TV Zombies

Panic Station is based on this earlier story I called TV Zombies. The full text is reproduced below...

Chapter 1:

The small group of explorers made their way carefully through the burned-out city. Although the Mutant Wars were just about over, small bands of monsters still inhabited the smashed shells of buildings; hiding in ambush for human survivors.

Mark, who was leading the team, held up his hand for the others to stop. They trusted Mark`s instincts as completely as he did himself. And now, as the cool wind changed direction and brought a smell of sour ashes, there was suddenly a tension in the air.

And more than a tension. A danger...

Gary moved up close to his friend. The boys were just fourteen years old, but the horrors of war had washed the innocence from their faces. Now they had the look of all Normals on Earth; shocked, angry, determined that such a thing would never happen on this planet again...

" Trouble?" Gary wondered. He silently drew his Laserbolt gun from the leather holster at his side, holding it in readiness for battle. His long dark hair was tied back from his eyes with a scrap of blue rag: Mark`s fair hair, equally long, was knotted with a leather thong.

He nodded without wasting words to confirm the inevitable. In the ruins of Earth`s once proud cities, there was always trouble to be found.

Mark lifted his Power Scimitar and pointed it unwaveringly towards the crumbled wreckage of a skyscraper. " I smell them," he whispered, turning away to glance at the frightened group of youngsters they were trying to guide towards the coast and safety. " Reptiloids, the worst kind. I think we`d better get the others back behind cover - "

He was looking at Gary as he said this, and saw his friend`s face change - Rage suddenly replacing concern.

Then there came the searing, sizzling blast of Gary`s Laserbolt gun firing, the dazzling beam whisking past his ear.

Mark whirled round.

A huge grey-skinned Reptiloid with evil-looking red stripes along its flanks was hurtling down towards him, its huge jaws agape, and...

A curtain of static filled the computer screen and Mark was suddenly back inside his bedroom, his mind whirling as he wondered what had happened. He pressed the Reset button on the machine, but the blizzard of static remained. This had never happened before, and he had no idea what to do about it.

After a few seconds` thought, Mark decided the best thing was to phone Gary, who knew more about computers than any other kid in the school - more than any other kid in Kenniston, most likely.

Mark swore once, with feeling, at his computer, then left it, still flickering crazily, as he headed for the door.

His mother, Sarah Watkins, was coming up the stairs as Mark reached the landing. She looked worried.

" Is the TV out too?" Mark wondered. The weather had been changeable during the past few days, and it seemed as though a storm was brewing. So maybe the problem was atmospherics; static in the air itself.

Mrs Watkins looked at her son. She seemed close to tears.

" Tina`s not back...She said she`d be home by five - "

" Perhaps - " Mark began. Mrs Watkins hurried on:

" I rang the modelling agency and they said her assignment was at MZTV..."

" The new cable TV station," Mark said. He`d heard about it at school. " She`s most likely had to stay on late to finish the shoot."

Tina Watkins, four years older than Mark, wanted to become an actress. An agency had taken her onto their books, and landed her the occasional modelling job and bit-part in TV adverts, which earned her some money while she applied for a place at Drama School. She often rolled in late, Mark recalled.

But Sarah Watkins was shaking her head, and now the tears came, quivering in her eyes and spilling over on to her cheeks.

" I phoned the TV station," she explained, " and they said - Oh Mark, I`m so worried something`s happened!"

" What did they say, Mum?"

Mark went down the stairs and put his arm around his mother`s shoulder.

" They said..." She sobbed, then swallowed hard to control her fear. " They told me that Tina left hours ago..."

*

Police Officer Baxter was very understanding, and his gentle, friendly attitude helped to calm Sarah Watkins` concerns.

Mark made some coffee and brought it through to the lounge, just as his mother was explaining how hard it was to cope sometimes, since her husband had left over fours years ago now...

Mark frowned and irritation burned up through him. He hated Mum talking like this, especially to strangers. But it was as though she had to talk to somebody - anybody, to help deal with the pain. Mark just wished she`d talk to him more...Or, better still, meet someone else who`d take her mind off Dad.

Mark caught the officer`s eye and the man smiled.

" Mrs Watkins," Baxter said, interrupting her, " even if your husband was here, there would be nothing he could do. Kenniston`s a big city, and no way could he, or even the whole family, hope to cover that much ground."

" But I feel so helpless sitting, doing nothing!"

" Of course you do, but it`s best if you stay by the telephone, to be here when we ring back- or if your daughter rings. Nine times out of ten, there`s a perfectly ordinary, simple explanation for this kind of thing."

But what about the tenth time? The thought flashed through Mark`s mind but he said nothing: he poured out the coffee instead.

Officer Baxter was explaining that the usual procedure was to put out an APB on anyone suspected of having gone missing.

" That`s an All Points Bulletin," Mark said. He grinned. " I love to watch all the cop shows on TV!"

Baxter grinned back at him. " Spot on, lad. An APB, Mrs Watkins, means we circulate a description of your daughter, and her last known whereabouts, to all our patrol cars. Several hundred police officers will be on the lookout for Tina. The only question is whether we`ll find her before she comes home by herself!"

Sarah seemed reassured, so that Baxter felt able to leave ten minutes later. Mark saw him to the door.

" Take care of your Mum," the man said. He pushed his police cap a little higher on his head and squinted up into the sky. The sun was close to setting; deep red light spilling through ragged overcast clouds in the west. Mark thought it was an odd sky; somehow menacing.

" Of course I will," Mark answered. Now - and he`d never noticed this before - he felt an eerie metallic tingling on his tongue. It was as though electricity was creeping into the air, lending it an unpleasant dryness.

Baxter glanced at the boy and knew that he`d be as good as his word. He nodded, smiled thinly, then walked through the gathering gloom towards the patrol car parked at the end of the drive.

Back inside the house, Sarah had started one of her `cleaning sprees`. She did this now and then; tidying the house, dusting, washing pots, to take her mind off painful thoughts.

" Need any help, Mum?" Mark asked, but he knew she didn`t. For a while at least, she needed just to be busy.

" I`m OK. You go back upstairs and play with your computer..."

Officer Baxter`s arrival had taken Mark`s mind off the computer entirely. But now, as he climbed the stairs, he remembered how the screen had gone down, so ruining the game, and his intention to ring Gary about it.

As Mark approached his bedroom, he heard the familiar, annoying hiss of the static...But also something else. Voices. Whispery, ceaseless voices, many of them, all talking together.

He inched around the half-open door.

The computer screen blazed at him like some weird, insane white eye. And reflected there, coming and going like dreams, were scores of ghostly faces.

*

Chapter 2:

" Yeah," I`ve had the same problem, " Gary Swann said as Mark explained the trouble with his computer. " Except I was playing `Nemesis Pit` instead of `Mutant Wars`. Reached Level Thirty now," he added smugly, knowing that Mark had only ever made it to Level Nineteen.

Mark smiled as he waited for Gary to finish boasting - not that Mark would ever accuse him of being simply a big head. As well as being a genius when it came to understanding computers, Gary was a wizard at playing any game you cared to mention. And that was not just at school: Gary`s machine was connected to the Internet through a phoneline, which meant he could battle against other gameplayers right across the country. There was a rumour that Gary Swann was among the top one-hundred in the nationwide computer battle `Shadow Swarm`, and that he played for three or four hours every evening when he got home. These days, Mark usually only got to see him at weekends.

" So you think it might be the strange weather we`re having?" Mark said, bringing Gary back to the point. Even now, as Mark stood in the hallway staring at the front door, he could see distant flares of lightning through the frosted glass panels; while down the phoneline came the crackly, faraway spitting sound of the storm.

" No doubt about it," Gary agreed. " And as you can hear, its affecting the telephone network too. I`ve been getting all kinds of weird stuff on my computer screen from the `Net."

" What stuff?" Mark wondered, thinking back to the odd faces he`d seen earlier, upon entering his bedroom...

Or thought he`d seen. The faces had disappeared an instant later, leaving the screen slashed across with electric snow, and nothing else.

" Unusual interference - oh, moving figures, staring eyes, like some kind of old horror movie was trying to play through the telephone system...Never seen anything like it. But we live in strange times, Mark old buddy. Strange times."

Mark found Gary`s comments unnerving rather than reassuring. He mentioned the fact that Tina hadn`t come home yet, and how the police had been round to take details.

Gary went very quiet.

" Hello - you still there?" Mark spoke into the soft hissing coming from the handset. " Gary?"

" Still here," Gary said. His voice sounded strained, as though there was something he knew about, but was holding back from saying. " Um, listen Mark..."

" What is it - well come on!" Mark snapped, as Gary hesitated.

" It`s funny you should mention Tina disappearing...The guys on the `Net - the other kids playing `Shadow Swarm` - they`ve been talking about people vanishing over the past couple of weeks."

" What, not coming home?"

" Not turning up anywhere," Gary went on. " And Leila was telling me there are two people at her college who`ve gone missing..."

" Well that makes me feel heaps better!"

" I`m only trying to help." Gary answered. He could hear the concern in his best friend`s voice, and wished now he`d never brought the subject up, especially the bit about the two students from his sister`s college. They`d been about Tina`s age and so far the police had found no trace of them.

" Well you`re not helping!" Mark felt his temper rising and made an effort to control it. None of this was Gary`s fault: and like Gary said, he`d only been trying to put Mark in the picture.

" I`m sorry, Gaz." The apology was swift and sincere. " I`m just getting myself in a state about it all. The cops will probably find her before long, right?"

" Probably tonight." Gary wondered if Mark could hear the hollowness in his voice. The two girls Leila knew had been missing for a fortnight already...

" Where can all these people be vanishing to?" Mark went on, glancing up as distant thunder made the front door rattle

Gary said, " Well we know where they`re vanishing from. From what I can gather, all the missing persons disappeared in Kenniston. And - "

" And what?"

Gary swallowed hard. " And I was about to say, why don`t you come over in the morning? Bring your bike. If Tina`s not back, we can cruise round and look for her...At least you`ll feel like you`re doing something"

Mark considered for a moment.

" OK, I`ll do that. Mrs Dayne from next door has come by. She`s with Mum now. I`m sure she won`t mind keeping Mum company tomorrow..."

" That`s sorted, then. And Leila will be here too," Gary added, knowing that Mark had a soft spot for her.

Mark smiled at his friend`s mischief.

" See you tomorrow then. And thanks, Gary."

He put the telephone down and leaned around the lounge door to tell his mother he was turning in for the night. Sarah Watkins was red-eyed, but had stopped crying now. That made Mark feel a little better.

He went upstairs and walked across to the window, opened it and gazed out.

The wind had strengthened, and came whooshing through the trees in the nearby gardens, up into Mark`s face. The sting of electricity still tingled in his nostrils. Way beyond the trees and the quiet suburbs lay the city centre. That`s where the storm seemed to be building, as lightning flashed and tangled through the low clouds hanging above the glowing skyline of office blocks.

