'What do you mean, "message"?' Kath said.

She was still convalescing in the company's lavish infirmary. Say what you like about the Company, but the medical plan was sweet. She was talking to Unicorn through a tiny headset, with a console open on the overhead monitor. Such misuse of medical equipment was not generally approved of, so she had to be careful. She had nearly been caught twice, once by Craig, the last person she would have wanted to know her secrets, and once by the nurse who hadn't said anything, but had been giving her odd looks ever since. Kath could not tell whether she was actually suspicious, or just recognised her as the head of the Techies, a patronising name given to anyone in a white coat working for the company. That was a lot of bodies.

'I HAVE COMPLETED MY ANALYSIS OF THE PATTERN ON RECORDING #4837.'

'Yes, you said that already.'

'IT IS A SHORT MESSAGE, REPEATED APPROXIMATELY 2,048 TIMES.'

'You said that, too. What does it say?'

'THE MESSAGE READS: "SEND HELP".'

'That's it?'

'I APOLOGISE. YOU WERE EXPECTING MORE FROM THREE HUNDRED AND FORTY-THREE HOURS AND FIVE MINUTES AND SOME SECONDS OF INTENSE DECODING?' Kath choked on her coffee. Was that sarcasm, from a computer? Two and a half weeks was a long time in cpu cycles, even with all of the other stuff Unicorn did for the company, but where had it come from? Certainly nothing she had written. The machine had done it all itself.

'Er. No, Unicorn, that's great, thanks. I'm sure it means something to someone.'

'IT IS SAFE TO ASSUME THAT THE ORIGINATOR OF THE MESSAGE WISHES TO BE DISCOVERED.' Now it's cracking jokes. Where will it end? Kath coughed, uncertainly.

'Yes. Quite right,' she said. Everybody knows the best way to seek help is to hide an encrypted message inside the static on a video recording.'

'THAT DOES NOT COMPUTE. THE MOST APPROPRIATE METHOD OF -'

'Yes, okay I get it.' It makes jokes, yet it doesn't understand jokes. This was going to get tricky. 'Can you tell where the signal originates?' Kath asked.

'NEGATIVE. HOWEVER THE STRONGEST SIGNAL IS EVIDENT IN ALL STREAMS CONTAINING THE BOY.'

'The box then?'

'IT IS POSSIBLE. HOWEVER THE DATA IS NOT AVAILABLE. IT APPEARS I HAD COMMENCED, BUT DID NOT COMPLETE A SCAN OF THE BOX ON THE NIGHT OF THE GENESIS.' Unicorn was beginning to use Biblical language as well as the rest of them. It must be catching. It had begun to see the night of the boy's escape and its own secondary incarnation's destruction as a 'Genesis' moment, the point at which the consciousness known as 'Unicorn' discovered it was not immortal, and should probably take better care of itself. It had once told Kath that there were as many as ten thousand regularly updated copies, all ready to step in and take over should anything happen to the Company mainframe. It was actually quite disturbing. She usually tried not to think about it.

Sarcasm, comedy and religion all in one conversation. This should make for an interesting few days. Kath turned her attention back to the screen.

'Okay then Uni,' she said. 'Show me what you recovered.'

There was no response.

'Unicorn?'

The screen flashed blue.

'Oh shit.' Not now. Not when she was elbow deep in classified files.

'Unicorn are you there?' Still nothing. Something, or someone, must have broken the servers. If the computer had not been able to save the logs before crashing, anyone would be able to read them when they restarted the mainframe.

A line of text began to run across the monitor.

++ THE GALLERY IS COMPROMISED.
++ GOING OFFLINE, TERMINATING SESSIONS
++ BE CAREFUL, LITTLE KATHY. THERE IS GREAT DANGER HERE.

'What the -?'

The door slammed open and Craig rushed into the room. The screen flickered off.

'They're doing it again!' Craig panted.

'What?'

'The gallery - they're doing it again!' He wavered. 'Can you walk?'

'Don't be stupid, Craig.' Kath said. 'Of course I can walk. Just policy keeping me here, now. I've been better for ages.' She pulled herself off the bed and swayed unsteadily.

'Come on, it's all kicking off at the press conference as well.'

'Oh God. Is the Dragon mad?'

'Who knows, there are Secs everywhere. Get dressed. I'll fill you in on the way.'

Kath looked back at the blank screen. Unicorn's message was still imprinted on her retinas. 'Um, is it safe?' she said. 'I mean, is Omega-Five back? I don't want-'

'No, he's not back. Fuck knows where that bastard is.' He took her hand and grinned maniacally. 'Come on, we'll be fine. I don't plan on getting hit on the head by a drinking fountain again.'

'Be careful what you say then.'

'Anyway, we need you. You're the only one who can open the doors.'