Exams are over, hooray! Post-grad is hard, unsurprisingly. Sorry for the delay …

XXXXXXX

The old house was enclosed by a tall metal fence.

"Seems strange," Wheeler commented. "If it's deserted …"

"It's to keep local children from going inside," Tendai explained. "The building is very old, and most likely unstable."

Linka took a step forwards and reached a hand out as if to touch the wire. Wheeler grabbed her wrist.

"Hey!"

"Sorry, babe, but that was a seriously bad idea."

Linka watched as a fly meandered drunkenly into the fence and expired in a flash of sparks.

"An electric fence," commented the American, still holding Linka's wrist. "Real welcoming."

"The house doesn't look that friendly either," said Tendai grimly. "Come, the gate is around the side."

Linka disengaged her wrist from Wheeler's hand, rubbing it.

"Sorry, Linka. Didn't mean to be rough."

"That is okay, Yankee." Linka turned to follow Tendai. Wheeler ran a few steps to catch her up.

"Hey, so what's your take on the whole thing, babe?"

"The whole …?"

"The deal with Sarudzai and those kids. And this creepy old house."

"I do not know." Linka's smooth brow furrowed in a frown. "I don't really know what to think. It is so strange. But I do not believe that there is a curse on Hwange!"

"I'm with you on that one." Wheeler glanced at the Russian's profile as they followed their guide. "Hey, remember that time in Thailand? When that supposed dragon-beast was terrorizing the area?"

Linka looked resolutely ahead, avoiding his gaze. That business with the dragon-beast had been one of their earliest missions. The Planeteers had split into groups to investigate the mythical monster's appearances, and she had been teamed with the American. They had spent the night wandering through the Thai jungle, their paths lit by solar torches.

At that stage in their careers as Planeteers, Linka was still getting to know Wheeler. She couldn't deny the instant spark of attraction that had ignited between them, but she also couldn't deny the incandescent rage that filled her whenever the American teased her or clowned around in the middle of a mission. She had been secretly pleased to be paired with him that night.

"I do not know if it was such a good idea to split up like this," she had said, or something like it, when the darkness started to look threatening.

"I kinda like it. It's the first time we've had a chance to be alone," Wheeler had said, turning to her. He had dropped the beam of his torch so that his face was only dimly lit. Linka had stepped forward, lowering her own torch, and grasped his lapel. She could see him smiling in the dim light as she had reached up …

And then the dragon-beast had roared, and the pair quickly separated.

Why was Wheeler bringing this up now? Linka wondered. Knowing that his streak of mischief was a mile wide, she suspected him of referring to that almost-kiss. Well, she wasn't going to give him the satisfaction of remembering.

"Da," she said neutrally. "And it turned out to be a robot built by Greedly."

"Exactly," said Wheeler. He was still smiling at her. "Not a superstition at all. Though it had sharp teeth, whatever it was."

"Planeteers!" said Tendai from ahead. "I have found the entrance."

XXXXXXX

Gi raced down the dark corridors after Kwame, who knew the way. She could hear Ma-Ti's light tread behind her.

"This is awful," he panted, out of breath from the run. "I can feel the animals' pain more and more strongly as we get closer."

"Don't worry Ma-Ti," Gi said over her shoulder. "We will make sure they get out of here unharmed. Have you been in touch with the others?"

"No, but I will check in now." Ma-Ti raised one hand to his temple. "Heart."

"Linka?"

"Ma-Ti!" The Russian's voice came through strongly. "Is everything all right? Are you in trouble?"

"No, we are fine. Almost at the holding bay. No problems so far. And you?"

"We are following a new lead." Linka quickly ran through everything Sarudzai had told them. "We're about to go into the house and see if we can find whatever was causing that scrambled signal."

"Okay – keep me posted."

"You too. Good luck."

Ma-Ti lowered his hand. "Kwame!"

The young African slowed his pace and stopped for a moment. "What is it, Ma-Ti?"

Ma-Ti quickly briefed him in.

"Good," Kwame commented. "It sounds like we are all on the right track."

"Speaking of which," Gi broke in, "are you sure you know where we're going?"

She stood with one hand on her hip, waiting for a response.

"I am," said Kwame with his usual quiet confidence. "And it's not too much further, either. Can't you hear it?"

The others were silent for a moment.

"I can't hear anything," said Gi.

"It's the sound of machinery, very far off," said Kwame. "Coming from that tunnel."

"You have good ears. I can't hear a thing," said Gi. "But I'm sure you're right. Let's go."

"We'd better slow down a little. We may run into some of Plunder's men as we get closer."

"No problem. In fact, I'm almost looking forward to it," said Gi, flexing the hand that carried her ring.

"Me too," said Ma-Ti with an unaccustomed grimness to his tone. "They deserve to pay for what they have done to these animals."

The three Planeteers started down the tunnel that Kwame had indicated.

XXXXXXX

"Bozhe moy!" Linkajumped backwards, brushing frantically at her hair. "So many cobwebs!"

