"Josh, what's going on?"

Josh sighed as he ran a hand through his hair, there wasn't any way he could possibly break this to her without her being absolutely furious at him, so he may as well just get it over with.

"The um…the carnival's gone. The Zoltar is gone too. I'm so sorry, Suze, I know how much this has hurt you, I never shoulda made that wish. I only wanted to see you again, but I never thought- I mean I never thought it would actually work! That kind of stuff only happens in movies, right?..."

Suddenly aware that he was rambling and pacing frantically, he paused, cheeks flushed with shame and embarrassment as he looked for the expected angry look. But what he got was much worse. Susan looked empty, like the life had been taken out of her. Which, in a terribly ironic way, it had. It filled him with soul crushing guilt. She said nothing for a moment, then stood and turned away from him.

"I'm never going home again," she said softly. "My life, my job, my family…I can't go back to any of it. They'd never believe me. They wouldn't understand-"

"Oh no no, that can't be," Josh said, desperate to say anything to lift her spirits. Against his better judgment, he placed a gentle hand on her shoulder. "Look, we found it once, we can find it again, right? We can find it."

She looked back at him, tears glistening in her eyes.

"I can't go through this again, Josh. It was hard enough the first time, but now that it's me…"

She looked so upset, Josh couldn't help but wonder if something else was going on that was causing her distress, but he dared not ask now.

"I promise you we're gonna find it," he said, more determined this time. And we have something now that we didn't have back then."

"Yeah, and what's that?"

"They call it the World Wide Web, it's like a virtual storage facility that contains all kinds of information, even old newspaper articles. It's growing every day."

"This is incredible, Josh. I'm not even going to pretend to understand how it works, but I'm impressed."

Josh gave a small smile. He knew he wasn't quite back in Susan's good graces yet, but at least they were on better terms for now.

The two of them were sitting in front of a computer at the local library, a newspaper article dated from 1988 about the Zoltar machine displayed on the screen.

"This was the article they ran in the paper about my missing persons case," Josh explained. "Most of it was just typical stuff: if you have any information, please call this number, so on and so on. But they also mention something about the Zoltar," he began to read:

"Baskin's disappearance was the first case since a series of similar child disappearances that heightened in intensity from the 1950s through the 1970s which became known as the Zoltar cases. Many suspects have been named, but the only common thread between each case has been that the child was seen on the night before his or her disappearance playing the Zoltar, an old fortune-teller game."

"Wait," Susan interrupted suddenly, "are you saying this has happened before?"

"I think so," Josh answered, looking at Susan briefly before returning his attention to the screen. "Listen to this." Then he read on.

"The last of these "Zoltar" cases was believed to have occurred in 1982, until Baskin's disappearance. The incidents were the driving force behind a high profile 1984 congressional investigation which ultimately recommended that all Zoltar machines be recalled and scrapped. As of 1988, there were reportedly fewer than 10 Zoltar machines in existence. Those that remain are typically relegated to a dark corner in obscure small town carnivals and arcades, forgotten perhaps, until the next child to vanish into the night."

Susan sighed. "This just gets more and more unbelievable by the minute! So you weren't even the first one to do this? What happened to all these kids? It…wasn't what happened to you, right?"

"I don't know," Josh admitted. "But most of those kids have never been found. If they made a wish anything like mine and weren't able to find a Zoltar machine to reverse it…"

"Oh god…"

"But there's still hope! I found another article from earlier this year, here, check it out…"

Josh read again. "An incident allegedly involving an old fortune teller game resulted in the arrest of multiple individuals in the town of Riverport, New Jersey. Private Investigator Charles Jackson closed down the Fun N' Games Arcade, one of the few remaining establishments to continue to operate the controversial Zoltar arcade game…"

Riverport, New Jersey, three months earlier

"How long have you had this machine in your possession, Mr. Ferguson?"

"Uh…well I reckon probably since '78 or '79, I don't remember when or where half these damn things came from, to be perfectly honest with you."

Charles Jackson gave the sleazy owner and his two assistants a wordless glance. Then the steely faced, middle aged private detective turned his focus on the turn-of-the-century style machine at the back of the dusty arcade. It wouldn't have looked like anything special to the untrained eye and uninformed mind, just an old, junky fortune teller game. The name was hard to make out due to years of accumulated dust and poor maintenance, but Jackson knew its name: Zoltar. Everybody of a certain age knew the stories. The machine was said to have been cursed. What else, after all, could explain the…happenings…mysterious disappearances that plagued anyone who came in contact with it? He'd heard that the Senate had even held hearings on the situation in the 1970s, that's how sensational it had become. Of course, many saw this as little more than a campfire ghost story,or perhaps a case of mass hysteria. Jackson knew better.

"Gentlemen, are you aware of the history of this particular machine?"

"There ain't much to tell, Buddy," Arnold "Arnie" Ferguson, owner of the Fun N' Games arcade, replied flippantly. "It's been sittin' here for ages. Kids used to come around here now and then to give it a spin, but they never stuck around long," he grumbled. "Probably ditched us for Freddy's arcade down the road."

"So you haven't heard about the federal investigation that resulted in the banning and mandated shutdown of these machines?" Jackson asked incredulously.

Riverport's Chief of Police, who had accompanied Jackson to the scene, looked skeptical.

"Charlie, if you don't mind my sayin', the only thing wrong with this here machine is that it's outdated and boring, and driving away what few paying clientele this joint has left. Kids these days want to play Mario Brothers and Street Kombat- or whatever the hell it's called, not these fossils."

"I'm sorry Chief, but the law is the law, and this establishment has clearly violated it by operating this machinery. I'm ordering this joint shut down, and I want all of these men arrested immediately and charged with criminal endangerment of minors."

"Y-you can't be serious!" one of Ferguson's scruffy haired assistants protested.

Jackson stepped closer to the goon, locking eyes with him. "Give me a phone to ring up the DA, and you'll find out just how serious I am."

"That, uh, won't be necessary, Charlie," the Chief replied quickly. "We don't need to involve the government in this. Come on, fellas, let's take this over to the station."

The men protested loudly, but were powerless to resist as more officers arrived to escort them out of the arcade. Charlie Jackson was no longer paying attention. He was once again enraptured by the old Zoltar machine staring back at him. Soon, this would be another one to add the scrap pile. Another step closer to justice…

"Josh, Newport is only a few miles away, what if it's still there?!" Susan asked excitedly.

"Unlikely," Josh replied, as much as he hated to dampen her mood, he knew it was wrong to get her hopes up too much. "Charlie Jackson is one tough customer. He would've had this machine scrapped as soon as humanly possible."

"Then, why- what was the point?"

"This isn't the first time Jackson has been mentioned in connection to the Zoltar. I think he's some kind of bounty hunter, or…Zoltar hunter. He won't stop until they're all shut down. That means if anyone knows how to find a Zoltar game-"

"It would be him?"

Josh nodded.

"So…what now? We call this guy up and ask him if he's seen any Zoltar machines lately?"

"Well, um…" Josh scratched the back of his head and chuckled nervously. She'd basically guessed his exact plan.

"Private detectives are very busy people. Josh. They don't have time to take random calls from people like us."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"You know…" Susan hesitated, almost unwilling to say it at first. "Kids?"

Josh rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "Then…we'll tell him the truth."