Luke itched in his new school uniform as he got out of the car. Penny had spent the week explaining the ins and outs of school to him but it wasn't working. He just couldn't get his head round some of the concepts like why years didn't tend to mix or why you didn't enjoy it. The idea of school seemed fun but Luke had been told by his sister that most kids didn't like it.
"Now, you two take care, okay?"
"Goodbye, mum." Penny said, closing the car door.
Luke copied her. He gasped at his own slip of the tongue and then looked at Sarah Jane, a bit ashamed.
"Oh, Luke, it's okay. Just keep it as Sarah Jane for now." Sarah Jane said.
Maria walked over with a smile.
"Hi, Maria." Penny called.
"Hiya!" Maria waved.
Luke moved towards Sarah Jane and let her kiss his cheek. A group of children laughed but they stopped when Penny and Maria glared at them. Sarah Jane got into the car and waved at the group. Then she drove off. Luke looked at Maria and Penny.
"Why were they laughing?" he asked.
"You know I told you that there were rules that no one has time to right down but you simply shouldn't do them if you don't want to get laughed at?" Penny began. "If people begin to laugh then you have possibly broken one of those rules."
"You let Sarah Jane kiss you in public." Maria said.
"But she's my mum."
"She's my mum too. Do you see any kiss marks on my cheeks?" Penny asked. "By the way, she still wants you to call her mum."
"She said she didn't." Luke said.
Penny face-palmed. Maria knew she had had to put up with Luke's questions all week. For Penny social stuff came so easily. Maria guessed it was hard for her to explain what she did, why she did it and just the day to day actions of people.
"It's not what she said."
"She was lying!" Luke exclaimed.
"You told him about lying."
"I told him about lying. The concept of doing so still alludes him." Penny said, letting her brother move just out of ear shot.
Maria shook her head with a smile. When the two girl's rejoined Luke, they were staring at a large structure. It was a massive flashy building made out of glass and metal.
"That's new." Penny remarked. "Unless I've got really bad at noticing things."
"It's new." Luke agreed. "I was reading the article in the newspaper to you this morning."
"When was that?" Penny asked. "Wait, was that what you were doing when I was listening to my music player?"
Luke looked a bit shocked. He looked at Maria as if he was telling her that he would never understand his sister.
"It's a brand new building." Maria remarked. "Wonder what's inside?"
.
In a control room full of wires and violently sparking equipment, a monitor caught site of Maria, Luke and Penny walking across the car park.
"Not them. Scan along. Where is he?" a male voice said.
"There him!" another male voice cheered.
The monitor settled on a teacher moving across the car park.
"He's not that big. How will I fit?" the first voice asked.
"He'll do." the second man snapped. "Get yourself ready. I'll go fetch."
.
Mr Jeffrey looked at the headteacher. He wanted to impress Mr Blakeman.
"What can I do for you?"
"Stand right here, Tim." Mr Blakeman said.
He positioned the man in front of a white panel.
"Any particular reason?"
"Very particular." the teacher said.
Mr Blakeman passed wind and smiled. Mr Jeffrey was very polite about it. Mr Blakeman took Mr Jeffrey's glasses just as the wall behind the teach opened. An alien claw tapped on the man's shoulder. Mr Jeffrey turned and screamed.
.
"I'm feeling anxious." Luke said.
"So am I." Maria replied.
"But you've been to school before."
They were sitting in the assembly hall. A group of boys had offered to let Penny sit next to them but Penny and opted to sit next to her brother and friend.
"There's nothing to freak out about." Penny assured them.
A boy walked over and asked Penny and her friends to move up. Penny looked up at the boy and smiled.
"Oh, hi, Clyde."
"Hi, Penny." Clyde replied. "Do you mind if I sit here?"
Penny shook her head and let Clyde sit next to her.
"Are these two new?" Clyde asked.
"Yeah." Penny replied.
"Then I guess I'll hang round with you until you work out where you belong." Clyde said.
"How do you do? I'm Luke Smith." Luke said, reaching round to give Clyde a hand to shake.
"Okay, I'm sure the nerds are sitting at the front somewhere." Clyde blurted out before he even knew what he was doing.
"The girl's Maria." Penny said, deciding to stop Clyde before he did something that would upset Luke. "And the boy is my brother who I was telling you about when we met. Luke, a simple hi would do just as well."
Clyde grimaced and looked at Penny.
"I'm sorry."
They were shushed when their head teacher waddled out onto the stage. He looked over all the pupils of the school.
"Morning, Mr Blakeman!" Penny and Clyde chorused with the rest of the school.
Maria and Luke shrugged. Suddenly the teacher farted. The whole school apart from Luke laughed to various degrees.
"What's funny?" Mr Blakeman snapped. "Right. Assembly, yah di yah. Welcome back everybody. It's a new year. Hope you all do well. Don't run in the courtyard. Don't even think of wearing make-up, and study hard, because I guarantee none of you are going to be pop stars."
"What's his problem?" Clyde asked, a bit disgruntled.
"His obviously has heard the school choir." Penny laughed.
He then announced that he was going to take the classes round the new block one by one.