One unexpectedly bright flash made Mark flinch. He closed the window, then undressed and switched on his bedside lamp. The bulb faded and brightened - and over on Mark`s desk, the computer - which was switched off now - gave a single sharp snap, as tiny tendrils of blue light skittered over the screen.

Mark waited for something else to happen. But nothing did.

He flipped through a comic for ten minutes, but found his attention wandering. So he turned out his light and lay in the darkness, waiting for sleep to come...

Chapter 3:

Leila Swann had the same bright, open face as her brother; and the same fine dark hair, though she wore hers very long, almost down to her waist. The look of concern in her eyes as she answered the door to Mark triggered sudden tears in his, and brought fresh worries about Tina`s safety.

" Oh Mark, I`m so sorry this has happened..."

Mark was embarrassed enough to be almost-crying in front of her - but now his embarrassment doubled as she stepped under the porch and hugged him. In the hallway, Gary grinned at his sister`s show of sympathy, and at the red flush spreading quickly across his friend`s face.

" Let the boy alone, Lee ," he called jovially. " I`ve lost count of how many of my pals you`ve scared off like this!"

" How would you like it?" Leila snapped back, turning to her brother, " if I vanished mysteriously..."

" At least it would be quiet around the house for a change."

" Come through Mark," Leila said, ignoring Gary`s comment. " He`s upset too, you know, but making stupid jokes is the only way he can cope with it."

" Yeah," Mark said, managing to summon a weak smile. " Thanks. I mean, to both of you. If you guys weren`t around - well, don`t know what I`d do."

Leila led Mark through to the kitchen. The table was cluttered with breakfast things, which Mrs Swann was clearing away. She looked up as the three entered, and asked Mark about his sister.

" There`s no word," he explained, struggling to force back another wave of anxiety.

" Sergeant Baxter came round earlier. He couldn`t promise that nothing was wrong, but he said that, at least, Tina hadn`t been found...you know...dead."

" How`s your mother?" Mrs Swann wondered. Her eyes too were shiny with tears.

" Is there anything I can do to help?"

Mark shrugged. " It`s OK. Mrs Dayne came over again first thing. She brought some groceries and says she`ll hang around the keep Mum company. Mum said I ought to get out of the house and take my mind off it: just worrying was doing nobody any good...`Course, she`ll just sit there and worry about it!" Mark flashed a crooked smile, full of pain, which faded instantly. " But I want to do something. I feel so helpless!"

" I`m sure the police are doing all they can," Mrs Swann replied, trying to comfort - though the look Mark caught on Gary`s face seemed to say `and that`s precious little`.

" Well let`s take your mind off things with a round or two of `Nemesis Pit`." Gary`s face lit up as the idea came to him. He glanced at his sister. " Lee, will you do some of your famous banana milkshake to bring up? We`ll be in the bedroom..."

" Will I be able to find you with all the mess in there?" she wondered, as the boys headed for the stairs.

*

Mark had thought often that Gary was going to grow up to be a mad-professor type. The chaos in his bedroom only added to that impression. His bed was covered with games` catalogues and computer magazines, and looked as though it hadn`t been properly made for a week. Gary`s desk similarly was littered with scraps of paper covered with scribbled notes, floppy discs tossed carelessly to one side, chocolate bar wrappers and other junk. The screen showed a bottomless pit with coloured stars spiralling into it. Every few seconds, a monstrous face loomed up and sank back down again into darkness.

" I got to Level thirty-one last night," Gary said, as Mark pushed a pile of books off a spare chair and carried it to the desk, stepping carefully over the rubbish strewn all across the floor. But today he wasn`t boasting, Mark realised, just trying to get him involved.

He watched as Gary`s hands flickered across the keyboard. The creature from the Nemesis Pit, huge, green, dragonlike, rushed out at them, all teeth and fire. It roared and blew a blast of purple flame at the boys. Gary laughed and turned up the volume on his speakers to full. The monster snarled again, and this time Mark felt the vibrations in the floor under his feet. He chuckled.

" The trouble cleared up, then?"

" Soon after we spoke on the phone. It faded as the thunderstorm died down - I guess the whole thing was caused by static in the air..."

" Yeah, I suppose so." Mark glanced out through the window. The sky was very still this morning, with an overcast of grey-white clouds that had a metallic sheen as the sun shone through them.: typical autumn weather, Mark thought - except it felt wrong. Deep down inside, he knew things were not normal...

Which was just plain ridiculous.

" I can set up a two-player game," Gary was saying, " or we can link up with some of the other gamers on the `Net if you really want a fight on your hands!"

Leila came in with the milkshakes on a tray. She was grinning broadly and seemed very pleased with herself.

" Never mind that silly nonsense. I`ve been on the telephone, doing something useful - "

" Arranging plastic surgery maybe," Gary smirked. Leila poked her tongue out at him.

" Actually, no." She looked at Mark and handed him a shake. " Have you heard of a television programme called `Case On The Case`?"

" SBTV broadcast it, don`t they?"

" That`s the one. It`s Solid Broadcasts`s most popular programme."

" I don`t really watch it. Mum does, I think. It`s about that detective guy - "

" Roy Case - and he really is a detective. He solves all kinds of mysteries, and reconstructs them for episodes of his show..."

Gary gave a huge mock-yawn and pretended to examine his fingernails. " Can we watch some paint dry, or something? That would be much more interesting..."

Leila`s eyes flashed. " Gary, I`m trying to help here." She turned back to Mark.

" Well the thing is, I met Roy Case when our class went on a tour of the studios last term. I told him how I wanted to make wildlife documentaries as a career, and he said if I ever needed to ask any questions about TV work, he`d be pleased to answer them."

" I bet he says that to all the girls who swoon at his feet!" Gary shook his head and tutted.

" He isn`t like that at all. Well he can`t be, can he - because I`ve just called him and he says he wants to help trace Tina. We can meet him for lunch at the studio."

" It`s only because it would make a good episode for his series - "

" So what!" Leila`s temper flared at last. Mark realised that she too was upset by Tina`s disappearance, and felt as frustrated about it as he did.

Leila stepped over to Gary, kicking a pair of discarded trainers out of her way. They went spinning across into the corner.

" So what if he is only doing it for himself? It`s still help, isn`t it? It`s still help we need!"

Gary backed off, holding up his hands in surrender.

" You think it`s a good idea, don`t you Mark?" Leila asked him.

" Um, of course," he said, though without much conviction; adding mentally, `but anything is better than nothing...`

*

Chapter 4:

The Solid Broadcast television studio was a twenty-storey building close to the city centre. A tall transmission mast added to its impressive height. On a clear night, Mark could see the lights on that mast flashing red from his bedroom window. It was one of Kenniston`s most familiar landmarks.

Leila led the boys through a grand revolving glass door into a spacious lobby, where dozens of people seemed to be hurrying about on urgent business.

" Don`t you find this exciting?" Leila said. Gary blew out a great sigh.

" I just realised I forgot my Game Boy," he told her.

They introduced themselves at Reception. A very smartly dressed lady checked a list, then asked them to fill-in their names and addresses on some cards.

" Thank you," she said as they handed them back. " Mr Case asked me to direct you to the Cafeteria. That`s up on the ninth floor...Will you recognise him, or - "

" Oh," Leila said with a broad smile, " I`ll recognise him all right!"

Gary pretended to push his fingers down his throat to make himself sick.

*

The elevator ride was smooth and swift, delivering them to a large, airy dining room with a huge panoramic window along one wall.

" There he is!" Leila pointed across the room to a table where a dark-haired man in his mid-thirties was sitting alone, staring out across the city. " Mr Case - Mr Case!"

Several people glanced round as Gary, blushing deeply, tried to hide behind Mark. " I hate this," he muttered, as Leila grabbed the boys` hands and dragged them towards where Roy Case was sitting.

He stood as they approached, grinning at their various reactions.

" Leila," Roy smiled. " Good to meet you again." He shook her hand. " And, I see by the resemblance, this must be your brother - "

" I think you just insulted him," Leila quipped. " Yes, this is Gary; and Gary`s friend, Mark Watkins."

Roy Case`s face became serious. " So Tina is your sister..?"

" Yes sir. She went missing yesterday evening. If you can help, that`d be great."

" I`ll do what I can, of course. And please, call me Roy. Now, sit yourselves down. I`ll order some coffee and you can tell me all about it..."

"...So you think MZTV might have something to do with it?" Leila said, twenty minutes later, once Mark had told his story. Roy had listened intently during this time; not looking particularly at any of the children, and not interrupting; but obviously taking everything in. Now, at Leila`s question, he pushed his hand through his thick black hair and leaned back in the seat.

" Impossible to say at this stage, but it`s a lead worth investigating - if only because MZTV is almost a complete mystery to just about everyone in the television business."

" I never even heard of it," Gary admitted.

Roy shrugged. " You would have done, soon enough. A year ago, the company didn`t exist, but it`s been growing fast, gaining hundreds, maybe thousands of new viewers each week."

" The programmes must be brilliant," Mark said. Roy grimaced and shook his head.

" That`s the strange thing - they`re not. I`ve seen some of them, and they all appear to be really creaky old black-and-white movies, or ancient serials from so far back that none of the stars are even alive now! Why people pay to watch MZTV, I just don`t know, but they do. Mind you, the studio is spending a fortune in advertising; posters, vouchers, free caps and T-shirts and stuff. Maybe that has something to do with it."

" You say people pay to watch?" Mark asked. " Is it a satellite station?"

" No, it`s entirely cable," Roy said. " That`s another worrying thing...If MZTV ever started to broadcast programmes, there`s a real risk other stations in Kenniston would be forced to close down. It`s survival of the fittest in this business," he said, his smile wavering, ever so slightly.

Shortly afterwards, Roy took them on a tour of the studios, showing them where some of Solid Broadcast`s programmes were made. He introduced the children to Andy Hitchman, the Head SBTV, and finished off the tour with an elevator ride to the roof, where they could see the transmission tower close-up.

" It`s huge," Leila gasped, tilting her head back to glimpse the top.

" It adds another hundred feet to the height of the building," Roy said, " and transmits programmes to over a million people, right across the city and far beyond."

Gary put his hands on his hips and gazed skyward.

" Wow, it`s really impressive...I can`t see MZTV ever putting you off the air."

" Television is a funny business," Roy said, as they started to walk back towards the elevator. He paused at the doorway and pointed at the mass of clouds to the north, where the heavens looked like a tangle of mangled silver metal. The wind had strengthened in the past hour and, once again, the air smelt dry and tangy, as though full of lightning.

" It`s happened before that small, unknown studios have grown large and powerful very quickly. And over there, on the horizon, is where the new threat is coming from...That`s where the MZTV studios are to be found - just where the storm is gathering."

