Chapter Geigerzalion’s Tale

With a loud clunk and a jolt the whole floor of theroom they had entered began to move. It descended steadily downwards for a longtime and the sight of the four surrounding walls seemingly moving upwards wasdisconcerting. Josh was glad when, with another loud clunk they stopped.

Double doors opened into a short corridor which ledinto a huge, cylindrical chamber rising high above them. Scaffolding lined theinner wall up as far as Josh could see, and an enormous crane stood in thecentre. Industrial lamps, powered by noisy generators, were everywhere but theywere not enough to illuminate more than a fraction of the cavernous chamber;their feeble light died beneath the darkness.

There seemed to be hundreds of people scurrying abouton the balconies of the scaffolding and the main floor of the chamber. Most ofthem were too busy to notice the three newcomers, but two security guardsapproached them immediately.

“Sir, could we confirm your identity please?”

“Yes of course.”

The guard who had spoken produced a handheld devicethat he pointed into Mr Oakhampton’s eye. The other guard stood slightlyfurther back with his hand ready on a pistol at his belt. The device bleepedonce and a green light flashed on. The other guard took his hand away from hisgun.

“Thank you sir. Are these people your guests?”

“Yes they are. Could you give them a retina scan andadd them to the system please?”

“I’ll need to get Professor Ackermann’s authority.” Heturned on his heel and strode off towards a wooden shed that had beenconstructed by the entrance to the chamber. The other guard eyed them warily.

“Who’s Professor Ackermann?”

“He’s the man in charge down here. I’ve given himtotal control over the whole project. He’s a genius, but I usually haven’t gotthe faintest idea what he’s talking about. Sometimes I wonder whether he’s allthere. It’s often the case with the really clever ones.”

Josh could see what he meant as soon as the professorbustled into view. His hair was wild and white, and he wore glasses that wereslanting at such an angle that Josh wondered if one of his ears was actually onthe top of his head.

“Ah, Trevor. Good of you to come. Twice in two days,that must be a record. Ha ha ha. Who are these people?” His voice was nasal andhad a Germanic twang to it that Josh thought must be obligatory in madscientists.

“They are my friends. This is Thomas Bennett. He worksover at Mythago Industries and this is his son, Josh. He can help us with ourcommunication problem.”

The professor grinned toothily. “Really? He is solvingthe code of the symbols.” He rummaged around in the pockets of his crumpled labcoat and pulled out a ream of papers that seemed improbably large to have beenstored about his person. “Do you understand these?” He handed a few sheets toJosh.

Josh looked at the symbols. He understood what theymeant instantly. Line after line, and page after page, were subtle variants ofthe messages: “This does not mean anything,” and “You are not clever enough tounderstand the meaning of this.” Surely his translation must be wrong, or thiswas some sort of trick. He glanced up at the professor who was gazing at himimploringly.

“Er…well.”

Sir Trevor came to his rescue. “Don’t worry aboutthose for now Josh. Today I just want to show you around, let you get a feelfor the wonders of this installation. There’ll be plenty of time for you tohelp us out with Geigerzalion’s musings on life later.”

The professor looked a little deflated.

“Come on professor,” Sir Trevor beamed. “Where do you suggest we showyoung Josh to really blow his mind?”

The professor flashed lunatic smile at him. “I’ve gotjust the place. How are you with heights?”

“I don’t like them much.” Josh grumbled.

“Oh, you will be fine. A young man like yourself. Imake the trip up there many times in a day.” The professor said. “I will showyou.”

The chamber they were in turned out to be even biggerthan Josh had first thought. They clambered up rickety ladders amongst thescaffolding and Josh became thankful for the darkness as before long he hadlost all sense of how high they had climbed. All he could see was the wall theywere climbing next to and a few dots of light which reminded him how vast thechamber was. The wall, however, was interesting enough to keep his attention.It was not stone or brick, as he had expected, it was metal and covered withcontrol panels and levers and switches and other more arcane metal shapes, all ofwhich were labelled with tiny pieces of card, most of which displayed aquestion mark and a number. Occasionally they would come to an octagonalpassageway, which Josh thought was strange because if the scaffolding hadn’tbeen here there would have been no way that anyone could reach it, unless theycould fly.

