1) Manhunt

It is 6 months since Greg, Jack and Agnes flew off in the  hot-air balloon to travel to Norway. Seth, the blacksmith, is  walking in the woods, when he comes across Jack, injured and  bloodied following an attack by a pack of dogs.  He is very  weak and lapses into a coma.  He carries letters for Jen  and Charles from Greg.

Charles has been busy in the intervening time - there is a  phone link between Seth's place and White Cross, which uses overhead  power lines to carry the signal.  There is a set rota of  times for calls each day.  At the evening call, Seth tells  Charles about Jack.

This is the first they have heard of Greg since he left, and  though 50 miles away, Charles decides to go over to Seth's himself.  Jenny insists on coming as well. Greg has written the letters  from Suffolk.  He had reached Norway, and is on his way  back.  Jenny wants to travel to meet him - she had convinced  herself that he was dead.

Jack gets delirious, and starts rambling about a broken arm,  and danger.  This worries Jen, who gets a little hysterical  - Charles has to slap her out of it.  He agrees to go off at first  light to meet Greg  en route.

When Jack finally comes round, he warns that there is danger,  and that they shouldn't go off in search of Greg.  This  is transmitted by phone back to Pet, who sends Hubert off on  horseback after Jen and Charles.

A few days later, Jen and Charles reach Greg's last known  location in Suffolk. They hear cries for help and find a man  staked out for the dogs in the woods.  They release him,  and he runs off, terrified.  Charles believes him to be  a junkie.  The man who had staked him out appears, and takes  them to the local settlement. 

It is run along military lines by a Colonel Clifford.   The settlement has a scientist, the Professor, who is making  drugs.  Greg had been there the week before, but had headed  north to Lincolnshire, following a list of settlements Agnes'  father had made. They decide to stay the night.

The professor is trying to synthesize a morphine substitute.   He already makes other drugs, which they trade.  However,  surrounding settlements feel they get a raw deal in this trading,  so they are often raided, hence the military security. The man  staked out had been caught stealing drugs.

Charles dislikes the colonel intensely, and can't believe  that Greg had praised the place in his letter.  They feel  like prisoners, and Charles suspects Greg and Agnes may still  be held there .  He and Jen go for a scout around, but Charles  gets into a fight with one of the guards.  In the confusion,  Jen escapes.

Charles is taken to see the Colonel.  He explains that  the military discipline is a recent thing, since Greg left, due  to increased raids. He explains that it takes a lot of raw material  to manufacture only a small amount of drugs, hence the locals'  accusations of extortion.  He believes that the professor's  work is vital to the survival of the surrounding settlements.

The staked out man was tied only loosely, so he could escape  and spread the word of his harsh punishment - they have a plastic  skeleton staked out elsewhere in the woods as another deterrent.

Charles realises he has misjudged the Colonel somewhat.   The Colonel reckons that Greg and Charles are in for a tough  time federating all the communities.

Meanwhile, Jenny meets the following Hubert.  She takes  his gun, intending to rescue Charles.  She shoots one of  the Colonel's men in fear when he approaches.  She then  takes Hubert's horse and charges into the settlement like the  cavalry - she manages to knock Charles out when she throws Hubert's  gun to him!  She is overpowered, and Hubert is also captured,  but they are able to leave unharmed to follow Greg's trail northwards.