Chapter 2

When Juliet's phone went off at 4 in the morning, she and John both knew it was bad news. When she wearily lifted her tousled head from the pillow to read the words 'HUB NOW!' on her mobile phone screen, she knew it was even worse. Groaning quietly, Juliet pulled herself out of her warm bed and into the coldness of her flat. She walked out into the open area that made up the living room-dining room. She moved over slowly to the picture window to check on the weather. It was now mid-September and the cold days of August, when she had started to work for Excalibur, had transitioned into cold bleak autumn. Rain now lashed the window. Juliet stepped back and got changed in the warmth of her own bed.

Juliet entered the Hub and walked casually over to her workstation, where Robert was already standing with a perfectly laundered suit and a steaming cup of coffee. Alex, Laura and Jane were working hard at their workstations.

"Oh thanks Rob," Juliet said, as Robert turned and entered James's office, and then James walked off, striding across the platform.

"Nice of you to turn up!" James stated. "Looks like we've got a bit of a crisis going on here, what with the earthquake. We're working over time to cover this up."

"What earthquake?" Juliet asked.

"It was localised around Beaulieu and Lyndhurst after all, James." Laura chimed in.

"Right, Robert and I are going to see if it had much of an impact on Lyndhurst. Laura, get on turning off that beacon. Juliet, you're here just in case we hear anything from the Police. Alex, go and give the Moontors a sedative injection, they went crazy when that earthquake hit. Jane, you're in charge." James stated, pulling on his greatcoat and heading for the underground car park. Robert straightened his tie and followed him. Alex moved swiftly to the other side of the Hub over to the staircase down into the Vaults.

When they were certain that James and Robert had left, then Juliet moved over to Laura's workstation. "So what's this beacon then?"

"That beacon has been attracting extra-terrestrial material heading for the United Kingdom to us down here in Hampshire and Dorset. So if James is telling us to shut it down, it means whatever that earthquake was is serious." Laura replied.

"Why don't you ask him then?" Juliet asked.

Jane laughed, and then said, "James won't tell us anything until he's absolutely sure. And he hardly tells us anything, anyway."

Juliet ran a hand through her black hair. "But surely, that beacon must have been brought into being by the government, don't they have a say in us turning it off?"

"That's the thing, if it's alien, a) it's ours, b) the government don't seem to mind. No one's really going to notice if we switch it off anyway, half this stuff seems to just find us, and anyway, there are always nut case conspiracy theorists."

Laura started typing on one of her four keyboards, and put on a pair of black rimmed glasses and stared intently at the left hand central screen. "Right, that's shut down initiated. It'll take three hours."

By the time the beacon had gone through its final stages of shut down, James and Robert had returned, and Robert had rustled up some cold pizza from the day before for food, along with a cup of coffee to keep them all going. About half an hour later, Juliet's phone rang, and it was Juliet's ex-partner when she was in the Police, Jack.

"Hi Juliet, I've got another spooky do for you," his voice crackled over the phone line. "We've got a situation down in Brockenhurst, down on Police Station Road. Well, it's something different, that's for sure."

"OK Jack, I'm on my way. I'll have to pass it by James first though. OK, I'll see you soon. Bye." She replied, hanging up and heading for James's office. Robert opened the door for her as he was about to come out at the same time she wanted to go in. James looked up from a bit of paperwork he was doing, and smiled.

"Hey James, I've just been told about something unusual happening down in Brockenhurst. Is it OK if I go?"

"Yeah, sure, we don't really need you here at the moment. Take Laura and Alex with you just in case. Actually, I might need Laura. Take Robert and Laura."

"Why not Jane?"

"Because she's still recovering and she's also getting some stuff from down in the Vaults for me." James pulled open a drawer in his wooden desk, and pulled out a silver hexagonal device, which had diamond crochets across the surface. "Take this with you."

"What is it?"

"It's a … well, I haven't given it a cool name yet. We don't know what it is. It would appear to be a magic…thing. But it seems to be able to unlock things that should be quantum sealed. And it can hack computer systems."