Eventually they stopped at one of these passageways.It looked no different to any of the others that they had passed, but SirTrevor beamed at them.

“Don’t worry. You’ll forget about the climb when yousee what’s in here.”

The professor entered the passageway and they allfollowed. Once inside they found it difficult to keep up with the older man.The floor was no different to any of the other eight sides of the tunnel and itwas covered in the same knobbly controls and switches that they had seen on theouter chamber wall. The professor skipped over these obstacles, but Josh andhis father had to pick their way slowly. Sir Trevor followed patiently at therear.

The professordisappeared into the gloom ahead of them, and they tried to quicken their paceto keep up. They were concentrating so much on where they were putting theirfeet that they didn’t hear Sir Trevor’s sudden warning, before the world turnedupside down and Josh and his father crashed heavily up to the ceiling.Fortunately the tunnel had narrowed now so they had been stooping to keep theirheads from bashing into the protuberances above them, but the fall was stillpainful. Josh could feel something poking him between his shoulder blades andwhen his father sat up he had a trickle of blood running down from his temple.

“I’m so sorry. Are you alright?” Sir Trevor said. “Ican never remember exactly where it is. I should have gone first.”

“What happened?” Josh wheezed.

Professor Ackermann had reappeared. “I completelyforgot you’d never been here before. I beg your pardons.”

“It’s alright. Are you okay Josh?” His dad was dabbingat his head and wincing.

“Yeah, but what happened?”

“Well, gravity reverses itself here, you see?”

“But that’s impossible!” Josh’s dad blustered,struggling to his feet.

“It’s not impossible, Thomas.” Sir Trevor saidsoothingly. “However we have absolutely no idea how it happens, or indeed whatis doing it.”

“Why on Earth would you want to reverse gravity?”Josh’s dad was incredulous.

The professor let out an enormous guffaw and SirTrevor smiled. “Very good Thomas. On Earth you wouldn’t want to at all, but inspace you would probably want certain rooms to have gravity, so why not makesome? You see, all of what you have seen is actually part of an enormousspacecraft that has been buried underground for millennia.”

“But this is fantastic! This technology must be worthbillions.” Then Josh’s father gasped. “And this is Geigerzalion’s ship. He’s analien. I can’t believe it.” Josh’s dad then started to ask questions, but hecouldn’t seem to decide which one to ask first.

“We’re a little cramped here. It’s not far to the nextchamber. We’ll be more comfortable in there and I’ll try and explain as much asI can.”

The tunnel opened out into an area shaped like agigantic egg carton. Walkways surrounded rows of large depressions in thefloor, some of which contained huge crystalline spheres, and these stretchedaway into the distance. Within each of these transparent eggs Josh could seethe unmistakeable reptilian shape of a dinosaur.

Josh approached the nearest sphere and peered inside.He recognised the dinosaur inside as a triceratops, and marvelled at the detailhe could make out. The dinosaur was suspended in the middle of the sphere by aliquid that brought every detail of the animal into sharp focus. Thick, blackcabling flowed out from its head and connected to a black box at the top of thesphere.

“It looks so real.”

“It is real, Josh.” Sir Trevor was leaning on thehandrail of the walkway, gazing at the triceratops with as much reverence asJosh. “It’s incredible isn’t it? The original crew of this spacecraft havecollected millions of specimens, but this room contains the largest and mostdramatic ones. We’ve discovered thousands of previously undiscovered species,but we obviously can’t publish our findings yet as questions would be asked.”

“But dinosaurs are millions of years old. Surely theywould have withered away to nothing by now.” Josh’s dad said.

