What's this? An update!? Sorry for the wait folks.

Darryl sighed as he lay with his arms behind his head on the roof of the mall, watching the clouds go by. He had mixed feelings about not being able to be a part of the search party. Secretly he was relieved that he didn't have to go on that boat again - it was cramped and smelly, and he had doubts about its seaworthiness - but he also felt guilty. The fact that he was still here was a constant reminder of what had happened with the trader. And with May. He sighed again, this time remembering the dance he had shared with her after the party, the way she had felt in his arms and the scent of her soap in his nostrils. The slight flush of colour in her cheeks afterwards, and of course the threat to break his kneecaps. He chuckled. Perhaps one good thing that had come of what had happened on the boat was the two of them being left here together. Not exactly alone but at least with Salene gone it would be easier to see her. Those girls spent an annoying amount of time together.

Hearing activity from the street below he got up and looked over the edge of the building. It was the rest of the tribe, coming back from seeing the search party off at the docks. Trudy and Ruby led the kids inside while Gel stayed behind to say goodbye to Creg. Not wishing to watch any further he moved away from the roof's edge and went back into the building. Shivering slightly as he moved back into the warmth he walked down the stairs to the upper level of the mall and into his room. As he crossed the threshold he felt the unmistakeable crunch of paper underneath his boot. Bending down he picked it up; it was an envelope, slightly crumpled now, with his name written on it. Curious, he stuck his thumb underneath the flap to open it, but at that moment the light in the room flickered and died, along with those in the rest of the mall. A power cut, only this one was followed by a scream from downstairs. Quickly stuffing the note into his pocket he dashed out of his room and down the stairs, reaching the bottom just as a tearful Bonnie ran in from outside and into the arms of Ruby. Ellie had also come down to investigate.

'A man!' Bonnie cried. 'Outside! He gave me this!' Darryl craned his neck over Ruby's shoulder and just managed to see an envelope - unconsciously he touched the one in his own pocket - before the saloon owner turned to speak to him.

'Darryl, make sure there's nobody still outside,' she said. Nodding he turned and headed for where Bonnie had run in from. Nervously he stepped out of the mall to the rubbish skips. If the man who had approached Bonnie was still around, he would be hiding out here.

'I know you're in there!' he croaked. 'Come out!' There was no answer. He gulped and moved closer, stopping suddenly when a rustling came from a corner. Then something came at him, he waved his hands in front of his face to deflect a blow that never materialised - his attacker was a pigeon. Still slightly spooked he went back inside where Trudy had appeared on the landing with Brady.

'What's going on?' she asked as he reported back to Ruby.

'There's nobody there' he said.

Ruby smiled and turned back to Trudy. 'Don't worry Trudy,' she said. 'It's just a power cut. Probably teething problems at the power station. We'd better find some candles in case it's not back on by sunset,'

Thinking this was good advice he went back to his room to hunt for candles.

Ushering Ruby into a corner by the entrance grille, Ellie dropped her voice to a whisper. 'Are you sure we're doing the right thing?' she asked. 'Keeping the note to ourselves?'

'Like I said,' Ruby replied. 'It's probably nothing.'

'But what if it isn't?'

Ruby paused a moment before she answered. 'If this 'Plague' is serious then I think we'll hear from him again. Think about it, why bother warning us? He's clearly playing some sort of game, and when nobody pays him any attention he'll either give up or contact us again. We might even be buying ourselves some time by not doing anything.'

Ellie nodded hesitantly. What Ruby was saying seemed to make sense but she still felt uneasy about the whole thing. The idea that an unknown enemy had his eye on them was quite frankly disturbing.

'Tomorrow we can scout round the city, see if anyone has heard of this 'Plague,' Ruby said.

'Alright,' Ellie agreed. 'But if we find anything, if he might be a threat, we have to tell Amber.'

Ruby nodded. 'And everyone else,' she said.

'So what do you think the note means?' Ellie asked, feeling more relaxed. 'If it is real.'

Ruby got out the note and unfolded it, frowning in thought as she read it over once more. 'Clearly he doesn't like that the virus was stopped, which is quite worrying. He seems to think he can bring it back again.'