"Pretty handy device then," Juliet said, holding her hand out to take it. James dropped it into her hand, and the cool metallic device was smooth in her hand. James smiled as Juliet turned around and left his office, still staring at the silver device.

"So what exactly is supposed to be happening on Police Station Road in Brockenhurst?" Alex asked from the back seat of the SUV. Juliet was sitting directly in front of him and Robert was driving.

"I don't know. Jack wasn't more specific than 'a spooky do' when I spoke to him." Juliet replied.

"Typical police. Either too much information or none at all." Alex replied flippantly.

The rest of the journey transpired in silence, with Juliet looking out of the passenger window, while Robert's eyes were firmly focused on the road ahead. As they turned from Swan Street into Police Station Road, a narrow street, that the SUV entirely took up, to see a massive police cordon around two red bricked, semi detached houses. As the SUV pulled up, the net curtain in the downstairs window of the left hand house's window twitched and someone stared at them, before letting the net curtain fall back into place. Juliet, Robert and Alex stepped out into the heavy rain, and approached Jack.

"So what's going on?" Juliet asked.

"Well, the husband and wife in Number 4 called us in, Mr and Mrs Johnston. Number 6 is rented out, and they barely saw the guy who moved in, he hardly seemed to go out, and nobody ever came to see him. The other thing is that he never seemed to draw the curtains at night. Now, last night, they heard a loud thud, and this morning, the curtains are drawn. They had a spare key to number 6, and so Mrs Johnston rushed next door to check he was OK. The key fit perfectly, except the door wouldn't unlock. So she tried the back door, and the same thing happened. So they called us in, and I called you in." Jack explained.

"Oh right. Can we have ten minutes alone in there?" Alex asked.

"So long as you don't take anything that might be important," Jack replied.

The trio walked under the blue and white Police tape and walked towards the front door. Upon reaching it, Juliet pulled out the device James had given her. Something in the door clicked, and it swung open. They entered the house, and found themselves in a narrow hall way. Robert pulled his Excalibur PDA out of his pocket and, pulling the long black stylus out of the top, he tapped a couple of buttons on the touch screen, and set up a scan.

"No life readings." He told the other two.

They approached the first door on the right. Juliet reached out for the spherical door handle, and turned it. Behind it was a stair case to the second floor.

"I'll go upstairs," Juliet stated. "You two check out downstairs. Stay in touch."

Robert and Alex nodded, and carried on along the hallway. Juliet walked up the flight of stairs, only to find a man standing at the top of the staircase. Holding a gun, he said "Don't scream."

"Who are you?" The man asked.

"I could ask you the same thing," Juliet replied, pulling her own gun out of her holster and pointing the gun at him.

"But…I asked you first," He said.

"I'm Juliet Harvey, I'm with Excalibur. I'm here to find the man who was renting this house." She replied hurriedly.

"Hmm, Excalibur, that rings a bell. Why does that ring a bell?" The man queried himself.

"Your name!" Juliet yelled.

"Captain Thomas Sky. Oooh, I've got it. Excalibur, your boss is Captain James Harknell, right?"

"You're currently hindering my operation. Please let me get up there and search for this man."

"Oh, he's dead. I didn't kill him, because I know that what your brain is thinking. God, humans are slow."

There came thundering footsteps as Alex and Robert came haring along the hallway, and stood at the bottom of the staircase.

"Juliet? We heard you yell. Are you alright?" Alex asked.

"We found the body, and we photographed it and sent it to Laura, who has cross referenced it. Guess who it was? John Smith." Robert added.

"I'm fine. Wow, we finally found him. But he's in no state to talk."

"Is there someone up there with you?" Robert asked.

"Captain Thomas Sky." The man replied. "I know your boss. Oh, that reminds me. Earlier, I found this by the dead body." He said, pulling a white envelope out of his pocket. "It's addressed to your boss."