Maria shrugged. 'To tell the truth, I'm getting a bit bored.

We're not shooting for a few days so I'm kind of in retreat, you might say. I come to this bar during the day to be at peace.'

Chate tried his best to listen to what she was saying, but he was too enraptured to concentrate properly. All the pain he was going through, all the sadness of his life crumbling around him had all been brushed away by this one meeting. Maria Coleman was everything he had ever imagined her to be. Long blonde hair cascaded down the back of a golden dress, large blue eyes and a perfectly made-up face smiled at him like an angel. And what's more, she was just as nice and polite as she had seemed in all her letters and all the interviews he had read. The perfect fantasy made real.

'I need your help,' he said finally, sensing that if he didn't pull himself together he could risk his idol losing her patience.

'I'm a former associate of Martin Revere. I'm sure you've heard of him.'

Maria's face paled, the smile fell from it. 'He's linked to Milchan, the guy who's trying to extort half a million from me. I heard rumours that Milchan was calling in favours to try to get his payments.' She gestured around the bar. 'Why do you think I'm hiding away in this part of town in the first place?'

She took Chate's hand, her touch warm and sensuous, instantly removing all the tension from his body. 'S'funny,' she said. 'I can usually tell a lot about people by looking into their eyes. Yours show you to be a good person, a kind person, yet you're here from Revere? Maybe I'm losing my touch.'

'Revere's dead,' Chate explained. 'I used to work for him, but I'm here for my own reasons. Before he took the night train he put a price on me, as have the LAPD. They've all ribbed me up for a crime I didn't commit. Please, I need a place to hide, just for a short while.'

'How do I know that this isn't some kind of set-up? That you're not really one of Milchan's goons?'

Chate shrugged. 'I don't know, but please, trust me. I need your help. I've got nowhere else to go.'

'Why me though?' Maria asked. 'Surely there are plenty of other places you can go?'

'You're the only person I feel I can trust. I've followed your career for years, read every interview. You're the only person I give a damn about.' He reached into his jacket and produced the signed photograph he carried with him at all times. 'You sent me this.' Maria looked at the photograph and smiled. 'So I did.

You're very sweet, Robert. But I have to be careful, I can't afford not to be. Star Light keeps me safe during the day, but when I'm not working Milchan could catch up with me at any time.'

'Believe me,' Chate pleaded. 'I'm as fearful as you are. We're two of a kind. Both on the run from a world that won't leave us in peace.'

Maria's suspicion appeared to be beginning to crumble. 'I'm pretty good at reading people, and your eyes don't seem to be lying.'

A bubbling sea of excitement was growing inside Chate.

'I'm sorry if I'm embarrassing you,' he said. 'It's just that it's not often I meet someone I've thought so much about during my life yet never even met.'

'That's OK,' said Maria, taking his hand in hers. She was clearly warming to him, though an undercurrent of fear was pervasive in her eyes. 'It's very sweet of you. I can understand what you're going through I was a big fan of a couple of stars myself once upon a time. Besides, I like the attention. Now that I'm supposed to be making a big comeback, I guess I'll have to get used to it again.'

'I was so pleased to hear about that. You deserve top billing on all the best pictures. I can't believe the studios have been such bastards.'

Maria shrugged. 'I'm really not worried by it, it's all in the past now. Do you know what's it's like to lose all your privacy?

To wake up in the mornings and think "My God, I'm Maria Coleman the movie star!". At least my career nose-dive gave me some peace. Some freedom.'

For a moment, a very short moment, Chate thought he could see sadness in her eyes, like she'd caught a fleeting glimpse of a past that was too painful to bear.

'Anyway,' Maria continued, 'I'm with Star Light now, and they've been so supportive it's wonderful. At last I'm back on track, doing what I want to do with people who understand me.'

'I'm glad to hear it,' Chate said, moving his head to get a better view of Maria's eyes. He was relieved to see that, this time, when he stared into the deep blue pools of enchantment the sadness had gone. Indeed, Maria's eyes looked bright and happy, almost sparkling.

A pause. A pleasant silence, not an uncomfortable one. But still Chate was unsure what to say next.

