Repositioning satellites Tracking Alice Reticulating splines Assembling chapters Alice ring 020 8133 8141 Fetching layers Arranging markers Aligning routes Convolving movements Compositing layers Caching locations Parsing actions Calculating vectors

Hello? Alice? I've made a terrible mistake. I need your help. I have a story to tell you but it will only make sense in the right place. If you stand face to face with the statue of John Betjeman in St Pancras Station and ring this number: 020 7193 3154 then I'll be able to explain more.

I can go to St Pancras Station at lunchtime and call the number - I'll let you know what (if anything) happens!

First of all I stood in front of the statue of John Betjeman and phoned the number. This is what it said:

Hello Alice next to John, saviour of this train station, but there is little he can do to help me it was here that I finally found her, the possibly eastern european girl I watched her as she watched him and John Betjeman watched the sky walk 20 paces to your right then 10 paces right again This is where I intercepted her, naturally enough where the floor is paved with words but this doesn't make much of a story with just me in it you must find me her name in order for me to go on ring 0203 then the first word of the poem on the floor followed by an 8 do it quickly

I walked the 30 paces in total and found myself stood in front of a line of poem on the floor which read:

Beyond the throb of the engines is the throbbing heart of all

I stood there and phoned 02032336638 and I got the following message:

Turn around and walk down the stairs to your left keep going straight to the far end of the station, past the escalaters and all the shops but be subtle, don't let her know you're following her It isn't her real name of course, she picked it out of the UK Rail ticket machine I love my love with a D I can't help beginning, because she is Devious Send me an email with the word story to her name at pengrin.co.uk and I'll be able to tell you the whole story and do make sure you're not being watched

I went to the ticket machines as instructed and to the A-Z section and hit D. The 2nd entry on the screen was Daisy Hill. How ironic as my name is Daisy!

Beyond the throb of engines is the throbbing heart of all. Re: story Daisy Hill to me 12:24 PM The assignation had been arranged in a railway station. I watched the ebb and flow of the passers-by warily. My contact was somewhere here. At last, I saw her. An Eastern-European woman, engaged for the moment in another operation, but soon to turn her attention to me. A strange affair indeed, I muttered to myself, as I patted my breast pocket, assuring myself that the cards were still there. At last, the woman's part in the tale was at an end. Looking around quickly, she moved through the crowd towards me, eyes darting alertly around the station, ensuring that we were not watched. Although my business here was serious – if not deadly – I could not help but admire her graceful bearing and fluid, athletic movements. "What day is it?" she asked me. "Samedi," I replied, my accent, if I may say so, impeccable. "How suitable," she said, "for the setting." Her accent was less thick than it had been a moment before. "Now," she continued, "what have you brought me?" I had rehearsed this part many times. From my coat pocket I pulled a blindfold. She smiled. "Very good. What else?" I reached into my other pocket more gingerly and removed the tiny black fabric-covered box marked with three small crowns for which I had bargained so vigourously for in the souk of a thousand boys-own adventures. Carefully, I flipped it open. The scorpion inside scuttled and danced, its sting ready to descend. I flicked the box shut and handed it to her. "Then, you know what comes next?" "I… I think so?" My sources had been less than clear on this matter. They had instructed me that I must contact certain persons, that they would give me the items I wanted, that I would only be able to return home safely if I'd done so but... on this vital matter, the actual trade, they had remained silent. Still, nothing ventured nothing gained. The woman took the blindfold from my hand. I expected her to bind it around her own eyes, but instead she took me by the shoulders – her hands were very cool, I noticed – turned me round and tied the blindfold around my eyes. I started, the unaccustomed darkness making me suddenly uncertain. Could I even be sure I was still in the train station? The woman – at least, I thought it was she – placed her hand in mine. "Why, you're nothing but skin and bone," I said. "Not even that," she laughed softly. "And who wins?" she whispered into my ear. Her scent was cool, as of damp, earthy places. I thought for a moment. "Of the two of us, my dear," I said, "I'm sure it is you." She laughed, and whipped the blindfold off. The world span. For a brief instant I thought I saw something else: some fine and private place. And then it settled again. A train station, a beautiful Eastern European woman. I reached into an inner pocket and proffered my card to her. She turned it over in her hand, appearing to admire the workmanship. "I think you know," I said, "which card I seek from you. I believe you have it." "Ah yes," she said, "together we have made that perfectly clear." From an inside pocket of her jacket she pulled out a piece of cardboard. When I held it, I found it was heavier than it appeared. I turned to go, but before I could depart the woman spoke again. "Tell me," she said, "what game is it you hope to play with the hand you hold?" "Ah dear lady," I replied, "only safe passage" She smirked, then burst into a peal of mocking laughter. "Does what I have said amuse you?" I asked. "Why," she said, "you have too few cards for that! Too few in your hand, and you know that the game is only to swap, never to give. You need one more." "But," I said, "I understood that…" "You understood nothing," said the woman, before disappearing into the crowd.

I'm more intrigued than ever now! Will the 6 stories all be part of one bigger story..? Will we know more about the 'cards'?

an asignation at a Paris Station on Saturday(which was one of th map markers that said ?here

Actually if Bookmore hadn't disappeaared I would have suggested he investigate. - Funny actually, he absented himself just as this was being finalised...

If I have the answers correct, and I'm not sure I do, then the first is Kings*** and the second is Queens****, so I'm wondering if any other playing cards will be making an appearance.