*

Chapter 5:

" Well, is there anything he can do?" Sarah Watkins wanted to know, when Mark eventually came home. Her voice sounded flat and toneless, as though she had gone through the hurt and the worry, and all that was left was weariness.

" You`ve watched his programme, Mum," Mark said, hating to see his mother looking so washed-out. " Roy Case always solves the puzzle!"

Sarah smiled weakly. " But it`s make-believe, Mark. It`s just a television programme - "

" Based on real cases."

" Yes, I know, but only the ones he`s managed to crack. What about all the cases he wasn`t successful with? You never hear about those, do you?"

" No, but..." Mark began, and then stopped, knowing that to argue would be pointless. Instead, he walked over to her and gave her a big hug. Until a year or so ago, Sarah had been bigger than her son. Now the position was reversed and he was taller, heavier, stronger. And Mark realised also that, with Tina gone, he was the one his mother would be looking to for comfort and support. To quarrel with her would be the worst thing he could possibly do.

As he held her, Sarah Watkins` body began to shake with silent sobbing. For a whole day she had been holding this in, all the panic and confusion, the terrible feeling that maybe she`d never see her daughter again. This was the first time she`d cried. Mark didn`t try to stop her.

" Let it out, Mum, just let it out...And everything will be OK, I promise," he added, the lie slipping easily from his lips.

Sarah went to bed early, taking a pill to help herself sleep. Mark recalled she hadn`t done that since Dad had left, over four years ago. They`d managed fine, just the three of them, and Mark remembered thinking after she shock of his father`s departure had cooled; so who needs him anyway?

We do, the thought flashed into his mind as he walked alone through the house, checking that doors and windows were properly locked. We really need you now, Dad...

Mark chuckled as he climbed the stairs to his room, telling himself that was a stupid thing to think. Paul Watkins had walked out on his family one night without any warning, leaving behind just a short handwritten note explaining that he couldn`t stand being tied down any more, that he wanted to be free.

He`d never been in touch since that day.

*

The screen saver on Mark`s computer displayed an ever-changing collage of dinosaur heads, and every few seconds low growls and snuffling sounds came from the speakers mounted at the sides. The machine had been a combined Christmas-and-birthday present last year, though he`d had to save himself for the games he liked to play.

Seeing the familiar faces of T-rex, Velociraptor, Stegosaurus and others made Mark smile. He decided to play `Mutant Wars` again tonight, just for an hour or so, to take his mind off everything - and hoped he wouldn`t be bothered by the ghostly faces he`d seen before. Probably just a freak effect of the weather, Mark mused, just like Gary had said...

He sat at the desk, just as the phone rang in the hallway below.

Mark leaped up and hurried down the stairs. If it was news about Tina, then he`d wake Sarah and tell her: if it wasn`t, he didn`t want her to wake at all, not until late morning. She needed a good long rest.

He picked up the handset.

" Mark - "

" Gary?" Mark felt pleased and disappointed at the same time. " What`s up?"

" Roy Case phoned us. He`s arranged for us all to go on a tour of the MZTV studios tomorrow morning, if you fancy coming."

" Well...I`m not sure I should leave Mum."

" Roy reckons we should `case the joint` - It`s one of his little jokes. He`s full of them. It would be good if you could come, Mark. What good are you doing just sitting around at home?"

" Well..." Mark said again, but he was convinced. Mrs Dayne would probably be delighted to stop by again to keep Sarah company. Mrs Dayne was one of the world`s great gossips; she could talk non-stop the whole day, and would probably do so too, given the opportunity. Besides, if there was even the slightest chance that visiting MZTV could turn up a lead on Tina`s whereabouts, it was worth doing.

" OK, I`ll come. What time, and where?"

" Nine a.m., outside Solid Broadcast. Roy says we can take a taxi across town. The tour starts at ten."

" I`ll be there, then..."

" That`s great. You having any more trouble with your computer?" Gary asked, as an afterthought.

" Nope. Back to normal. I was just about to run a game of `Mutant Wars`, just to beat the level you got to - thirty, wasn`t it?"

" No, that was `Nemesis Pit`. I reached forty-two on `'Wars`. Bad luck, Mark."

Mark could hear the mischievous laughter in his friend`s voice as he wished Gary a good night and put down the phone. Forty-two, he thought, would be almost impossible to beat...

Back in his room, Mark switched on the lamp above his desk, flicked off the main light, and walked over to close the curtains. Through his window he could see the red caution lights flashing from SBTV`s transmission mast across town. They were rather fuzzy and faint, because the night was misty and quite cool.

Closer to, a streetlamp shone through the bare branches of the lime tree just outside the house and cast long interwoven shadows across the large lawn. The Watkins house stood on the corner of North Road and Patrick Street, and the garden formed a broad L-shape arounde it. To the left was the Dayne household, while beyond the rear fence was where Mr and Mrs Carpenter lived. They were an elderly couple who`d been married for centuries, it seemed to Mark, and spent most of their time watching TV.

This was what they were doing right now, Mark saw, noticing the flickering silvery light of the television screen coming from a corner of their lounge...

But then he looked again, more closely this time, frowning in concern as the TV light brightened suddenly, seeming to wash through the whole house. Then it faded just as quickly, leaving all the rooms in darkness.

Mark stared on into the gloom for long seconds afterwards, wondering just what had happened. Perhaps there`d been an electrical short - maybe it was to do with the same kind of atmospheric interference that he and Gary had been plagued by.

But whatever it had been, Mark thought, it had looked very strange...Very strange indeed...

He left his room and returned to the telephone to call up the Carpenters and check they were all right. Unlike Mrs Dayne, the Carpenters didn`t have much to do with any of their neighbours. They kept themselves to themselves. Mark also remembered the times when one or other of them had yelled at him for lobbing tennis balls over the fence and into their garden - really yelled, like they hated kids to bits. They weren`t particularly nice people, was Mark`s opinion. But even so, he wouldn`t want to see them hurt.

He dialled the number and heard the rapid beeping of connections being made. Then there was only static, swishing and crashing far away like the shoreline of a distant sea. Mark tutted, realising he`d need to go round in person.

Leaving the house quietly, he trotted down the drive, turned left at the bottom, and left again on to Patrick Street. He went through the front gate to the Carpenters` house, slowing as he approached the front door, then rang the bell.

He heard it sound deep in the house, but nobody came. He pressed the button again, and a third time - shivering now in the night chill, as the wind stirred and twirled around him beneath the shadowy porch.

Part of Mark`s mind told him that the best thing to do was go home and play `Mutant Wars` like he wanted. But another inner voice was persuading him to take a look around, because something was obviously wrong here.

He sighed and walked to the side of the house to peer through the lounge window, where the curtains had been undrawn.

They still were, allowing him to glimpse Mrs Carpenter slumped in an easy chair, gazing with glassy, empty eyes at some old black-and-white movie playing on the television. Mark thought it looked really boring, but the old lady was obviously enjoying it, because her mouth was hanging open and amazingly she didn`t blink once.

He shrugged, and was about to turn away when a figure rose up in the room, pressed its hands against the glass and glared at him.

" It`s OK, Mr Carpenter," Mark began, " it`s only..."

But the words died in his throat.

The old man`s eyes were flaring with blizzards of glowing particles. He opened his mouth and said something to Mark - but all he heard was the hissing of a dead TV channel, as he stumbled backwards away from the window, wonder and terror rising through him like a wave.

*

Chapter 6:

" Yeah, yeah, yeah," Gary said, as though Mark had told him he`d been kidnapped by aliens from outer space, " and on the way home you were attacked by a gang of Reptiloids from the Twilight Zone!"

It was next morning. Mark, Gary and Leila were standing in the bustling lobby of the Solid Broadcast building, waiting for Roy Case. To begin with, Mark had been reluctant to tell his friends about what he`d seen the night before - precisely because he knew that Gary would react this way.

" I know it sounds crazy, but - "

" Crazy!" Gary gave a hoot of laughter. Several people nearby turned to stare at the group. " I reckon you`ve been reading too many comicbooks..."

" You`re a fine one to talk," Leila chipped in, pushing her brother playfully on the arm. " You spend more time with your head in the clouds than anyone else I know."

Mark smiled at the girl`s unexpected support. She looked at him, smiled back; and Mark blushed deeply, though he didn`t know quite why.

" But it does sound so strange," Leila went on. " Maybe you did imagine it, Mark. You have been through a lot lately."

" Well..." It would have been easy to insist on what he`d seen, but Leila did have a point. Perhaps the strain of Tina`s disappearance was telling on him...Perhaps he had imagined Mr Carpenter`s weird condition after all.

He shrugged and said no more about it, as Roy Case came hurrying out of the elevator towards them.

" Sorry guys, sorry..." He sounded out of breath. " Andy`s been hitting the roof up in the Control Room - But I`ll tell you about it on the way to MZTV. Come on, we`re running late..."

*

" Static electrical discharges," Roy said doubtfully. " That`s what the technical crew say it is. I`m not so sure. When systems crash and computers go haywire for no obvious reason, I`m tempted to think somebody`s trying to make it happen..."

They were in a taxi, heading downtown. At first their progress had been slow due to heavy rush hour traffic. But this had thinned out as they left Kenniston centre behind. Now they were moving at a good speed through the industrial quarter, a sprawl of long straight streets of factories, warehouses and railyards.

" Industrial espionage?" Gary wondered, his eyes suddenly sparkling with excitement. Leila tutted at such a silly idea. Roy`s expression was veiled.

" Could be. It`s not impossible that a rival station might want to put us off the air - or even steal our ideas for upcoming programmes. Anyway, what happened early this morning was enough to put Andy Hitchman in a panic."

" You say the studio`s computer screens went fuzzy, and you could see faint images on them?" Mark asked. " Figures...Faces?"

Roy nodded. " As though, by some freak of nature, a TV channel was breaking through into the network. But don`t ask me how it could happen: the computer system is linked to the telephone network, not a television cable network."

" MZTV?" Leila wondered, lifting her eyebrows in query.

" That," said Roy, " among other things, is what I hope to find out today..."

Ten minutes later, the cab turned a corner into a wide, rundown street which, Mark noticed from a namplate, was called Hob`s Lane. It was a gloomy place, made gloomier by the dingy facades of abandoned warehouses, their windows boarded up, their doors locked and bolted. The far end of Hob`s Lane was cloaked in grey morning mist .

The thickset driver slowed his vehicle, half turning to talk to Roy.

" You sure this is the place, pal?"

" It`s a definite possibility," Roy answered, giving a rather nervous chuckle. " Keep going. Maybe it`s at the other end of the street."

They cruised past half-ruined buildings and empty lots, some of them reduced to ugly landscapes of rubble; others nothing more than flat, weed-choked expanses of concrete or earth. High chainlink fencing or panels of rusting metal separated these wastelands from the street. Mark was reminded of the war-torn scenery from `Mutant Wars`; half expecting to see a Reptiloid Attack Squad appear over a nearby mound of bricks and twisted girders.