"Starting with Form 10B."
.
When it came to the turn of the group's class, Penny was stopped by a group of boys. Maria was trying to help Penny escape.
"I've signed us up for this." Luke said, trying to befriend Clyde.
He handed Clyde a leaflet for a lunch time science club. The other boy pulled a disgusted face at the sight of the leaflet.
"Now I'm backing away."
There was another fart from the teacher and the group all laughed.
"Why is farting funny?" Luke asked.
"It just is." Clyde shrugged.
"But it's a normal process of the human bowel."
"Are you for real?" Clyde asked.
"Thank you for saving me?" Penny moaned coming over.
She was looking at Luke with her arms crossed over her chest.
"I'm not sure what you mean." Luke replied.
"Those boys back there were trying to convince Penny to meet up with them after school." Maria said.
"Why didn't you help?"
"I didn't know." Luke moaned.
"Oh, dude, someone was hitting on your sister." Clyde laughed.
"No one hit Penny." Luke said.
Clyde stared at Luke. Penny knew she had to change the subject before Clyde got suspicious.
"What's that smell?" she asked, sniffing the air.
"Farts?" Luke suggested.
"No, this smells metallic." Penny said.
Clyde sniffed the air and so did Maria.
"It smells like batteries." Clyde said.
.
Maria was sitting by herself at lunch time. Luke was in the library and Penny had been called up by Sarah Jane to check how Luke was getting on. Penny had gone off to take the call. Maria was playing with her food thoughtfully when Clyde walked over. He put his tray down and sat next to her.
"Can I sit here?"
"Only if I'm not going to shame you." Maria teased.
"Where's Penny or that boy? Um... Luke?"
Maria explained where the two Smiths were with a happy smile.
"So how did you and Penny meet?" Maria asked.
"Well Penny and me have gone to the same school since we were kids and everyone knows about her. Me and her only really talked about a week ago. My parents are divorced. I live with my mum and Penny kinda understood what I was going through."
"I live with my dad." Maria said. "My parents got divorced recently."
"How you holding up?" Clyde asked.
"Well it's better than having them argue all the time." Maria shrugged.
Clyde happened to look down at his plate as he nodded to agree. He suddenly felt sick. He looked at the large bit of mould that covered his food.
"What's wrong with that? It's mouldy. What kind of slop are they serving here? Is it leftovers from last term or something? Sir? Sir?"
Mr Blakeman wondered over and looked at Clyde who had called him. Clyde pointed at his food, telling the teacher how horrifying it was.
"How am I meant to eat that?"
"Just pick the bad bits off." Mr Blakeman said and wondered off.
Clyde picked up a pea from his plate. It was the only bit off food that seemed safe to eat. Maria looked down at her food and gasped. Hers was also rotten.
"That's disgusting!" Maria exclaimed.
Clyde frowned.
"What's wrong with this place? It stinks, the food's rotten. Something weird's going on here."
.
Penny had just hung up on Sarah Jane when a hand landed on her shoulder. She turned and saw Carl. Carl was an unpopular, nerdy child who was socially awkward. Penny didn't have much to do with most of the people at school but she knew about how strange Carl was.
"Hello, Carl right?" Penny said. "Yes. You're Penny Smith."
"That's me." Penny said awkwardly.
"You smell nice." Carl remarked.
Penny groaned internally. Carl sounded a bit like Luke, all confused but at the same time curious. Penny had thought only Luke would say something so strange as that when he didn't really know the person. She briefly wondered if she could convince Luke and Carl to hang out. "Carl, I really have to go." Penny lied. "I promised Luke I would meet up with him."
She brushed past Carl. The boy turned after Penny and let a smile cross his lips as he sniffed the air after her.
.
Mr Blakeman watched as all the children began to go home from the school. Mr Jeffrey walked to the other teacher and frowned.
"This skin, it's killing me round the legs."
Mr Blakeman announced it was time for a test run, ignoring Mr Jeffrey's moans.
"What about the caretaker?"
"I've taken care of the caretaker." Mr Blakeman replied with a laugh.
The two hurried away from the disappearing pupils.
.
Alan Jackson was biking back from work when he saw Sarah Jane's care pulling into her driveway. He was surprised to see Maria getting out along with the Smith children. He began to tease Maria the moment he saw her.
"Shut up, dad." Maria laughed.
"How was the big first day?" he asked.
"Okay, a bit weird through." Maria replied.
"The headmaster kept farting." Penny said. "Noisy, smelly ones as well."
She held her nose and began to bat her hand about in front of her face. Alan and Sarah Jane both laughed. Luke just looked at Penny, wondering what she was doing.
"The place stinks like batteries, all the food is off and all these boys kept trying to hit Penny."
"Hit on me!" Penny corrected when she saw the surprise in her mother's eyes.
She looked at Luke and mouthed at him that she would explain later.
"I'll make you two a proper tea. Go and get changed." Sarah Jane said.
"Thanks mum."
"Thanks Sarah Jane."
"See ya later, Maria." Penny called back.
Alan watched as the two Smith children disappeared into their large house.
"I want a proper tea too!" Maria moaned.
