Extracts

Inside and Outside

Byte was the busiest creature on The Inside. Millions of messages a second, endless instructions, do this, do that. But who was on The Outside telling him what to do? This was one of The Big Questions and he had to find the answer.
He lay down his bundle of atoms and stretched, looked up and caught a glimpse of Outside Light. He stretched and grew, raced upwards, bounced on a wire and landed on a small, ivory ledge.

Breakfast

“This is food,” said Beth, holding a slice of bread and jam. “Watch!” and she bit a piece from it, chewed it, and swallowed. “Gone!” she said, and showed Byte a piece missing from the bread and jam.
“That is wonderful,” said Byte, admiringly. “I have no idea how you did it.”

Show and Tell

Who else has a Show and Tell?”
“I do,” said Michelle Hutchins. “I brought Princess,” and she showed the class her plastic doll. It had only two fingers on one hand and three on the other. Its legs were twisted and it wore a spotted dress added to by dollops of tomato sauce, vinegar, oil and grease. Its hair had nearly all fallen out, leaving only a few very thin golden strands.
“She’s got golden hair and blue eyes,” said Michelle.
One of Princess’s eyes was loose in the socket and rolled around, giving her something of a mad, scary look. The class laughed.

A World of Knowledge

Byte quickly found his way around. He couldn’t read the writing of Human Errors, but he understood the meaning of things in his own way and soon knew the titles of all the books in the library. He even found ‘Jack and the Beanstalk’ and ‘Cinderella’. But knowing these things didn’t satisfy him.
“There must be more to books than names,” he said to himself, “just as there is more to Byte than Byte and more to Peotry Willow than Peotry Willow.”
Saying Peotry’s name made him wonder for a moment about his new friend, but because he had never known friendship, only rules, he didn’t understand what it was to worry about somebody else or for someone else to worry about him.

Near Disaster

Ryan held Peotry’s hand as they listened to the terrifying radio broadcasts.
“The nuclear power station at Dimsforth has reported extreme fluctuations in electrical build-up. The nuclear plant at Meridew is reporting similar problems. Problems from all major stations are still being reported. Every major city is in darkness. The whole of the United Kingdom is in darkness. The United States and NATO have gone to full alert in case of similar electrical breakdown, sabotage or foreign attack.”
“What!” exclaimed Mr Willow. “United States! NATO! Full alerts! What is he doing?”
“He can’t help it,” pleaded Peotry. “He’s just trying to learn.”

Action at a Distance

He was worried about two things; first, about the problem at work, which is why he had to go to his office on a Saturday morning; second, about Byte. Byte wanted to help but Mr Willow was afraid he might do more harm than good.
He glanced down at the tiny figure peering over the edge of a matchbox into The Outside World. He still felt that it might all be a dream and that he would wake up with everything back to normal, but there was nothing normal about chatting to a quantum creature who could blow up the entire Earth.

Bonanza

Everyone was looking at the Bonanza digital clock high up on the wall at the front of the store. Instead of revealing the time, the clock showed a smiling face and robotically waving arm.
“That’s him! That’s him!” cried Joey.
“Good Lord!” exclaimed Joey’s father.
The Bonanza manager immediately began to worry, mainly about his job. He had visions of his supervisors telling him off. ‘Why did you let this happen?’ they would ask, ‘You’re supposed to be running a smooth, efficient business, not a circus.’ The manager felt very uncomfortable. This was not something he could easily explain away. Then, in a moment of inspiration, he said, albeit in a voice that was too bright and breezy,
“Ladies and gentlemen. It’s just a message from the management, welcoming you to Bonanza.”
The crowd seemed ready to accept this, but Joey called out,
“It’s not true! It’s a little man. He’s real. We saw him!”

True Wisdom

Peotry had grown very fond of Byte. He was small, but he was cuddly. He felt like the best friend she had ever had and ever would have, someone who needed her and listened to her and treated her kindly. She didn’t want him to leave.
“I have to go back soon, Peotry. I don’t belong here and I can feel The Inside calling me. Perhaps they miss me after all.”
“I’m sure they do. I’ll miss you if you go.”
Byte looked up at his new friend with his deep sparkling eyes and blinked.
“I have learned such a lot,” he said, “and seen such a lot.”
“Only a teeny bit of it,” said Peotry. “There’s much more. You’d have to spend years and years here and still you wouldn’t see it all.”