He was about to mention the idea, when Gary`s breathless exclamation cut him short.

" Well, will you take a look at that!"

They all stared ahead, and Mark heard Leila gasp as a glittering tower of glass and steel loomed out of the mist ahead of them, its topmost floors blazing in the light of the morning sun.

" I don`t think I quite believe it," Leila said in a small, subdued voice. " It`s so new - so clean - amidst all this dirt and wreckage."

The cab pulled up at the kerb opposite. Several tourist coaches had parked a little farther down the street. Streams of people were making their way towards the large front entrance - above which a sign in gleaming chrome lettering said:

MAX ZOFFANY TELEVISION

" It`s sure an eye-opener," the taxi driver commented. " I don`t come down here often; no need, you understand. But I`m positive the last time I drove by, maybe six months ago, this place didn`t even exist!"

" Max Zoffany...MZTV." Mark shook his head in puzzlement. " Why would he build his studios in the middle of nowhere like this? It`s miles from the city centre."

" Cheap ground rent," Gary suggested. " Or maybe he wanted to help the local community..."

Roy Case gave a slightly sarcastic laugh. He paid the driver and then led the children across the road and through the shining doorway into the studio.

*

If possible, the interior was even more imposing than the outside of the building had been. Huge sculptures of polished steel, like soaring blades, swept upwards from the floor at the far end of the huge vestibule. Hanging above them, supported by invisible threads, was a vast winged object; all angles and glowing metal surfaces.

" It`s a bird," Leila judged, having looked at it hard. " And these blades are - "

" Flames !" Gary broke in. He pointed to the plush blue carpet stretching away into the distance. It was patterned with repeated shapes of a bird spreading its wings as it rose from a nest of fire. " It`s a phoenix. According to legend, when the phoenix reaches the end of its life, it makes a funeral pyre and burns its old body away - then it rises, strong and vigorous again, from the ashes of its corpse."

" Well I guess Max Zoffany did just that," Roy said, " creating this incredible place from a ruin. I`m impressed...Come on, it looks like the tour`s about to begin..."

A group of visitors had gathered around a table at which two MZTV tour guides, a man and a woman, were standing. Mark pointed to the freebie goodie bags being given out. People were delving into them and pulling out baseball caps, T-shirts, photographs, stickers, even personal stereos - all finished in dark blue with the silver MZTV phoenix logo.

" Let`s grab a couple!" Gary said, as he and Mark hurried forward through the crowd. But Leila hung back with Roy, her face shrouded in puzzlement.

" Have you noticed those tour guides?" she wondered. Roy nodded slowly.

" Both young, both very attractive...Polite, friendly, cheerful..."

" Almost too good to be true." Leila gave a little sniff of disdain. " But not only that, Roy: look closely at them - they`re both plastered in stage makeup, like they were actors playing a role. It`s so thick you could scrape it off with your fingernails."

Roy chuckled as Leila gave a shudder. " They`re just putting on a show for the crowd," he suggested. " Though you`re right, it is a bit overdone. There`s no need for quite so much makeup...It makes them look artificial," Roy added, half to himself, as Mark and Gary returned. " Almost brand new, straight out of the factory..."

The four kept up with the group for a short time after the tour began. The pretty female guide led the visitors away from the imposing vestibule and through sparkling new corridors, past offices where smart young personnel were busy at their desks, working on computers and speaking into telephones. Shortly afterwards they passed a small studio where an advertisement for Max Zoffany`s television station was being filmed.

" We hope to get this broadcast through other local channels," the guide explained brightly, " to attract even more viewers to MZTV."

" Do you suppose other television companies will run your ad?" Roy asked. " I mean, if you become too popular, you`ll put some of the smaller stations out of business."

" Oh, we don`t mind if other stations advertise with us. It`s fair competition." The girl lightly shrugged her shoulders, as though the issue was settled.

" It must be very expensive to run television commercials," Roy continued, as the girl was about to turn away. " Max Zoffany must have plenty of money behind him?"

" Mr Zoffany..." The girl`s face clouded and her eyes became distant, as though she was looking at something far away, or deep inside her mind. People in the crowd glanced at one another unsurely.

Then her face shone in a beaming smile.

" Mr Zoffany knows exactly what he`s doing. Don`t worry, our campaign will be successful...Soon MZTV will be the most popular station in the city...In the world... And now, if you`ll follow me, ladies and gentlemen, we can resume the tour..."

" That," commented Gary a few minutes later, " was weird. It was like she was listening to instructions from somewhere - But I didn`t see an earpiece or anything."

" As you say," Roy agreed, nodding." Weird. And frustrating too. She`s not taking us anywhere near the heart of the station. We haven`t seen the control room, the editing suite, the sound studio...It`s as though we`re just scratching the surface: being shown carefully chosen fragments of something much greater."

" Do you, um, suppose we could look for Tina?" Mark asked hesitantly.

Roy`s eyes showed sympathy He rested his hand on Mark`s shoulder as he said:

" The time isn`t right yet. We have very little to go on - and no evidence at all that anyone here was involved in Tina`s disappearance...Before we do anything else, we need to gather that evidence; find the clues that will lead us quickly to her..."

The tour had moved on as Roy explained this, turning a corner at the far end of the corridor. The guide`s singsong voice faded into the distance as Roy and the children found themselves alone.

" Perhaps," he said, smiling mischievously, " we might search for a couple of those clues right now..."

They backtracked along the corridor until they came to a door which the tour had bypassed. Roy glanced at the kids with eyebrows raised.

" It`s as good as any," Leila said, pushing it open and striding determinedly through.

Instantly she found herself wrapped in clinging fog, which surged aside in a chilling gust of wind. Cold rain began to fall from the dismal sky. Lightning flared once, dazzlingly.

The shock made Leila stumble forward. Roy grabbed her to prevent her from falling. " We`re outside!" she said, aghast. " The door leads nowhere!" She was gasping with the shock of the freezing wind and her unexpected surroundings. " And the weather`s closed in!"

" It`s out back of the studios," Gary swept his hand to indicate the wide expanse wasteland; a desolation of churned soil and piles of rubble. " How come?"

Thunder tumbled across the sky in the lightning`s wake. The rain began coming down more heavily.

" Let`s get inside." Roy hustled the others back through the door. " Um, maybe we should rejoin the tour now. I`ll check the place out myself, later..."

Despite the children`s protests, Roy insisted, and would offer no explanation for his decision...

But they had not seen the security guard patrolling near the boundary fence, Roy thought. The man`s face looked bone-white, and half melted by the rain...

Nor had they noticed the dog walking beside him. A huge beast, wolf-sized, with the reddest, deadliest eyes that Roy had ever seen.

*

Chapter 7:

Roy said nothing of what he`d seen on the journey back across town. It was not that he wasn`t sure: there was no doubt in his mind that there, in the empty back lot of MZTV, he had spotted a man that appeared more dead than alive, and a dog that might have sprung straight out of a horror movie. Nor was he worried that the kids might disbelieve him. He didn`t care one way or the other about that...

What concerned Roy most - and what frightened him again as he thought back to it - was the look of evil in the eyes of both the guard and his animal. A look that was barely human. A dark, sinister, dangerous look.

It was not something that he wanted Leila, Mark or Gary involved with. Much better, Roy thought, if they stayed right out of it while he completed his investigation into Tina`s disappearance. Maybe the Zoffany Studios were connected, or perhaps not. Roy hoped not, because even if he had to return there even once more, that would be once too often as far as he was concerned.

Roy directed the taxi driver to drop Leila and Gary off first. " I`ll phone you when I have some news," he promised, smiling rather thinly as the car pulled away. He wound up the window and avoided looking at Mark`s face.

Mark made no mention of it until they were halfway home. By then, he couldn`t stand the silence any longer.

" What`s wrong?" he asked; adding, before Roy could deny it, " I know something is, so why don`t you tell me?"

Roy tried to bluff his way through by suggesting he had a pile of other work he needed to catch up on; phonecalls to make, meetings with Andy Hitchman about a possible new series of `Case On The Case`, people to interview...But Mark knew that was all a pretence for his benefit. Something had happened back at MZTV that Roy wanted to hide. And if he was not willing to reveal what it was, then, Mark reasoned, it had to have something to do with Tina...

*

They arrived at Mark`s home a few minutes later. Sarah Watkins was already waiting for them on the front porch.

" Gary`s mum must have phoned through." Mark grinned rather sheepishly. " My mother and Mrs Swann rank among the world`s greatest gossips...Sarah will know all about what`s happened today. And she`s bound to invite you in for coffee - and if you`re really unlucky, she`ll offer you a slice of her home-made fruit cake, too. Sorry..."

Roy laughed at the boy`s embarrassment. The cab pulled up and Roy pushed open the door for Mark to step out. He followed.

Sarah was grinning like a lovesick schoolgirl, Mark thought, as he led Roy up the driveway towards the house. " It`s a miracle she hasn`t got her autograph book out already," he added.

" Don`t feel bad about it - TV people like me need fans as much as we need fresh air."

He smiled broadly and shook Sarah Watkins` outstretched hand. " Won`t you come in for coffee?" she invited. " I`d love to hear what you boys have been up to today... Oh, and I have some fruit cake, freshly made. I`ll bet you`re half starved..."

Mark groaned softly as his mother ushered Roy through into the house.

*

It pleased Mark that Roy didn`t lift Sarah`s hopes falsely. He explained that, until he could uncover how Tina had vanished and why, there would be little chance of retracing her movements since then.

" People disappear for all kinds of reasons, Mrs Watkins - and before you say ` But that`s not like Tina` - well, it`s what every parent says when their children don`t come home."

" Do you think she could have been - kidnapped?"

Sarah`s smile had faded as Roy spoke. Now it was gone entirely and the sparkle of tears was back in her eyes. Roy glanced at Mark before answering.

" That`s one possibility, sure. But there are many others. Look, I`ll be honest with you. Mark and Leila and Gary have asked me to investigate this case, and I`m happy to do that to the best of my ability. I have contacts amongst the police, and in plenty of other places, believe me. I can work fast, and I often get results. But I can`t offer any guarantees - no-one can do that, Mrs Watkins, no-one at all..."

" I appreciate your frankness, Mr Case..." She struggled to control her anguish.

" And I know that you`re doing all you can to help find Tina...But it`s so hard, just waiting..."

" Sure it is, but I`ll keep you up to date. And please," he added, " call me Roy."

" Well - " She gave a half-hearted smile, " I will if you call me Sarah..."

Mark felt a strange anger rushing up through his body as Roy and his mother talked. He put his coffee mug heavily down on the table, so both of them looked at him.

" Since you`re being so honest, Roy," Mark said, ignoring Sarah`s disapproving glare, " maybe you`d explain to Mum what scared you at MZTV."

" I don`t know what - "

" You`ve been trying to hide it since we left the studio. What`s going on there that you`re not telling us?"