"Make it yourself. You might have a chauffeur, but I'm not your cook." Alan joked.
"Whatever."
"No, forget it, it's all right. We'll phone out for a curry. Can't have you straining yourself after your long voyage home, can we?"
Maria laughed at her father.
"You think you're so funny!" she exclaimed and began to disappear down across the road.
Sarah Jane watched her go and then Maria turned back to wave. Sarah Jane waved at her.
"The school can't be that bad. Penny's been going there for years and she's never moaned about it. They've just built this as well. Someone donated the money and this technology block was put up over the holidays. It looks incredible."
Sarah Jane fished a newspaper out of her car and showed the page to Alan. He looked at the block and frowned.
"I did an IT job in a school, in a new block that looks just like it."
"Was it built by Coldfire construction?" Sarah Jane asked, seeing the logo of the company that built it pictured in the corner.
She was told the address by Alan and he wasn't aware he had given much away. He then turned away and said he had to go and make sure that Maria didn't order the entire menu.
.
Mr Blakeman was in the special room. He was going over all sorts of wires and machinery, a large smile on his face. He was enjoying every moment.
"Systems online." he announced. "Now, synchronise the mega-wattage."
Mr Jeffrey glanced over the controls, looking a bit lost.
"Synchronising mega-watty." he said, scanning the dials and buttons.
"That one." Mr Blakeman said, sounding annoyed.
Mr Jeffrey still looked lost so Mr Blakeman threw the red lever himself. A light flashed around the room.
.
Luke and Sarah Jane were in the attack.
"I kept making social mistakes today." Luke said slowly.
"I think I made one too. Penny knows the way to school and she could have made sure you got there safely. I shouldn't have driven you to school or kissed you in front of your friends. I've never kissed Penny in front of hers." Sarah Jane said, trying to make Luke feel better.
"I only really know Penny and Maria. Lots of boys try to talk to Penny when we're trying to talk and she doesn't sit near me. Maria isn't in most of my classes. There's this boy Penny knows who spends time with us. He's called Clyde and he thinks I'm uncool."
The way Luke said the word 'cool' made it sound like he was banned from even saying it. He looked at Sarah Jane like he was about to cry.
"Clyde's not the only kid in school." Sarah Jane reminded his friend.
"He seems to be Penny's friend." Luke managed. "What if I make more mistakes?"
"Penny and me and Maria will always be there for you." Sarah Jane said. "It's not like any of us are not going through a transition phase."
"But do I have to go to school?"
"I could take you out, teach you here. Both you and Penny could be taught here. I considered it. But you, Luke Smith, you're going to live a normal life. As normal a life as I can give you. Penny and you have to just keep trying to live normally."
Sarah Jane clasped her son's arms, telling him that everything was okay. She offered him a smile and then nodded.
"Remember, you saved the world the day you were born. You saved your sister's life a week ago. Not many people can say that."
"No one else can say that." Luke whimpered. "That's the problem. No one else is like me."
Luke looked away, trying to distract himself from what he was thinking about. He found his eyes settling on the computer. He moved towards it and looked at the map that was on the screen.
"Checking up on the firm who built your new block. Coldfire Construction. They started expanding eighteen months ago, contracts all round the world. Some odd things cropping up. Now they're putting up school buildings all round London. Well, it makes a change for me. Not aliens, is it?"
Penny gave a quick snigger from the doorway.
"When have I heard that before? Oh, yes, when we were talking about Bubble Shock." Penny said.
.
Chrissie looked around Maria's house. She seemed impressed. She turned to Alan who was standing in the doorway.
"Alan, this is really kind of alright." Chrissie said.
"Thanks Chrissie, I really value your opinion." Alan said sarcastically.
Chrissie scolded him and then asked where she daughter was. Alan replied that he thought the day had gone well. It soon became clear that Chrissie had forgotten what Maria had been going through. She called Maria down.
.
Mr Blakeman pulled down the switch with a triumphant smile. He turned to Mr Jeffrey.
"Lights out London." Mr Blakeman laughed.
.
"School can't be that bad. I mean, like I said, it's a much better catchment area. Ooo, I've got to go, love. Ivan's taking me to the pub. It's opera night tonight. The waiters sing while you're eating." Chrissie announced.
Suddenly the lights dimmed and turned off. The three of them looked around, scanning the darkness. It was clear it was a power cut.
"There's a torch." Maria said, searching a cupboard.
She produced the torch and switched it out. There was a burst of light and then it dimmed and faded away.
"It's flat." Alan murmured. "I'll get the candles."
.
Penny and Luke had been listening to music on Penny's phone when the lights went out. Luke slipped his headphone out and looked around.
"Power cut?" he asked.
"Yeah." Sarah Jane said. "Penny, see if Mr Smith is working."
"Oi, Smithy!" Penny called. "Mr Smith?"
There was no reply. Penny shrugged.
"The computer has gone off and I hadn't saved my work." Sarah Jane moaned.
"Guess what? My phone's died." Penny said.
Luke slipped out his phone and checked it. He phone was also flat.