'So how did it happen?' he asked. 'How did you start working for Star Light?'

'You sound like a journalist, Mr Chate.'

'Maria, I make the headlines, I don't write them.' Moments ago he had been scared stiff about meeting his idol, but the effect her personality had on him was so relaxing that as every second passed he became more and more at ease with her. More and more of his true self was starting to seep through his defences.

Maria waved to the barman, who had returned from the back room, and ordered Chate and herself a drink. She took a sip, then began her tale. 'I came to Star Light quite by chance. I was visiting an old friend on the set of Leonard De Sande's new picture, and I was introduced to a few guys in charge of things at the studio. We got on well, and when they started talking about their plans to revitalise the place I saw a golden opportunity to get involved. They were all over me, and before I knew it I was choosing which movies to star in.'

Chate was impressed with Maria's guile. 'Was it really that simple?'

'Pretty much, though at first when I suggested we work together they threw me some pretty lame ideas that put me right off them.' 'What made you change your mind?'

Maria smiled, her beautiful white teeth glinting in the light.

'I'll show you,' she said, standing up and dragging Chate by his arm. 'Follow me.'

She pulled him into a small cloakroom behind the bar, and reached inside a fur coat that could only belong to a film star.

She pulled out a small black box and held it up to the light.

'To try to convince me they were genuinely interested, the boys at Star Light gave me this. Soon, I understood what they were trying to do, and suddenly realised that they were prepared to give me everything I've ever wanted. I signed up straight away after that.'

Chate had trouble understanding what Maria meant. 'How can a stupid little box like that make you change your mind about their terms?'

Maria's eyes showed pity. 'This box is more than it appears.

It's turned my life around. It told them that I wasn't some desperate actress to throw back on to the streets. It told them the best way to move my career forward.'

'What do you mean, "it told them"?'.

'Here,' Maria said, handing Chate the box. 'Open it and you'll see, you'll understand.'

Chate was starting to get scared. Curiosity led him on, so he ignored the protests in his mind and opened the box.

As he did so a dazzling, sparkling gold light reached out and bathed the room in a warm glow. The box was only warm to touch, though its inside glowed white-hot. He almost dropped it at the sight, almost blinded by what he saw.

Robert.

A voice which wasn't his, yet came from inside his head.

Robert. Be at ease. You're safe with us.

And he knew he was. Staring into the golden, magical light, Chate felt nothing but serenity. Whatever he was looking at knew him, loved him. He felt enriched, like someone understood him, and he knew just why the box had made Maria realise that it held the potential for her to be truly appreciated.

She had been empowered by the strength the box gave her, and no doubt those at the studio had used its influence to craft their plans for her return to the screen.

Chate shielded his eyes and tried to look at the contents of the box, but the light emanating from it meant that any kind of identification was impossible. He was about to reach inside the box when Maria snatched it from him and snapped it shut.

Darkness returned, or at least that's how normal daylight seemed after the marvel they'd just experienced.

'Do you see what I mean?' Maria asked. 'There's magic inside that box, and it speaks to us. Did it speak to you, Robert?'

Chate nodded, stunned by what he had just witnessed. 'I heard it, like it was inside my head. What is it?'

Maria shook her head. 'I'm not sure exactly. Just think of it as magic and don't worry about it. It focuses the mind, gets rid of the garbage and provides clarity and inspiration. It releases all the trapped potential you'd otherwise never be able to realise.

And it's the most beautiful thing in the world. Have you ever seen anything quite as wonderful before?'

Chate thought back to the restaurant, thought back to the first time he saw the light when it had spilled out of the wounded man's body. Whatever this substance was, its popularity appeared to be growing. He wondered whether to tell Maria that he had seen this kind of thing before, but decided against it. All he wanted was her happiness, and he could tell that she wanted him to be impressed.

'No,' he said, smiling. 'I've never seen anything like it.'

Maria picked her coat off its hanger, threw it over her shoulders and thrust the box back into her pocket. She turned away from Chate and walked out of the cloakroom.

'Wait!' Chate beckoned. 'Where are you going?'

