CHAPTER FIVE: DONCAMATIC

Noodle attempted to move, but found that she was strapped down to a bench of some sort. She couldn't move her head, and all she could see from her position was a reinforced window with a view of a rapidly moving landscape. Noodle was confused for a few moments, before she comprehended that she was being held in one of the planes and it was moving, not the landscape. There was the distant buzz of voices speaking in what sounded like Spanish.

Noodle lay quietly, pondering her strange dream. She figured it must have been a warning or premonition of some kind. Eventually, a clear certainty instilled itself in her mind. She had to destroy the creature with Rhinestone Eyes that had assumed her form. But what is the other Noodle, and where should she find it?

All of a sudden, an ugly, flabby face appeared before her. Its piggy eyes glared at her, and the fat sausages of lips began to move and form words. With each word, spittle was sent raining down on her. Noodle winced. 'Awake at last, girlie?'

Noodle glared back silently. She reckoned that playing the hard case would be the best course of action at that moment. The ugly Chilean did not look impressed. 'Tell me, girl, who gave you that package? A lot of people have been helping to hide it from the authorities, you know. A lot of bad people. Look, you seem like you're a nice girl, so I'll be soft on you. Just tell me the people behind all this and you'll be let go.'

Noodle pondered this for a moment. 'I'll tell you, if you show me what was in the package.'

The ugly Chilean hesitated for a moment. He then called out in Spanish, and another ugly Chilean appeared. They had a brief muttered conversation, and then the first man gingerly undid the straps securing Noodle to the bench.

Noodle sat up and swung her feet over the edge, before getting cautiously to her feet. She decided that she wouldn't attack the guards just yet, as they currently had the advantage. Two more ugly Chileans sat at the front of the plane in the cockpit. The plane itself was a tip, with piles of junk shoved against the far wall. Noodle observed that her inflatable boat sat on top of one of the piles, half-concealing an archaic Doncamatic machine.

She turned her attention to her guards, as one of them had taken the brown paper package out of a fireproof satchel. The guard slowly reached inside the package and withdrew the contents. Noodle gasped. The guard held, in his podgy little hand, a fist-sized gem that glowed with a golden light. A second later, the guard had returned the gem to its casing. But Noodle had seen it long enough to know that it was one of the gems she had glimpsed in her dream.

'The gem is named Sun,' the second of the guards grunted, 'but I expect you know that already.'

'There are two others, aren't there?' Noodle asked slowly, as her mind began to piece together the clues. Sun Moon Stars. 'They do something when all three are put together, don't they? They make something happen…'

The guards glanced at each other. One quickly reached out and grabbed Noodle's arms, then made to push her back onto the bench. But at that moment, the plane began juddering violently, and the sound of machine gun fire reached their ears. Noodle glanced at the window, to see a flash of something dark and wraithlike flit by the window.

The guards' faces were drained of all colour. 'Our enemies have found us!'

Murdoc glared at the crude picture pinned to the wall that he'd drawn of the Boogieman. He then took careful aim and chucked the dart at the drawing. The dart's tip pierced the Boogieman's eye. He then felt a finger tap him hard on the shoulder. Murdoc spun around, his fist raised.

'Oh, it's jus' you, Cy',' Murdoc sighed, relaxing. 'A little tip for the next time: never try to sneak up on Murdoc Niccals if you value your life!'

Cyborg Noodle's shiny black eyes glittered. 'i HaVe No LiFe. At LeAsT, nOt As A hUmAn WoUlD sEe It.'

'Try me then, smartypants!' Murdoc growled, raising his fists.

Two seconds later, Murdoc was lying flat on his back on the floor. Wincing, he staggered to his feet. Cyborg Noodle made to grab his arm. 'aRe YoU aLl RiGhT, mAsTeR?'

'I'm fine,' Murdoc lied, wheezing as he clutched his bruised ribcage. 'You're okay, but still have a lot to learn at hand-to-hand combat…'

'Save your breath, meathead!' 2-D sniggered, slinking into Murdoc's study. 'Everyone knows that you can't fight. All you do is skulk in corners and glare at people with your freakish eyes.'

'They're not freakish!' Murdoc roared, punching 2-D hard in the stomach.

'I bet you got teased a lot at school, am I right?' a doubled-over 2-D remarked.

'You…'

'cAlM dOwN, mAsTeR. yOu MiGhT bReAk A bLoOd VeSsEl.'

'Oh shut up!'

'There's someone here to see you, Murdoc,' 2-D interrupted, walking back out into the corridor and pulling the red-eyed bully after him. 'Someone you know quite well…'

'Christ!' Murdoc breathed, hurrying after his companion. 'Noodle hasn't come back, has she?'

'You'll see, my red-eyed friend.'

Cyborg Noodle stood at the entrance to Murdoc's study, watching its two masters round the bend in the corridor and disappear from view. When it heard the front door click shut behind them, Cyborg Noodle walked back into the study, closing the door behind it. It then began to poke around Murdoc's desk and the file cabinets. One cabinet, a large blue monstrosity, was locked. Cyborg Noodle made to tear it open, before its memory hard drive recalled that there must be no evidence left of the robot's intrusion to Murdoc's private affairs. Cyborg Noodle picked up the dart from the floor and used the tip to pick the lock. The lock eventually fell away with a satisfying clunk.

Cyborg Noodle opened the cabinet and began sorting through the files that Murdoc had kept about the purchase of Plastic Beach. It eventually found a file detailing the history of the island and its previous owner, a Mr M. Nemo.

"Nemo had looked after the island for fifty-two years, after discovering it by chance on a yachting expedition and claiming ownership of it. Point Nemo, as the island was then known, was home to only Mr Nemo himself and his dog. Nemo had sold the island purportedly because he wanted to retire to the countryside before he died. His current whereabouts are unknown. The date that Plastic Beach was first formed is unknown, as Nemo was the first recorded person to ever land on the island. There have been no signs detected that there could have been earlier settlers on the island. Murdoc Niccals, current owner of Plastic Beach, has built a large mansion over the top of Nemo's original dwelling."

Cyborg Noodle pushed the file to one side. It was the last one. Cyborg Noodle put all the files back and fastened the lock back on the cabinet. No luck so far, it would have to try a new approach…

It was then that a warp in the floor beneath the desk caught the robot's attention for the first time. Cyborg Noodle bent over and discovered that in fact a floorboard could be removed. Tossing the plank to one side, it found that there was a small gap beneath the floor. Cyborg Noodle comprehended that this floor would have once been the roof or attic of Mr Nemo's old cottage. Within the hidden space was an old, leather-bound diary.

Cyborg Noodle picked the diary up and quickly scanned the contents. A few minutes later, it put the book down and sat silently for a long time. Suddenly, steam spurted from the robot's metal ears and sparks crackled about its synthetic hair.

'eRrOr 2567. iNfOrMaTiOn OvErLoAd. ReBoOtInG iN fIfTeEn MiNuTeSERROR 52525***/BACKING UP HARD DRIVE/ERROR35335&535/?\\'