61 Alan

Part Four ...in which Peanut finds herself in a spot of bother (well, several spots of bother, actually)

61 Alan Peanut opened her eyes to find herself in almost total darkness and lying on something cold and hard. She sat up. It was impossible to see anything, but she could hear breathing. Someone was in the room with her. ' Rockwell? LB? Doodle?' 'They're not here, I'm afraid,' said a deep, gravelly voice. Then it all came back to her. When they had opened the door to Mr Markmaker's cell, they had found him standing next to a very tall, very muscular man whose pale face was spattered with orange freckles that matched his hair. Upon seeing them, he had pulled on a mask to cover his nose and mouth, and sprayed them with

something. The next thing she knew was when she woke up in darkness. 'Who are you?' she said. 'You don't need to know my name,' he replied. 'You just need to answer my questions.' 'Where am I? Where are the others?' 'You and your friends are safe. For now.' Are you Mr White?' 'No. But I am the next best thing. I am his most trusted lieutenant.' Peanut could hear the pride in his voice. Are you the big ginger bloke who was in Mr M's cell?' 'My hair is auburn, actually. But... yes.' And your name is...?'

'Why are you so interested in my name?' There was a slight note of irritation in the man's voice now. 'Why won't you tell me what it is? Are you embarrassed by it?' said Peanut. ' Is it Bumface or something?' 'No! It's... it's... well, it's Alan, if you must know.' She heard him stand up. ' Anyway, I'm the one asking the questions here!' 'Well, technically, I'm actually the one asking questions.' 'Well, you shouldn't be!' 'Why not?' replied Peanut. 'That's another question!' 'Is it?' 'STOP!' Peanut heard Alan sit back down. 'Miss Jones,' he said. 'How did you come to be in Chroma?' 'Ah, that'd be telling.' 'We have seized your contraband drawing materials. There's no way you could have brought them through any of the known portals without us being aware of it. So you must have arrived via another avenue. Peanut's hand involuntarily went to her right hip. Just before they had left the facilities room in their RAZER costumes, she had painted a small pocket into her dungarees and hidden Little Tail inside. The pencil was the one thing she couldn't afford to lose. Not if she ever wanted to get back home.

Click. Suddenly, the room was flooded with bright white light. Peanut covered her face with her hands and closed her eyes tightly. A few seconds later she opened them to find Alan's face just centimetres from hers. 'Is there anything else that you are withholding from us... little girl?' he growled, coating the last two words with a particularly potent venom. ' No, Alan!' she replied, trying to sound equally as poisonous. Alan stepped back and fiddled with the headset he was wearing. Peanut seized the opportunity to have a quick look around the room. It was tiny— about three metres by two metres. She was sitting on a concrete bench at one end. Above her head was a small barred window, open to the elements, through which she could see bright, twinkling stars against a dark purple sky. At the opposite end of the cell was a chair, behind which was a heavily secured door. Directly above that was a small TV screen. The rest of the room was entirely devoid of decoration, except for some huge black type printed on the right-hand wall that read 'F99-C42'. Floor ninety-nine, cell forty-two, thought Peanut. Suddenly, the screen came to life in a burst of brilliant white before fading out to reveal a silhouette of a man's head