CHAPTER ELEVEN
Fritz Braun

Discovering the curator in her workshop looking so wild and behaving so erratically convinced even Milli that it was time to beat a hasty retreat. As they backed away from the door and found the stairs that had led them down to the basement, a jumble of questions formed in Milli’s mind. It felt as if a ball of wool had got tangled in her head. What had happened to the previously austere curator? Who were the Botchers and what sort of work did they perform? The basement’s intricate network of passageways was surely being used for something more sinister than restoration.

For a moment Milli considered whether they should seek assistance from other sources, but immediately dismissed the idea. They had no evidence of wrongdoing, or even negligence for that matter. And even if they had, who would take the matter seriously given that the alleged victims were toys and the suspected perpetrator a woman who liked to dress up in different outfits and talk to statues in her spare time? Eccentricity, after all, wasn’t against the law. There really was nothing to be done but continue their investigations alone.

Milli could just imagine Mrs Perriclof’s reaction: ‘Talking toys! Really, Ernest, that is the absolute limit. I think it might be time for you to broaden your friendship group.’ She thought of POSSOM arriving on the scene and searching the doll perambulators for illicit substances. The news would spread that Drabville’s child heroes had finally lost the plot, that fame had eroded their sense of reality. Others might accuse them of saying or doing anything for attention. No, Milli decided, this was definitely not the time for adult intervention.

Ernest, meanwhile, was racking his brains for a Shakespearean quote that might come close to describing their situation. He wasn’t successful.

The children inched open the heavy metal door at the foot of the stairs as quietly as they could, and found a frowning Fritz Braun standing on the other side, his arms folded across his chest as if he had been expecting them. All traces of his friendly demeanour had vanished. He scowled at them darkly.

‘What are you doing down here?’ he barked. ‘Are you out of your minds? Can you not read signs?’

Milli thought she detected a hint of fear in his voice, not completely masked by his anger. She thought frantically for an acceptable explanation but Fritz’s glare unsettled her and she couldn’t think properly. Ernest was looking at her imploringly, expecting her to come up with an explanation.

‘We…got lost?’ she offered weakly.

‘Nonsense!’ snapped Fritz. ‘You don’t honestly expect me to believe that.’ He leaned in closer to the children and his words took on a greater urgency. ‘Now I don’t know what you two have been up to, but you’re going to leave right away. This is no place for children. Go now and I promise not to tell the curator you were here.’

He took a step towards them and Loyal made a defensive snorting sound. Fritz took in the rocking horse for the first time and his eyes widened in shock.

‘Loyal?’ he said. ‘Can it be you?’

The rocking horse looked confused before giving a guarded answer. ‘That is my name.’

‘Don’t you remember me?’ said Fritz, dropping to his knees and now looking as excited as a child. ‘I used to play with you when I visited my uncle’s country house as a little boy. You remember, in the nursery overlooking the park?’

Loyal scrutinised Fritz closely and the beginnings of a smile creased the corners of his mouth.

‘My dear Fritz!’ he exclaimed. ‘How you have changed. When I saw you last, you were a chubby, round-faced boy. But that must have been at least ten years ago, surely!’

‘I wouldn’t say I was chubby,’ Fritz objected. ‘But you, on the other hand, have not changed at all.’

‘Made to last,’ said Loyal. ‘It’s good to see you again.’

Fritz put his arm around the horse’s neck and the children felt they were witnessing the reunion of old friends.

‘What happened to you?’ continued Loyal, his expression changing from pleasure to consternation. ‘You used to visit regularly and then you just stopped coming. I worried about you.’

Fritz’s face clouded over and he looked suddenly self-conscious. ‘That was my parents’ idea,’ he said. ‘There was a falling-out—it happens in families. They cut contact with my uncle, believing him to be…what were their words …a damaging influence. I was sent away to boarding school in Switzerland and spent the next seven years studying Logic and Mathematics, but they gave me little satisfaction. As soon as I was old enough, I ran away and went to work for Von Gob Toys, my uncle’s company. He had a factory then in Vienna, and I lived in the rooms upstairs. My parents searched for me but I managed to elude them.’

‘Have you seen your uncle recently?’ asked Loyal with concern.

