its hiding place, along with Wizard's research journal, and reads it whilst travelling to Dubai. In the city the group travels to the Burj al Arab tower and call a meeting of nations. The surviving team members from Seven Ancient Wonders return, with the exception of Fuzzy from Jamaica. At the meeting, Jack informs them that the end of the world is nigh, due to a zero-point field (the 'Dark Sun') entering our solar system, which could destroy the entire world. However, in order to save the world, the 'Machine' must be rebuilt by placing six oblong diamond pillars in their respective locations around the globe. However, almost nothing is known about the Machine, but the knowledge can be found using the Six Sacred Stones - the Philosopher's Stone, the Altar Stone at Stonehenge, The Twin Tablets of Thutmosis, The Seeing Stone of Delphi, the Killing Stone of the Maya, and the Basin of Ramses II. Then Fuzzy's severed head arrives in a hatbox, and an aeroplane is sighted heading to crash into the tower. Everyone escapes the crash one way or another and the team splits at the airfield. Jack, Pooh Bear, Stretch, Astro (a US Marine), Scimitar (Pooh's brother) and Vulture (Scimitar's companion) head into China to rescue Wizard, whilst Zoe takes Lily and Alby to England. They meet up with twin Scottish Maths geniuses Lachlan and Julius Adamson, and use the Firestone in conjunction with the altar stone at Stonehenge to reveal the locations of the Six Vertices where the Pillars must be placed. However, the locations are slightly inaccurate as the continents have changed in the ages since the maps were drawn. Meanwhile, West's group rescue Wizard and Tank successfully, and retrieve the Philosopher's Stone from Laozi's trap system. Arriving in Britain, the location of the second meeting, the Americans have brought the Killing Stone of the Maya, recovered from Mexico; Vulture brings one of the pillars, from the treasury of his family, the Royal House of Saud; and a representative of the British Royal Family, Iolanthe Compton-Jones, brings the pillar kept by her family. The pillars are cloudy diamond bricks with a liquid-filled void in the centre. After being 'cleansed' by the Philosopher's Stone, the pillars become clear and the liquid silver. It is also discovered that the pillars' markings reveal Iolanthe's as the fourth, and Vulture's as the first. The Killing Stone of the