" Mark, don`t speak to Roy like that!"

" Tell me - come on, Mr Detective, tell me!"

" That`s enough Mark!" Sarah Watkins rose from her seat and made to move forwards. Roy leaned out and clasped her forearm.

" Sarah, it`s OK. The boy`s been through a lot, just as you have." He turned to Mark. " If I knew that something was `going on` at MZTV, I`d tell you both. But I don`t deal in maybes. I hope you`ll accept that, son."

" I won`t accept it. You`re lying to us - you`re lying to us!"

Mark stood up and ran to the door, feeling suddenly very foolish as well as angry and confused. He turned as he reached it and said, quietly but venomously, " And don`t you ever call me your son..."

He slammed the door behind him as he hurried to his room.

*

Mark lay on his bed for a long time, listening to the quiet, steady voices rising up through the floorboards from the living room below. He could not make out what Roy and his mother were saying, but he was able to judge their tone. Roy was calm and reassuring; Sarah grateful and so obviously relieved that now she didn`t have to carry the burden of Tina`s absence alone. Somebody was standing by her...

And that somebody, Mark thought bleakly, isn`t me any longer.

A few minutes later the tone of the adults` voices changed. The lounge door clicked as it was opened.

Mark swung himself off his bed and walked through to the small guest bedroom at the front of the house, which overlooked the drive.

Roy was telling Sarah that he`d hail a cab as soon as he reached the main road. He insisted again that she shouldn`t worry - and that maybe it would be best if he worked on the case alone, from now on. " Kids slow me down," he said lightly.

" So you don`t think the people at the studios would know anything?" Sarah wondered.

" No, I reckon that`s a false trail. But I`ll go down that way tomorrow and ask around. You never know what might turn up."

Mark felt his fists clenching as Roy and his mother said their goodnights. He had no idea why Roy should be hiding something from him - But he knew that he was.

And Mark also knew exactly what he was going to do about it.

*

Chapter 8:

Roy Case stared at the TV screen in his apartment without really seeing it. He was deep in thought, mulling over all that had happened that day. He found himself mentally going through his first meeting with Sarah Watkins. Mark`s attitude concerned him, but Roy understood it and forgave him. He realised that Mark had been the man about the house since his father had walked out, and perhaps now he saw Roy as an intruder, even a rival for Sarah`s affections...

A warm slow smile spread across Roy`s face. Affections? He was probably reading far too much into the situation. Sure, Sarah was a very attractive lady, and seemed not to dislike Roy, if first impressions were to be trusted. But it would be foolish to believe that a chance meeting, a polite exchange of conversation, could develop into something more...Though if it did, Roy knew he would not stop it happening. Because here he was; wealthy, famous, envied - and very lonely.

The smile faded and Roy absently reached for the glass on the table at his side. Now he was thinking about MZTV; not just his glimpse of the security guard and his monstrous dog, but other, smaller things that niggled at his mind...The way the tour guides had been plastered with makeup - `Too good to be true`, as Leila had said - and the way the building itself had appeared almost magically out of the wasteland during the past few months. The shining steel and glass also seemed too good to be true. And why had Zoffany built his studios there, right out of town, amidst the wreckage and rubble of the past? And who was Max Zoffany anyway? Roy had checked with Andy and some of his other TV friends, and nobody - nobody - had ever heard of the man.

" Questions, questions, questions..." Roy whispered to himself as he finished his drink and glanced at his watch. Plenty of questions, but no answers yet. And what had started out as a simple case of tracking down a missing girl was turning into a much deeper, much darker mystery.

It was half-past nine in the evening. Roy knew that the only way to pick up some leads was to return to the Zoffany studios and look around on his own terms. He figured that the building would be largely deserted by now, with perhaps just a small night staff on duty, and one or maybe two security men. He`d sneaked into places plenty of times before, but realised he was hesitating on this particular occasion.

On an impulse, Roy stood up and strode into the hallway for his jacket and car keys. He snatched them off the hall table and stood for a second, his attention caught by the reflection of his own face in the mirror; a face that showed determination and confidence to be sure, but also a surprising depth of fear.

*

He parked two blocks from the studios and walked the rest of the way to Hob`s Lane. The streets were deserted, as Roy had expected them to be. A few ancient streetlamps cast sparse dismal circles of amber light along the pavement. At the far end of the block, the MZTV building stood like a great glass headstone in the dead wilderness, its many windows glinting in the upward-slanting beams of a single powerful spotlight.

Roy kept to the shadows, which was easy to do as he made his way quickly and silently to the gate in the chainlink fencing that bordered Zoffany`s land. Upon reaching the gate, he saw the padlock lying at his feet: it had been sawn cleanly through. He picked it up and hefted its weight in his hand while he considered his options...

It looked as though someone had broken in earlier; but who, and why? Either that, or this was a clever trap, perhaps set for Roy himself. Maybe he`d been recognised on the tour as the famous TV detective, and Zoffany anticipated his return. If that was true, then Zoffany certainly had something to hide.

Roy placed the padlock back on the ground and eased himself through the metal gateway. His eyes by now had adjusted to the darkness. He could make out the jagged hills of old brickwork; the rusted iron girders thrusting up from the soil like the skeletal remains of some vast prehistoric beast; tangles of wire and scattered spars of wood - all that now remained of whatever had stood here in the past. No light was showing from any of the windows in the studio building, so maybe, Roy thought, his luck was in.

His plan was to enter by the doorway Leila had stumbled through earlier. That would lead him right to the heart of the studio. Roy squinted as he picked his way carefully over the tumbled ground - then fell back with a cry as a dark shape rose up in front of him and grabbed hold of his jacket.

For a few dreadful seconds, all of Roy`s childhood nightmares surged back through his mind: those early fears of the dark and the monsters it contained. His arms flailed out as he struggled to dislodge the clinging thing from his body...

Then cool reason flooded through him. He stopped struggling, realising that whoever this person was, he was terrified, much more frightened than Roy was.

" Hey, take it easy. It`s Ok, it`s - "

The person looked up at him and Roy`s eyes widened.

" Mark!" he said, in utter shock. " What the hell are you doing here?"

*

Crouched down behind a hillock of rubble, Roy listened as Mark told his story... After Roy had left the house, Mark had disbelieved his promise to help. " I guessed you thought the case wasn`t important enough to investigate," Mark said with a trembling smile. " You said there were no leads here at MZTV - but I knew there must be, so I decided to search the studio myself. I cut through the lock with a hacksaw and started to head for the building...But then - I saw - "

" What did you see?" Roy asked gently. The boy wiped at his eyes roughly with the back of his hand. Roy reached out and clasped his shoulders. " It`s OK to be afraid, Mark...This place is enough to spook anyone. It sure spooks me!"

Mark chuckled at the tone of the man`s voice. Roy went on: " You did a brave thing, you know - no really," he added, as Mark shook his head. " Courage is doing what you fear to do, and it scared you to come here - "

" I had to. This is where Tina disappeared, I know it is!"

" We don`t know, not yet," Roy said softly. " But since we both have our suspicions, and since we both turned up tonight - maybe we`d better work together in finding some answers. What d`you say?"

Mark stared hard at the man`s face, searching for sincerity and finding it there. He nodded, holding out his hand for Roy to grasp in a firm grip of friendship.

" Now," Roy said, " tell me what you saw..."

" It was over there." Mark pointed beyond the rubble heap. " Maybe I`d better show you."

They made their way around the heap to a place where the ground dipped, sloping away towards the studio building. Roy glanced at the hollow, then looked about himself uneasily. The night was absolutely still; the sky a gloomy overhang of cloud, faintly underlit by the distant glow of the city centre.

" Something was moving in the earth," Mark said simply, his voice flat. " I saw it - something huge making the soil heave upwards..."

Roy opened his mouth to challenge it -

But no words came from his suddenly tightening throat.

The ground was moving, just as the kid had said. The whole crater floor seemed to be rippling, lifting upwards into a vast dome of dirt and rocks...

Then the dome split in a hail of small stones and fragments, and from out of it rose huge black girders that surged closer and locked together in a clanging cacophany of sound, like the work of invisible giants. Hundreds of bricks followed after, each one glowing a dull red, as though fresh from the kiln. They flung themselves at the towering structure of metal, miraculously tumbling into place to form bare walls. Then unbroken sheets of glass slid from the soil and flew upwards, spinning in the night, fitting neatly into the newly-created window spaces. Finally showers of rivets, nails, trims, scraps and fragments swept into the air and whirled around the ediface, rattling and tinkling on the metal and brick and glass until each one could slot perfectly into place.

Both Roy and Mark had hunkered down instinctively to avoid being hit, and had so far escaped harm. But now, out of the ground, burst a geyser of intense blue flame that sprayed against the framework, licking it over with fire.

In seconds the heat became unbearable.

Mark shrieked in pain. Roy grabbed his arm and began dragging him away. If only they could make it to shelter nearby...But the boy was dead weight, too shocked to run.

" Come on, help yourself Mark!" Roy yelled. " We just need to - "

Something slammed into the side of his head, sending him sprawling to the ground.

The world spun and tumbled, and bright wet stars exploded across Roy`s vision. He tried to focus, tried to stand...But a leather-gloved hand pushed him back.

" Mark!" he shouted, fearing for the boy`s safety.

The security guard`s face loomed into view. Dull white bone was visible where the parchment skin had dried and dropped away. The thing had no ears at all, and no lips: its smile was fixed and skull-like...

But most remarkable of all were the creature`s eyes, flashing and flaring like crazy TV screens, as the guard bore down for the kill.

*

Chapter 9:

Roy punched upward without thinking, his fingers crunching on hard bone. The skeleton-man was momentarily stunned, but seemed to feel no pain; and an instant later began forcing its head closer to Roy`s face, its mouth opening wide.

Roy let out a grunt of desperation and sheer effort as, instead of trying to force the creature away, he pulled it closer - bringing his legs up under his opponent`s stomach, rolling backwards to pitch the attacker over his head.

The security guard sailed through the air for several yards and came to land in a sprawl of sticklike limbs amongst a tumble of broken bricks. It struggled feebly, attempting vainly to right itself and continue the fight.

Roy rolled lightly and came up on his feet, crouched and ready to face another assault; but the eyes of the skeleton-thing were fading, as though its energy was drained. It was beaten.

Roy turned and searched for Mark in the darkness, not spotting him at once because the boy was standing absolutely still, his eyes fixed on two blood-red pinpoints glowing from the top of a rubble heap.

And behind the points of light came a low, menacing snarl.

" Mark - " Roy said in a harsh whisper. " Don`t move!" Then he realised what a stupid comment that was: obviously the kid was too terrified to move - or sensible enough to realise that, if he did, the savage guard dog would attack.

Slowly, gradually, Roy bent at the knees and eased himself down, never taking his eyes from those terrible glaring lights as he searched for a weapon; a rock, a length of metal, even a piece of wood - anything that might possibly be of use against this monster.

