The weather has gone weird. Is it a natural phenomenon or is something more sinister at work. Who you gonna call ? I don't own any of the characters from MI High. I am reusing a character from 'Spy Game' called Nate. He's mine. The story is mine.

Aneisha walked into the baking school yard, loosening her tie as she went. Her mother had insisted she bring her school blazer with her despite the heat. It had to be over 30 degrees centigrade. Surely they wouldn't be making them work in this heat ! She spotted her friends across the yard.

"Hey Aneisha," said Zoe. "It's hot isn't it ?"

"Yes, it's the hottest September day since records began !" said Tom excitedly. "This is really unusual weather."

"So when did records begin ?" asked Dan, sounding cynical. "Last September ?"

"No, it's at least, erm, well, not sure really," admitted Tom. "But you've got to admit, it's really hot !"

"I am happy to admit it is really, really hot," agreed Dan. "Let's go to the lockers. I want to get rid of this blazer. I'm not carrying it around all day. I don't care what the uniform policy is." The team walked to the their lockers and got rid of blazers, jumpers and anything else they couldn't be bothered to carry. The bell rang for registration.

Everyone filed into the classroom. Shirts were hanging out, ties were slung down from collars and everyone was already looking sweaty. It was only the start of the day. "Right everyone. What a shower you all look today !" said Mr. McNab marching into the classroom. "Morgan ! Do up that tie. The same goes for you Jones, and the rest of you. Come on !" ordered Mr. McNab. Everyone groaned but did as they were told.

"Just because it's hot doesn't mean we're going to let standards slide," complained Mr. McNab. He was still wearing jacket and tie as usual. Aneisha wondered if the guy ever took the jacket off. Maybe he never ironed his shirts. Or, maybe Mrs. McNab … Aniesha stopped here. She couldn't imagine a Mrs. McNab. Could such a person even exist ? Her daydream was interrupted by Mr. McNab taking the register.

Frank was changing some lightbulbs in one of the art classes when he got a call from Mr. Flatley. "Ah Frank, glad I managed to get hold of you. I don't know if you've noticed, but the heating appears to be on. I assumed that with the current temperatures, the thermostat would have turned it off. Could you look into it please ?" asked Mr. Flatley.

"Sure thing Mr. F." replied Frank. "I'll get right on to it." Putting his ladder away he headed for the boiler room where the heating controls were located. Since the head teacher had mentioned it, he had to admit the building was pretty warm. He touched a couple of radiators and they were burning hot. The system must have gone haywire.

In the boiler room Frank opened up the heating control system. It appeared to be in order. The thermostat was set to the correct temperature. He went out into an empty classroom which had a thermometer on the wall to read the temperature. That was odd. The thermometer reading was at about 32 degrees Celsius. The heating was set to come on at 16 degrees Celsius. It should have turned off.

Frank returned to the boiler room and lowered the thermostat. This made no difference. He then attempted to turn off the boiler. The boiler wouldn't turn off. Giving up he went to the office and asked the staff to report a fault with the boiler to the boiler company. The staff in the office were mopping their foreheads and opening windows. "Oh, Mr. London, it's a shame you can't fix it," said one of the secretaries. "I'll let you know what the company says," she promised.

Frank's phone rang a little later. It was the secretary. "Mr. London, the strangest thing. The boiler company say they're inundated with calls from people saying their boilers won't go off. They think their control system may have got some sort of virus apparently. They said whatever you do, don't cut off the gas supply to the boiler," she said. "Apparently one other school tried cutting off the gas supply and the boiler exploded."

"Oh, I don't like the sound of that. I'll try cutting the power," promised Frank. Mopping his forehead he returned to the boiler room and hunted for the power switch. He found the switch but when he flicked it off, nothing happened. This was crazy ! Frank went to the headmaster's office and told Mr. Flatley what had happened.

By mid afternoon temperatures in the school were soaring around 39 degrees Celcius. Dan, Tom, Aneisha and Zoe were sitting sweltering in a maths class. Dan rubbed sweat off his face with the back of his hand. For a second his vision blurred. Hearing a thump, he turned to see that Melissa had fainted and fallen off her chair. "Stay where you are everyone !" ordered Mr. McNab walking up to her. "Zoe, would you please fetch the first aider from the office please ?" asked Mr. McNab. Zoe left the room to do as he'd asked. "All right everyone. Take a break," said Mr. McNab. His face was bright red and he was clearly uncomfortable. Roly laid his head down on the desk. The usual banter which would have broken out at this point, didn't start. Everyone was too hot.

Zoe returned with Frank. "I'm afraid there's kids fainting all over the school Mr. McNab," said Frank. He knelt beside Melissa who was coming round and took her pulse. "It's just the heat Melissa," said Frank gently. "Take it easy for a minute and you'll feel better," he promised. "She should go home," Frank said to Mr. McNab.

Mr. McNab nodded. "I think we all should. Nobody can learn let alone teach in this environment," he complained. "Any news on the boiler ?" he asked.

Frank shook his head, looking frustrated. "I don't know what's happened to it, but it's out of control and I can't even turn it off," he complained.

"Would you stay with the class for a minute ?" asked Mr. McNab. "I'm going to ask the headmaster to close the school for the rest of the day. We can't go on like this." He left the room.

"What's it like downstairs ?" Tom asked Frank.

"Worse," said Frank.

Mr. McNab returned with news that the school was officially closed for the rest of the day. They should collect their things and go home. Anyone who had to wait for transport should wait in the school yard somewhere shady.

The corridors filled with students collecting their things and leaving. Normally you would have expected some celebration, but nobody had the energy. Frank passed the agents as they were walking out. "Do you need us for anything Frank ?" asked Tom.

"No, it's all right," said Frank. "No emergencies at the moment thank goodness. The basement is unbearable at the moment," he added. "Our temperature control has gone haywire too."

"What's causing it ?" asked Tom.

"The boiler company think they've got some virus in their control system," said Frank.

"I suppose you could get one into the PLC," said Tom. The other looked at him.

"And in English ?" asked Aneisha.

"Programmable Logic Controller," explained Tom, as if this was all they needed to know. "It's a sort of miniature computer chip in the machine," he explained. This seemed to work. The frowns disappeared from their faces. "There's a theory that the whole power grid could be paralysed by some sort of cyber-attack in this way," he said enthusiastically.

"Do you think it could be a cyber-attack ?" asked Frank.

"Hard to tell," said Tom. "Do you want me to look into it ?" he asked.

"Yes, if you can get access to the boiler controller," said Frank.

"No probs," said Tom. "I'll have a look at it when I get home."

The four agents left the school together. It was a relief to get outside even though it wasn't much cooler. As they crossed the school yard, the temperature started to fall. "Aw, relief !" said Dan, revelling in the shade which was falling.

"What's that ?" asked Aneisha, pointing up at the sky. They all looked up. A huge, thick black cloud was gathering over the town. Jagged streaks of lightning were shooting through it. The sky was going black and the light was fading rapidly.