Francis Cam

The **Francis Cam** network was established as a way of sharing information across the Parallax. It received its name as a result of the fact that three of the four participants were versions of Francis Short from different worlds.

After Veronica was taken prisoner by Betti, Ben requested Francis Zapmeister's help as he had all of the best contacts in the Parallax. Although he felt guilty about it, Francis Zapmeister refused to leave his native Yellow World as he did not want to run the risk of being blandished. However, Una would not let the matter rest.

Having "borrowed" the Gemini 7 that Betti had originally given Francis Zapmeister, she bought four others from Dunkly's Techno-Porium in the Silver World and had Martin set each of them to the same frequency. This allowed the Gemini 7s to communicate across the Parallax. Francis Zapmeister and Una then recruited the Francis of the Red World and the Francis of the Green World into the Francis Cam network. Given that the Francis of the Silver World had been blandished by Betti, Una filled in for him. Francis Zapmeister decided against including the Francis of the Blue World as he didn't know him.

As he was very fearful of the Parallax, the Red World Francis refused to travel to other worlds but he was willing to look for any signs that either Betti or her agent Spy Kid were operating in his world. The Green World Francis didn't previously know about the Parallax and took some time to get used to the fact that there were other worlds with other Francises.

Francis Zapmeister served as the facilitator and insisted on total vigilance, even going so far as to suggest that the Francis Cam be a 24/7 commitment. He became very annoyed whenever one of the other three was late for meetings. Una was occasionally frustrated by the three Francises' bickering and lack of focus and once accused them of acting like the Tiffanys. All three of them were offended by the comparison.

The Francis Cam soon extended beyond its original function of reporting sightings of Betti or Spy Kid to more general Parallax related matters. For instance, the Francis of the Red World issued an all-worlds alert for Otto after the Guardian disappeared from Ben's house. Una was immediately able to report that she had seen him in her world. The Red World Francis later told the others that Jeremy and Stefan had gotten lost in the Parallax while searching for the Reading Room, which his Green World counterpart relayed to Ben and Katherine.

When the Martin of the Red World met and formed an alliance with his Blue World counterpart, the Red World Francis used the Francis Cam to alert the others that there were two Martins loose in the Parallax. The other two Francises and Una were disturbed by this revelation, with the latter describing it as "disgusto."

The Francises of the Red and Green Worlds became attracted to Una. On one occasion, they both excitedly greeted her when she joined a meeting. A slightly irritated Francis Zapmeister, who was dating Una, told his counterparts to focus.

Working together over the Francis Cam resulted in Francis Zapmeister becoming friendlier with his Red World counterpart. The other Francis had initially disliked Francis Zapmeister as his antics in the Red World Werrinup (such as stealing Martin's MP3 player) frequently landed him in trouble.

## Appearances

* "Too Many Chiefs"
* "Seek and You Shall Find"
* "Sand Witch"
* "My Favourite Martin"