Megabyte was tired. He had thought it cleaver to get two jobs instead of one when his dad told him that it was about time that he earned his money, rather that expecting it to be provided for him. Only he tried to do his jobs concurrently, delivering pizzas in two cities, Montpelier and London. Usually it was easy, providing that he didn't get the time, money or pizzas confused, but today he had managed all three. On top of that he had thought someone had stolen his London bike from where he had hidden it, teleportation being a much quicker and less risky mode of transport. Fortunately it had been returned to the pizza shop by someone who had finally had enough of finding it in his hedge. Megabyte had endured an earful from one of his bosses, but had been pleasantly surprised not to lose his job. Those commendations he had received previously for speedy delivery of unusually hot pizzas had saved him.

It was a cool evening in London, and just as he was about to dip into an alley to teleport he remembered that he had promised his dad that he would look after dinner. His jobs had increasingly acted as aversion therapy towards pizza, but his personal culinary skills had never been anything to boast about, so he thought of the nearest takeaway of a different kind, The Taj Mahal half way to his house using for once his feet. As he was sauntering down the street he became engrossed pondering on why all Indian takeaways appear to be the called The Taj Mahal, and whether they were part of some secret chain, when someone, whom he didn't really catch sight of pressed something into his hand.

'Gee thanks,' was his automated reply, which he gave to anyone who gave him anything in the street. He slipped it into his coat pocket and carried on.

When Megabyte got home he found a hastily scribbled note pinned to the fridge by a magnet in the shape of a rhinoceros. It simply said 'Have to go away, will call later, Dad'. Megabyte looked with dismay at all the food he had bought. Even he didn't think he would be able to manage it all on his own. His first thought was an evening in with Adam, but he turned him flatly down, citing a much more important urgent engagement in Acorn Road. Jade was none to keen either, but after a bit of persuasion she came. In many ways she had already become more of a little sister to him than Millie, who although the mileage separation was irrelevant seemed to want to have little to do with him.

'I don't think much of your selection,' remarked Jade as both of them undid the foil cartons and scooped out the food, which was already way past its best. 'A bit stingy with the rice.'

'Well have some of mine then.' Megabyte just threw a few grains over her, they both laughed, and then ate as much, or to be more precise as little as they wanted.

'Hey I picked up a CD in Vermont today that you might like.'

Jade groaned. Their musical tastes did overlap, but Megabyte was still notorious amongst them all for his. He went out to the hall to his jacket, but the first thing he found was what he had been given in the High Street. Looking at it properly for the first time he could found it was a gold wrapped bar, about ten centimetres long. Pealing off the paper revealed chocolate in a rather gooey state.

'Perfect for dessert,' he said to Jade when back in the kitchen. He broke off a rather small piece which he handed to her, dropping the wrapper. Jade bit into it and her face instantly screwed up.

'Ugh! It tastes like grit.'

'What do you mean - it's the best chocolate I've ever tasted,' replied Megabyte, who had already stuffed the last part of his large piece into his mouth.

'Well you'd better have it all then,' Jade continued, throwing her gnawed portion at him. He came after her and they ended up in a heap on the floor. Then Jade received the biggest shock she had experienced since breaking out.

'Oh Jade, I do love you.'

Megabyte was squeezing her tightly, his lips heading for her mouth.

Before becoming a Tomorrow Person, Jade had experienced a bit of a crush on Megabyte, but had long grown out of it, not saying though that she was still very fond of him. However there was some look about him that she had never seen before, indicating that he was not playing, and for the first time she was afraid of him. She looked around to see if she could find something to bring him to his senses, and she reached over to the stove.

Maybe she had wielded that frying pan just a little too heavily. Still it had given the desired effect of warding Megabyte off. Slowly he rose from the floor, slowly rubbing the top of his head.

'Why on earth did you do that?'

'You mean you don't know? I have to explain it to you?'

'All I remember is giving you some chocolate, and then being hit over the head.'

Jade filled him in on the recent events, and Megabyte apologised for his seemingly involuntary actions.

'Chocolate has never had that effect on me before.'

'Didn't your mother ever tell you not to accept gifts from strangers,' Jade philosophised, picking up the discarded wrapper. For the first time both of them noticed that there was something written on the inside. Smoothing out the crumples she read out loud, 'We love you.'

'Hmm, seems I got the message all right,' remarked Megabyte.

