Doctor Who_ Ghost Light - Marc Platt [50]
Robed in liquid gold and silver, with skin shimmering, it had the noble and terrible beauty of a seraph, fallen to Earth from its place beside the Throne. It glided from the lift, energy humming from it like a generator and droning fiercely at any mortal it passed.
Control and Ace shied clear of the luminous presence; even the Doctor, extending a hand in greeting, fell back with a cry as the figure passed straight through him.
‘Light!’ gasped Josiah, scrambling away across the floor and up the stairs to where his brood of family and staff watched. Half way up he passed Mackenzie, who had escaped the clutches of the upper observatory and was on his awe-struck way down.
Light had reached the far boundary of the hall. It turned back to observe the onlookers. Within the aura, they saw its eyes darting and the fingers on its raised hands flexing as it unceasingly absorbed information. A golden haze diffused from the aura and drifted past them. It filled the hall with its glow.
‘What the devil is that thing’ whispered Mackenzie to Ace.
‘It’s an angel, stupid!’
‘That’s just its shape on Earth,’ corrected the Doctor, his eyes fixed on the emanation. ‘It’s called Light and it’s come to survey life here.’
‘It was crashed out in its stone spaceship in the basement,’ said Ace.
The Doctor nodded. ‘But while it slept, the survey got out of control.’
‘Control is me!’ growled the grey mound of rags at Mackenzie’s shoulder.
‘And Josiah’s the survey,’ concluded the Doctor, nodding up the stairs towards the villain.
Determined to have the last word, Ace added, ‘Now Light’s got to sort out the muddle.’
‘That was my idea,’ the Doctor boasted.
Mackenzie was perplexed. ‘Then who are you?’ he demanded.
With a smile, the Doctor replied, ‘We wouldn’t want to confuse you.’
He stopped short as Control tugged at his sleeve.
‘Remember our greeingment. You promise Control’s freeness.’
A voice cut through the humming air, high and ethereal, but silky and deadly too. ‘Control!’ Light had spoken; Control cringed.
‘Now! Tell it now!’ she insisted.
Once again, Ace began to fear the Doctor. He had made some sort of deal to get this alien Light creature up into the house and she had missed out on it. If she had been there, she would have stopped him. Sometimes he scared the hell out of her.
Light’s voice sounded again. ‘How long have I been asleep?’ It extended a hand towards Control and registered the new shape of its own focal body for the first time. It was astonished. ‘Why have I naturalized in this form?’
It was suddenly aware of a threat close by. On the stairs, one of the maids was approaching at Josiah’s bidding, her pistol aimed steadily at Light’s head. The notion that such a primitive device could harm Light was absurd, but the intention was more dangerous, if only for the assailant.
What was Josiah playing at?
The Doctor saw that the maid would be brushed callously aside like a summer fly and yelled, ‘No, Light!
Don’t do it!’
Just a glance was all that was required. The maid’s eyes met Light’s scrutiny; all colour drained from her and she fell back dead on the stairs. The other maids raised their guns and fired down at the angel, but the weapons clicked uselessly.
‘You needn’t have done that!’ shouted the Doctor.
‘Wasteful,’ reproved Light. ‘Your weapons no longer work.’
‘Call them off, Josiah. Come down here and talk,’
suggested the Doctor, but Josiah would have none of it.
Urging his servants upward, he led the withdrawal and vanished into the house’s warren of passages.
Seeing Light distracted, Mackenzie made a dash for the door. Even before he reached it, however, the bolts snapped home and shutters slammed across the windows.
Mackenzie tugged at the handle in vain and turned to see Light staring down at him.
‘Nothing leaves until I have explanations,’ it said.
As