'But that's not possible,' Ellie insisted. 'Is it? I mean, it's all gone. The Technicians…' she paused. 'You don't think they could have anything to do with this?' She pointed at the note in Ruby's hand. 'Once a Techno…'

'No,' Ruby said quickly. 'I can't believe that.'

'Maybe you just don't want to,' Ellie suggested gently.

The other girl's face softened. 'I know what you're trying to say,' she said. 'I know I don't know Link very well but there's no way she could be involved in something like this. I can tell.'

'Okay,' Ellie said diplomatically. Perhaps Ruby was right but she was still going to keep an eye on the Technicians. Better to be safe than sorry after all.

A noise outside alerted the pair to somebody entering the mall. Ruby hastily refolded the note from Plague and they retreated into the shadows - from there they saw May through the grille, looking around the corner carefully before dashing inside, adjusting the straps on her bulging backpack as she ran up the stairs.

'Well that was odd,' Ellie mused.

'Indeed,' Ruby frowned.

Ellie shrugged off May's strange behaviour and was about to step out into the courtyard again when she was stopped by Ruby's arm. 'Wha…?' she began, but the other girl gestured for her to keep quiet.

'Look,' she whispered, pointing out beyond the grille. Ellie narrowed her eyes as she saw Spinner loitering in the entrance corridor, tapping the walls and occasionally making notes on a handheld computer. As she wandered further into the mall Ruby stepped out from the shadows to meet her. Ellie followed.

'Oh,' Spinner said, noticing them. 'Hello. Your power's gone.' Ruby gestured to the room around them. 'Of course,' Spinner smiled. 'You already know. I just came to see what caused it. It seems rather strange that only your building was affected.' Ellie clutched her stomach as the feeling of unease about Plague's note began to grow again.

'You got here quickly,' Ruby stated questioningly.

Spinner smiled again. 'Quite by chance I happened to be inspecting the power grid for Sector 10 when you went out, so I thought I'd pop along to see what was going on. Do you mind if I have a look around? It shouldn't take too long.'

'Can we stop you?' Ellie muttered under her breath.

Ruby shrugged. 'Be our guest,' she said. 'It would be nice not to have to read by candlelight tonight.'

'I'll see what I can do,' Spinner grinned, turning to walk further into the mall. After a few steps she turned back and innocently asked 'Is Jay around?' Ellie fought back a giggle.

'Jay's gone away for a while,' Ruby replied. 'Down the coast with Lex and Ebony.'

'What a shame,' Spinner frowned. 'Oh well, back to work I suppose.' She turned to walk away again. 'Oh, wait!' she suddenly said. 'I almost forgot, where can I find Ruby?'

'I'm Ruby.'

'Well that makes my job easier,' said Spinner. 'This is for you.' She produced an envelope and waved it in front of the two girls. Ellie and Ruby looked at each other. It couldn't be, could it? Not so soon after the first one?

'It's from Link,' Spinner said, looking at them strangely. 'She asked me to give it to you as I was leaving the power station.'

'Thanks,' Ruby said, taking the envelope. Spinner walked away - for real this time - to continue her tapping of the building's walls. Ruby opened the letter and breathed a sigh of relief that Ellie found herself echoing; evidently it was from Link after all.

'She's been given the day off tomorrow, so she wants me to come out to the casino with her and Tag tonight.' Ruby smiled. 'Fancy coming along?'

'Are you serious?' Ellie asked flatly, raising an eyebrow. That was probably the thing she least wanted to do right now, especially after the note from Plague and her suspicions about the Technicians.

'Sure,' Ruby replied. 'Why not? It'll be fun, and you need a break.'

She was unconvinced by Ruby's reasons but the more she thought about it the more she realised that if the Technicians really were behind the note then she couldn't just let her friend go off alone with them, especially when she had already been attacked.

'Oh alright, you've twisted my arm,' she said eventually.