"I'll just see how long it's going be. If I can check the local power grid." Sarah Jane said, flicking open her watch.
The watch began its scans and then the power faded. Sarah Jane looked at it with surprise.
"But that's impossible. It never loses power. It can't lose power."
.
"There we go." Alan said, putting a set on candles on the table.
He produced a set of matches and then lit one. Chrissie was looking out of the window. She remarked how far the power cut went on for. She turned back to her family, ranting on about power cuts. Alan lit one of the candles then watched as it went out. Alan sighed and relit it. It went out again.
"Weird, why is that happening?" Maria asked, looking down at the candle.
She began to search for a draught. Chrissie sighed and took the matches. She lit one and then moved to light a candle. She lit one and it went out.
.
There was a flash of sparks flying f a piece of machinery and a sound that could have been an explosion. Mr Blakeman and Mr Jeffrey both ducked as the sparks rained down.
"What was that?" Mr Jeffrey yelped.
"It's destabilising!" Mr Blakeman roared back.
"Turn it off, turn it off, turn it off!"
Mr Jeffrey panicked. The two men proceeded to turn off the machine quicker than lightening.
.
Chrissie smiled as the candle she lit stayed lit. She looked at Alan with a smug grin. Then the other candles, the ones that had been lit before, flared up and lit themselves. The torch comes back to life and then so do all the other lights. Maria glanced around.
"What?"
.
"We need to take Mr Smith off the main grid." Penny was saying as the lights came on. "The Bannerman road gang, saving the world unless there is a power cut, then we'll all stuffed."
"But there was just a power cut then and none of us are stuffed." Luke said.
"She means we can't do anything." Sarah Jane said.
She decided the check her watch. She slipped it open and stared at the display. It had power and was working fine.
"Weird." Penny remarked.
"Must be faulty." Luke said.
"Or the same thing that cut the electric off, cut this off." Sarah Jane murmured.
.
Mr Blakeman was being followed by Mr Jeffrey. The latter was moaning about their whole plan.
"Fantastic. Finally every station in the loop is working but the stabiliser cuts out." he moaned.
Mr Blakeman stopped walking down the corridor and turned to Mr Jeffrey. He assured him he would work out how to fix it.
"You brought those plans off that Wallarian. You took his word it worked!"
"I just need to sort out the storage problem, then it'll stabilise, okay?" Mr Blakeman snapped.
"Until then I'm stuck here, in this, teaching science on the planet Thick where they still haven't worked out string theory. Ooi, it chafes!"
Mr Blakeman smiled and reminded Mr Jeffrey of their ultimate goal: destroying the planet.
.
It was the next morning. Luke was nervous about school no matter how much Penny comforted him.
"My first lesson is with Mr Jeffrey. It's science, lab 2A." Luke said.
"You'll be fine. You're good at science." Sarah Jane murmured.
"Speaking about science. I'm going to have to pass up on your lunch time sciency thing. I've been given a few exercises from UNIT that I'm going to do in the gym at lunch." Penny said with a smile.
Luke gave a whimper. Maria had told him she couldn't make it the night before. She had said she was going to look round the school and get a feel for the place. Unlike Luke she didn't have the memory of ten thousand humans. Luke sighed and walked on, getting a bit of comfort from his adoptive mother. Penny smiled and kissed her mum's cheek, racing after Luke. She began to explain stuff to Luke that he needed to understand. Sarah Jane watched them walk down the road and then turned to Alan who was gardening. They talked a bit about gardening until Sarah Jane got down to business. She began to talk about the school Alan had talked about the day before.
.
Alan began to search through a cupboard. He talked to Sarah Jane while he was doing it. He told her about how much it cost and things like that.
"Where did the money come from?" Sarah Jane asked.
"I don't know. Private funding. What sort of journalist are you exactly?" Alan said.
"Freelance. Local stories. Nothing exciting."
"Maria was saying you travelled a fair bit."
Sarah Jane knew Alan was being friendly and smiled.
"You could say that. Everything was put on hold when Penny was born. I wouldn't mind travelling again through, maybe with Penny and Luke." Sarah Jane said.
Alan produced the plans for the building and placed them on the table in front of Sarah Jane. She scanned them until she noticed a strange section.
"What's that bit there? It's blank." Sarah Jane pointed out.
"I never went in. Coldfire kept it to themselves. It was all sealed off." Alan said.
"There's no door." Sarah Jane pointed out.
Alan joked about the school and someone hiding something. Sarah Jane was beginning to believe that it was happening but smiled and laughed it away.
"Do you mind if I keep this?" Sarah Jane asked, looking at the plans again.
"No, of course not." Alan said and let Sarah Jane leave with them.
.
"A transformer is an electrical device that changes the voltage of an alternating current supply, the AC supply, such as your, our mains electrical supply. Anybody know who invented the first transformer?"
Mr Jeffrey was droning on from the front of the class. Luke was sitting next to Clyde in the only spare seat. Penny was sitting near the back, watching the teacher with boredom in her eyes. It was no surprise when Luke was the only person who put his hand up.
"Faraday." he said.
Penny smiled. Once Luke had mastered the idea of putting your hand up to answer the question, he was answering every question possible.
