Jareth feared the basement would be dark and gloomy in keeping with the rest of the Hall, but the elevator descended slowly into a brightly lit laboratory.

Looking down, he could see a long wooden table, holding esoteric pieces of scientific equipment. He recognised a gleaming microscope and a set of apothecary's scales with multiple branches. At one end of the table was a complicated apparatus which resembled a gin distillery in miniature. The wall behind the table was lined with shelves, filled with glass bottles of all shapes and sizes.

At the centre of it all, stood a middle-aged man in a brown leather apron. He was as bald as an egg and wore large spectacles. Jareth assumed he was Professor Maybury, although he was a younger man than Jareth had expected and wasn't sporting the wild white hair so beloved of penny-dreadfuls. He appeared to be conducting an experiment.

Yellow liquid bubbled in a glass flask above a flaming Bunsen burner, held in place by a metal retort stand.

Maybury looked up at the sound of the elevator descending. He grimaced slightly and turned the burner down so that the flame was barely visible.

Jareth glanced at Ursula Fisher to gauge her reaction to the scene. For the first time that he could remember, she was smiling, and her eyes were bright with anticipation. This was her world.

The elevator came to rest on the basement floor with a gentle thump. The footman prised open the gates and ushered them out.

"Professor Maybury, your visitors are here," he announced, rather unnecessarily, as the gates clanged shut behind them.

"Thank you, Jenkins, you may go."

Instead of returning to the elevator, however, the footman disappeared into the depths of the laboratory.

Professor Maybury beamed.

"Now, how can I help you fine people?"

Gifford stepped forward to make the introductions. "Thank you for meeting with us, Professor. I'm Reginald Gifford and this is Ursula Fisher. And Jareth Coppersmith, our... assistant. We represent the Goldsmiths' Guild in Eskia."

"I'm pleased to meet you all. I can't remember the last time I had so many visitors. And you want to hear about my research, have I got that right?"

"Yes. I understand you've made a recent discovery which might be of interest to us?" enquired Gifford, delicately.

The Professor nodded eagerly. "Yes, things are progressing rather nicely if I do say so myself."

He stroked his chin. "But I'm working on several projects at present... which one did you have in mind?"

Silently observing, Jareth couldn't tell whether he was genuinely mystified or merely toying with them.

Ursula broke in, impatient with Gifford's equivocal approach.

"The one where you're working on transmuting brass into gold."

The Professor nodded sagely. "Ah, you mean my work on creating the Alchemists' Stone. Everyone said it couldn't be done, that I was a fool for trying," his eyes glinted behind the glasses, "but perseverance, Miss Fisher, perseverance! Eventually, of course, I succeeded... but, to be honest, the results were rather disappointing."

"Disappointing?" Ursula protested. "But you said you succeeded, Professor. How marvellous! I'm a scientist myself, and I'd be very interested to see your research."

The Professor nodded again, looking gratified.

"Well, it's true my latest method can produce gold... but in such tiny quantities, it's hardly worth it."

Ursula looked bewildered. Gifford's face went blank. This was the last thing either had expected.

"Not worth it?" echoed Gifford.

"Let me show you," offered the Professor. "Come with me."

He led the way past the table to where the room opened up to reveal rows of benches, each covered with scientific equipment.

Jareth pursed his lips. So much clutter! Jars filled with coloured liquids, small trays piled with powder, wooden cabinets with multiple tiny drawers stacked on top of each other; how the Professor knew the whereabouts of anything, was beyond him.

One thing was certain, there was no way he, Jareth, would be able to determine which components, if any, were being used for the gold project. He hoped he would get some assistance from Ursula, otherwise he would need to rely entirely on what Maybury told him. Which would be foolish. He frowned. There was something about Maybury which had his alarm senses tingling.

The professor came to a halt at the end of the laboratory and picked up a small glass jar. He handed it to Ursula.

"There. You can see the gold I harvested in the bottom. Three pieces, about the size of a grain of wheat."

Ursula peered at the jar, turning it over in her hands. "May I examine these more closely?"

"Of course."

Professor Maybury watched indulgently as she pulled out the cork and tipped the grains into her palm. She drew a magnet from her pocket and touched one but the grains stayed unmoved. A second test involved tipping a few drops of vinegar into her palm and again, the grains passed the test, remaining unchanged.

She smiled at Maybury. "I have one more test with nitric acid but you are right, they appear to be gold."

Jareth was fascinated, but after a brief glance, he wasn't looking at the tiny pieces of gold. He was staring over Ursula's shoulder. In place of the multitude of equipment at this end of the laboratory, were three aquariums filled with water.

A large orange octopus occupied one, and he could see jellyfish floating in another. The third had a pile of brass pipes lying on the bottom, covered by water.

"You've spotted my pets. Wondrous creatures, aren't they?" the Professor said to Jareth.

He tapped the third aquarium and smiled. "Now this was part of my gold extraction process. See that amount of brass? That's how much it takes to produce that amount of gold. That, and a special process, of course."

Ursula looked confused. "But how-?"

The Professor chuckled.

"I spent over ten years of my life working on this project. You can't expect me to tell you all my secrets, can you?" He chuckled again. "Anyway, I've gone as far as I can with that part of my research. Now I've moved on to something much more interesting. An elixir for prolonging life! The ancients used to talk about creating immortality, but of course that's impossible. No, I'm working on something much more practical. Long life!"

He reached into a pocket of his apron and took out a small bottle filled with gold tinted liquid. He gave it a proud flourish.

"Maybury's Miracle Elixir!"