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understand. Something was distinctly wrong and the implication was that they or the Prof were somehow deeply involved. Now they felt more uncomfortable than ever.
    The Prof, on the other hand, seemed perfectly relaxed. “Ah, I think I see what has happened here,” he said. “Cosmo left me before we completed our research. That’s what I’ve been working on since. ‘Colour transference’ or rather, the limitation of colour transference. My work has been designed to transfer some element or property of, say, one plant or insect to another. But the transfer has to be what I call, ‘species specific.’ That is, it has to be locked into the plant-cell or whatever you are working on, so that it cannot escape out again or move on to anything else. This is what Cosmo clearly failed to do. So the purple effect moved on from the ‘cheesy bite’ into Mary’s hair. Hair is notorious you know for picking up oddities in the body. Don’t worry Mary, the colour will disappear naturally in a few weeks.”
    Mary Dungle nodded disconsolately. She did not feel much better. A few weeks is a very long time if you don’t like bright purple hair.
    â€œAnd you mustn’t worry either, Mr. Knibbs,” the professor continued. “If you agree, I will return the day after tomorrow with some of my laboratory equipment and with the help of my young assistants I am sure we can sort out all your problems very quickly.”
    Mr. Knibbs did not look any more reassured than Mary Dungle. But he reasoned with himself that he had to take any opportunity to reverse his current misfortunes and the professor did seem genuine and confident that he knew what he was talking about.
    â€œAlright,” he nodded, “come back on Friday. But I hope I’m not making another big mistake.”
    â€œI can assure you, you’re not,” said the professor. “Thank you for your understanding. Once we’ve sorted things out here I must, however, contact Cosmo Querulous urgently before anything else goes wrong. Can you possibly find out where he is by Friday?”
    â€œI’ve had no luck so far,” Mr. Knibbs replied. “But I’ll try.”

CHAPTER 13
    Back at ‘The Cedars’ that evening, Jay, Tim, Ella and the Prof sat around the kitchen table finishing supper. Chip was under the table sleeping contentedly. His human companions were not so content. It had been an unsettling day. They were relieved to be home and no-one felt inclined to say much.
    Finally, Jay broke the silence. “What I don’t understand,” he said, addressing the Prof, “is that you were talking to Mr. Knibbs about colour transference. But what you showed us the other night was your work on producing light. You were transferring the luminous effect from insects and other things to plants. Not colours.”
    â€œWell, it’s much the same thing, Jay,” said the Prof, “except that colours on their own are simpler. That’s why I think I can sort out Mr. Knibbs’ particular problems at the factory fairly easily.”
    â€œSo if you can sort them out, why do you want to see Cosmo Querulous again so urgently?” asked Tim.
    â€œBecause I know he wasn’t just interested in colours. Like me he was certainly interested in luminescence. But he was keen also to see if he could transfer other features from one plant to another or from one insect or even animal to another. As soon as you add those extra factors into your experiments everything becomes more unstable and uncertain. If not properly controlled, it could upset the whole natural balance of lots of species. If you start tinkering with nature, without the utmost care, it could lead to an ecological disaster. I’m very worried about what he might do next. And I feel I’m to blame for letting him storm off before we’d finished our research. He wasn’t a bad fellow. Maybe I was just too