Doctor Who_ Earthworld - Jacqueline Rayner [67]
Fitz looked enquiringly at her, hoping they weren’t going to suggest something that might make him explore bits of his mind where he didn’t want to go, because after all they were only thirteen.
‘We’ve read your mind, Fitz,’ she went on. ‘And we can make people. Antarctica?’
‘All ready!’ said the third trip. ‘Put these on, Fitz Fortune.’ She held out the headphones again.
‘No way.’
‘Please?’ said Asia, surprising him by sounding genuine.
‘And these,’ said Antarctica, holding out a pair of large goggles.
‘Why?’ Fitz asked.
‘Just put them on.’
Once again, Fitz capitulated. He didn’t really feel he had much choice. But as he put the goggles on. . .
‘Woah!’ he cried, putting out his hands to steady himself as the floor seemed to rush out to meet him. He felt someone grab his arm. ‘It’s OK, Fitz Fortune!’
he heard dimly, on the other side of the headphones. ‘It’s just virtual reality.
This is what we could give you if you do as we say. . . ’
Anji, Xernic and Hanstrum had reached the theatre. Anji glanced at one of the FITZ FORTUNE! posters, amused to see a velvet-suited Fitz apparently winking at her. But there were no signs of life.
They went to the dressing room where the replicant had been. There was no sign of Fitz.
‘He could be anywhere by now,’ said Xernic, unenthusiastically.
‘He’ll be wherever the girls are,’ said Hanstrum. ‘We find them, we find your friend.’
122
EarthWorld
‘But we don’t know where to look!’ wailed Xernic.
Anji was determined to remain calm. She certainly wasn’t going to let this Hanstrum see that she was worried. ‘We use this as our starting point,’ she said.
‘We’ll explore the theatre – look for clues.’
They looked into the other dressing rooms, those marked ELVIS. Nothing.
Anji found a door into the main auditorium, but there was nothing there except scattered popcorn and ice-cream wrappers.
It was Xernic who found the door to the basement. It was behind a curtain backstage, and had a NO UNAUTHORISED ENTRY notice on it. He called the others over. Anji, who would once have never dreamed of disobeying a sign, pushed the door open. And then she heard it.
‘There’s something moving down there!’ she hissed, letting the door swing shut again.
‘And is that not what we’re looking for?’ questioned Hanstrum. Anji wanted to slap him.
‘I was only telling you,’ she huffed. ‘And now I’m going down there.’
‘Would you like me to go first?’ asked Xernic nervously.
Anji, who desperately would have liked that, said, ‘No, thank you,’ defiantly, and opened the door again. She crept down the stairs, treading carefully to stop her heels clicking on the bare steps. Xernic and Hanstrum followed.
There was the noise again, a sort of shuffling. She hoped to goodness it wasn’t rats. It was coming from behind a door – a door that was obviously lockable but that was standing ajar. So whatever was making the sounds wasn’t a prisoner, then. . . but what was that horrific smell?
Holding her breath, Anji pushed the door open, shrieked, and jumped back into Xernic’s arms. As she huddled there, embarrassed, Hanstrum went past and into the room.
‘Oh dear,’ he said. ‘Not very pleasant, is it?’
Anji composed herself, and extricated herself from Xernic, who was just standing there bemused. With another deep breath – which she instantly re-gretted, because of the smell – she followed Hanstrum into the room.
‘There’s nothing to worry about. They’re all long dead,’ said Hanstrum, condescendingly.
Anji took in the bones hanging from the walls, the rotting flesh on the floor, and shivered. ‘None of these could be Fitz, could they?’ she asked.
‘Not unless he was already massively decomposing when you saw him yesterday,’ Hanstrum said. Anji kicked herself. She knew that.
If You Prick Me, Do I Not Bleed?
123
‘But what was making the noises?’ Xernic said. Anji took a step backwards as the scuffling came again. Her eyes darted around the cell. It was coming from a pile of clothes in the corner. Please not rats!
Xernic nervously crept forward and