"Correct." Mr Jeffrey said.
"But he didn't know what he could use it for." Luke added.
Mr Jeffrey looked at him with a frowned. The teacher seemed confused so Luke continued to explain.
"Faraday didn't know what he'd invented. I've thought about it, too. You could get rid of the transformers, get a better system and induct power instead."
"Geek!" someone in the class called.
Penny searched for the culprit and screwed up a bit of paper. She waited until Mr Jeffrey had turned away and threw the paper ball. It hit the boy in the back of the head and he turned to her. Penny smiled.
"Leave my brother alone." she hissed.
After that no one made fun of Luke until Clyde spoke up.
"Just pointing out. I'm nothing to do with him." Clyde joked.
The class laughed. Clyde turned to accept his praise. He saw Penny glaring at him and turned back shyly.
"Quiet!" Mr Jeffrey shouted.
He looked at Clyde with disgust in his eyes and asked for the boy's name.
"Clyde Langer." Clyde replied.
"Trouble maker, noted." Mr Jeffrey said and turned away once again, beginning to write on the board.
Luke looked around for Penny because he needed someone to explain something to him. He frowned when he realised that Penny was engaged in a conversation with the boy who had called him a geek. She looked rather annoyed. IN the end he turned to Clyde because Clyde seemed to be an expert in the way of being a teenager.
"You're cool because you make trouble. Should I make trouble?" Luke asked.
"I hear talking!" Mr Jeffrey roared.
Luke looked away from Clyde and back at his work. His attention was drawn to the boy once again when he heard a rummaging sound coming from the boy's bag. He was searching through it for something. Mr Jeffrey turned and looked at Clyde.
"What are you doing?" he snapped.
"My pen's run out. I'm getting a new one." Clyde lied.
Mr Jeffrey's shook his head. He grabbed a pair of tongs and walked over to the boy. He pulled out a plastic bag from the boy's school bag and sniffed it.
"What is it?"
"Cold chip sandwich. Made it this morning. Not chancing my life in that canteen again." Clyde said proudly.
Mr Jeffrey dumped the sandwich in a nearby glass tank full of stick insects. Clyde was horrified.
"Oi, that's my lunch. You can't do that!" he protested.
"You can wait until lunchtime and use the canteen like everybody else."
"I'll report you for that." Clyde said.
Mr Jeffrey turned to him. Luke expected an argument. Sarah Jane and Penny had had a small argument that morning when Penny had been sent a couple of UNIT files and tools. Sarah Jane had closed all the doors to the room they had been fighting in but Luke still heard it and he hadn't enjoyed it. He had come to the conclusion that arguments were bad. The bell saved Clyde from the fight.
"Right, for tomorrow, a thousand words on transformers."
The whole class, everyone apart from Luke, moaned and groaned. Mr Jeffrey smiled.
"Two thousand."
.
Sarah Jane had been show around St Cheldons by it's headmaster. The elderly head had been moaning about the new systems all the way round.
"I believe you had the wiring in your new block re-installed." Sarah Jane pressed.
"Didn't do any good. Computers keep crashing. And look."
The woman produced an apple from her handbag. At first it looked alright to Sarah Jane then the woman turned it. Sarah Jane could see a large section of mould. She grimanced.
"Fresh this morning. Everything goes off. And there's that smell, like batteries." the head teacher finished.
"Hasn't anyone noticed, complained?" Sarah Jane asked.
The head teacher nodded silently and talked about a school governor who had. They were now in hospital. Sarah Jane grimly thought how convenient it was and made a mental note to warn the gang about not complaining about it too openly.
"Can't you feel it, Miss Smith?" the head teacher mumbled. "Like a thunderstorm's moving in?"
.
A woman watched Sarah Jane on a screen. She thought there was something different about the woman. People who became too curious had accidents. It wouldn't be too hard to make an accident for Sarah Jane Smith.
.
Mr Blakeman was annoyed. Mr Jeffrey had come over to him talking about this supposed genius child.
"Incredible knowledge, this child, Luke Smith. He must be a freak." Mr Jeffrey rushed.
"You really think he can help us?" Mr Blakeman asked.
"Yes, we'll use him to solve the storage problem."
"A fourteen year old human child?" Mr Blakeman exclaimed, still unsure.
"There's something strange about him. These kids stink. Acne and grease and coats and crisps. But he smells fresh, like he's new."
Mr Blakeman finally agreed to let Mr Jeffrey use Luke for his plan.
.
"Welcome to Lunchtime Science Club. I had hoped for a slightly higher turnout, but never mind." Mr Jeffrey said, eyeing his class.
It was just Luke, sitting in the front row.
"I asked my sister to come but she wanted to go to the gym. I asked Maria to come but she wanted to look around. I asked Clyde to come but he..."
"I would rather have quality than quantity." Mr Jeffrey assured Luke.
That was when the door was opened and Carl walked in. He looked awkwardly at Luke and then at Mr Jeffrey.
"I'm Carl." he said to Luke.
"Luke. Pleased to meet you." He paused, remembering that Penny had told him a simply hi would do. "Hi."
