Virtually True

Summary

One day Sebastian Shultz, a fourteen-year-old boy was playing computer games on his
laptop while going in a car. His mind was plugged into the computer as he was playing
psycho drive games. Suddenly, there was an accident and the the boy fell unconscious. He
was admitted to a hospital where his condition remained stable, but he went into a coma.
Doctors did their best, but there was no improvement.
It was feared that the boy would remain in coma forever. Nobody knew that the boy's
mind was plugged into the computer and he couldn’t regain his consciousness until and
unless he (it) was rescued from the computer.
While the boy was lying in the hospital, the games he had on his laptop are stolen. The
person, who had stolen them, sold the games at a computer fair. A man bought those
games for his son, named Michael. Michael noticed that some of the games they had
bought were not new. When Michael begins those games on the computer, he finds that
a character, Sebastian Shultz, of about his age was trapped there and wanted Michael
to rescue him. Michael thinks that this is just part of the game he is playing. But this
happens with each game that he plays and he fails to rescue Sebastian Shultz. In the
fourth game, he is able to rescue Sebastian Shultz. The computer screen showed that he
had hit the jackpot. Michael felt very happy that he had solved the riddle of the game.
The next morning, Michael reads in the newspaper the news of a boy named Sebastian
Shultz who had miraculously regained his consciousness after an accident. Looking at the
photograph in the newspaper, Michael realizes that it is the same Sebastian Shultz he had
rescued in the computer game.
At the end of the story, the narrator (Michael) says that what he has described is true, but
only virtually, not really.

Comprehension Questions

1. What did the newspaper reports tell about Sebastian Shultz?
Sebastian Shultz was a 14 year school boy who miraculously came out from a coma hat
doctors feared would last forever. Six weeks ago he had badly injured in a motorway
accident.

2. How did Michael come to know about Sebastian’s condition?
Michael was on board a train and saw a large woman with a wheezy breath. Her face
was hidden by the newspaper she was reading. Michael read about himself in the
headlines of the newspaper in the woman’s hand.

3. Why did Michael like playing games on the computer?
Michael liked playing the computer games because the screen was so big and the
volume was loud that it made you feel as if you were inside the game battling it out
with the Z or Bs, Twisters or whatever. He also likes that the more futuristic the
computers get, the better you understand the past.

4. What did the narrator and his father buy at the Computer fair?
The narrator and his father bought a virtual reality visor and a glove and a handful of
the latest interactive psycho–drive games .Not only do the visor and the glove change
what you see but also control the action by what you are thinking.

5. What strange thing happened while the narrator was playing the game ‘Wild west’?
Just as the character of the narrator, as the sheriff was about to go out and confront
the Black –eyed Jed, the fastest gun in town , the second sheriff appeared through the
back door shouting and waving about his arms. The narrator realized then that the
game was more complicated than he had thought.

6. How did the second sheriff lose his life in the game - ‘Wild West’?
The second sheriff shouted to the first Sheriff (narrator) not to go out to fight Jed.
They raced down a corridor, and jumped through a window. They were followed by
men on horseback. There was a gunshot. The second Sheriff cried with pain and fell
suddenly against him.

7. What happened after the first game ended?
After the first game ended, the narrator noticed that the printer had come on. He
picked up the piece of paper from the tray. At the top, there was a picture of the
second Sheriff who was now wearing jeans and a sweatshirt. At the bottom, there was
a message :
I’m stuck. Please help to retrieve me. Try ‘Dragonquest’ Sebastian Shultz.'

8. Why was the narrator unable to rescue Sebastian in the game ‘Dragon quest’?
In the game, Dragon quest, Michael had to play a knight and save Princess Aurora
from the wicked dragon. But then suddenly, a second knight appeared who said,
"Never mind her. It's me who needs rescuing!" This second knight was the Sebastian
of the first game. He leapt out of the window and told Michael to do the same. Just
then the dragon appeared. Michael swung his sword. But the dragon was only
interested in Sebastian so Michael could not save him from the dragon.

