Doctor Who_ Ghost Light - Marc Platt [38]
The clock chimed the half hour and Gwendoline made her way back to her room.
Things made sense as long as she thought of Uncle Josiah. Thus she found herself putting on a dress of dusky blue, because it suited her mood and that of the house too
— it was full of secret desires and unknown gestures.
There were some that Uncle Josiah shared with her, and if she was good he might share more. But there in her room, among the familiar bric-a-brac, was the broken bird toy and the strange clothes that Ace had left behind when they had changed for dinner.
She examined the glossy material of the jacket. It felt unnatural and slippery. Of the coloured medals and badges that adorned it, the letters BSA made no sense to her, nor did Ace Roofing Co. Her ideas were becoming muddled again. Was it Ace or Alice? Sometimes she could hardly remember if it was day or night. Her guardian always became fearfully angry when she asked questions, but she needed to talk to someone.
Before she knew it, she was outside the room where Mr Fenn-Cooper was being cared for. He was certainly that, for when she opened the door he was lying on his side in a pool of moonlight, snugly wrapped in his strait-jacket. She heard him say ‘Not much time left. It’ll soon be light,’
before he noticed she was there and fell silent.
When she called his name, he looked startled and said,
‘So you’ve seen Redvers too. I knew he was close by. Where are they holding the poor devil?’
‘I am lost, so lost and alone,’ she pleaded, close to tears again.
The explorer managed to sit up in the presence of his young visitor. ‘Redvers understands. He got used to loneliness in the bush,’ he sympathized, but Gwendoline was becoming desperate.
‘I cannot find my mother,’ she blurted. ‘I’m sure she was here.’
With some difficulty, Redvers scrambled to his feet.
‘Don’t be alarmed,’ he advised. Even in his bonds, he presented a formidable figure that towered above Gwendoline. She backed away in fear.
Redvers struggled inside the strait-jacket, unable to break free. ‘Redvers always escapes in the end,’ he muttered and began to advance on the shrinking girl. ‘He knows where the greatest secret of all is hidden. It sleeps in the depths of the interior. And it must never be woken!’
He made a sudden move forward, but Gwendoline was there before him. She darted into the passage and shut the door, quickly turning the key in the lock. The problem with asking questions was that the answers often recalled the things you wanted to forget.
The clank of the lift mechanism engaging alerted Mrs Pritchard to her master’s imminent return. Her vigil had endured for most of the night and it would soon be sunrise.
Uncertain of what to expect when the lift arrived, she raised her gun in readiness and her maids followed suit.
The Doctor was prepared for a reception committee when they resurfaced in the house, but to his surprise he found that he and Ace were taking a back seat. As soon as the hall slid down into view, Josiah, who was still lying in apparent coma, leapt up from the floor. He flung open the gates and wrenched the lift’s control lever from its place on the wall.
‘I’ve sealed the lower observatory,’ he growled. ‘Let Control rot down there!’
As he stumbled forward from the lift, the maids dropped their aim on the Doctor and clustered to support their ailing master.
Mrs Pritchard clutched his trembling hand, sending out a shower of dust. ‘You are ill, sir. What must we do?’
‘It’s getting late,’ he croaked. ‘Secure the house. I must change!’
Mrs Pritchard indicated the stairs and the maids hurried the invalid away under her guidance. Gwendoline, descending the stairs, met the cortege midway and was ignored for all the pains of her enquiries.
‘We won’t see them again before nightfall,’ muttered the Doctor to Ace. He crouched down beside Nimrod, who still lay unconscious on the lift floor.
‘Shouldn’t we follow them?’ she asked.