“It’s the liquid inside the spheres that does it. It’san amazing preservative. As far as we can tell it will keep anything in perfectcondition forever. Look at this.” Mr Oakhampton indicated a depression withouta sphere.

On closer inspection Josh saw that it wasn’tcompletely empty. It had once contained a sphere like the others, but nowcrystalline shards stuck up out of a smooth oily liquid and the half preservedcarcass of another dinosaur lay on its side in the centre. Josh saw withhorrified fascination that the part that had been exposed to the air haddisappeared entirely, yet the remainder in the liquid was still perfect, as ifthe great beast had been sliced in half yesterday.

The wreckage of the sphere and the carcass made Joshrealise that this place was old beyond imagining and he could now sense anunderlying decay, as if something was dying. He looked about him at theunfathomable control panels and complex machinery and knew that it was allbroken.

Sir Trevor was studying him intently. “Are youalright, Josh?”

“Yes.” He nodded distractedly. “I’m fine, but thisplace isn’t. It’s crippled.”

“You’re right and we haven’t helped much. We found allthis about a year ago, using data your father collected from his work withGeigerzalion. We all assumed that with the proper application of currentscientific principals it wouldn’t take long to uncover its secrets, but we werevery much mistaken. Our probing, I’m afraid, has been rather crude and we’reout of our depth. We’ve recently had a little more success in powering somesystems up, but not much.”

He smiled sadly. “Geigerzalion must have thought wewere trying to harm him. Our heavy handed fumbling could easily be interpretedas aggression I suppose. We’ve been chasing him through cyberspace ever since.

“Your father and the other clever chaps at MythagoIndustries have often tracked him down, or lured him close enough so that wecan try to communicate with him, but we just don’t understand his symbols. Youseem to be the only one who can get through to him.”

“I’m sure he’ll understand if I tell him what’shappened. In fact,” Josh said slowly, trying to remember his first conversationwith Geigerzalion, “he told me that he thought my dad was trying to help him. Sohe knows you’re not his enemy.”

This small piece of information was greeted withundisguised joy. The professor whooped with glee and Sir Trevor heartilyslapped Josh’s dad on the back.

“Well done, Thomas. I knew you’d do it.” Josh’s dadlooked a little embarrassed, but then beamed at his son. Sir Trevor put anencouraging hand on Josh’s shoulder. “Do you think you could contact him now,Josh?”

“If you can get me into the Plexus, I should be ableto. I’m not sure, but I think if I go there he’ll find me.”

“The Plexus, eh?” Sir Trevor was smiling again. “Youare a dark horse, Josh. For someone who professes to know nothing aboutcomputers, you know some things that aren’t known by some of the best hackersin the world. Come on. There’s no time like the present.”

They made their way to a room just beyond the Dinosaurchamber. It was small and cramped, but six rudimentary seats had beenconstructed around the strange protuberances that bristled from every surface.Other manmade equipment was scattered around the room and this, along with thechairs, made the alien room look like a movie set.

Josh seated himself next to his dad, who smiledencouragingly at him, while Sir Trevor sat himself next to the professor.

“There should be a VR set next to your seat Josh. Willyou put it on?”

Josh found the gloves and helmet and put them on. Thegloves were similar to the ones he had worn in Toby’s bedroom, but the helmetwas almost as bizarre as the rest of the room, even though it was of humanmanufacture. There were three pads which rested on the wearer’s head, whilethin, colourful tubes orbited at irregular angles around each other, but theredidn’t seem to be anything to cover his eyes or plug into his ears. Joshcarefully lifted the device and placed it over his head.

Instantly the world of sight and sound disappeared. Heraised the helmet slightly and the dull thrum of machinery and the alien roomreappeared.

“It’s our latest technology.” The professor gushed.“It is using a sound wave inverter and strobe lighting to blank out thesurrounding environment, so you are getting a richer virtual realityexperience. We are developing a reverse effect for the military to make thingsinvisible.”