9. Why did the narrator not bother to read the rules of Jailbreak before beginning the
game?
The narrator did not bother to read the rules of the game ‘jailbreak because he knew
his task would be to rescue the boy Sebastian. In the game his cell mate was Sebastian
Shultz.

10. How did Sebastian and the narrator try to escape from the cell in the game ‘Jailbreak’?
With the help of a skeleton swipe-card, the narrator and the Shultz were soon out of
the cell. They dodged the guards and ran up the stairs. On the roof, they waited for a
helicopter to rescue them. A helicopter arrived and Michael got into it but before
Sebastian could get in, a door suddenly burst open. Twelve guards with vicious dogs
were standing there. In fear, Sebastian took a step backward. He slipped down from
the roof and fell on the concrete floor.

11. What did the narrator realize after the end of the game – ‘Jailbreak’?
After the end of the game – ‘Jailbreak’, the narrator found no message in the printer
tray. He felt that he had failed Sebastian and failed the game. Later, when the scenes
began to fade in his memory, it occurred to him that Sebastian Shultz was the game.
He went back to the games – ‘Wildwest’, ‘Dragonquest’ and ‘Jailbreak’ but did not

meet Sebastian again.

12. When did the narrator hear from Sebastian again?
The narrator heard from Sebastian again a day before he read the newspaper article
about his miraculous recovery from coma.

13. How was Sebastian Shultz rescued by the narrator?
When Michael started playing the game, he and Sebastian were in a city somewhere.
The tall buildings there were windowless. They were riddled with holes. Machine guns
fired, walls tumbled and bombs exploded. Michael and Sebastian ran across a land of
rubble and smoke. At the far end, they went through a door in a wall. A helicopter
there was waiting for their arrival. They started running but the tank fire sent them
back to the wall. Sebastian shouted to Michael that there was a jeep parked by the
road. Both of them jumped into the jeep. A tank was coming violently after them.
Sebastian applied the brakes and the jeep went sliding .Michael leapt out and jumped
into the helicopter. The helicopter started going upwards but Michael was not on the
helicopter. He was sitting in the jeep as a stone. The tank crashed into the jeep.
Sebastian was thrown into the air and then landed just below the door of the
helicopter. Michael pulled him up. Thus, at last, Michael had rescued Sebastian Shultz.

14. How had Sebastian’s memory ended up on the narrator’s computer?
In a newspaper article , the narrator read the statement by Sebastian’s father that
while they were in hospital someone had stolen their computer games .They were
going to stock up on some more games. The narrator deduced that they ended up in
the computer fair and his father bought them. He recalled that some of the games that
his father had bought were not new.

PRACTICE QUESTIONS

Q1 Read the extracts and answer the questions that follow.

1. ‘It was while we were in hospital, someone stole the lot. I don’t know what happened to
them.’
a) Who is the speaker of the above lines?
Mr. Shultz, Sebastian’s father is the speaker of the above lines.
b) What is being referred to as ‘them’? What happened to ‘them’?
The computer games that they lost are being referred to as ‘them’. The computer
games that were stolen from Sebastian ended up at the computer fair and were
resold to the narrator’s father.
c) Who was in the hospital and why?
The speaker’s son, Sebastian was in hospital because he had met with a car
accident and was in coma.
d) Give the meaning of the expression- ‘stole the lot’
Take away the everything (of something) without permission

2. ‘That was my idea!’ said Sebastian excitedly. If only it would go a bit faster........
At that moment, the door behind us burst open.
a) What is being referred to as ‘it’?
The helicopter that Sebastian had called for to help them escape is being referred
to as ‘it’.
b) What happened when the door burst open?
When the door burst open, twelve guards with vicious dogs were standing there.
c) Who is referred to as ‘us’ and what were they trying to go? Did they achieve what they
wanted to do?
The narrator and Sebastian were trying to escape from the jail cell. The narrator
was able to escape using the helicopter but when the dogs came hurtling towards
them, Sebastian tumbled back and fell down.
d) Give the antonym of the word ‘excitedly’
calmly