The rumbling growl came again, followed by a tiny clattering of stones from the top of the pile.

Oh my God, Roy thought, it`s ready to pounce!

His fingers found a brick half buried in the earth. He grasped and pulled, and felt it loosen like a tooth drawn from a rotten jaw.

The dog`s blazing eyes shifted and its growling rose in pitch.

Roy stood upright, drew back his arm and hurled the brick through the air as the creature suddenly sprang. He heard the dull thud of it striking the animal`s body, the angry snarling becoming a shrill yelp of pain.

Then he was blinded. A swathe of light cut through the night and illuminated the gigantic dog in full flight. It was vast, maybe twice the size of the largest Doberman Roy had ever encountered; its almost-hairless skull and body was greyish, the colour of old lead. Its crushing jaws were packed with razor teeth.

Roy registered this in a split-second, before the beast twisted, arching back in agony, its body all at once erupting into a ball of yellow flame which faded swiftly to leave a spiralling swirl of shadows and a few scraps of charred skin, which drifted away on the breeze.

*

Mark swung his torch towards Roy and dazzled him all over again.

" Wow!" he breathed, " it`s just like the Power Scimitar in `Mutant Wars`..."

Roy gave a great shuddering sigh of relief. He walked over to Mark and ruffled his hair.

" Whatever it`s like, it saved our lives." He glanced over at the motionless security guard, and then at a paper-thin fragment of the dog`s burned remains: its edges were glowing with sparks, slowly fading.

" They`re creatures of the night, Mark. Light must be deadly to them."

" We must remember that the next time we come here..."

" Now wait just one minute, young man - " Roy began. Mark waggled the torch and smiled.

" Uh-uh, Roy. You said yourself that we should work together to find some answers. Well, I reckon all we`ve done is bring up a whole new pile of questions. Besides, with enemies like those, I think you need all the help you can get!"

" I can`t argue with that," Roy agreed, chuckling. " And you`re right, of course; we do need to check out MZTV more thoroughly...But in the daylight. For now, I think I ought to get you home."

They hurried as quickly as they could back towards the boundary fence, then along the streets to where Roy`s car was parked. Roy revved up the engine, flicked on the headlights and started to drive away.

" Oh, my bike, " Mark remembered as the car built up speed. He pointed out through the windscreen. " I left it up here at the end of the street."

Roy made a small expression of annoyance, but slowed anyway as he caught sight of the bicycle. " OK, you pick it up. The boot`s unlocked."

Mark clambered out of the car and hurried round to the rear. He lifted open the boot lid and turned to retrieve the bike...

Roy spotted the black dog in the same instant, moving swiftly and silently towards them. It was fully as large as the one they`d destroyed in the wasteland: as large, and equally deadly. With a cunning that Roy found hard to believe, the creature was carefully avoiding the cones of yellow streetlight, and the car`s bright headlamp beams. Its awful jaws hung agape in a savage grin.

" Get in the car!" Roy yelled out, realising Mark had left his torch on the dashboard shelf. He fumbled desperately with the gear-shift, intending to manouevre the car to catch the dog in the beams: the gearbox crunched and whined, the car lurched and stalled.

Roy swore and twisted the ignition key in a panic. There was a loud clatter as Mark threw his bike in the boot. then the boy slid back down into the passenger seat, breathless and trembling.

The black dog leaped from ten yards away and crashed into the windscreen.

Mark flung his hands in front of his face, but Roy resisted the impulse. He forced a calming breath, turned the key more slowly, slipped the gearstick into first.

The windscreen was made of toughened glass. It fractured and bowed inwards, but didn`t shatter.

The engine bellowed, high-revving. Roy floored the accelerator pedal and the car jerked forward, tyres spinning on the slick roadstone, smoke spiralling up.

Then the wheels found their grip and the car move quickly away. Mark heard the squeal and slither of great claws scrabbling along the roof. Roy wrenched at the steering wheel; the car`s back end canted sideways and the beast slid away, tumbling into the road.

Mark twisted himself round to see it. The thing rolled in a flail of legs, then righted itself and stood looking after the speeding car, not bothering to give chase. Maybe it can`t, he thought: maybe it must stay close to the wasteland.

Its terrible blood-lit eyes vanished as it turned away into the night.

" Mark." Roy`s voice broke into the boy`s thoughts. " Help me push out this windscreen...Can`t see a damned thing."

Mark leaned forward and thumped at the sheet of flexing glass with the flats of his hands. Roy helped with his left hand. The whole windscreen popped outward after a few moments, the panel slipping down and to the left over the car`s nearside wing.

The cold night chill poured in as Roy reached the end of the street and swung the car round the corner - Into the path of a second security guard, as decayed and menacing as the first.

Unlike the black dog, the guard was unaffected by the headlight beams. He was carrying two long spars of metal, one of which he now hefted like a spear and hurled with great accuracy at the car bearing down.

Roy jerked his head aside. The iron pole whispered past, missing him by an inch, drilling cleanly through the rear windshield to clang into the roadway behind.

" Keep your head low," Roy advised, but Mark`s full attention was fixed on the guard, on that frightening skeleton grin, the gleaming fingerbones, the fizzing silver lightning where its eyes ought to be.

The guard raised the second spar into position.

Roy dropped down a gear and stamped hard on the throttle. The car hit the creature at sixty with a bang. The thing exploded into a whirl of dust and rotting cloth and spinning ribs - except for the head, which bounced up along the bonnet and into the cab.

It landed between Mark and Roy. And Mark gave a groan of disgust to see that the head was still active, the eyes blazing yet, the mouth snapping open and shut as the thing tried to sink its teeth into the flesh of Roy`s leg.

The car was swerving this way and that across the road as Roy tried to swipe dust and particles out of his eyes.

The head rolled to the side against his leg.

With a grimace of pure revulsion, Mark wound down the passenger window, leaned over to pick up the head by its lank, cobwebby hair - and flung it out into the darkness.

*

Chapter 10:

" That," Mark said, looking at the familiar frontage of his own home, " is something I never want to go through again..." He glanced up at Roy.

The man gave a wry chuckle, which faded as he saw that shock and fear were still bright in Mark`s eyes. " Well, the nightmare is not over yet - in fact it`s barely begun." He shrugged. " But we`re still no closer to finding Tina, and it may be that MZTV isn`t even connected with her disappearance."

" But you don`t believe that," Mark said. It was not a question.

" No," Roy answered after a pause. " I don`t believe that at all."

" So I`ll have to go through it again...And maybe much worse, before she`s found."

" Only if you want to."

Mark gave a fragile smile. " Courage is doing what you fear to do."

" But it also takes courage to put your trust in a stranger, as you`re doing with me. No-one will call you a coward if you choose to back out now."

Mark looked away from Roy, along the quiet avenue with its autumn-browned trees and veils of mist hanging motionlessly under the streetlamps. It all seemed so peaceful; the danger so far away...

But then he recalled the odd glinting light in Mr Carpenter`s eyes, and realised that the evil might have crept much nearer to home than Roy or he had suspected.

" I`m not going to back out," Mark said with a quiet determination. " Not until this is over with."

Roy grinned - perhaps with relief, Mark wondered - and the two shook hands.

" OK, that`s great, Mark. But look, keep things to yourself for now. Sarah needn`t know what`s happened; she shouldn`t be more upset than she already is...And it might be wise if you didn`t even tell Gary and Leila. The more people who know, the more likely Zoffany is to hear about it and realise we`re on to him."

" I`ll do my best," Mark agreed. " But it sure is a hard secret to keep to yourself!"

Roy nodded. " It`s a problem, I know - but not as great as the one I`ve got."

Mark frowned. " What`s that?"

" Trying to work out what to say to my insurance company when I put in a claim for this car!"

*

Roy found he could not use his regular parking space outside the apartment block where he lived. During the evening, workmen had evidently been busy digging a trench for some purpose unknown to him. The work was still not complete: a barrier of red-and-white wooden stands bordered the trench, beyond which a long mound of soil still lay. Gas mains perhaps, Roy thought, or the water company repairing a leaking pipe.

He sighed wearily, reversed his car away and parked elsewhere, laughing out loud as he activated the alarm, realising he had no windscreen in place. He tried to remember if he had a beer left in the fridge as he walked towards the front entrance to the block - failing to see the unhealthy, glowing silver light that rose from the trench once his back was turned.

*

Sarah Watkins said nothing which led Mark to believe she knew he`d been out of the house the night before. Today she looked tired, the skin around her eyes a little taut, but seeming brighter than she had been. Mark ran a bath for her, and while she enjoyed it he cooked breakfast and put coffee on to percolate.

She came into the kitchen in her blue bathrobe, her long fair hair mussed up from towelling. Mark felt a little shock tear through his heart for an instant as he realised how much like Tina she looked. Just for that second, it might have been his sister, coming down for breakfast as though nothing was wrong at all.

Mark turned away to lift Sarah`s breakfast plate from under the grill.

" Do you want help with the shopping?" he offered. " There`s nothing left in the fridge..."

He heard the rustle of the bathrobe, and then his mother`s arms were hugging him, her face pressed close into his shoulder.

" I`m sorry Mark," she whispered. " It must be so hard for you...I`ve spent all my time thinking about Tina, and given no thought to your feelings. I don`t know what I would do if you weren`t here..."

Mark turned and put his arm around Sarah`s shoulder and squeezed her, a little roughly because he felt embarrassed now by his mother`s open show of feelings. He also felt what, perhaps, was anger, because Sarah seemed to be suggesting that Mark might walk out like his father had done.

" Let me pour coffee," he said, making it sound like an order. " And eat your eggs and bacon before they get cold..."

*

They went out shopping shortly afterwards. Sarah owned a little red two-door hatchback, which she had bought at a used car lot four years earlier. It was the first big expense they`d been faced with, but a necessary one since Paul Watkins had taken the family saloon.

It was over a mile to the Mall. Normally Sarah might have walked, but as Mark had rightly said, the fridge was empty and the normal business of life - eating regular meals, getting enough sleep - still had to go on. So the plan was to stock up the kitchen with enough food to last for a month.

They parked the car, took a trolley from a long line of them near the store, and pushed it round to the supermarket`s main entrance. They were greeted with what looked like a festival in full swing as they turned the corner.

Mark`s jaw muscles clenched at the sight, and Sarah`s face went pale.

A platform had been set up in the middle of the mall, surmounted by a tent-like canopy, and above that a majestic blue banner. Emblazoned on the banner was the phoenix symbol of MZTV, rising from a bed of silver flames.

A hundred people or more were clustered around the publicity stand. Six or seven MZTV personnel were busily giving out the goodie bags Mark had first seen at the Zoffany studios. They were young people, all very attractive, all smiling, dressed in MZTV T-shirts and caps, laughing and joking with the crowd.

