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about the iPod… I can’t do without that for a whole week. It’s totally unacceptable.”
    Jack shook his head, “It’s wrong and it’s your own fault anyway. Pendelshape can be pretty severe, if he caught us, I don’t know – maybe we could even get expelled.” He considered this for a moment and then added, “Or something really bad.”
    Angus had an evil smile on his face. The kind he got when he knew he was about to get Jack to do something he really didn’t want to.
    “Come on… think about it.”
    “Think about what?” Jack said.
    “It’ll be fun.”
    Angus grinned inanely. Jack stared back at his friend across the table and shook his head. He looked over at the librarian who was ignoring them. For some reason, he could feel his chest tightening. He felt for his puffer in his pocket.
    “You’re a pain, Angus.”
    But Angus was already up, away and sneaking out of the library.
    *
    Strangely, when they re-entered the classroom, they spotted the lancehead still lying on Pendelshape’s desk. Jack had assumed that their teacher would have taken it with him to help in his enquiries, but it was still there. Without really thinking, he grabbed it and put it into his rucksack to keep it safe.
    A quick search for Angus’s precious iPod in Pendelshape’s large store cupboard proved fruitless. Angus was disappointed.
    “Right – so let’s get out of here,” Jack said. “Probably a good thing we can’t find it.”
    But just as they were about to leave, Jack noticed that Pendelshape had left the computer in his store cupboard on. Jack could never resist computers and as he made his way through the store-cupboard door, he touched the keyboard absent-mindedly. The screensaver had not kicked in yet. Without warning, a window popped up on the computer screen. It caught Jack’s eye, because of its unusual design. It was some sort of an email application, but compared to the slick applications he was used to, it looked very basic. Just simple black text on a white background.
    “What’s this?” Jack murmured, then his brow furrowed, “What the…?”
    Angus turned back to look. They both stared at the screen. It was the title of the email that grabbed them:
    Subject: Lance artefact at Cairnfield.
    Then they looked at the recipient and sender fields:
    To: Neil Pendelshape. From: Benefactor.
    “Who is ‘Benefactor’?” Angus said.
    “No idea – what’s this…?” They started to scan the strange email; it blinked back at them. 
    Do not concern yourself with the Cairnfield workshop. Lance is artefact from early experiments into the pre-war period. A rare piece that helps confirm the Schönbrunn raid did occur. Anyway – irrelevant as things have now moved on. I have momentous news! Our own Taurus is complete Yes! A functioning, full-scale system. We can now complete execution of Sim 0107 for real! We will activate Zadok. And very soon we will be in a position to defeat VIGIL. You must do something urgently, before we start. I fear that when they find out, they may take Orion. There is nothing we can do about Lynx now – she has gone over to the other side. But we must protect Orion. You need to enact the plan and then contact me as we discussed. We are about to change the world!
    Good luck!
    Your loyal friend – the Benefactor
    They stared at the extraordinary message on the screen.
    “What the…?” Jack started to speak, but stopped mid-sentence, dumbfounded.
    “What’s Taurus…? VIGIL? Zadok?” Angus said. “What does it mean?”
    Jack shook his head. “I don’t know… but one thing’s for sure…”
    “What?”
    “Something’s going on… and it’s more interesting than your damned iPod…”
    “But I don’t…”
    Angus didn’t finish his sentence.
    In the doorway stood Dr Pendelshape.

The VIGIL Imperative
    T hey hadn’t even heard a footstep.
    “Find anything interesting, boys?”
    We’re stuffed, Jack thought. Then, without a word, Dr Pendelshape did something quite