'Jack…Jack…Jack…' The room echoed with the sound of dozens of computer Zoots saying the intruder's name.

'Can't you make it stop?' Amber pleaded with Ram, her hands placed over her ears in a desperate attempt to cut off the relentless drone of those computerised voices.

'There's nothing I can do from here. I suppose I could patch myself in again. If I told you what to do…'

'Never mind' Amber replied. 'That would be dangerous enough even if you were fully recovered from the last time you were in that thing, which I doubt.'

'I am still a little sore.' Ram admitted.

'Thanks for the offer, though' Amber said, surprised by her former foe's generosity. He just shrugged in reply. Amber thought he was still upset that he hadn't been able to beat the programme himself, especially since it was supposed to obey him, its creator, in the first place. She decided not to say anything, and just watched Jack instead. Her friend just sat there, still completely calm and motionless. She wished she could see his eyes behind that headset, just to make sure everything was alright. Whatever he was facing in there - wherever there was - he was showing no signs of any struggle. No signs of anything, in fact. Amber wondered how he could concentrate with the voices repeating over and over. Could he even hear them? Did he know what was going on in the real world? She remembered that Mega - she had to stop herself from looking over at the body - had known what was going on around him when he had been hooked up; he had asked for the headset to be left on after Ram had been removed by the programme. That memory only increased her fears for Jack. 'If he can hear what's going on,' she thought to herself, 'how can he be so calm?'

'He must have found something.' Ram said, obviously thinking the same as Amber. 'That's the only reason I can think of - the only one I want to think of - as to how he can just sit like that. He must be concentrating so hard that he's blocking out the sound.'

'I hope you're right.'

'He's…he's our only chance now, isn't he?'

'If anyone can do it, Jack can. Let's just concentrate on keeping him safe. We can worry about the rest later if we have to.'

The pair stood, helpless, watching a motionless Jack, the occasional blinking of the lights on the headset the only indication that anything at all was happening. Amber made herself concentrate on Jack, however difficult it was seeing him like that. If she didn't, the only other option would have been to look at the seemingly never-ending wall of Zoot faces, staring and grinning, and she thought that if she did that, she would go mad for sure. All the while, the voices continued their hypnotic mantra.

'Jack…Jack…Jack…'


Frantically running through the busy city streets, Jay had no time to apologise to anyone he pushed past in the throng of city dwellers. Neither did they. They were all moving in the opposite direction, trying to escape the city and not caring about some fool Techno trying to go the other way. It was all Jay could do to keep moving against the tide of people. Twice now he had nearly been knocked to his feet and trampled by the crowd, after a particularly burly citizen had run into him. He had heard the screams of the unlucky few who had not kept their balance, but he knew that by the time he got to them there would be nothing he could do, and so kept running. He had to reach the hotel. He had to find Amber and bring her back to the boat. The others too, of course, but her most of all. He was so wrapped up in his thoughts that he didn't notice the girl running straight towards him until it was too late. They collided, but thinking quickly Jay dragged her into a nearby alley before they both ended up dead. The girl let out a high-pitched squeal as they careered into the alley, and only then did Jay realise who it was he held in his arms.

'Gel?!' he panted, half surprised, half glad to have run into someone he recognised. 'I thought you were with the others?'

'I went to pack a few more things, and when I came downstairs everybody had gone!' Her voice became more and more shrill, until finally the young girl broke down in tears. 'Oh, Jay! I thought I was going to be on my own again!' she sobbed.

'Hey, hey! Shh! It's alright!' Jay tried to comfort her, lifting her chin up so she could see the sincerity in his eyes. 'Now listen, do you know the way to the quayside?'

'Mmhmm' she nodded, sniffing. 'I think so.'

'Then go there. That's where the others were heading when I left them, they should still be there. May said she had a friend with a boat. It'll be the quickest way out of here.'

'What about you? Aren't you coming?'

'I'll be there', he reassured her. 'I just have to find Amber and the others at the hotel first. I promise I'll be there as soon as I can, ok?'