Josh gently lowered the helmet and entered a world ofinfinite nothing. He waited for a few seconds and then a terror began to risewithin him; a fear of being lost adrift in this endless space. He was justabout to take the helmet off again, when the professor appeared, floating inthe void before him. His avatar was an exact replica of his physical form thatmade Josh look down to see his own body. He, too, looked the same as he did inthe real world.

“Hello, Josh. I am thinking if we enter the Plexus atthe last point that Geigerzalion was seen, we will have the most success. Yes?”

Josh nodded his agreement and the professor opened around portal in the space next to him and stepped through. Josh followed intothe digital mayhem of the Plexus. It had a familiar feel after the strangenessof the alien computer room.

Although the professor was obviously an expert incomputer science he didn’t appear to be as naturally comfortable online asSpokes or Michael had, but his clumsy control was still effective. This wasmade more apparent when Geigerzalion’s ghostly avatar appeared within a fewseconds. The symbols began to flow around him and Josh felt a surge of relief,as he immediately knew what they meant.

“You saved my life and Toby’s. Thank you.”

The symbols pulsed.

“I’ve come to try and help you.” Josh continued. “Iknow a little bit about you now and the people who found you originally.”

“You don’t have to run. The people who found your shipare not your enemies. They want to help you.”

“Dying? Then come with me. We can help you.”

“Okay. But…” Josh was about to explain that he wasstill not very adept at travelling through the Plexus when he was thrust alongthe tunnel with the force of a gentle hurricane. He twisted around and tried tocall out to the professor, but he had already gone too far and was stillaccelerating. Faster and faster he zoomed along the multifaceted tunnels until,after a flicker of white light he found himself in darkness.

He thought for a moment that he had dropped out ofvirtual reality, but he could still feel the urgent thrusting of whatever forcewas propelling him through the void. And then, slowly, he turned and thespectacular crescent of the Earth drifted into view. The clouds and seasswirled beneath him, the continents shrunk and the whole world suddenly seemedmanageably small.

The vast wall of the moon sailed past him on his leftas he continued to stare at the retreating ball that he had grown up on. Heshot on through a scattered field of smaller rocks that he guessed to beasteroids and then, as the sun diminished to a bright star, he hurtled past themajestic, ringed orb of Saturn.

A few seconds later the dusting of surrounding starsdisappeared and Josh felt himself lurch to a halt. He could feel a solid floorbeneath his feet now, but it was so dark he wondered if his mind was playingtricks on him.

Tentatively he stepped forward and an eerie light,like pale moonlight trying to break through a cloudy sky, started to glow fromsomewhere far above him. It was too dim to illuminate much of the area he wasstanding in, but now Josh could make out rows of transparent domes disappearinginto the gloomth around him. The light got brighter and he realised the roomwas the same design as the ruined dinosaur chamber in Tech-Tonic’s spaceship,but this was completely undamaged.

He peered into one of the domes, half hoping, halffearing to see something more monstrous and exotic than a triceratops, but itwas empty.

A pulsating movement above him made Josh look up andhe gasped. The dim light had transformed into glowing tentacles stretching outfrom a central body of hollow darkness. The appendages writhed as if alive andJosh felt like a helpless fly about to be eaten by a gigantic, luminous spider.

Symbols tumbled from the dark centre.

“Geigerzalion?” Josh could barely whisper the name.

“Where are we?”

The vortex flashed in time with the symbols and thetendrils of light convulsed.

“I don't understand? Surely nothing from Earth hasever been this far...”

“How long have you been here?”

The symbols swirled and Josh suddenly appreciated theunnerving time span that Geigerzalion had spent in this lonely void. He feltdizzy as aeons tried to fit into his mind.

“What happened to the satellites? Why haven’t we seenany?”

“Sir Trevor’s spaceship? That’s one of the satellites?But it’s huge.”

Josh recognised pride, verging on arrogance, in the way the symbolsstuttered, as if the emotion was alien to the means of communication. But theybegan to flow smoothly almost immediately.