"Carl's the science star of the school, supposedly. Though I imagine he's probably pretty rubbish compared to you. Take a look at this. Now, over the summer I've been having tons of jolly fun working on a new project. What do you make of this?" Mr Jeffrey said with a smile.
He put up a set of designs and lit up the panel behind them. Luke looked at the plans and realised what it was in an instant.
"It's a model for a giant capacitor system." he said.
"And purely theoretical, of course. Nobody could possibly build anything like this for real." Mr Jeffrey said quickly.
Luke was enchanted by the designs. He looked at them with a smile. They were much more complex than what he had been doing in the lessons previous. "You designed this?" Luke asked in awe.
He wondered if he could design something like it. Mr Jeffrey nodded proudly.
"Yes. I'm wasted here. Do you like it?"
"It's amazing." Luke breathed.
"Now I have a problem. It's a purely theoretical problem. Can you tell what it is?" Mr Jeffrey asked.
Luke studied the designs with the eye of a hawk. Beside him, Carl looked bewildered as his eyes glanced over the criss-crossing lines.
"Don't tell me. Oh, yeah. With this, you could store huge amounts of electrical energy. But there's a loophole. Here, in the storage, it wouldn't stabilise."
He pointed to a section of lines. Mr Jeffrey was amazed. He smiled and congratulated Luke.
"You went wrong here. You need to add an equation into the computer control." Luke worked out.
He processed everything and then scribbled down an equation on the board. To Mr Jeffrey and Carl the equation was a mass of numbers and Greek characters but to Luke it was simple to understand. He finished it and took a few moments to admire his work.
"I think that's right."
Carl stared at the equation, entirely confused.
"I'll take your word for it." he said.
"The power stabilises, all your problems are over." Luke said with a proud smile.
Mr Jeffrey smiled at the boy and then at the equation.
"Yes, all my problems are over. I don't know about yours through." he muttered to himself.
.
Penny was in the gym when her phone went off. Maria walked in just a Penny answered the phone. She signalled for Penny to put the phone on speaker and joined in the call. "Hi, mum." Penny said.
"Hi, Sarah Jane." Maria said.
"Hello, Penny, Maria. I've just been to a school called St Cheldons."
"Didn't I beat their whole athletics team in a race last year?" Penny asked.
"Knowing you it ." Sarah Jane said. "Their school has the same problem as yours. So I'm off to Coldfire construction."
"You could wait and me and Luke could join you. Maybe even Maria could be allowed to go."
"No. I have a different job for you. Have a look around your school. See if you work out where that smell is coming from." Sarah Jane instructed.
Maria nodded and Penny said goodbye to her mum. When she hung up, Maria turned to her.
"So what are you doing?"
"UNIT emailed me a few new training exercises." Penny said. "They also sent me a few new tools that mum disposed of."
Maria was interested. She had heard about UNIT when they had been dealing with Bubble Shock. Sarah Jane had explained it in more detail.
"So you and UNIT?" Maria hinted.
"My dad was a UNIT corporal. He was a great man and was very respected. Aliens wanted him dead. He met mum while they were stopping aliens together and the two fell in love. He died while mum was pregnant with me. He was shot by an alien called a Sontaran. UNIT said I had to take my mum's last name for my own safety because I couldn't be linked to my dad. When they found out that mum still fought aliens they told her to stop for my safety. Since mum was linked to UNIT before she met dad, they said she could continue if I got UNIT training. I'm now Private Penny Smith of UNIT. When I'm older they've offered me a job but I wanted to work for Torchwood."
"What's Torchwood?" Maria asked.
She had not wanted to ask the question. Penny had seemed so upset going over her story. Maria had felt wrong and rude asking the question.
"Another time." Penny said with a smile.
.
The two teachers were standing in the science lab, looking at the equation Luke had written on the board.
"Result." Mr Jeffrey cheered.
"Yes, that's it. And he just handed it over." Mr Blakeman laughed.
Mr Jeffrey continued to gloat.
"At last we will be avenged! We'll finish this planet tonight." Mr Blakeman finished.
.
The group were walking around after school. They were in the playground, trying to work out where they should go and look first.
"Someone looks happy." Penny said when Luke walked over.
"I had double maths this afternoon." Maria grumbled.
"Science club was brilliant. Mister Jeffrey's really nice. I think we're going to be friends." Luke beamed.
"You don't make friends with a teacher." Penny said quickly.
"Why not?" Luke asked.
"You just don't." Maria said with a shrug. "Anyway, Sarah Jane called. She wants us to look inside the new block."
Suddenly Clyde walked up behind them. He interrupted their conversation as if they were all best friends.
"What are you doing?" he asked.
"We're investigating the new block." Luke said truthfully.
"I left something in the new block." Maria said quickly, pretending to correct Luke.
Maria lead Luke away before he had chance to deny it. Penny was about to follow them when Clyde grabbed her arm.
"What is it with those two? I've seen weird people. I know weird people. But those two, they're beyond weird."
"And I hang around with them and one of them is my brother. If you're going to keep insulting them then I suggest you go and find some 'normal' people." Penny said and moved off after her friends.