" Oh, there`s Leila and Gary," Sarah Watkins was saying, but Mark was pushing forward through the outer fringes of the crowd for a closer look at the young men and women on the stand.

People all around him shoved and jostled to grab their free bags of merchandise. Many had already done so. A girl almost elbowed Mark in the eye as she struggled into a blue T-shirt. A young kid waved a plastic phoenix toy in his face.

`Hey, man, the world looks great this way!` The voice cracked loudly, close by. Mark turned and saw a husband-and-wife couple wearing MZTV trick spectacles. The flimsy plastic lenses were mirrored to make them look like flashing TV screens.

Mark shuddered and barged rudely past them.

But what caused him the greatest unease was the small group up on the platform. From a distance they did indeed resemble film stars, glamorous and smiling. Closer-to, Mark could see the thick makeup they all wore: greasepaint giving their skins a slightly waxy sheen; hair that looked as though it had been dyed; eyebrows a little too thickly pencilled in; teeth that were just a shade too white and perfect...

The thought slid into Mark`s mind as he remembered last night`s ordeal -

What`s underneath all that makeup? What do those people really look like?

" Hi Mark, how`ya doing?"

Mark turned as Gary flashed a pair of MZTV specs in front of his eyes. He brushed them aside. Two steps behind her brother, Leila made an expression of disapproval at Gary`s antics.

" This is pretty good, eh? You`ve got to admit, MZTV is really trying to grab the public`s attention. There`s all kinds of cool stuff in this bag."

Mark noticed that Leila had no freebie bag in her hand. " I see you`re not tempted..."

She looked past Mark and sneered at the people on the stage. " It`s cheap and nasty. Look at that - even little kids are wearing the stuff - You ought to know better, Gary," she chided him. " Especially after what`s happened."

" We don`t even know MZTV is involved," he countered. " Has Roy been in touch about it?"

" No," Leila admitted. " He hasn`t." She started moving away from the crowd, leaving Gary to it. Mark followed her to a quieter spot where some benches were set facing a stand of ornamental trees. They sat down together.

" He`s really juvenile, sometimes," Leila tutted.

Mark grinned. " Oh, Gary`s OK. He just gets carried away with new things; toys and gadgets. Look how he is with his computer."

" I suppose so." She stared at Mark darkly. " But he`s right about Roy. He hasn`t phoned or anything."

" We only saw him yesterday afternoon..." Mark hesitated. He felt the urge to tell Leila about last night`s encounter at the studios; felt the urge to depend on her, just as Sarah needed to depend on him. But a promise was a promise, so he let the moment pass.

" Anyway," Leila said, waving as she saw Mrs Watkins approaching the supermarket entrance, " how is your Mum?"

Mark shrugged. " Pretending that Tina will walk in through the door at any moment..."

" There`s a difference, you know, between true hope and just kidding yourself. Your mother`s not stupid."

The look in Leila`s eyes, and the expression on her face, were so intense that Mark found he couldn`t bear them. " I`d better go," he told her. " I said I`d help with the groceries..."

He almost stumbled away from her as tears prickled in his eyes - turned and nearly collided with the thing that rushed up towards him.

" MZTV - MZTV - it`s the only one for me!"

Gary was wearing the full kit; blue phoenix T-shirt, cap with logo, shiny badges and decals, and the glasses that made his face look empty and vague. He waggling his head to and fro, singing along to a tape playing on a personal stereo. And even that, Mark noticed, gleamed with a blue metallised finished and the Zoffany Studio logo.

" You got that for free?", Mark wondered, as Gary pushed by him and skipped along, still singing his silly, pointless song.

" Mark, Mark, are you coming with me or not?" Sarah Watkins called from the supermarket`s entranceway.

But Mark was staring after his friend, his face darkening with concern.

" MZTV - MZTV - it`s the only one for me..."

" Gary - Gary!" Mark yelled, while the thought came, quite unbidden - That doesn`t seem like Gary at all.

*

Chapter 11:

After fussing all evening, Leila`s parents at last stepped out into the porch; Mrs Swann drawing her wrap around her shoulders while her husband went to back the car out of the garage. The night was chilly, the streetlights turned into chalky smudges by the heaviest fog that autumn.

" Now we`re only a mile away, so if you need anything - "

" Mum, you`ve said all this." Leila tried hard to keep the impatience out of her voice.

" And you`ve got - "

" Yes Mum, I`ve got the Scotts` number if I need to call you."

" And when Gary comes home - "

" I`ll call you straight away when he turns up."

Mrs Swann smiled in a way that failed to conceal her unease. Gary had not come home from the Mall with his sister and - it was quite unlike him - he hadn`t phoned to say where he was. Leila had contacted Mark first, and then Gary`s other few close friends, but none of them had seen him.

" Well that`s teenagers for you!" Mrs Swann said in sudden frustration, as though forgetting that Leila was exactly the same age as her twin brother.

Leila smiled at that and hugged her mum. " Listen, don`t worry. He`s got involved in some computer game somewhere - probably down The Arcade. Shall I cycle over and - "

" No, don`t do that. I don`t want both of you wandering about on such a foggy night."

" Just enjoy yourself, Mum. You haven`t been to a dinner party in ages."

" How can I enjoy myself, when - "

The loud blare of the car`s horn interrupted them. " Oh, your father gets so impatient!"

Mrs Swann kissed her daughter on the cheek. " Mrs Lumley next door will keep an eye on you."

" Oh, that means she`ll see all the boys arriving with their cans of beer and - "

Leila laughed at her mother`s look of shock.

" Just joking. Have a wonderful time."

She watched her parents drive away, the car`s red taillights dwindling into the fog. She shivered, then went inside.

Although Leila understood her mother`s anxiety over Gary, she didn`t share it. He was just that kind of person; letting himself get carried away with things, just as Mark had said earlier. And her own hunch was probably correct: at that moment Gary was most likely beating everyone`s High Score down on the videogames` machines in The Arcade. He had money in his pocket and would probably take a taxi home.

Leila made herself some toast and coffee, then went through to the lounge. She`d brought a paperback down from her bedroom, but found she couldn`t concentrate, so tossed it on to the side table by the armchair and flicked on the television by using the remote.

The screen shimmered into life, the picture immediately tearing into shreds. Actors` faces twisted and melted, sliding sidways, while the whole image rolled slowly down towards the bottom of the screen.

Leila changed channels, searching first through all of her regular ones, then moving on to scan others she rarely watched. Every one of them showed the same scrambled screen; a picture savaged by lightnings, and hissing static spitting from the speakers.

She dropped the remote in irritation, wondering if the aerial cable had come loose. That would explain the loss of picture...Or maybe it was just the fog, or something.

She pushed herself out of the armchair and walked across the room to the TV in the corner. She leaned over the set, smelling its dry plasticky heat, and peered behind.

The black aerial cable had indeed come loose: Leila could see the metal connector lying on the carpet. But - and her skin crawled as she noticed this - another cable had been fitted into the TV. This one had a blue flex, while the connection socket was a bright and gleaming silver.

She reached towards it -

And the new blue cable writhed like a snake at her touch.

She screamed once, briefly, before a wave of tingling energy flung her backwards, sprawling onto the carpet.

Leila`s head spun, her body echoing painfully with the shock. Through a haze of dizziness she saw the cable thrashing about at the back of the TV, its other end vanishing down through the floor; while on the screen a blizzard of pixels swarmed behind the glass.

Then they seemed to sweep together, whirling into a ghostly form which reached out to her with hands as vague and pale as the October fog outside.

A face took shape, composed of snowy dots. The eyes, lost and terrified, were made of flickering particles.

`Leila`, it said, like the whispering of dust at the window, `Leila, help me...`

" Gary!" The cry broke like the crack of a dry stick from the girl`s throat. She struggled to stand, took a faltering step towards the screen - Then stopped as she saw, or imagined she saw, the dreadful dark shadow hovering behind Gary`s phantom form. It was a shadow dragged from some unimaginably cold and evil place: a shadow that did not belong here, on this world where people lived and the sun shone. It came from elsewhere, an alien thing.

" Oh, Gary, no..."

As the image of her brother wavered, its almost-voice pleading mournfully from far away, Leila backed slowly towards the living room door. She had no idea what was happening, and hardly any of what she could do about it. But maybe Mark would know. She could trust him. She could rely on him...

Only when her hand touched the jamb of the doorway behind her did Leila feel able to turn her back on the TV screen. Then she started to run the ten yards that would take her out of the house and to safety.

Halfway along the hall was the telephone table, and beside that a door beneath the stairs, that led down to the cellar...

A needle of brilliant light was blazing from the keyhole of that door; and even as Leila watched, the angle of the light shifted; there came a busy rustling against the wood - and then the door burst outwards in a blinding cascade of white light.

*

The light washed towards Leila and crashed over her - and through her - tingling along every nerve, spilling a kaleidoscope of pictures into her brain. She screamed again for a second time, feeling her senses slipping away, panicking now that she would be drawn down into this nightmare and be turned into a faint and pathetic ghost, as her brother had been.

Only the dread of that happening lent her the strength to fight back. Like someone drowning in a stormy sea, Leila battled through the dazzling, hissing chaos, gave a final desperate push -

And staggered clear of the light on its far side.

She looked back briefly. The radiance was now splashing against the walls, up as high as the hallway ceiling, churning like glowing foam across the floor. And more of it was pouring up from the cellar in shining clouds, followed by an even greater brightness, if that were possible.

A brightness in the shape of a man.

There was a face somewhere deep amidst the incandescence; and eyes, and a voice that was trying to speak to her. But there was no heart, and no human soul in that light. Right at the core of it, she knew, lay the Shadow...

Leila didn`t listen to the words of the Shadow whispering softly in her mind. Instead she wrenched open the front door and ran out into the night.

Her immediate aim was just to get away, but beyond the porch she saw Gary`s bike leaning against the side fence where he`d left it - and for once she blessed his carelessness that had left the bike unlocked.

She heaved it round, leaped on to the saddle and sped down the driveway, her feet churning the pedals, her leg muscles burning with the effort.

At the bottom of the drive, as she brought the bike round in a controlled skid to face up the street, Leila glanced over her shoulder. The whole house was ablaze with the silver fire, which streamed from every window and chink, streaking in all directions until it faded into dense, pearly distances.

And as she watched, just a moment later, a spark seemed to snap in the house next door - the Lumleys` home - and the same light erupted inside.

Trembling, Leila pumped more energy into her legs to increase her speed. The bike`s tyres sizzled on the night-damp road; her hair streamed out behind her and the cold air burned icily against her face. She had never cycled so fast in her life...

But even so, the light kept pace, leaping like flame from house to house; filling each house in a second, so that Leila`s speeding shadow was stamped anew, moment by moment, on the tarmac.

The end of the street was in sight now, and beyond that lay the busy main road: there she would find people, traffic, police patrol cars...