“What can I do? If we switch off the satellite willthat help?”

“Well what about the other satellites? Could yousurvive there.”

The symbols winked out for a second and then returned.

“Yes. I’m sure I can. He wants to help.”

Josh felt the rush of the gentle hurricane and onceagain he was zooming through space. This time he saw the sun grow frighteninglyquickly, but he didn’t pass close to any planets before he felt himself jerk toa stop and felt the hardness of a chair at his back.

The change from virtual reality to the solidity of thealien chamber was jarring, but Josh determinedly ignored the harsh transition.

“We’ve got to help him.” He said, pulling the helmetoff his head.

Sir Trevor looked excited. “Josh? What happened?”

“It’s Geigerzalion. His power is running out. Thisplace has been damaged too much.”

Sir Trevor produced a bottle of water from somewhereand passed it to Josh. “Here. Calm down, Josh. And tell us what happened.” Theprofessor looked as though he was about to explode with excitement.

“I…The professor took us into the Plexus and we metGeigerzalion straight away. He told me he was dying.”

“Dying? How…” Sir Trevor frowned with concentration.“Did you tell him that we would try and help?”

“Yes, but he said that this craft had been damagedbeyond repair and his only hope was to reactivate another one.”

“There were more of these spacecraft?”

“He told me there was one in Machu Picchu.”

“So what is he? A living being or an artificialintelligence?” The professor just couldn’t keep quiet. “Where are these othernodes? Where is he from?”

“Professor, please give him a chance. In your own timeJosh.”

So Josh told them what had happened to him ascarefully as he could and tried to answer all of the professor’s questions.

When the professor seemed satisfied, Josh asked,“Where is Machu Picchu?”

“It’s in the Andes.” Sir Trevor said. “About fiftymiles away from Cuzco. I’ve been there. It’s tremendously spectacular, but whowould have thought it housed an alien spacecraft.”

“We have to help him.” Josh said quietly.

“I quite agree, Josh. Tech-Tonic will do all it can.You’ll have to come too, Josh. You’re still the only one who can communicatewith him.”

“I’ll come.”

“You’d better ask your father. He should come too, ofcourse. This could be the greatest scientific discovery of all time Josh.”

“Dad?”

“Of course, Josh.” Josh’s dad put his arm around him.

Just then a burly security guard muscled into thesmall room. “Sorry to disturb you, sir. We’ve apprehended an intruder.”

“An intruder? Where?”

“He’d somehow got into the Encephalax.”

Josh thought he saw Sir Trevor’s face contort in furyfor a second. “Did he really? Where is he now?”

“Just outside, sir. Do you want to see him?”

“Yes, bring him in.”

Two more guards roughly manhandled a black robed maninto the cramped room. It was Coel Amberglass.

“What’s going on?” Josh asked as calmly as he couldmanage.

The guards ignored him. “What do you want doing withhim, sir?”

“Well, if he’s seen the Encephalax there’s only onething for it. We’ll have to kill him.”

Josh could not believe his ears. “You can’t kill him.He’s just trying to help me. He didn’t…” Everyone else in the room seemed toagree with Josh, including the professor and the guards. Josh thought he saw aflicker of annoyance pass over Sir Trevor’s face.

“Josh.” Sir Trevor made a placatory gesture with hishand. “I was only joking. Even before my episode I wouldn’t have had anyonekilled. It’s unthinkable.”

“What? You’re joking?”

“Well, of course he is Josh.” His father joined in.“Although I do think it was in pretty bad taste.”

“Yes, I suppose it was. I do apologise Josh. I didn’tthink anyone would take me so seriously. I must have been such a tyrant.”

“Well…” Josh didn’t know what to say, but fortunatelyCoel, who had been serenely eyeing up the burly guards at his sides, chose thatmoment to speak.

“Excuse me. I’m sorry I had to take such drasticmeasures. But you see, I really needed to find Josh. I thought he might havebeen in some peril. My name is Coel Amberglass.”

