'Just put on the helmet!' cried Lucy. At which Dan did.

'Wow!' he exclaimed. 'I see what you mean! I'm right in the ship... Hey! This is great! I can get into the consoles! Wow! Now I'm running along the wiring! Hey! The circuit-boards are like vast cities! Shit!'

The moment he had the helmet on, The Journalist grabbed Lucy and started kissing her as if there were no tomorrow which, he figured, might well be the case. And, as if shed been expecting this all along, Lucy started to kiss him, but then she suddenly pulled back, and glanced anxiously over at Dan, who was climbing some invisible stairs in his Virtual Reality and then turning around and handling invisible objects and letting out delighted yelps.

'Oh don't worry about him!' panted The Journalist. 'He can't hear or see us. We're still MatterSide. He'll be totally absorbed in that thing - it's always the same - first time you put on one of those you're usually off for five or six hours! Let's do it!'

But still Lucy pushed him away. 'The Yassaccans are invading the ship!' she protested.

'That's right!' replied The Journalist. 'We've hardly got time to do it before they arrive! Quick!'

'Is that all you can think about!?' groaned Lucy. The Journalist was now nuzzling her neck and sending excited shivers down her spine.

'I told you - once we Blerontinian males get aroused...'

'Arrgh!' Lucy suddenly screamed. 'And what about the bomb?!'

Pangalin!' exclaimed The Journalist. 'I'd forgotten about that!' He suddenly whipped a small handset out of one of his many pockets and flipped it on.

'Twenty-five... twenty-four... twenty-three...' The bomb was counting.

'Toothless rabbits!' yelled The Journalist, 'it's nearly there!'

'Twenty-two...' said the bomb.

'Hey! Bomb!' yelled The Journalist into the phone.

'Don't talk to me!' moaned the bomb. 'I'm nearly there.. twenty-three... no, I've done that...'

'We're being invaded!' shouted The Joumalist. 'Twenty-oh... no! Damn! Recommencing countdown. One thousand...'