'Excellent!' the other girl chimed. 'Meet me here after dinner?' Ellie nodded and watched her friend go back to her room. She stood in thought for a while, trying to suppress the niggling doubts in the back of her head about Link, Spinner and the decision not to tell anyone about the note, before doing the same herself.

It was beginning to get dark and still the power had not returned. Darryl was lying on his bed, keeping himself occupied by playing a battery-powered computer game. Becoming aware of someone else's presence he looked up to see a figure silhouetted against the door frame. As his eyes adjusted he realised that it was Spinner.

'Don't mind me,' she said. 'I'm doing a few routine checks, just pretend I'm not here.'

He watched in bemusement as she began knocking on the walls with some sort of instrument. 'What are you doing?' he asked her. 'Checking for rats?'

Spinner chuckled. 'Something like that,' she replied. 'There, all done.' She closed the computer she had been using to measure whatever it was she was measuring. 'I won't take up any more of your time.'

As she left he got up from the bed and went to stand by the last bit of wall she had tested. He put his ear to it but couldn't hear anything so he tried knocking on it as well. Still nothing, but a shuffling noise from the doorway indicated that, once again, he was not alone. Peeking around the corner were Bonnie and Brady, both giggling at him listening to the wall. 'Rats,' he told them sagely, pointing at the offending brickwork. This set them off even more and they ran away laughing and screaming. Darryl sighed heavily and stuck his hands in his pockets. That Bonnie was a strange girl, and it looked like Brady was starting to follow in her footsteps. Feeling paper against his fingers he realised that he still hadn't read the note he had found in his room earlier. Removing it from his pocket he stepped outside his room where it was lighter so he could read it - and saw Amber coming straight towards him carrying a mountain of paperwork and looking behind her to tell off the girls for almost tripping her up on their way out of his room. It was a disaster waiting to happen.

'Amb…' he began, but it was too late. 'Argh!' The pair collided, and while he was able to catch and steady his fellow Mallrat her paperwork was not so lucky. It flew up in the air and landed around them like giant snowflakes.

'Great,' Amber sighed. 'A whole day's work down the drain.'

'Sorry Amber,' he said sheepishly.

She shook her head. 'No, it's my fault. I wasn't looking where I was going.'

'What are those anyway?' he asked while helping her gather up the rogue papers.

'Oh, only the whole workings of the city,' she moaned. 'Petitions, complaints, the odd bit of fan mail.' His ears pricked up at that.

'Really? Who for?'

'Mainly for Lex,' she said in a tone that registered her disapproval.

'Oh,' he said sadly.

'And all meticulously sorted by tribe and importance,' she continued. 'Or at least it was. Come on, let's go put these away before anything else happens to them.' Having collected about half the papers each he followed her to her room where they put them down in a messy pile on her desk. 'Thanks for that Darryl,' she said before flopping down on her bed in exhaustion. 'I can't believe Jay just left me to do this all on my own!'

'But…you're not on your own,' he said, slightly confused. 'There's Ellie and Trudy. And me, I'll help!'

Amber smiled. 'Thanks Darryl,' she said. 'But if I let everyone else get involved it'll be like the Mallrats are running the city and the other tribes won't like that. The leaders chose me as their representative, not the tribe. More's the pity.'

'Oh right,' he said. 'But they can't expect you to do everything by yourself. Hey! I've got it!' A plan was beginning to form in his head. 'Let me be your PA! I can sort through all the letters and stuff, make sure only the really important ones get to you. What do you think?'

'I don't know Darryl,' Amber said, sounding unconvinced. 'It's a nice thought, but…'

'Aww come on,' he persisted. 'At least give it a shot. You'll have less paperwork, plus you'll get to spend more time with Bray.' Not to mention how impressed May would be once she saw him in a position of responsibility.

Amber smiled. 'When you put it like that…alright then, it's a deal!' She held out her hand for him to shake. 'You are now officially a government employee!'

'Awesome!' he grinned, taking her hand. May would be all over him once she heard about this!

Ellie hummed to herself as she sat in front of the mirror, brushing her hair by candlelight. Glancing past her reflection to where Jack lay motionless as ever on the bed she felt a pang of guilt at leaving him on his own tonight, not that she was going to be out enjoying herself of course. Not when she had to keep an eye on Ruby and the Technicians.