“And what assistance, supposing of course that he hadbeen in danger, would you have been able to provide?” Sir Trevor’s voice hadbecome hard again and he continued without allowing Coel to answer. “Josh, howis it that you have a bodyguard? Most boys your age don’t have them do they?Perhaps I’m a little out of touch with the youth of today.”

“I…I don’t know why he’s following me.” Josh feltashamed as soon as the words had dribbled from his lips. Coel didn’t deservethis, but the druid gave him a discrete wink and Josh felt relief flood throughhim like cool water. He suddenly wondered how Coel had managed to bypass all ofthe security they themselves had been subjected to.

“Will you behave, Mr Amberglass, if my guards releaseyou?”

Coel nodded and Sir Trevor waved a florid hand todismiss the guards.

“Thank you.” For the first time Coel looked a littlesurprised. “I apologise for trespassing, but I thought I’d lost Josh. Thisstructure seems to be shielded in some way.”

“Indeed it is, Mr Amberglass. We wouldn’t want everyTom, Dick and Bill stumbling in here would we? The world is not ready for arevelation as monumental as the unveiling of this spacecraft would be.”

“Perhaps.” Coel said quietly.

“So, for whom do you work, Mr Amberglass? You don’tlook like a corporate spy.” Josh could barely suppress a snort. Coel, with hisalabaster, albino skin and flowing black robes could hardly look less like aspy if he tried.

“I’m not a spy. I’m merely trying to look after Josh.A job which has become much more arduous recently.”

“Indeed? Yes,Josh is a very special young man. This is just a lack of communication.Mr Amberglass, you are the first person to gain entry into this complex withoutmy permission. I will feel much safer knowing that you are looking out forJosh. Would you mind signing a non-disclosure agreement?”

“Of course.” Coel nodded. “And please call me Coel. MrAmberglass has never suited me.”

Sir Trevor rubbed his hands together as if he had setthe worlds to rights. “One other thing, Mr Amberglass. We’re going to be takinga trip to South America, and I wouldn’t want you travelling across the Atlanticon the undercarriage of my aeroplane. Would you could with us?”

“I’d be happy to.” Coel seemed genuinely surprisednow.

“Good. It’s been a long day for all of us, and I’msure you’re tired Josh. Do you think you could come back tomorrow and help theprofessor make the necessary arrangements for our trip? I need to sort out someloose ends so I won’t see you until we leave, but the professor will be able toanswer any questions and I’ll arrange it so that Mr Amberglass gets a securitypass so that he can protect you without breaking the law. How does that sound?”

Josh’s father nodded.

“Could I ask Toby if he wants to come?” Josh asked.

“Toby? Of course you can.” Sir Trevor beamed at them.“Right! Let’s start changing the world, gentlemen. Isn’t this exciting?”

Josh could barely contain his excitement. Theprofessor had given him plenty of stuff to read about the research they weredoing, most of which was far too technical for him to understand, but Joshdidn’t care. He knew now that he would finally be able to help Geigerzalion.

During the helicopter ride home his mind was full ofthe things he had learnt and the things he would soon be doing. He hoped Tobywould be able to come with him to South America, but he supposed that would dependon his doctor. Then he thought about asking Kat to come with him and hisstomach lurched.

The helicoptertouched down on the back lawn of his garden and Josh wished for a moment thatsomeone he knew would see him landing. He smiled to himself at his vanity, butit didn’t stop him from looking around hopefully.

They watched the helicopter take off again and his dadput his arm around his shoulders.

“I’m really proud of you Josh. Your mum always told meyou’d surprise me, and she was right.”

Josh couldn’t say anything but he hugged back. Afterthe noise of the helicopter had died away they went inside and Josh felt thetiredness tugging at him. He plodded upstairs and, without getting undressed,collapsed onto his bed. Sleep caught him immediately.

