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the card. ‘How does this work?’
    Mr Lazarus looked at it.
    ‘It’s a business card,’ he said. ‘You give them to people.’
    ‘Oh, yeah? With no address or phone number? What use is that? And besides, when I looked at it the first time …’
    ‘Yes?’
    ‘I saw something. On the card. I saw …’
    Mr Lazarus leaned a little closer. He looked intrigued.
    ‘What did you see, Kip? Describe it to me.’
    Kip frowned.
    ‘It was … well, I saw this, like, T. Rex? And it was running through a forest, smashing all the trees down.’
    Mr Lazarus nodded. He seemed impressed.
    ‘I think people see what they want to see,’ he said. ‘You like films with prehistoric monsters in them, yes?’
    Kip nodded. ‘I suppose,’ he said.
    ‘Well then.’
    ‘Yeah, but I’ve looked at it lots since then and I haven’t seen anything.’
    ‘It doesn’t happen every time. You have to be in the right frame of mind. Stop expecting to see something and that’s when it might work.’ Mr Lazarus went over to a cardboard box. He kneeled down and opened it, then took out an oddly-shaped lump of transparent glass.
    ‘What’s that?’ asked Kip.
    ‘It’s a prism,’ said Mr Lazarus. He stood and carried it back to the Lazarus Enigma, then began to attach it to an upright metal pole that stuck up from the side of the round platform.
    ‘And what does that do?’ asked Kip.
    Mr Lazarus looked at him.
    ‘Kip, you seem like a nice enough boy,’ he said. ‘But I have to say, you ask far too many questions.’
    ‘Sorry,’ said Kip. ‘I’m just interested, that’s all.’
    Mr Lazarus switched on the projector. Then he slid the platform smoothly forward along the rails. Kip saw that there was something else new. A small mirror had been attached to the side of the projector. This reflected the beam of light into the prism, which, in turn, projected another beam down onto the round platform. Mr Lazarus looked pleased.
    ‘Now,’ he said. ‘Everything is ready.’
    ‘For what?’ asked Kip, baffled.
    ‘The Lazarus Enigma is activated.’
    ‘Oh yeah? That’s great.’ Kip frowned. ‘But …’
    ‘Yes?’ asked Mr Lazarus.
    ‘You haven’t told me what it does. I mean, you said it enhances film. But you also said it does many things. What are some of the other things it does?’
    Mr Lazarus sighed. He studied Kip thoughtfully for a moment.
    ‘Supposing I just show you?’ he asked. ‘How would that suit you?’
    Kip shrugged.
    ‘That would be OK, I guess,’ he said.
    ‘Very well. I was going to wait for a better time, but you’re here and you’re clearly interested, so …’ Mr Lazarus clapped his gloved hands together. He got to his feet and walked over to the projector. ‘Come over here,’ he said.
    Kip got to his feet and did as he was told. The old man indicated the wooden platform.
    ‘Stand there,’ he said.
    Kip lifted his feet to climb onto the platform.
    ‘Like this?’ he asked.
    ‘Perfect.’
    ‘Well, what now?’
    ‘Just a moment. There are a few things we have to do first.’ Mr Lazarus reached into the pocket of his waistcoat and pulled out an odd-looking oval object hung on a length of chain. It seemed to be made of Perspex and had a round metal cover on the front of it. Kip could see that something beneath the cover was pulsing slowly on and off with a dull red glow that illuminated the Perspex. Mr Lazarus reached out and hung the object around Kip’s neck.
    ‘What’s this for?’ asked Kip curiously, lifting it in his fingers to get a better look.
    ‘Don’t touch that,’ snapped Mr Lazarus. ‘That’s not a toy, Kip; it’s the Lazarus Retriever.’
    ‘Oh, right,’ said Kip. He let the thing drop to the end of its chain. ‘What’s that then?’
    ‘Never mind,’ said Mr Lazarus. ‘You might want to slip it beneath your T-shirt. You don’t want to lose that.’
    ‘No,’ agreed Kip, bewildered, but he did as he was told.
    ‘Now,’ said Mr Lazarus, ‘there’s just one other