'Well I don't like the thought that there will be others out there going through the same thing as me - and you,' Jade added the last part as an afterthought, as she continued to realise more fully that he was just as much a victim than she had been. 'I wonder why it had no effect on me. Now where did you say you got it?'

'I'm not sure. Somewhere down the High Street. I doubt if they're still there.' Megabyte wasn't at all interested in going out in the cold winter weather. Jade however didn't keen to wait.

'Just get your coat on.'

'It's even colder than I thought, and I don't have any gloves,' complained Megabyte, as they were walking from the park, where they had considered it safest to teleport.

'Stop whining and tell me where we should be going.'

'I think it was somewhere between the Oxfam Shop and Poundstretcher.'

They walked between these two shops looking carefully in all the doorways.

'I told you no-one would be out here at this time - least of all people with any sense. They're all inside in the warm.'

'I suppose you're right,' sighed Jade, not liking to admit it. 'Although do people with any sense give away wacky chocolate?' As they were walking back though she noticed something glistening from the light of the sodium street lamps in an otherwise empty shop window. Peering inside she recognised the bars.

'Hey look here's the chocolate.'

'Humph.' This time it was Megabyte who was trying to hide being wrong. 'But why would chocolate be displayed alone in a window?'

They both looked again at the shop, if it was a shop, because it wasn't clear what it was selling, apart from the chocolate, which going by their evidence was being given away. Only a leatherette covered desk, clear apart from a dial telephone, and two cracked plastic chairs were visible. Towards the left hand side was a doorway leading to the back, closed with plastic strips. No name was visible anywhere.

'This place couldn't have been fitted out for twenty or thirty years, yet I don't remember seeing it here before. Still there's no point staying around now.'

'We could ring the bell. It says so here.' Jade pointed to a dimly illuminated bell-button with the legend "push me".

'Ring the bell? Follow the instructions?' asked Megabyte. 'Excuse me, but isn't that very Alice in Wonderland? We'll probably just get the White Rabbit.'

'Well there's only one way to find out,' retorted Jade. Her finger went up towards the bell-push; she then hesitated whether it was a good idea, and when she'd decided there was no option she stabbed it firmly. Neither of them heard any sound.

'See it's broken like everything else in there.'

'Wait. It could have rung upstairs, or out the back or something.'

'Yeah. Just let me know.' Megabyte's patience had finally worn out. He took a quick look around then, and after verifying that there was nobody looking, teleported back home.

'Oh Megabyte,' Jade sighed telepathically, 'Couldn't you have waited just a while?' At that moment she heard a faint rustle, and turning round she saw the plastic dividing strips at the back of the shop had been parted, and a small man was approaching the shop door. It wasn't until he had opened it that Jade could see any features; he appeared to be in his mid 20s, with slightly greasy tangled hair, kept slightly in place by a sweatband. His clothes were strictly from some army surplus store. He peered through the grimy door and then opened it slowly.

'Are you expected?'

'Yes,' replied Jade confidently.

'Come in. Be loved.'

Following the man through the doorway Jade felt a shudder but soon forgot that as she was so surprised by what she saw. Instead of the tatty interior she had observed from the outside she was met by a room with a black and white marble floor, with the walls covered by what appeared to be medieval tapestries, looking somewhat like a cross between a bank and an art gallery

'You're wondering why things look so different in here?'.

'No, I guess what you could see from the outside was some form of hologram,' replied Jade, trying to sound offhand, but hoping she would still get the proper answer anyway.

'Yes, something like that,' he replied, glad for once he didn't need to make up something.

'What should I call you?'

'We don't have names here. I am your Guide; you are my Follower.'

'Oh right, er Guide, where are we going?'

'To meet the others.'

Megabyte was feeling a little guilty leaving Jade. He tried to telepath to her, but she seemed to be unreachable for reasons he could not understand; it certainly didn't feel like the voluntary mind-blocking that was adopted by all Tomorrow People to give themselves a reasonable amount of privacy, which certainly he felt now trying to contact Adam . He sighed, knowing that he would have to go back afer all. In less than a fifth of a second he was once more outside the door of the shop. He rang the bell and waited. Nothing happened. After five minutes he started banging on the door, which served only to hurt his knuckles. Finally he realised he would have to teleport inside.