They were inside the old house. After a few minutes of examining the outside – Dutch gabled roof, long porch, big windows with most of the glass still intact – they had ventured in through the front door.

"Hey, you've made a friend," said Wheeler, picking a black spider out of Linka's fringe.

"It is just a rain spider," Tendai reassured the Russian. "Completely harmless."

"Big, though," said Wheeler, examining it.

"Put it down, Yankee!" said Linka with a shudder. "Tendai, have you noticed anything strange yet?"

"Nothing." The Shona man tapped the walls as he spoke. "Just an old, uncared-for colonial house."

"No strange noises, either …" Wheeler began, then broke off.

"What is it?"

"Shhh!"

"Yankee, I …" Linka began indignantly, but he laid a finger on her lips to silence her. "Can you hear that?"

The three were silent. A sound floated to them, as if it was coming from under their feet … a distant barking.

"A dog from the village?" said Linka uncertainly.

Then something mingled with the barking – men's voices, also sounding far away. And laughter – the laughter of children.

"Man, that is creepy," said Wheeler, looking a little pale. "Is everyone else hearing that?"

"We are," Tendai assured him. He laid a hand on his gun holster. "That must be what Sarudzai heard."

"It may be creepy, but it is not the sound of ghosts," said Linka with confidence. "Come."

She strode through the room and opened a door on the other side.

"Hey, Tendai," said Wheeler as they followed her, "there is actually something strange about this room. I mean – the ceilings are covered in cobwebs, the furniture is so dusty that it's almost white, but the floor is completely clear. Almost like someone has swept it."

"That is true," Tendai agreed.

"I have found something!" Linka's voice was triumphant. "Come and see!"

Wheeler and Tendai exchanged glances, then hurried towards her voice. It was coming from behind another tall wooden door. Wheeler grasped the handle and turned it.

"Ah, Wheeler, isn't it?" said a heavily-accented male voice. "Come in … and bring your friend."

Wheeler pushed the door open. He was confronted with a room full of machinery – speakers, screens, flashing dials. Against the far wall stood a man with unnaturally pale hair, wearing khaki clothing and carrying a gun. A gun that was pressed against the side of Linka's head.

XXXXXXX

Kwame, Gi and Ma-Ti were crouched behind a crate in the holding bay. They could see the dark glitter of water to their right, lit by torches on the walls. Ahead of them, Plunder's men were busy loading crates of animals onto a fleet of trucks, using a crane. Plunder was walking amongst them, twirling his ivory-topped cane as he barked orders.

"That guy is a real jerk-off, as Wheeler would say," muttered Ma-Ti. He was so angry that Gi could almost feel the heat coming off him. She could only imagine what it must be like to feel the terror of all those animals in your head.

"It's okay, Ma-Ti," she comforted, laying a hand on his shoulder. "We will think of something."

"I could bring down the ceiling, or you could flood the place," muttered Kwame to Gi, "but that would harm the animals as well as the men."

"And we won't do anything to harm them," said Ma-Ti sharply.

"Of course not." Kwame exchanged glances with Gi. "So I think our best plan is to try and free some of the animals in the crates nearest to us. Create enough of a diversion that we can slip through to the others – and stop those trucks from leaving."

Ma-Ti raised his ring to his head for a minute. "Heart."

Gi and Kwame waited. After a short silence, Ma-Ti opened his eyes again.

"There is a rhinocerous in that crate," he said, pointing. "If I free him and let him know that we are friends, I think I can cause enough chaos that you'll be able to get to the trucks unseen."

"Sounds good," Gi nodded. "So all we need to do is open the crate. If only Wheeler was here! He could do it in a second."

"No problem." Kwame pulled out his penknife. "It might be old-fashioned, but it still works."

He crept to the crate on his hands and knees, the knife between his teeth. He was sheltered by the stacks of crates, and there was so much noise that it was very unlikely he would be noticed.

Gi watched him fumble with the lock. "Come on, Kwame."

Beside her, Ma-Ti's teeth were clenched and his eyes were closed. Gi guessed that he was talking to the rhino, soothing it, so that it didn't burst out of the crate and trample Kwame as soon as the door was opened.

"I have done it!" came Kwame's whisper. He was crouching beside the door. The padlock swung down, open. "Is it safe to open the door, Ma-Ti?"

Ma-Ti was deep in the mind of the rhino. He could feel its confusion, fear and anger. Sometimes when he dived this deeply into another consciousness he lost almost all sense of himself.

The rhino's mind was focused, pin-sharp, a haze of red. Ma-Ti felt his own mind slip into that haze like a silvery fish and wrap itself around the anger, soothing it. There is no need to worry, my friend, he thought silently, although things as man-made and artificial as words and sentences did not exist at this deep level of being. The words didn't matter – it was the emotion and intent that came with them. He felt the rhino's anger subside and calm.

"Okay, Kwame," he said, opening his eyes. "Open the door."