‘No,’ said Fritz. ‘He wrote to me about the opening of the arcade and asked me to join him here. But when I arrived he was nowhere to be found. The new managers say he handed over administrative duties to them so that he can retire and resume his life as a recluse, but I think it odd that he would cut off all communication.’

‘Odd is exactly what it is,’ agreed the horse.

‘You don’t believe it either?’

‘Strange things are happening here,’ Loyal said. ‘Things your uncle would never approve of.’

‘You are quite right,’ Fritz admitted. He looked as if he might be on the verge of sharing something with them, and then reconsidered. He gave a furtive look down the corridor beyond the open steel door.

‘Please tell us what you know,’ Milli said encouragingly.

‘Can you come back later? We can talk then without being interrupted. There’s never anyone down here after six.’

Fritz’s pager beeped. He withdrew it and shook his head as he read the text on its screen.

‘I have to go now,’ he said quickly. ‘Our chief designer is calling for fresh coffee. We’ll meet back here later.’

‘Do you mean the curator?’ Ernest called after him, but Fritz was already walking away down the corridor, grumbling about being ‘reduced to a manservant’, and did not look back.

When Milli got home, she gave her father perfunctory answers to questions about her day and quickly asked whether she could go to Ernest’s to help him learn his lines for his part in the upcoming Christmas play. She added that Ernest had invited her to stay for dinner so they needn’t set a place for her. Dorkus looked at her sister with suspicion but Mr Klompet raised no objection. He agreed to pick her up when they were done, but insisted that Milli try a piece of his beetroot slice before she left as it was a while till dinner. At the Perriclof home Ernest had spun his parents a similar story and the children met as planned on the corner of Ernest’s street, Bauble Lane, before heading off in the direction of the arcade.

When they returned to the underground headquarters, there was some time to spare before their meeting with Fritz Braun so they filled in the others on what they had encountered in the basement. Then they noticed that Pascal was not present.

‘She should be here any minute,’ said Theo.

When Pascal did appear some minutes later, her face was tear-stained and she was walking unevenly. It transpired that she had lost a slipper whilst making her way through the labyrinthine tunnels and had been unable to find it.

Captain Pluck raised his eyebrows and folded his arms impatiently. ‘Pascal!’ he scolded. ‘There are more important things than the loss of a shoe.’ Theo shook his head in warning but the damage was done.

‘More important perhaps for you!’ spluttered the now red-faced doll. ‘All you want to do is prance around in your uniform feeling important. I would so much rather be upstairs with my friends who understand me.’

‘You don’t mean that,’ said Theo. ‘We must stay together until we know what’s happening.’

‘If we weren’t fussing over Pascal all the time, we might actually get more done,’ snapped the soldier. ‘Useless, conceited doll.’

‘I may be useless and conceited,’ shrilled Pascal, her accent becoming more pronounced the angrier she became, ‘but at least I’m not a joke.’

‘Madam, retract that immediately! If I were not a soldier and a gentleman—’

‘Enough bickering,’ interjected Loyal. ‘Perhaps we will be able to shed more light on things after our meeting. In the meantime, let’s try to remain calm.’

‘He who wavers is lost,’ Ernest added sagely. He didn’t know whether it was Shakespeare or not but it had the effect of making Theo burst into thunderous laughter. The others soon followed and the tension in the room temporarily lifted.

They met up with Fritz as planned and he led them to his room via the elevator. Milli and Ernest thought the word cubicle might be a better way to describe it. The walls and floor were concrete and the iron bed was narrow with a thin foam mattress. There was a small metal trunk by the bed which appeared to contain all of Fritz’s worldly possessions. His clothes hung from a portable rack and there was a ceramic wash basin with a jug balanced on it. Milli and Ernest knew from their research that Von Gobstopper had no children and it surprised them that the heir to the toy empire should be living in such reduced circumstances.

‘Not exactly what you expected?’ Fritz asked, reading their thoughts. The children smiled uncomfortably, not wishing to cause him further embarrassment.

‘I would invite you to sit down,’ Fritz said with a self-deprecating smile, ‘but standing is probably more comfortable.’

Loyal invited the children to climb onto his back in order to free up some space.