Jade went through the door at the back. It opened out into a long passageway, with more tapestries on one side, and opaque glass on the other. Jade knew that this couldn't possibly have been contained within the boundaries of the shop she had seen from the outside.

'I can see that you are tired,' said the Guide. 'You can rest in here and meet the others later.' He parted one of the tapestries, revealing a door, and gestured for Jade to enter. As she did so he closed the door swiftly behind her. The decor here was chain motel, but looking round she realised that many of the fixtures were shams, as though she was inside some three dimensional picture. he bed seemed real enough though, so she flopped out, and tried to contact Megabyte. It was her turn to find that impossible, to Megabyte or anyone else. She was torn between wanting to stay and find out what was going on, and her increasing fear that she wouldn't want to know if she did find out, at least while she was on her own. Finally she decided that it was best to leave. She was surrounded by yellow light as she disappeared. She then reappeared on the other side of the room. Three further attempts were just as futile. Then she tried the door, which was locked electronically. Jade sank to her knees, her back to the door. Unlike Megabyte she had no power over these, so she would just have to wait.

Somewhere someone was watching Jade's escape attempts on a pocket-sized screen with a puzzled expression. He had been right to protect the waiting rooms with a psionic energy reflector, and was pleased to find that the Selectors had found their first teleporting specimen, but he could not understand why she wanted to escape. Still he too could wait.

Megabyte looked around the shop. If anything it was a dingier inside than it had appeared from the outside. Parting the plastic strips had revealed only a small storeroom, containing a few old scattered boxes and newspapers. He rifled though a few of these, but thirty year old news was of no interest at the moment. He sank back in one of the plastic chairs, trying to work out what to do next. He absentmindedly picked up one of the chocolate bars, and before he could think he had eaten over half of it. Suddenly he became aware of what he was doing, and although it took a big effort of will he managed to put the bar down, and spit out what was still in his mouth. Bits of chocolate coated the phone, and Megabyte picked up the handset and wiped it. Curious to find out whether it was connected he then placed it to his ear. Silence, not even a dialling tone. He rattled the rest.

'Number please.'

'What?'

'What number do you require sir?'

He smeared off the dust from the dial to see if it could give him any clues as to what he should say. It was no help as he wasn't sure what RENown 0424 meant.

'Could you put me through to the police please.'

'Putting you through now, sir.'

***

Several faces passed by on his screen, each one considered against a frozen picture of Jade. Even though the chocolate could overcome any incompatibility between future Partners it was always worthwhile seeking a good natural match, firstly by sight, and later by direct mind comparison. The process was interrupted by a red spot flashing in the centre of the picture. Someone had intruded at the interface. The picture changed, showing Megabyte. The Watcher turned round, and extracted a small metal cylinder from the pockets on his kaftan and twisted the top anticlockwise. A red gas poured out of the mouthpiece enveloping Megabyte, who had no time to think of anything, let alone to have the peace of mind to teleport away. He collapsed, scattering the chairs, although no noise came directly from him.

***

Jade started pounding on the door. She had figured that she was probably under some kind of surveillance, and that she had little to gain in waiting for whatever passed as normal here to happen to her. It was not long before she was thrown back, as the door was thrust open.

'Why are you doing this? You should be at peace now you have been Chosen.'

'Sorry, Guide, I just don't like being shut in alone. I'd like to meet the others now.'

'That's no problem,' replied the Guide, although he wasn't convinced at all by Jade's explanation. He looked over at the untouched chocolate bars on top of the bedside cabinet, and became even more suspicious. She should have not been able to resist them. It was not just her behaviour that worried him; she appeared much too young to have been chosen. He put his suspicions to the back of his mind as he held the tapestry to enable Jade to leave the room. She stumbled, as the corridor was more dimly lit than before.

'The others are either resting, or loving. I'll take you to the observation room, where you can watch them, and try to pick your partner.'

Now it was Jade who had her suspicions partially confirmed. She wondered how many people had been observing her. It wasn't long before they were at the end of the corridor. The Guide opened the door, and gestured to Jade to enter, following her inside. The room was fitted out like some rather seedy old-fashioned youth club, complete with pool table, table football and a tatty well-worn dart board. Completely incongruously at the far end was an enormous flat screen, currently displaying a picture of a stack of gold chocolate bars.

'If you sit in that chair you can control what you see by moving the spheres in the arms.'

