Chapter One

Declan Parsons was seventeen. He was a trainee music programmer with
Globalsoft - or at least he had been until he found something in the old
library that interested him more than anything else... The forbidden histories. Slowly he had gotten less involved in his job and more involved in searching through the histories for anything he could find about real music; however he had to remain below the radar. He tried to throw himself into his work but found no more pleasure in the business of murdering perfectly good tunes with computer softwear. Declan knew that there was more to life than what he was being shown.

Whenever he looked into the vacant blue-grey eyes of his superior, Gordon Jones, a thin wiry man in his thirties; he got the impression that there was more to him than met the eye too… Maybe he had found out too much and had been processed? Maybe he was once a bohemian? If that had happened to Gordon, then he had to get away before old Commander Khashoggi got wise to him and he ended up the same way.

Mercury Figaro pulled the black ribbon in her long dark brown hair tighter and adjusted the sights on her spyglasses- one of her mother's inventions; they looked like old plastic wrap-around sunglasses. The sixteen year old bohemian chick looked almost exactly like her mum; apart from having her dad's eyes, a mysterious blue-grey, and his smile. Beside Mercury squatted the only other Bohemian Kid left alive- Britney Spears junior- the closest she had to a big brother. Brit was just like his father had been; dark skinned and muscular and in a bizarre twist of fate he was also born on his father's birthday. Currently, he was adjusting the sights on his own spyglasses to enable him to see the Globalsoft building better. For them it was just another stakeout

"Do you want to go back to the Heartbreak Merc?" he asked noticing her shiver a little, "If you're cold…"

"I'm fine Brit" she told him, slipping on her old leather jacket over her T-shirt and tying it closed with an aged guitar strap, "I've never known it to be so cold in October- we don't usually get it like this until February"

"Yeah, this year's been wier…" Brit broke off as he caught sight of a figure leaving the building, "Hide, there's a sheep heading our way"

The two bohemians hit the dirt and lay very still as a blonde zone-clone ran past them towards the borders to Bohemia.

'Follow him?' Mercury mouthed and Brit nodded. They trailed the boy, keeping in the shadows.

Declan had the impression that he was being followed as he made his way to the edge of town. Maybe he was being paranoid, but he moved faster anyway. He didn't want any of the people from Globalsoft to see him- then he would end up like Gordon Jones… All he wanted was to find someplace where he could learn more about living rock; so he was heading towards where a Bohemian stronghold was rumoured to be. A place called the 'Heartbreak Hotel'.

The sensation of being watched got stronger as he left the town and entered the Outlands. Hairs on the back of Declan's neck stood up; his senses were raised and he prayed that he was still imagining things. Suddenly a male voice yelled, "Get him!"

Someone grabbed his legs and he was floored.

"Who are you?" he demanded

"We might ask you the same question, duh-brain" a girl's voice retorted, "Where are you off to then?" she teased

"Let me up… And I'll tell you"

"Merc" The male voice this time, he sounded like he was agreeing, "Let him up"

The pressure on his feet lifted and he was hauled to his feet by the prettiest girl he'd ever seen. She wasn't that much shorter than him, with a long dark brown pony tail; she was wearing a grey cloth on her head; what they used to call a bandanna. An oversized leather jacket swamped her shoulders, tied around her waist with a brightly coloured belt. This was over a pair of heavily patched trousers that clung to her legs. Declan had read about those in the archives for twenty-first century fashion; skinny jeans, he remembered they were called. Over these she wore, what looked like, a short black skirt and a pair of boots covered with what looked like gaffer-tape.

"Ok, quit staring zone-clone" she told him with a death glare, "Start talking"

"My name's Declan and I'm heading to the Heartbreak Hotel so I can learn about the Forbidden histories" he reeled off quickly, almost robotically

The two bohemians shared an almost amused glance as they picked up on this, "You expect us to believe you?" the boy asked, "You could be bugged"

"He could be telling the truth" the girl shrugged, "I say we check him now and decide what to do with him after that."

The boy weighed this up and nodded somewhat reluctantly, "Ok, sit down pig"

Declan sat obediently and the boy went behind him and searched his head pulling it roughly from side to side, "He's clean" he announced

"Do we bring him along?" the girl asked unsure, "Or do we kill him?"

"We'll tie him up and blind fold him" the boy said decisively, "He's coming with us- for now"

Mercury whipped off her bandanna and tied it over 'Declan's' eyes; while Brit bound his hands in front of him. Declan felt a hand between his wrists pulling on his bonds as he was dragged forwards- hopefully towards the Heartbreak Hotel.