Gel nodded again, drying her eyes with a handkerchief. 'Good luck', she said, as Jay led her out of the alley. He watched her trailing her packed suitcase behind her, then continued on his way to the hotel. Exhausted though he was, he had to make it.


If it wasn't for the headset he was wearing, Jack felt as though his eyes would pop out of their sockets. Being a part of the Technos' computer network was exhilarating. From the moment Ram had patched him in, he had felt like he was on a speeding roller coaster, zipping thousands of miles in a heartbeat as he desperately trawled through the computer's systems, trying to find the information he wanted, the right path to go down. Physically, he saw nothing at all, but in his mind's eye he was floating above a highway of pure light, blazing bright in the darkness and stretching out beyond the horizon. He imagined paths leading out from the main highway in all directions, but he couldn't see where any of them were leading to. The whole thing seemed to pass by underneath him so quickly that his brain didn't have time to process the information. His inability to keep up with the speed things were going at inside the system was one of the only things that reminded him that he was himself, a human, not just another part of the network. It was one of the only things keeping him sane; that, and the sound of his own name reverberating inside his head. Jack. He thought that was his name, anyway. Vaguely, he remembered thinking that the noise was coming from outside. Outside where? There is no outside. Consciousness is all. He had to concentrate. The information was passing by too quickly, slipping out of his grasp. He had to forget himself. He had to be assimilated fully into the systems. My systems. The thought flickered through his mind, barely noticed, before being stored away. The voices. The only thing keeping him from being complete. The only way he could find what he wanted in time. What do I want? Have to be complete! Concentrate. Forget himself. Get rid of the voices. Concentrate. The light shifted. He was following one of the paths, or rather what he wanted started moving towards him. He was sure he stayed in the same place, despite being nowhere at all. Things made no sense, then they made perfect sense. He couldn't have made the paths move, could he? Of course he could, they were his systems. He could do anything. He felt the end of the path approaching. Information washed over him, his mind processing it all and discarding what was useless, until he finally found what he had been searching for. There! Stop the voices! Be complete! Everything fell silent.


Walking down the corridor, the only sound Lex heard was the clump, clump of his and Slade's boots on the floor. Since the two of them had left Amber and Ram looking after Jack, it had been one of those awkward silent times. Whenever he tried to start a conversation with Slade all he got was a nod or perhaps a grunt if he was lucky. 'This is doing my head in,' he thought to himself. 'Can't he just talk about something? Anything, so I don't have to think about what's going to happen to us.' Thinking of another random question, he opened his mouth to ask it.


The short trip with Lex had been a nightmare for Slade. The guy just wouldn't stop talking! He was obviously freaking out about the whole situation, and wanted to take his mind off things. Slade was trying to keep a clear head, thinking of how they could escape if Jack was unsuccessful. So far he had come up with nothing. As Lex opened his mouth to speak again he ground his teeth in frustration, before interrupting.

'Lex, just shut up!' Lex's mouth worked, probably partly out of both surprise and anger, Slade thought. Slade mentally berated himself for letting his temper get the better of him like that, no matter how much stress he was under. He decided to try again, a gentler approach this time. 'Look Lex, I know you're just trying to get me to stop thinking about Josh, and I thank you for that, but I'm fine, really!'

More surprise, and confusion, appeared on Lex's face for an instant. 'Um, yeah. Right, ok.' he replied.

'That should give him something else to think about,' Slade thought. 'And hopefully calm him down.' His thoughts were distracted as they approached the last turn before the lab by a whirring noise. The lights flickered momentarily, then everything was back to normal again. 'I guess I spoke too soon,' he thought.

Both men had stopped in their tracks when the noise started. Now they just stood looking at each other, bodies braced to spring into action if any was necessary.

'What just happened there?' Lex asked, looking slightly worried.

'I don't know,' Slade answered him. 'But we'd better be ready for anything around that corner.' With that they ran into the corridor leading to the lab.