She sat slowly down, half expecting some kind of restraint to pop out of the metal arms, but that didn't happen. She swivelled the orange plastic spheres, and a jumbled collection of images flicked by on the screen. Moving it more slowly the pictures formed clearly. Firstly she saw a long sequence of men, all of them asleep. Superimposed in the corner was a still photograph of their faces, with information scrolling by along the bottom. Jade felt very uneasy as she flicked through this electronic catalogue, mainly because she was guilty that she was enjoying it, at least a little. Sometimes all she got was a jumbled screen, with the words 'access denied - please wait' superimposed. Then she saw a series of images that certainly wouldn't have been allowed by the Independent Television Commission - couples in various stages of making love, and she became increasingly uncomfortable, especially thinking that her reactions to this were probably being monitored.

***

Megabyte was still laying where he had collapsed. Jade's Guide parted the metal strips of the back entrance. Moving over to Megabyte he touched his head with a ball-tipped stick.

'I think someone made a mistake with that girl, Master,' said the Guide, pointing to Jade on the screen, observed by a camera concealed inside the screen she was watching. 'She hasn't touched the chocolate, either in the induction room or the waiting room. 'Who made the mistake? You, or the selectors?'

'I wouldn't like to say', managed the Guide, trying to cover what he knew to be his error, as he had checked the exterior surveillance records for the whole day. 'I have the boy intruder here too. I saw he had eaten some of the chocolate in the interface facade.'

'Excellent. Put them together in the induction suite.'

'I'm not sure that is wise, Master.'

'You doubt my judgement?'

'No Master,' replied the Guide, after a long pause which he hoped his Master had taken as a sign of respect, rather than the thinking time it had really been. He didn't want to admit that he had seen them together on video, but dared not disagree again. He turned and left for the observation room.

'Have you made up your mind?' he asked Jade, who sat up with a start. She had slumped down in the chair, overcome be advancing tiredness.

'No, I don't think any of them will do.' she replied.

'No matter, you can take some rest, and try tomorrow.' He led her back to the induction room, held open the door and locked it behind her.

'Megabyte!' Jade cried, as she saw the back of his head poking out from the covers, where he appeared neatly tucked up in bed. He didn't stir, so she went over and ruffled his red hair. He woke up and grabbed hold of Jade's arms.

Not again she thought, and teleported to the far side of the room. 'Couldn't you have kept away from that chocolate?' she gasped, as he sprang out of the bed towards her.

'I know you're the one for me,' Megabyte crooned, as he approached her, both arms outstretched. Jade looked quickly around to try to find something to defend herself that at the same time would not be too hurtful to her friend. She picked on a vase containing some yellow carnations. Discarding the flowers she threw the water directly into Megabyte's face, and readied to use the vase itself as a weapon. However, the water had stopped him advancing, and he was just standing there, wiping his eyes. When he stopped, Jade posed once more with the vase.

'Don't tell me, I freaked out again.'

Jade lowered the vase and did what she wouldn't have dared only a few seconds before - put her arm around Megabyte, as they sat side by side on the bed.

'I have no idea how I got here - I was sitting in that office furnished by Sanford and Son, and then I was here.'

We're probably being watched.' Jade told her experiences to Megabyte, who went from being quite amused to very angry.

'At least we can give them a show in here that they won't forget.'

'What do you mean?'

'This is what I mean.' Megabyte stood in the middle of the room, concentrating hard. Soon there was a low fizzing noise, followed by louder crackles. Then a loud bang as all the lightbulbs exploded, but the room was still lit by an eerie blue glow, as wires seemingly ripped themselves out of the walls.

'Now if that doesn't bring them back here I don't know what will.'

It didn't take long before Megabyte's prophesy came true. They had only waited for a couple of minutes in the dark after the pyrotechnics had died down before the door-knob rattled and was turned, and Jade's Guide entered. It was only by the light of the corridor that the true scale of the damage could be appreciated, looking just like the aftermath of a massive lightning strike.

'My Master wishes to see you now.'

'Why?' asked Jade.

'The only way you will find out is to let me guide you one last time.'

They followed him out of the wrecked room, and trooped behind in single file down the other end of the corridor from the observation room, to a polished mahogany double door. He opened both doors wide, like some Edwardian butler, and then quietly closed them behind them. The room was dressed as a mixture of a lounge, with a horseshoe arrangement of chairs, and an office cum security post at the far end. A swivel chair spun round.