Clyde watched her with a frown. He shook his head and then followed them.
.
Sarah Jane looked around the Coldfire construction building. For a company that was an international building firm, the office was tatty. Sarah Jane wasn't sure what to make of the building. A woman stopped her in her path. The woman smiled at Sarah Jane.
"Can I help you?" she asked.
.
The group had decided to split up. Penny had gone with Maria to check the top floor. Luke was checking the bottom. While wondering round, Luke had been found by Clyde. Luke had tried to focus on the job in hand but Clyde was trying to work out what was going on. Penny acted weird around her brother. He had decided that Luke was the source of the problems.
"I want answers. Where are you from?"
"London." Luke answered but then returned back to focusing on what he was doing. "The layout of this building doesn't make any sense."
"But where have you been all your life? You don't know farting's funny, you let your mum kiss you in public, you didn't recognise what was going on when someone was hitting on your sister. Where was your last school?"
"I've never been to school before." Luke answered.
"What? Your mum taught you at home? Why did she send Penny to school?" Clyde asked, forgetting about Luke being adopted.
Luke reminded him. He began to work out what was going on with the rooms. He was doing calculations in his head with a smile.
"But what about your real mum and dad?" Clyde asked.
"I haven't got a mum or dad." Luke said simply, without even blinking.
"Everybody's got a mum or dad. I've got a dad, somewhere."
"This block measures about one thousand five hundred and thirty nine metres squared, so double that for both floors. The area of each room doesn't add up to that. So there's an empty space. Through there. I think you should go home." Luke said.
.
The woman had introduced herself as Janine. She had told Sarah Jane to take a seat in the rubbish office they were in.
"Janine. I've been reading up as much as I could. It's not just these school projects in London. You've moved from country to country, hiring cheap local labour, no questions asked."
"Yes?" Janine said as if wondering what Sarah Jane was getting at.
Sarah Jane pressed on using her investigator tone. She managed to make her questions dig in and sound strong. She refused to take no for an answer. Her children and her friend were possibly in danger at Coldfire construction.
"At your building in Santiago, workers refuse to go in. Food goes off. Endless technical problems. Valencia, Paris, the same story. And another thing. The plans for each building have a large empty area behind a wall. Why is that?"
.
Luke was walking down a corridor, looking from side to side, trying to understand his findings.
"There's another room, a secret room, behind there." Luke said.
It was clear he was talking him himself but Clyde thought Luke might be able to listen to him. He wasn't sure if the boy was ignoring him or simply too interested in what he doing to reply.
"Oh, I'm not getting through here. Stop being strange!" Clyde shouted and stormed away.
.
Maria was looking around one of the computer rooms with Penny. When the door was opened, the two girls looked at each other and then darted under a nearby table. They hid, unsure who was coming.
"Who's that? Hello? I know you're in here. I can smell you. Oh, a little girl, fresh as a daisy. Sugar and spice and all things nice. She really shouldn't be hanging around school after home time. Not when I've got no reason to hide in this stupid skin any longer." Mr Jeffrey called, slamming his fists down on a table.
Penny and Maria tucked their legs in, pulling themselves into the shadows.
.
Sarah Jane was leafing through papers, showing each of them to Janine.
"I think that because these projects are so far apart, nobody connects you with the problems, so on you go." Sarah Jane said.
She was pressing in deep, asking question after question, demanding answers. Janine was beginning to get angry and defensive. All that it told Sarah Jane was that Janine had something to hide, something for Sarah Jane to uncover.
"I strongly advise you to leave right now, if you know what's good for you."
"Is that a threat?" Sarah Jane asked.
"Yes." Janine said truthfully.
She gave Sarah Jane an open smile.
"What?" Sarah Jane exclaimed, having been expecting a lie.
.
Mr Jeffrey reached up to his forehead and began to pull on some sort of zip. Penny and Maria shifted round so they could look under the table at the teacher. Light was cast around the room.
"After all, why should I hide?" Mr Jeffrey asked.
.
Janine had been smiling. Sarah Jane didn't like the smile she was getting off the woman. She wanted to get away before the woman did something dangerous.
" Well, that was your last chance, Miss Smith. Be fair. I did give you fair warning." Janine said.
She reached up to her forehead and began to pull across it.
.
Penny and Maria looked under the bottom as Mr Jeffrey dropped his skin. Maria gasped. They could see large green feet.
"We need to go." Penny whispered.
Penny and Maria stood up and looked at what Mr Jeffrey had become. He was a large, fat green alien with massive claws. Penny and Maria darted from the room.
"I am Slitheen! Oh, I love it when they run." Mr Jeffrey called.
.
Mr Blakeman was in the control room. His eyes settled on a computer screen with a frown. A boy was on the screen, standing just outside the door to the room. He recognised the boy: Luke Smith.
"Your Luke Smith's too clever by half. He's right outside!" Mr Blakeman moaned.
He heard Mr Jeffrey's voice over the monitor.
"There are two more. Two girls. I'm after them now. Oh, it feels good, after so long." Mr Jeffrey said.