3. Before I had a chance to say anything to him though, the helicopter flew into thick
cloud. It turned everything blinding white. I couldn’t see a thing until ‘Game Over’
flashed up.
a) Who did the speaker wish to communicate with?
The speaker wished to communicate with Sebastian who he had finally rescued.
b) Where was the helicopter taking them?
The helicopter was taking them away from the ‘Warzone’.
c) What did the speaker see next?
After everything turned blinding white, the narrator couldn’t see a thing until
‘Game Over’ flashed up.
d) Give the meaning of the phrase - ‘Blinding white’ –
Very bright and likely to dazzle or cause temporary blindness.

4. ‘I’d hit the jackpot. I had finally cracked the game.’ At least that was what I thought then.
a) Who is ‘I’ in the above lines?
The narrator, Michael is ‘I’ in the above lines.
b) What was the ‘jackpot’?
The narrator got a score of 40,000,000 at the end of the game.
c) What did he learn about the game later?
He learnt that the boy, Sebastian Shultz from the psycho drive computer games
that he had been playing did exist.
d) What is the meaning of the term- ‘cracked the game’?
able to win the game

Q2 Answer the following in 30 to 40 words.

a) Why did the newspaper headline catch the eye of the narrator?
The newspaper headline was about of a boy named Sebastian Shultz who had
miraculously regained his consciousness after an accident. The newspaper also
carried the boy's picture and to Michael's surprise, he was the same Sebastian
Shultz he had rescued in the computer game.

b) What was the last message that the narrator (Michael) received from Sebastian?
The narrator received an e mail from Sebastian in which he thanked Michael for
saving him and hoped to meet him soon. He tells Michael to keep the games
because he had earned them. The narrator shakes his head in wonder and surprise.

c) Where and how did Sebastian first meet the narrator (Michael)?
The narrator first met Sebastian in the game called ‘Wildwest’ where Sebastian
appeared as a second sheriff and asked him not to go out and fight ‘Jed’ but to
follow him.

d) What does the newspaper headline say about Sebastian Shultz?
The newspaper headline tells about a fourteen-year-old boy named Sebastian
Shultz who met with an accident six weeks ago. He was playing computer games
on his laptop. . He was admitted to a hospital where his condition remains stable,
but he doesn't regain his senses. He goes into a coma. Doctors do their best, but
there is no improvement. It is feared that the boy will remain in coma for ever.
Yet he had a miraculous recovery.

I. Answer the following in 100 – 120 words.

a) What did the narrator do when he received the message – ‘I am stuck. Please help to
retrieve me. Try Dragonquest ' Sebastian Shultz.’?
The narrator wanted to go straight back on the computer as requested but
he was half an hour past his bedtime. So, he started playing the next morning.
In the game, Michael had to play a knight and save Princess Aurora from the
wicked dragon. She was a young woman with long golden plaits. But suddenly a
second knight appeared who said, "Never mind her. It's me who needs rescuing!"
This second knight was the same Sebastian of the first game. He leapt out of
the window and told Michael to do the same. Just then the dragon appeared.
Michael swung his sword. But the dragon was only interested in Sebastian.
Michael could not save him from the dragon.

b) How does Sebastian Shultz memory enter the narrator’s computer?
The narrator theorizes that Sebastian was using his lap top at the time of the
accident. He had been playing the same psycho drive games that the narrator
had. Sebastian had been plugged into the computer when he banged his head in
the accident.. The computer had saved his memory in its own.
While Sebastian was in hospital, his games were stolen and sold at the computer
fair. These games were bought by the narrator’s father. The weird versions of the
games that the narrator had been drawn into were attempts to retrieve that
memory.