He heard a sound permeating his ears. It was a sound he'd not heard in a long time. As his consciousness returned more and more the sound grew louder and more distinct. It was the sound of a clock ticking. He tried to sit up but his body felt like it was made of lead and his muscles ached horribly. He was aware of another presence in the room and tried to speak but no words left his mouth, his throat was drier than an arid desert.

"Lay still please, Mr Rotten. Take things easy." A voice from somewhere near him said. The voice was unfamiliar but it was comforting.

Robbie did as he was bid and fell into a deep sleep akin to the one he'd not long been awoken from.

Doctor Cole left the room that Robbie was sleeping in and made his way down the stairs. His normally non existent temper had been aroused and he wanted answers. Walking into the living room without any of his normal airs and graces he looked at every single person in the room with a piercing gaze.

"I signed that man's death certificate nearly fifteen years ago. That normally means that people are dead. For some strange reason that dead man happens to be breathing, has a pulse and can move. Dead people don't do those things. Tell me what is going on here!" Doctor Cole spoke with a vehemence no one thought him capable of.

Pixel typed something into the computer on his wrist, "The energy that was released from the malfunction must have ripped a hole in another dimension. It must have been enough to rip Robbie from that one into this one."

"That doesn't explain why he's alive." Doctor Cole snapped.

"I'm coming to that." Pixel replied coldly, "The other dimension must have been that which we call death. The energy pulled him from death to this one and revived him. Computer says that he would have to have been in the room at the time but his body is in the cemetery."

Ziggy gulped, "do you think his ghost was in the lab? That is spooky." Ziggy shuddered at the thought of Robbie's ghost running around town for all these years.

"It was his ghost." Kit broke in, the game was up. His secret had to be told. "This will sound a little far fetched but after Robbie's come back from the dead I doubt it'll make today seem less weird."

"Please continue," Doctor Cole urged taking a seat on the floor.

Kit took a deep breath, "On the day of Robyn's eighteenth birthday I sent her to the cemetery because she was upset about her dad and told her to talk to him. I did it because it would make her feel better. What I didn't realise was that she'd literally spoken to him. Apparently she has some kind of sixth sense where she can see and speak to those that are no longer with us, Robbie was one.

She didn't tell me what happened straight away; I just put her good spirits down to a good long think.

When I left town I was confronted by Robbie. He said he'd used a trick a friend of his had used quite regularly to make himself visible and audible to normal people."

"Like Detective Miller," the Mayor interrupted recalling their ghostly visitor who had spear headed Robyn's mountain rescue.

"Who?" Kit asked but pressed on before he could be disrupted again, "Robbie persuaded me to return. Ever since then he and Robyn have seen each other and spoken with each other quite a lot. I've seen Robbie myself a couple of times."

"Why didn't you tell anyone any of this?" Sportacus asked wounded by Robyn's secrecy.

Kit smiled wryly, "because you'd think we were mad and Robbie didn't want the publicity. I'm sorry about our keeping this from you but it had to be done."

Doctor Cole piped in, "all of this irrelevant now anyway. We have one man back from the dead which in my eyes is a medical marvel. This however must be kept in the utmost secrecy. The only reason that I haven't had him airlifted to the hospital, which is where he should ideally be, is because we could all end up being banged up in the Crazytown safe house."

"How so?" Stingy asked a little upset that he couldn't earn a pretty penny by turning the story into the newspapers.

Doctor Cole looked at Stingy in a manner which banished any notion of bringing the papers into the picture. "Because if he was to be admitted into any hospital in this area a little red sign would flash up saying, 'deceased'. I'm sure you're well aware of the fact that dead people don't need to be treated in hospitals. All of what has been said before now would be a pretty poor excuse should someone question us."

Everyone nodded. They all agreed that they had to keep Robbie's revival a secret. It would be hard and they were still reeling from their shock at seeing him after all this time. Each of them could understand Kit's and Robyn's reasons for keeping quiet about Robbie before this happened, their reaction would have been just the same.

"How is Robbie?" Sportacus asked breaking the silence that had descended.

Doctor Cole looked up, "As well as can be expected. He inhaled a tremendous amount of smoke and will have a very nasty cough for a few weeks. He'll need to be kept on portable oxygen for some time and the mask mustn't be taken off for longer than is needed to take a sip of a drink or a bite of food. There isn't much more that I can suggest except close monitoring of his vital signs. I can give you the equipment you need to do this properly and can claim I lost it when my bag is inspected. I will return in a few days to see how things are going and will prescribe the necessary medications according to his progress."

This information was absorbed by everyone and they made mental notes to remember what had been said.

"As an after thought," Doctor Cole began and took a pen and paper from his pocket, "should his condition worsen or his symptoms alarm you call me on my private number. Before I go I need to get that equipment and show you how to use it."

Doctor Cole got up and left the room. He returned a few minutes later and smiled when he saw that Robyn had joined the group. Automatically he checked her vital signs and declared that she had no adverse affects from her faint. After doing this he removed a strange looking apparatus from a bag and explained what it was and how it worked.

"This beast is called a 'Dynamap'. It can monitor blood pressure, pulse and the amount of oxygenated red blood cells in the body. It works as a touch screen and if you want to do all three things press 'all obs'. I'm sure you all know where the blood pressure cuff goes and the little probe can be put on the finger or the ear, it's what monitors the oxygen count. Once it's done everything it's been asked to do you can print out the readings. An alarm will go off if anything is out of balance with what we call 'human normal'. Everyone with me so far?" Doctor Cole had explained the machine as thoroughly as he could.

Everyone nodded. They'd learn how to use the machine by practicing. Using this new toy would be a daunting prospect for some but others (such as Pixel) really wanted to give it try.

Satisfied that he'd been understood Doctor Cole took his leave. Taking the Doctor's example everyone except Sportacus, Kit and Robyn left the house. The three needed to be left alone to clear the air. Sportacus had been hurt by the deceit that the other two had conjured up. None of them had thought Robyn capable of such a thing and all of them put it down to a hidden nature. Doctor Cole was thanked for his service.

Doctor Cole had almost reacted the same way as Robyn when he'd been greeted with Robbie. When they had telephoned the clinic he had been told that Robyn had fainted which was true but he'd not been informed of a second patient until he'd arrived. His knees had buckled with the shock of seeing the man he'd declared dead that many years before. His nerves had quickly recovered themselves however when he noticed the condition his patient was in. Both of his patients had been carried back to Kit's and Robyn's house and lain in separate bedrooms.

On their way back home Pixel stopped walking causing Stephanie to stop walking too.

"What's up?" She questioned seeing Pixel's befuddled expression.

"I'm just trying to figure out how such a small experiment could go so wrong. How could a preliminary test of a self recharging baby monitor cause so much trouble?"

The question was left hanging in the air. There was no answer to that.