"Rejoice in your hunt, brother." Mr Blakeman congratulated.
.
Sarah Jane was hiding behind one of the massive piles of cardboard boxes that were in the warehouses. Janine was in her Slitheen form. She was searching for Sarah Jane around the room.
"I know you're in here. I can smell you. Mmm, what lovely perfume you're wearing, Miss Smith. You're positively fragrant." Janine said.
Sarah Jane took it all in and wondered, prayed, that there would be no Slitheens in the school.
.
Clyde was standing in the corridor and heard footsteps running towards him. He turned and looked down the corridor, seeing Maria and Penny running towards him. He wasn't sure what to do but he grabbed both Penny and Maria by their arms.
"We need to get out of here now! Come on!" Maria shouted.
"What?" Clyde called.
"Where's Luke?" Penny asked.
"I know you're out their, girlies!" Mr Jeffrey shouted.
"That's only Mr Jeffrey." Clyde laughed.
He had thought that they would be in real danger.
"And there's another one! A boy! This hunt is getting even better." "You are sad. Hiding from a teacher. What's he going to do, give you a detention?" Clyde laughed. "Clyde, move!" Penny shouted.
Then the Slitheen came round the corner. Joy glinted it in its large baby-like black eyes. A smile crossed its sharp teeth laden mouth.
"Come on!" Maria urged.
"Oh, no. Oh, no!" Clyde said releasing the girls.
The boy was frozen to the spot for a few seconds but Maria and Penny pulled him after them as the Slitheen closed in.
.
The Janine Slitheen was annoyed. Sarah Jane had disappeared into hiding without even running that far. It wasn't a real hunt until she ran.
"Run!" she urged. "It's no fun if you don't run."
One of Janine's claws hands clipped the boxes Sarah Jane was hiding behind and sent them tumbling to the floor. Sarah Jane was knocked to the floor along with the boxes. Janine looked down at here.
"The smell of human fear. Love it!"
.
"Kiddies! Kiddiewinks! Run as fast as you can." Mr Jeffrey called, sniffing the air.
He found the familiar scent of his three prey and smiled, raising his claws. He began to speed up.
"I'm coming to find you!"
.
Luke looked at the panel in front of him. He knew that there had to be a door somewhere but he was faced by a wall panel. He began to think through it logically.
"It's a door. And every door must have a door handle. About here."
Luke pressed his hand level to the where the door-handle would be. He took a step back as the panel slid open. He managed a weak smile and then walked in.
.
Maria, Clyde and Penny where hiding under the stairs. Mr Jeffrey was searching for them above their head. Clyde was calming down, getting over his first shock about aliens. He was watching the girls as Penny and Maria went through their options. "Can't you just kick it like you did with the Bane?" Maria asked.
"And let it claw at my leg. We need to find Luke."
"We need to get out of here." Maria said.
"We can't. We need to fight them." Clyde said. "With what?" Penny asked.
Suddenly the door just across the room opened. Carl was standing there. He smiled at Penny, Maria and Clyde.
"Come here."
Maria and Clyde moved towards Carl. Penny looked at him suspiciously and held back. She didn't trust Carl. Something about him was just wrong. Maria looked back at Penny with worry in her eyes.
"Penny!" Maria screamed.
Penny glanced up and saw a claw coming flying down towards her. Mr Jeffrey had found her. The girl dropped just in time and the claw flew into the space her head had been seconds before. She slid across the floor and, when she got up, she was next to Maria. Clyde looked at her.
"What was that?" Clyde managed, surprised.
Sooner or later he's going to work out that me and Maria have fought aliens before. Bummer. Penny thought.
"Just get inside." she instructed.
.
Luke was frightened and surprised by the massive machine. Wires and sparks littered his path. Luke could make sense of what he was seeing and he didn't like it. He wasn't happy about what he was seeing. He suddenly heard a voice and spun. Mr Blakeman was blocking his path out.
"So Luke, how do you like our little science project?"
.
Maria, Penny and Clyde looked around the room they were in. They was gasping for breath, unable to really talk. They had just been chased around the block several times. Penny snapped back into action first, rushing over to one side of the science lab they were in, beginning to search for weapons. Clyde turned to Maria, demanding answers. This time they couldn't avoid the questions. Clyde was already part of it.
"So where's Jeffrey? I heard him."
"That's Jeffrey." Maria remarked. "That thing chasing us."
"He's an alien." Penny explained.
"Oh, I'll believe it. Why not?" Clyde said; he knew he couldn't deny the evidence of his own eyes.
Maria turned to Carl so she could start doing work.
"Thanks for saving us. Is there a way out from here?" she asked.
"No. There's no way out." Carl said.
He sounded gleeful. Penny didn't like it. She noticed with horror that Carl was standing between them and the door.
"Get back! Back, back, back!" she ordered.
Carl farted and lifted up his fringe. He unzipped his forehead. Penny and Maria had seen it before so they knew what was coming. Clyde looked a bit sick. The Carl skin suit was dropped to the floor and Penny frowned.
"I am a child of the Slitheen, and this is my hunt!"
Happy birthday to my little sister! Whoa! Whoop!