Josh woke up refreshed for the second morning in arow. He had expected to dream about Trinity Vale, but if he had dreamed at allhe didn’t remember anything. He lay still for a while on his back with hishands behind his head going through everything that had happened to himyesterday and trying to put it all in order.

He sat up and took his notebook out from behind hisbedside table and flicked through it until he came to an empty page. He startedto write, trying to convert his jumbled thoughts into some sort of order, butit was impossible. He would start one idea only to strike out those first fewsymbols and start again. In the end the page had more scribbling and doodlingthan anything legible, and his efforts had not had purged any of his confusionfrom his mind. Eventually he tossed the notebook onto the floor.

Getting up, he wrapped his dressing gown aroundhimself and padded downstairs. In the hall he saw the telephone and realisedthat he had to tell Toby that they were going to Peru. Excitedly he dialled hisfriend’s number.

“Hello?” Toby’s mum answered the phone sharply.

“Er, hello Mrs Hawkins. Is Toby there?”

There was such a long silence that Josh thought shemight have put the phone down. “Mrs Hawkins?”

“Josh. Please understand me, I’m not sure whether youshould talk to him. He’s not himself.”

“What do you mean?”

Mrs Hawkins’ voice had dropped to a whisper and Joshcould barely make out what she was saying. “He’s gone crazy. He’s thrown outall his computers.” Josh heard shouting in the background.

“Is that Toby?”

“Yes Josh. He wants me to put the phone down.” MrsHawkins must have put her hand over the receiver, because Josh heard a loud,but muffled exchange before Toby’s voice blared into his ear.

“Don’t lose yourself Josh. Hold on. You don’t knowwhat you’re dealing with.”

“Toby? What do you mean?”

Toby had been shouting, but now his voice calmer. “I’mscared Josh. Don’t make me go there again.”

“Don’t worry Tobe. I won’t. It’s okay.” Josh had notbeen prepared for this madness.

“I…I can’t bare it, Josh. I can still see the city.When I close my eyes, when I try to sleep I can still see the city. I’m notreally here.”

“Yes, you are Tobe. This is the real…”

“No, it’s not. This is just the world we see throughour eyes. It’s not the living world.” He sounded savagely lucid now.

“I don’t understand…”

“Yes, you do Josh. That’s why you’re so special.”

The phone clicked off.

Josh put the receiver down gently and gazed stupefiedaround the hallway. Feynman jumped up next to the phone and rubbed his headagainst Josh’s hand. Josh idly stoked him, thinking about what Toby had said.He jumped when the phone rang.

“Hello?”

“Josh? It’s Kat. I thought you were going to comeround yesterday.”

“Oh, I’m sorry Kat. You’ll never believe what’s happened?”

“I don’t care what happened, you said you were…”

“Do you want to come to Peru?”

“What are you talking about?” Kat said and Joshrealised she was cross. He suspected that the reason was that he hadn’t spokento her yesterday and he suddenly felt flustered.

“I’m sorry Kat. I should have…”

“Did you ask me to come to Peru?”

“Yes.”

“Why?”

So Josh explained everything that he understood whichwas not an awful lot, but at least Kat seemed to be listening to him.

“So will you come to Peru, with me?”

“You try and stop me. Is Toby coming?”

Josh sighed. “No. He’s not recovered fromhis…experience. Perhaps you can talk some sense into him Kat. I’ve no idea whathe’s talking about.”

“That’s not unusual.”

“Yeah, I suppose you’re right. Perhaps it’s just Toby beingToby. I don’t know. Will you ring him Kat?“

“Sure. I’ll knock some sense into him.” Josh couldtell from her voice that she was grinning, but he knew that Toby was not justbeing his usual eccentric self.

“Thanks, Kat. I’ll see you later.”

Josh put the receiver down again and smiled. Kat’scheery excitement had eased his anxiety about Toby’s hysterical nonsense alittle, but a tightness in his stomach reminded him about his best friend. Hehad assumed Toby would be coming with him to Machu Picchu, and now the journeyto the other side of the world seemed very daunting.