Leila put on a final spurt - and so was quite unable to stop when a manhole cover in the road ahead exploded upwards and spun like a dull coin high in the air.

And from out of the hole rose a mass of writhing, glowing cables - one of which snaked quickly towards her and entangled itself amongst the spokes of the bicycle`s front wheel.

*

Chapter 12:

Leila felt a savage jolt. The bike stopped instantly, pitching her over the handlebars. There was an instant`s dizziness and fear, and then she slammed hard, on her left side, into the roadway.

Pain flared through her like fire, followed by the secondary discomfort of the bike tumbling over her back, coming to rest a few feet away, the wheels spinning lazily.

Leila curled around the agony in her left arm, becoming aware that the tangle of silvery cables was moving towards her - one cable extending more quickly than the others, reaching for her face. For her eyes.

She tried to twist herself clear, whimpering as she moved her arm, and confused now because the night was filling with light and a roaring sound that suddenly stopped -

Then there were voices - voices she knew - and clattering footsteps.

Hands hooked themselves under her arms and began to drag her clear. She saw Roy Case, a horrified look on his face, leap for the wriggling cable. He grabbed it as you might grab hold of a dangerous snake, heaved it around to the gutter and thrust it deep into the drain.

A spectacular flash lit up the night, and a sound like water poured onto a hotplate. Showers of blue sparks sprayed high into the air, like fireworks. Leila watched them in a kind of wonder as they reached the apex of their flight, and started then to drift quietly down; fading one by one until all but a few were extinguished. Then those too, the brightest ones, blinked out...

Ten left...six...two...

The final spark faded and Leila`s mind turned toward a warm and welcoming darkness.

*

She woke to see Mark`s worried face in front of her. It rippled liquidly, as though she was seeing it through water. She tried to smile, to show him she was all right - that she had survived. But somehow her body seemed distant and strange, and she wasn`t sure if the smile had worked properly at all.

Mark turned and spoke some words. They were plain and simple words, but oddly difficult to understand right now.

Leila tried to see who he was talking to...The blackness was moving in and out, all around her. Someone else spoke then, with a deeper voice, but equally concerned for her, it appeared.

A cool hand pressed against her forehead. " She`s blacking out again," the voice said - And Leila felt elated to recognise it as Roy`s.

Then the blackness moved in so far it covered her completely; hands, feet, eyes, thoughts...Everything.

She snapped awake, realising things had changed. Now she was inside somewhere, but could still see out into the street. Various people were walking about, and a police patrol car was parked nearby, its red-and-blue warning lights flickering. Another car had been positioned side-on, to block the roadway. Police officers seemed to be searching front gardens with flashlights.

Leila shifted herself for a better view, and found that she was lying on a soft surface - a bed - and had been covered by a light metallic sheet that crackled as she moved. Her left arm would not move at all: it had been strapped securely to her side.

" Leila - " Mark said.

The world bounced softly as Mark stood up in the ambulance. A paramedic standing just outside the open rear doors stepped in. Roy followed just afterwards.

" She`s come round...Leila, are you OK?"

She turned to look at Mark, wincing at a new twinge in her shoulder.

" I`m..." She observed herself carefully as she said it. " I`m fine...And have I got a story to tell you!"

Roy leaned over her, beaming. " Glad you`re back with us, honey...But wait just a moment. I have a few friends who would like to listen to that story just as much as I would."

He disappeared for a moment, then returned with two uniformed policemen.

" Leila, this is Sergeant Holmes." Roy indicated the older of the two, then pointed to the younger officer, who stood behind Holmes by the door. " And this is Officer Connor."

" We were patrolling along the North Road," Holmes told Leila. His rather lined and leathery face wrinkled into a reassuring smile. " We saw some strange flashes of light above the houses here - and at just about the same time all hell broke loose on the radio-telephone. Isn`t that right, Bob?"

Officer Connor nodded briskly, pushing a shaky hand through his straight dark hair. He looked strained and tired by the evening`s events.

" Right enough, Sarge. People were phoning headquarters from all over the city, reporting similar unusual flares and flashes. At first we thought something had happened at the Power Company - but they were as much in the dark as we were..."

Holmes chuckled. " `In the dark` says it all. No-one seems to know what`s been going on."

" So it`s very important you try to remember eveything that happened to you, Leila," Roy said, sitting on the edge of the bed. " Because unless we can fully understand this mystery, it`s bound to get worse."

" I`ll do my best," Leila answered. She frowned. " But how come you arrived just as that - " She laughed brittly as she remembered. " - that cable got caught in my bike wheels?"

" It was me." Mark looked a little self-conscious as he said it. " I was worrying about Gary, after you called me...I was worrying about you too, Leila. I phoned Roy, and we decided to drive round to, um, tell you a few things..."

Leila noticed Mark`s expression as he glanced at Roy; as though they shared a secret between them that nobody else knew about, not even Sergeant Holmes.

" Anyway, as we pulled into the street, we saw what was happening."

" You were just in time..." Leila`s voice was very quiet, and trembling as she recalled her experience in the house. " If the cable had reached me - touched me - I might have turned into...into..."

" It`s all right." Roy squeezed her hand. " Start right at the beginning, and take it slowly. You`ve got all the time in the world..."

After she had finished, there was a long silence. Police officers and a few paramedics were still searching gardens and houses along the street, but it was clear that the examination had revealed no explanation. People were starting to pack up and leave. One or two cars were driving away into the drifting fog.

It was obvious to Leila that Sergeant Holmes and the younger cop hadn`t believed a word of it. And indeed, even as she`d related her vision of Gary`s ghostly face on the TV screen, and then that terrible creature of light coming out of the cellar, it sounded incredible to Leila also. If she had not been able to glimpse the dead cables lying in a charred sprawl outside the ambulance, she`d have admitted the whole thing was nothing more than a dreadful nightmare.

But the cable was there, jumbled like a burned and monstrous octopus, the ends disappearing down through the manhole into the road. And she had seen Gary`s face - or something like it - and the Shadow had reached out and touched her soul with its black and icy finger.

" I did not make this up," Leila added, her voice now strong and determined.

" Sarge," Officer Connor interrupted, " I guess we`ve got to believe the girl..." He had just finished speaking to another policeman who`d whispered something up to him from outside.

Holmes`s craggy brow furrowed. " How come?"

" Because Officer Grove tells me the search teams have been through every house in the street - and nobody was found in any of them. They`ve all vanished, Sarge. Every single man, woman and child has disappeared..."

*

Roy Case pulled up outside his apartment block with a sigh. He did not like the hire-car he`d rented, but his own would be under repair for a week or more. Mark, sitting beside him, looked pale and weary at the end of this long day. In the rear seat, Leila was already asleep.

" We`ll wake her in a few minutes," Roy said. " Let`s go up and check my flat first - let`s check the whole block, come to that."

It took twenty minutes, and in that time Roy and Mark asked most of the residents if they`d seen or heard anything unusual. All seemed quiet.

As they came out through the lobby and began walking towards Roy`s car, two other cars turned off the roadway and drew up. Sarah Watkins stepped out of one, Carl and Renata Swann, Leila`s parents, from the other.

Roy sighed again. He had suggested the plan himself, though wondered now if he`d live to regret it.

" Let me help you with your cases..." He turned towards Sarah, but Mrs Swann reached him first and thrust a heavy, bulging suitcase into his hands. Of course, it would be much safer this way, but -

" We`ll have to arrange a rota for the bathroom," Mrs Swann was saying. " And to do the washing up...But we all agree, Mr Case, it`s much better if we stay together until this terrible business is over: obviously something has come into our home and taken my little Gary away..."

She started to sniffle. Carl Swann offered his wife a handkerchief and shook his head slowly.

Roy sighed for a third time and struggled back towards the apartment block, the vast suitcase banging painfully against his shins.

*

Chapter 13:

Everyone went to bed late that night, once the apartment had been rearranged to house so many people. Roy, Mark and Leila were the last to turn in; the two youngsters had just finished washing up the supper plates. Mark draped the tea towel over its rail by the cooker, stretched his arms and yawned. Leila dropped the last few knives and forks into the cutlery drawer.

" I feel so useless," she said, glancing at her injured left arm. The paramedic who`d treated her said the limb had to be kept strapped up for a week at least.

Mark shrugged. " No need. I don`t mind washing up - though if you ask me to cook it`d be a different story!"

" I wouldn`t inflict that on anyone," Leila chuckled, again disconcerting Mark by the warmth and brightness of her smile. He did not know - and had never known - quite how to handle that smile; and was almost glad of the excuse to look away as the door opened and Roy came in. He was wearing slippers and a dressing gown, and looked utterly unlike the famous TV detective people were so used to seeing on screen.

" Is Mum OK?" Mark wondered.

" She`s fine; sleeping now," Roy said. " And I`ve just left your parents, Leila. I assured them that I`d spare no effort in finding Gary, just as I won`t rest until we find Tina safe and well...And to be honest, I think that when we discover one, we`ll also discover the other. They`ve both been taken by the same thing - by the same force."

" Max Zoffany Television..." Leila said it as though the words tasted foul in her mouth.

Roy nodded. " Or whatever is using MZTV as a cover to draw people into its trap. Because it`s quite clear that something terrible is happening in Kenniston - something that`s centred around MZTV, but which is quickly spreading."

" All over the city?"

" Not quite, not yet...Sergeant Holmes was saying that the street where you live, Leila, has been the worst affected. It was almost as if the force, or whatever was controlling that force, was chasing you - "

" Because I suspect the link with Zoffany?"

" Could be," Roy said. " And it would also account for your unpleasant experience with the Carpenters next door, Mark. Maybe they were keeping an eye on you, to see how our investigation progressed..."

" So why did lots of people vanish tonight?" Mark wanted to know.

" For reasons we don`t yet understand - "

" And why," Leila came in, " hasn`t the force that came after us tried to capture you, Roy, or worse?"

Roy Case grinned unexpectedly, surprising them both. " You`d make great detectives," he said. The smile waned. " And you will need to be, in the days to come. Because, now that Gary has gone also, the job is too big for me to handle alone."

" But the police - " Mark began.

" Are already rushed off their feet with this wave of disappearances. Besides, you heard TonyHolmes and Connor: they don`t believe a word of it. Nobody will believe us, until it`s far too late. So, tomorrow we`ll take things a step further. I`ll take you with me to SBTV: there`s some equipment I want to pick up, and we`ll also have chance to discuss our plans..."

" Mum`ll be happy, knowing I`m in safe hands."

" My parents too," Leila said. She stared at Roy. " But you didn`t answer my question - How come the force hasn`t attacked you yet?"

Roy walked over to the worktop, opened the coffee jar and tipped two heaped spoonfuls of coffee granules into a mug.

" I have no idea," he admitted. " Though I guess I`ll stay up awhile longer yet, and think about it..."

*

Next day dawned sunny and fine, the cl