Maria stopped and turned. 'I'm going back to my safe house to fetch something.' A broad smile flashed on her face before she delivered the killer line. 'So are you coming back with me or aren't you?'

Chate grinned and hurried after her, knowing that this was his lucky day.

Chapter Nine.

In Caleb Rochefort's private hospital room Polly dropped the smoking gun and stared at the body.

'What have I done?' she whimpered, seeing blood dripping from the blackened bullet wound in the victim's chest and forming a pool on the floor.

The Doctor ran over to her, took the gun from her hands, then placed it inside his jacket. Polly hurried over to Caleb and took hold of one of his hands. Tears began to roll down her cheeks. 'Come on,' she cried. 'Don't die!'

'I'll get help,' the nurse shouted, running out of the room.

Caleb opened his eyes. 'Araka na kana arakah!' he cried. His screams were impossible to understand, but the anger and fire in his eyes told Polly that the dying man was stunned by what had happened and furious at her for shooting him.

And she knew she had heard the screams somewhere before.

Caleb stared up at Polly, into her soul, and suddenly everything that had appealed to her about him disappeared. The anger in his face was replaced with sadness. His charm, his charisma, the intense feeling that he was right about everything...

all that was gone. Caleb let out one final cry, then fell silent.

The Doctor moved over to join Polly at the bedside and felt Caleb's pulse. 'He's dead.' Concern filled his face as he stared at the wound in Caleb's chest. 'My goodness, this is interesting.' He put his hands on the wound and lifted them, revealing palms that were not only soaked in blood but also in a strange, glowing substance that had an aura so bright Polly had to shield her eyes from the glare.

'What is it?' she asked.

The Doctor was engrossed in his study of the corpse. 'This is Caleb's blood. Whatever is making this... this spectacle, it runs throughout his body.' He poked his fingers around the wound and a spurt of golden blood dripped out. 'It appears that Caleb is not quite the human being we thought he was.'

'What do you mean, not a human being?' asked Polly, trying to comprehend the Doctor's implications. 'Are you saying Caleb's an alien?'

The Doctor rolled his eyes upwards, thinking things over, then put a finger to his lips. 'I don't know,' he said, as if working through a thousand different ideas in his mind as he spoke. 'I don't think he's an alien, at least, not quite.' He glanced down at Caleb's body and an expression of surprise crossed his face.

'Look at this!'

Polly saw the sparkling blood swirling round the edges of the wound, pulling and stretching sections of flesh, gradually trying to seal it. Caleb's body appeared to be healing itself, but there was no sign of him coming back to life.

It seemed that the wound could close any minute, sealing the strange blood inside it. The Doctor clearly realised this because he reached into his jacket, produced a small jam jar and held it to Caleb's wound, letting a small sample of blood seep in.

'I think a few scientific tests might be in order,' he said, sealing the lid on the jar and putting it back in his pocket.

Before the wound could close the impressive sight of the body healing itself slowed, then stopped, and the light died away, leaving a still half-open wound which was much less evident than it had been but was still clearly fatal. Even the dead man's unusual biology hadn't been able to save his life.

The door to the room suddenly flew open and three members of the hospital staff burst in. 'We heard a gunshot,'

one of them said. 'Is everyone... Oh, no.' He and his colleagues looked with expressions of pure horror at the blood-soaked corpse in front of them.

'I'll call his family,' the Doctor announced then ran from the room, grabbing Polly's arm as he did so to make sure she came with him.

'Hey you!' Polly heard a doctor shout as they hurried out.

'Come back here.'

'Don't worry!' the Doctor called back. 'We won't be long!'

'That won't work, Doctor,' Polly exclaimed. 'They'll know he's been shot... I'm going to get the blame for killing Caleb.'

The Doctor shook his head and tapped his jacket pocket.

'I've got the gun and the bullet wound has almost healed up, so the only evidence will be the nurse's testimony and from the witnesses who heard the shot. I don't think that's enough for a convincing case, especially when he will appear to have died from his restaurant wounds rupturing.'

They made their way out of the hospital as quickly as they could, sneaking past reception and leaving through a side entrance to attract as little attention as possible.