Play@YSDC

The investigators make it safely to the airship. There is no sign that anybody else survived the disaster on Bear Island. The official story, from both sides of the Iron Curtain, is that it was an volcanic explosion. U.N.C.L.E. considers the situation closed. Some skeptics publish articles in the underground press, or make broadcasts on pirate radio stations, that "the Man is covering something up."

During the necessary period of rest and recreation after this tiring adventure, Zara grows increasingly agitated. With trembling hands, she produces a sketch of herself and the others seated around a large round table, upon which stands a single candle in the middle of a five-sided star. Each person has a dagger by his or her side, along with a small bowl.

Having made his own discreet enquiries into the nature of the facilities they recently had to evacuate, P spends the rest of his downtime examining the airship.

His curiosity remains unsated, however, and so he views Zara’s drawing with interest.

“Fascinating. You have a lot of explaining to do young lady. For whom are you required to collect our blood?”

"This looks like a standard occult ritual," says Liz. "The entity in question obviously wants our blood for some nefarious purpose. It's easily done, but I'm concerned that giving it our blood will give it some sort of power over us."

"Sometimes I draw things that are going to happen," Zara says to P. "Always heavy stuff, never anything good. That's how I met Liz - she'd heard about me, and came to Venice Beach to check me out. There was a guy killing girls - it was the first thing we went up against together, with Tony, and a couple of others. But there's this spirit too... I guess it's interested in what I can do, but I dunno why. I can always feel it there."

In response to Liz's observation, she adds, "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have agreed. I just couldn't think of any other way we were doing get out of there. Maybe you should say no - it told me not to fail it, which sounds like it can't make you, or do anything to you if you refuse."

P ponders on this for a moment.

“I would like to converse with this entity; ask it its intentions.”

In response to this inquiry, Zara suddenly enters into what seems to be a trance, and alters the drawing so that a large black X appears on the image of P.

With much greater fierceness than before, the entity communicates the message DO NOT FAIL ME!
TAKE WHAT I NEED IF THEY WILL NOT GIVE IT FREELY! This is followed by a sudden, crippling pain in her head, causing her to collapse, as if it were the worst migraine imaginable, despite her invulnerability to normal diseases. This passes in less than
second, but cannot be forgotten.

The others then witness her let out a cry of pain and fall to the floor, but she seems to recover fully by the time they try to help her.

Liz rushes to help Zara, though she no longer needs it. "It appears that the entity does not wish to be questioned," she says. "While my knowledge of the paranormal can provide some temporary protection, we may in the end need to do as it wishes. It does, after all, have you as a hostage, Zara."

"Hmm, most disconcerting..."

Seemingly oblivious to Zara's plight, P is lost in his own thoughts.

"Of course the answer may lie in blocking out the malign psychic influence altogether... Perhaps some kind of dampening field could be erected around the girl's head? A helmet maybe? Yes, I'm sure I could turn my hand to that..."

"And I guess this means it can hear anything you say to me," Zara says weakly. "Well, let it hear this. I'm not going to ask you to go through with it."

Zara shakes her head. "And for the carrot, it's reminding me that it promised 'no harm would befall you.'" - her tone making it clear she's quoting. "I don't know what to do. I'm pretty sure it can't make you do anything. And obviously it knows anything I say and hear. So maybe I should spend the rest of the cruise locked away in the one of the cabins."

"A dampening field is a good idea," says Liz. "Maybe a hat would be less obtrusive than a helmet, not to mention more fashionable. Lining the inside of the hat with aluminium foil could act like a Faraday Cage, protecting Zara's head from electronic interference. But would this influence be stopped by it? My protection ritual should work too, but it's only a temporary measure. I could try to banish it as well, but that won't always work. More research and experimentation is clearly in order. Of course, the entity may have other means of projecting its influence. Do you know its name, by any chance?"

"No. I'm not even sure it's always the same one. Captain Palliser haunted me too."

“I’ll get to work,” says P, with more enthusiasm than is perhaps proper considering Zara’s predicament.

While these preparations are being made, the entity seems to have withdrawn for the moment. Zara receives no message, produces no arcane artwork, and suffers no headaches. All would seem to be well, were it not for a disturbing newspaper article in the Venice Evening Vanguard. It seems that a number of schoolchildren have been hospitalized with unexplained anemia. Some members of the local nonconformists are blaming it on pollution being dumped into the ocean.

"This could be the work of a vampire," says Liz. "There could be other explanations too, but we won't know until we investigate. We can start by visiting the children in hospital, examining and interviewing them."

P looks up from his work on Zara’s hat.

“A trip to Venice would be most stimulating, especially if you throw in some vampires.”

He chuckles to himself.

“I suppose stakes and garlic are in order. Hmm, there must be a scientific basis to such legends…”

"Being killed by a sharp bit of wood through the heart doesn't need that much explanation," Zara says drily. "I wonder if it's related to the spirt's demand."

After quickly pointing out to P that the Venice mentioned in the newspaper is the city of that name in California, and not the Italian original -- Zara's hometown, for that matter -- the investigators make their way to the only hospital in the area with a pediatric intensive care unit.

"May I help you?"

The receptionist at the main desk of the hospital is a very professional-looking woman of middle years. Not far away is a security guard, who keeps a close watch on everyone coming and going.

"Good day," says Liz with a smile. "I'm Dr. Liz North, of Cambridge University. My colleagues and I have heard about the anemia that is afflicting the children, and we'd like to lend our assistance and scientific expertise to help them."