'You've caused me a great deal of trouble,' boomed what they assumed was this so-called 'Master'.

'Good,' blurted out Jade. 'What gives you the right to capture all these people and make their lives a misery?'

'But they are much happier here than they would be out in their real world. We only take people who look dissatisfied with their life, waifs and strays with something lacking in their lives. They live here, well clothed, fed and contented.'

Megabyte bowed his head slightly and shuffled his feet, as he didn't like this description of what he must have appeared like the previous evening. 'But,' interrupted Jade, 'they can't leave can they? You're keeping them here as prisoners. And what are you going to do with us? Kill us?'

The Master laughed. 'I couldn't kill you for the same reason you couldn't kill me. We're all above that. Shame I can't say the same for the dominant species on this planet.'

'So you're not from Earth then?' asked Megabyte, excitedly.

'No I am not, I'm glad to say. This is one of the least desirable addresses in the galaxy. No-one would boast of coming from here. Why else would some of the biggest criminals be housed here.'

'Criminals,' Jade exclaimed. 'You can't consider the people you have trapped criminals!'

'I don't mean those. They could leave any time they wanted after application of a mind-eraser, although no-one has ever asked to go. No, I mean these.' As he spoke he turned round the sphere in his chair, and the screen facing them lit up. The scrambled scene formed into a proper picture after he had entered the right security code, and they saw a featureless room containing strictly functional furniture, with a man asleep. They couldn't see his face, as it was turned away from them.

'He's one of the real prisoners, and there are ten more.'

'How long have they been here?' asked Jade.

'Thirty years. So have I. This is the secure outpost of the Repos 4 Rehabilitation Centre.'

'But I still don't get it - what has everyone else to do with it?'

'We have the ten biggest criminals in the galaxy here, well removed from anyone who could communicate with them, 10 metres underground, and the whole area is protected by psionic barriers. However depriving highly sensitive telepathic people of empathetic stimulation is just as much sensory deprivation as would say keeping them in the dark with no sound. We had to surround them with positive feelings. Personally I prefer the atmosphere in here to outside where the feeling of hate is so strong. Of course so many people are required because individually their outputs are so small, being no more than barely telepathic at best.'

'But what gives you the right to bring these people here and setting up this intergalactic Alcatraz?' demanded Megabyte. 'What if they escaped outside?'

'We have all the requisite permits,' he replied, pointing to the framed certificate hanging behind him. Jade swayed to side to side, trying to see what this so called permit covered, and who had issued it. She could make nothing out, except what appeared to be the letters 'T', 'I' and 'M' in the lower right hand corner.

'And as to escape, direct teleportation outwards is impossible and to leave directly requires a key to the Spectra-shift and force field generators.'

'So that is why the office I teleported to was different to the shiny room Jade entered,' said Megabyte.

'Yes. It is a bi-stable three dimensional field, with temporal foldback' 'Don't you just hate it when people pretend to explain things by strings of unintelligible words?' telepathed Jade to Megabyte.

'Sorry,' replied the alien, and then seeing their faces added, 'and sorry too for listening to what you telepathed to each other, but really it was impossible not to. It was as loud as if you had shouted in my ear. And now I think it is time for both of you to go.'

The alien squeezed the other arm of his chair, and Jade and Megabyte were surrounded by a column of pulsating orange light; after a brief moment they both disappeared.

'I do hope this isn't what it seems Marmaduke,' said a very tired looking General Damon.

Megabyte slowly stirred, opened his eyes, and wondered who he was looking at, and after just a moment shot up, thereby nearly throwing Jade to the floor, who had been laying on top of him.

'What do you mean dad?'

'I mean you two entwined together on the sofa.'

Jade had picked herself up, and was furiously rubbing her knees. 'How did we get here?' She then stopped, and a puzzled expression spread over her face. 'We did go somewhere last night didn't we?'

'I thought so. Can't remember where though. Must have hit my head on something.'

'Well you certainly have a shining bruise on your head. I can see I'm going to have to watch the both of you two closer in future.' warned Bill Damon.

'How can you, you're never here,' replied Megabyte, grumpily. As a final gesture of defiance he thrust his hands into his trouser pockets. He pulled out a screwed-up ball of gold paper, and threw it across the room. His dad picked it up, and placed it calmly in the wastepaper basket beside the fireplace.

** End **