Doctor Who_ Lungbarrow - Marc Platt [28]
'It is also a grave and solemn occasion,' said Innocet coldly. 'Come down off there. What do you think Satthralope will say if you're caught misbehaving on the Ordinal-General's Deathday?'
Owis discarded his plate and clambered sulkily down.
Chris looked round at the other mourners and didn't see anyone else looking very grave or solemn. Then he noticed one figure who was totally out of place. It was the pale little man in ragged clothes whom he'd seen in the old woman's room.
He was walking among the guests, staring each of them in the face with a look of frightened bewilderment in his huge eyes. The guests never noticed him. He actually jumped as he saw Chris and ducked away through the crowd.
Chris moved after him. As the little man started running, Chris cut straight through the images of the hologram family. He caught up with the man, tackling him with a desperation that floored them both beside the garlanded plinth.
'Who are you?' Chris demanded. 'Where is this? How do I get out?'
The little man was shaking. 'Don't touch me,' he kept saying.
'I'm the only thing here that can touch you,' said Chris. 'So you'd better tell me what planet this is and who you are.'
The little man's eyes welled with tears. He pointed miserably at one of the guests. 'I'm him.'
Chris turned to look. The resemblance was extraordinary, except that the guest was considerably younger and plumper. His clothes were new and he had the hearty colour of someone who worked in the open.
'So it's a home holovid of some special occasion and we're stuck inside it,' Chris said.
41
The little man was starting to shake again. 'It's not a recording. It's real. This is what happened. It's happening again...'
Chris sat down on the floor. He didn't want to spend the rest of his life trapped inside someone else's family schlock-vid, dragged out only when the relations called or the guys got drunk and wanted a laugh. 'What's your name?' he said firmly. He pointed to the young version. 'What's his name?'
Leave me alone.'
'Name,' demanded Chris.
The man's face crumpled and the tears rol ed streaks down his grimy face. The crying rapidly became a shuddering torrent of despair like the unleashing of something that had been bottled up for years. Chris leant awkwardly in and put an arm round his shoulders. 'It's OK. It's OK,' he said uselessly and tried to contain the shaking while the ghost family milled around them.
'Arkhew,' choked the little man eventual y. 'My name's Arkhew.' He repeatedly used his grubby sleeve to wipe his nose.
'I'm Chris Cwej,' said Chris gently. 'I'm here to help.'
'Have you really come to get us out?' Arkhew clutched Chris's arm in anger. 'Why now? Why did you wait? Why didn't you come centuries ago?'
Chris shook his head. 'It's an accident. I don't know where I am. I don't know what this occasion is. I'm not even sure if I'm alive.'
Arkhew took his time before answering, gulping in air and snuffling a lot. He kept on gazing towards the windows and the gathering dusk outside. 'This is Ordinal-General Quences's Deathday. It's Otherstide Eve, six hundred and seventy-three years ago. We're al here. All the Cousins. This is the most miserable, cursed day in the House of Lungbarrow's miserable, cursed life.' He began to shudder again. 'Please, make it stop. I don't want to see. Stop it.
Don't let it get dark again!'
42
Chapter Seven
Darkrise
Andred's office was deserted when Leela arrived. Even his private secretary was absent, but K9 had ways to bypass the security codes on the doors and they were inside soon enough.
Leela sat in Andred's chair, her legs dangling over the arm, and tried to think.
'Awaiting orders, Mistress,' said K9.
'Who else knows the Doctor, K9?' she asked.
'Many people are acquainted with the Doctor-master. Shall I list them by planetary location?'
'On Gallifrey, I meant. Who are his friends? Other than Romana and Andred and Spandrel . And Rodan a bit. And Damon too, that strange one who is fifty times older than he looks. And there is me, of course.'
'There is K9, Mistress.'