‘But Von Gobstopper is your uncle,’ Milli finally blurted, unable to contain her curiosity any longer. ‘And he’s worth millions!’

‘He is,’ said Fritz cheerfully, ‘but he does not appear to be here now, does he?’ Although he was making light of the situation, his blue eyes were like icebergs. ‘Are you always so direct?’ he asked Milli.

‘Not always but usually,’ she said carefully. ‘In my experience, it saves an awful lot of mucking about.’

‘Where do you think your uncle is?’ asked Ernest.

‘I have thought about it, and it is my view that he is right here, somewhere in this arcade,’ replied Fritz matter-of-factly.

Milli was shocked. ‘Doing what exactly?’

‘Not doing anything in particular but being held prisoner.’ Fritz surveyed them carefully and rubbed his chin. ‘Before I go on, I feel I should warn you that this is not something you want to involve yourselves in. It would be far better if you left this place and resumed your normal lives. The longer you spend here, the more danger you put yourselves in.’

‘We can’t leave now,’ Milli protested. ‘Not without knowing that Theo, Pascal and Captain Pluck are safe!’

‘You’re quite a determined girl, aren’t you?’ Fritz said. ‘How old are you both?’

‘Just turned thirteen. We were born a month apart,’ said Milli and then for the first time in her life, she found herself wishing she were older, just so she might make more of an impression on this worldly boy. She was most put out when Fritz made a whistling sound through his teeth.

‘Just babies,’ he muttered.

‘We’re extraordinarily mature for our age,’ Milli contradicted huffily.

‘Thirteen marks the onset of adolescence,’ added Ernest, ‘and the end of childhood. So babies, I think, is hardly an appropriate word.’

‘I apologise if I have offended,’ said Fritz with a humble bow. ‘You have achieved a good deal for your young years. If you wish to stay and help, I would be honoured.’

‘This morning we caught a glimpse of Ms Anomali talking to a marble bust,’ said Milli.

‘Ms Anomali is a designer—what did you expect?’

‘What does she design?’

‘Why, toys, of course. She has taken on the position of chief designer for Von Gob Toys. She wants to revolutionise the company, make cheaper toys and appeal to the mass market. She claims that my uncle has given her free rein.’

‘But Von Gob Toys have always been unique, never two the same in the entire world,’ said Ernest.

‘Yes, that was the case,’ said Fritz, ‘but I fear it is about to change now that my uncle has retired.’

‘And what’s all this business going on in the basement?’ interposed Loyal.

‘It is not a basement, old friend,’ Fritz said slowly. ‘It’s a laboratory.’

Fritz’s words hung heavily in the air. Nobody spoke for a long moment and then Loyal found his voice.

‘A laboratory for what?’

‘Modifications,’ murmured Fritz. ‘That is the job of the Botchers. They are plastic surgeons whose licences have been revoked so they can no longer practise in the human world.’

‘Why are they here?’ asked Loyal in an ominous voice.

‘It is not something that can be easily explained,’ floundered Fritz. ‘I would have to show you. I think it is time for a visit to Hack Ward. Perhaps, together, we can work out what’s going on.’

Fritz’s words seemed to release a valve in Ernest’s brain, which he felt was on the verge of imploding. He was, admittedly, also irritable and hungry as he’d not had time for an afternoon snack.

‘No, we’re not sure we can handle it!’ he shouted. ‘Why should we be expected to? We’ve been through enough drama in the last year to last most people a lifetime and yet here we are again, facing danger and uncertainty and not an adult in sight to soften the blow. I know what Milli and I should be doing right now. We should be at home doing our homework or watching an episode of So You Think You’re a Genius on the telly’—Milli raised her eyebrows dubiously at this—‘before brushing our teeth and taking a mug of warm milk to bed. That’s what kids our age should be doing, not worrying about kidnapped toymakers and insane designers. There are debating tryouts at school tomorrow and we’re going to be too wrung out to do our best because we’re too busy trying to catch—’ He stopped suddenly, conscious of having held the floor uninterrupted for the duration of this outburst. He took a deep breath and regained his composure. ‘Of course we can handle it,’ he said, and looked at Milli for confirmation.

Milli looked at Ernest as if she was seeing him for the first time. ‘Lead the way,’ she said, even though her heart was pounding in her chest.