In this big, round room was a staircase which ran around the room close to the walls. The biggest spiralling staircase that Ed had ever seen. The other thing in this room was a giant light; a huge light which hung down from the ceiling, which seemed miles away. The light itself looked like a fairy light from a Christmas tree, very long, thin and round; a perfect fit for this very long, thin and round room.

  ?Ed knew that if he'd come this far that he might as well carry on. He stepped into the conical room and began to climb the stairs. He went round and round, he had to stop every now and again to rest his legs.

  ?He was climbing for what seemed like hours and Ed began to worry. He was worried that his adventure would take too long and that his parents would wake up in the morning and wouldn't be able to find him. He began to think about maybe going back down, back through the screw hole, back through the forest of carpet, back over the creaky floorboards and back into his own bed. Something urged him on though, something told him that he was meant to be where he was; he took his courage into his hands and began to climb again.

  ?Eventually he reached the top, he looked over the side at all the stairs that he had just climbed. The chamber spread out before him, fathomless depths. He almost fainted because he was so high. He was on a platform made out of smooth metal, it looked strange next to the endless expanse of wood. At the end of a platform was a door, made out of the same metal, it looked heavy and was surrounded by big rivets driven into the wood. The door handle was a big wheel, he walked toward the door and put his hands on the wheel. He tried to turn it, but as hard as he tried it didn't seem to want to budge. When his spirits were low and he was about to give up any hope of opening the door he heard a click. The wheel began to spin, without any help from Ed, and soon the door opened inwards.

  ?Inside was a small dark room and there was a boy standing looking at him. Before Ed had any chance to collect his scattered thoughts the boy spoke, "who are you?"

  The voice, even though it had come from a boy the same age as Ed, was a man's voice. The kind of voice that Ed's father used when talking to other adult men.

  "I am Ed," said Ed. The boy looked at Ed and didn't say anything; "Ed...ward Bridges" stutteredEd again thinking that the boy wanted something more from him.

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  "Oh a Ward?" the boy asked, "I didn't know that there was anybody down there. Where do you come from?"

  Ed was quite lost for words.

  "So you are the new bridge warden? No-one told me that you were coming," continued the boy.

  "I..I didn't mean to come; I am quite lost," replied Ed, "I was looking for something and something went strange and now I am here."

  "Well," replied the odd boy, "I don't know what that something was but I'm sure you'll find it. Come we should get you to the bridge. What are you wearing?"

  "Pajamas" Ed answered feeling foolish.

  "OK, they seem odd to me, but I guess different clocks do different things."

  With those words the strange boy spun on his heels and began to walk away, beckoning to Ed to follow. Ed followed at a distance whilst the boy talked over his shoulder to him. "My name is William, I was named after the great William Barrow. I was a Ticker but I retired last year and now I am the door warden; it's a good job, nice and quiet."

  Ed didn't reply, he was just too busy studying the sights around him. They had exited the small room and were now in quite the biggest room Ed had ever seen. It was a rectangle shape with wooden walls. There were a series of large metal platforms suspended at different intervals in the room, all of them had inter-connected ladders running to and from them. What most excited Ed, however, were the cogs. In the middle of the room there was an amazing array of cogs and wheels. They were all turning with one another very, very slowly. Each cog was about the size of five busses stacked on eachother and was turning with a barely audible hiss.

  ?Each of the platforms and most of the ladders were occupied by loads of boys and girls, all a similar age as Ed. They all wore blue trousers and blue t-shirts over which hung either a white apron or a black apron. Around their necks, hanging on a gold chain, was a strange horn looking thing; some of the boys were using the horns by placing them up to their ears and staring at the spinning cogs; listening to something intently.

  ?Each of the boys and girls were hard at work, Ed didn't exactly know what they were doing but they all looked very busy. William led Ed through the maze of ladders and platforms, sometimes climbing up or climbing down; Ed was wondering how on earth anybody kept track of where they were going in such a maze. William seemed confident and Ed trusted him wholly.

  ?As Ed walked he tried to sort out, in his head, everything that had happened to him over the last night. He didn't know what Bridge Warden meant, or what William meant by 'different clocks do different things'. Ed was getting himself quite upset and worked up but still he followed William until they came to where they were going; a large doorway halfway up the giant room.