dinner ladies listen when you tell them you can’t eat something.’
‘But it’s quite fun watching all the things work, isn’t it?’ Bess said timidly. ‘Now we know how they all fit into the main computer system. Fancy the Director having programmed in everything we’re going to do while we’re here!’
‘No!’ Robert said violently. ‘I don’t fancy it!’
Bess looked hurt, as though he had kicked her. ‘What do you mean?’
‘Don’t we get any choice about what we do?’ Robert murmured. ‘Or are we just another set of things for the computer to control? Like the rest of the robots?’ He waved an arm at the figures all round the room. The Brains had sorted out the food and now they were silent except for the sound of rustling paper as they turned the pages of their notebooks. ‘Look how we’re being forced to work with our meal!’ Robert sounded disgusted. ‘It’s bad for us. We’re not machines. We’re people. We need time to rest.’
‘But Robert don’t forget this is special,’ protested Camilla, ‘and if we don’t work as hard as we can we’ll be wasting it so you’ll be sorry if you’re lazy and you don’t do what the Director said—’
‘I’m not lazy,’ Robert said quietly. ‘I’m worried. It’s all too—too efficient. Clean and precise and mechanical. And controlled. We’re so controlled that we don’t even know how we got to this canteen.’
‘Oh Robert don’t be stupid of course we know we came up in the lift and—’
Camilla’s voice died away suddenly as she realized what Robert meant, and Bess finished the sentence for her.
‘—or down in the lift. But we don’t know which, do we? Because we were all too busy watching the octopuses wriggling.’
‘Exactly.’ Robert nodded. ‘Don’t you think there’s something peculiar about the way the Director uses the octopuses to distract our attention? It’s as though he can switch off our minds with them whenever he wants to. And that’s creepy.’
At the back of Dinah’s head, an uncomfortable memory stirred. A miserable, strange memory of herself screaming at Mum and Dad to buy her an S-7 so that she could see more octopus patterns. ‘It’s like an addiction, isn’t it?’ she said slowly. ‘Like when people get stuck on drink or drugs. We’re all stuck on the octopuses. That’s terrible .’
‘It might not be the most terrible thing said Robert. He was looking even gloomier. ‘The important question is—if we are addicted to the octopuses, why is the Director using them to control us? Why does he need to control us? What does he want us to do ?’
9
Harvey Walks into Trouble
‘Shut your mouths! Close your eyes! Hold on tight! ’ yelled Lloyd.
He just had time to screw up his own face before the great scoop full of rubbish tipped right over. A mountain of wet carrot-scrapings showered down on to his hair. Slimy potato peelings slithered over his neck and something that smelt like sour milk dripped down his nose and his chin. On and on went the stream of rubbish. He spat out tea-leaves, brushed flour away from his eyelashes, and peeled burnt rice pudding skin off his cheek. And all the time he was frantically pressing his back and his feet against the sides of the chute so that he did not get knocked down on top of the others.
Their shouts didn’t help, either.
‘Eugh!’
‘Yuck, yuck , YUCK!’
‘Lloyd, what are you doing ? Have you forgotten we’re down here?’
‘Stop it, Lloyd!’
As if he was responsible for all the rubbish, instead of catching the worst of it himself. But he couldn’t answer or explain, because if he opened his
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