'I won't be out long,' she promised Jack. 'I'm sure Ruby won't want to stay out all night anyway.'

She paused, hoping for some kind of sign, wanting him to tell her that it was alright to go. Or even to get angry and forbid her from going. Anything really. Only the steady rise and fall of his chest told her he was still there, somewhere.

The soft hum of electricity accompanied the return of light to the mall and small cheers arose from other rooms. Instinctively she blew out the candle, conserving the precious wax for the next emergency. It seemed that Spinner had finally figured out what was wrong and fixed it. It had taken her long enough. As if thinking about the dark-skinned woman had somehow summoned her, she arrived in the doorway looking none too happy.

'I have spent all day in this stinking hole,' she spat. 'And I find that someone had turned off the main power switch in the basement.'

'Didn't you think to check there first?' Ellie asked politely. She was in no mood to have a slanging match with the other woman tonight.

Spinner's cheeks coloured but she didn't challenge the statement. 'You should tell the younger ones that it's dangerous to play with electricity.'

'They already know that,' Ellie said, and Spinner opened her mouth to protest. 'But I'll have a word with them anyway,' she finished. The Technician gave a satisfied nod then looked over at Jack.

'How is he?' she asked. 'Still no change?' Ellie shook her head. 'I had hoped he would have shown some signs of recovery by now, but I suppose it's early days yet.' Her frostiness lifted and she smiled sympathetically at Ellie.

'I don't know what else I can do,' the blonde sighed. 'I've done all your exercises and more but still he just lies there.' She threw her hands up in exasperation. 'Sometimes I wonder if I'll ever get him back.'

'There is one thing,' Spinner said hesitantly. 'You remember I talked about artificially stimulating his brain through the headset? We have enough power to do it now, if you like.'

'Didn't you say that could cause even more damage?' Ellie asked.

'It's possible,' Spinner admitted. 'A small chance, but not small enough to overlook. It's up to you.'

Ellie stared for a long time, first at Spinner, then at Jack, then back at Spinner.

'How long would it take?' Why am I even considering this!? It could kill him.

'I can't spare the time at the moment,' Spinner replied. 'In a few days perhaps, but once it starts it's hard to say how long the process will take. It could be minutes, it could be days, weeks even. Every brain is different.'

'Jack's is the best,' Ellie smiled, going to his bedside and stroking his cheek. 'Better than Ram's, even Mega's.' After all my fears about their motives, I'm asking one of them - her! - to do this… She turned back to Spinner. 'I think I'd like to try it.' I'm sorry Jack but I can't live without you, I need you!

Spinner nodded. 'I'll let you know when I'm ready,' she said.

As the Technician left, Ellie turned to Jack. She hoped she was doing the right thing, but of course he could give her no sign. She finished getting ready to go out in silence, what she had just agreed to weighing on her mind, then said goodbye to Jack. She paused at the door to wait for a response that never came, as she always did, then with a heavy sigh she ducked out through the curtain to meet Ruby in the courtyard. She was starting to think that perhaps her friend was right - she did need a break.

No, no, no! Jack thought. Please Ellie, don't! He had heard her talk to him about Spinner and the Techincians - and her suspicions of them - on many occasions, and he didn't trust them at all. She must be desperate if she was going to let them wire him up to a headset again. The very thought sent shivers down his spine. If only he could convince his body to move! It should be so simple but he felt like crying, the number of times he had tried to lift a finger, to open his eyes, and failed. Now he faced the prospect of having his brain fried by a machine, and he was terrified. Open your eyes! he screamed inside his head. Open your eyes! Open your… Light! He could see it, blinding and wonderful! One second, two, then darkness again. He wanted to laugh and cry at the same time. Progress! That beautiful word, held in high esteem by scientists the world over. He had all but given up but now here was the breakthrough he needed to boost his spirits. Now if only he could show Ellie before she brought in the Technicians. Oh Ellie! Please hold on! Don't let them do this to me!