'And your husband?'

'One day he went out and never came back. It happens.'

'I'm sorry,' said Kelly.

'Me too,' said Derek's aunty.

And the two of them slurped tea.

'This really is disgusting tea,' said Kelly. 'Yeah, let's drink some Scotch instead and you can tell me what it is you want to know.'

They now sat in the front sitter. Although the sunlight was joyous without, it didn't venture much within. The windows were shuttered by bulletproof steel. The table lights had ultraviolet bulbs. The glow they cast was of that order which is called crepuscular. Connoisseurs of naked-lady lighting wouldn't even have given it one out of ten. In a near corner, a long-defunct Mute Corp 3000 home computer, built into the fabric of the room, gathered dust and made a house for spiders.

Derek, arisen from his foetal position, sipped at Scotch. Aunty Uzi tossed hers back. Kelly merely turned her glass between her elegant fingers.

'So,' said Derek's aunty. 'What exactly do you want to know?'

'Search me,' said Derek. 'I didn't even want to come.'

Kelly took from her shoulder bag the printout map and placed it before her upon an occasional table. Which, had it suddenly been granted the gift of sentience, would have become aware that at last and quite unexpectedly, its occasion had finally arrived.

'Mysterious disappearances,' said Kelly. 'People vanishing without trace. This map shows the locations of those who have done so during the last two weeks. I think you'll find that it speaks for itself

Derek lifted the map from the table and held it up to his ear.

'If he says it,' said Derek's aunty, 'feel free to employ your Dimac. Smack him right in the balls if you wish.'

Derek replaced the map upon the table. 'I wasn't going to say anything,' he said.

Aunty Uzi took the map and gave it some perusal. 'I can't say that this fills me with too much surprise,' she said. 'Going missing is what people do around here.'

'Hang about,' said Derek. 'Let's have a look at that map.'

'Oooh,' said his aunty. 'A burst of sudden interest.'

'Where did you get this?' Derek asked, thumbing the map.

'At the police station,' said Kelly. 'I made enquiries. The number of people who have vanished recently in London is way beyond the norm. I felt that it was worth investigating.'

'Have you got a list of these people's names?' asked Aunty Uzi.

Kelly produced the list from her bag. 'It's a very big list,' she said.

Aunty Uzi leafed through pages. 'And it's a very inaccurate one,' she said. 'Most of the people listed as living round here moved away years ago. And, good God. I'm on here. According to this list 7 vanished without trace last Tuesday.'

'Oh,' said Kelly. 'I wasn't expecting that.'

Aunty Uzi looked at her. 'You said that as if you were expecting something else.'

'This list was compiled by the national crime computer. I expected at least that would be accurate.'

'Good,' said Aunty Uzi. 'She is very good this woman of yours.'

'She's no woman of mine,' said Derek. 'No thank you very much.'

'Would you care to tell me what you really are, my dear?' asked Aunty Uzi. 'Whom you're really working for.'

'I'm just a student,' said Kelly. 'But I think that you'll agree that there's something very suspicious going on.'

'No,' said Derek. 'In fact, quite the contrary. My aunty isn't missing. The folk listed here as missing, aren't missing. They've just moved away. There's no mystery. Nothing suspicious. It's all a computer error.'

Aunty Uzi nodded. 'On this occasion,' she said, 'I am forced to agree with my idiot nephew. It's just a glitch. And when I speak of glitches, I speak of what I know. The computers in this district all crashed years ago. It's a dead zone around here when it comes to computer technology. The black hole of cyberspace. You're on a wrong'n, Kelly Anna Sirjan. You've been wasting your time.'

Kelly's hand was in her hair and strands were being twisted. 'I think we'd better be going,' she said.

'I'm pleased to hear that,' said Derek.

The border guard looked pleased to see them. He was smiling broadly as they came in his direction.

'No car?' he asked. 'Whatever happened to your lovely Ford Fiesta?'

Derek huffed and puffed the way that people do huff and puff, when they've been running hard and running very fast. 'They nicked my bloody car,' he huffed and puffed. 'That car was a collector's item.'

'That would appear to be correct,' said the border guard. 'It's definitely now an item in somebody's collection.'

Derek pulled out his mobile phone and huffed and puffed and pushed buttons.

'You won't get a signal,' said the border guard. 'You just don't around here. Sorry.'

'It's all too much,' and Derek flung himself down on the ground and drummed his fists in the dust.

'He must be a real disappointment to you,' said the border guard to Kelly, who stood looking very cool. Not huffing or puffing at all.

'I'm sure that he must have a use,' said Kelly. 'But so far I haven't found it.'

'Still,' said the border guard. 'Let's look on the bright side. It's a lovely day and the two of you are still alive. Rejoice and be happy, that's my motto. And never eat cheese after midnight.'

It was nearly midnight when the minicab dropped Kelly and Derek off in Brentford High Street. Well, it's a long and complicated route back from Mute Corp Keynes when you haven't got a car and you have to rely on public transport and there aren't any trains any more.

'Brilliant,' said Derek. 'What a brilliant day. I could have been writing an article about the floral clock. But no, I let you talk me into visiting Hell Town UK. I get shot at. I get my precious car stolen. I am mocked and ridiculed and then I have to pay your fares all the way back to Chiswick. And then your taxi fare back here. I don't mean any offence by this, but I truly wish to God I'd never met you.'

'I'd like you to do something for me,' said Kelly.

'What? You have to be kidding.'

'Look,' said Kelly. 'I'm very sorry about the way the day has worked out for you. But whatever your aunty says and whatever you think, there is something very strange going on. It could prove to be something that will make a name for you as an investigative journalist.'

'No thanks,' said Derek. 'I'll pass.'

'All right, then do this one thing for me and I promise I'll never bother you again. In fact I promise I won't even see you again. I'll keep well away from you for the rest of the time I'm here in Brentford.'

'Well,' said Derek thoughtfully. 'Does this one thing involve any danger to myself?'

'None whatsoever,' said Kelly.

'All right. Tell me what it is and I'll think about it.'

'I want you to take me home with you.'

'What?' said Derek.

'To your house.'

Derek gave Kelly a long hard look. 'Why?' he asked. 'It's not to have sex with me, is it? Only I've had a really rough day, I don't think I'm up to it. Although, well, what the heck. I'll give it a go.'

Kelly shook her golden head. 'I don't want to have sex with you,' she said. 'I just want to use your home computer. You do have a home computer, don't you?'

'Of course I do, everyone does. Well, perhaps not everyone in Brentford. But I do.'

'Well all I want is to use it for a while.'

'Why?' asked Derek. 'Don't you have your own?'

'Not with me. I have my palmtop, but that won't do. I -want to use one that is locked into a landline.'

'Why?' Derek asked once more. But for a different reason this second time.

'It's just a theory. Something to do with your aunty describing Mute Corp Keynes as the black hole of cyberspace and the fact that mobile phones don't work there.'