The Ghosts of N-Space - Barry Letts [14]
‘The trouble is,’ he continued, ‘with some people the mind is so attached to the things of Earth that they either can’t give them up, or refuse to. Often they can’t even take it in that their earthly life is over. So instead of just passing through, they get stuck in N-Space. Some of them even try to get back through the barrier; and if they can find the smallest flaw, they’ll come back and try to relive their final moments and make them come right.’
‘Ghosts!’ breathed Sarah.
‘Ghosts,’ said the Doctor, coming to a stop in the middle of one of the little vaulted chambers which had regularly punctuated their perambulations.
48
‘Has anybody any suggestions as to the right way to go?’ he said. ‘Thanks to your strictures, Lethbridge-Stewart, I’ve become so disorientated that you seem to have got us comprehensively lost!’
It was finally due to Jeremy that they were able to find the way. Not that he had any better idea of where they were than anyone else; in fact, Sarah thought, it was only because he was Tail-Arse‐Charlie – which, according to her sometime naval companion, was always the nickname of the last ship in line.
Mter wandering for a number of grimly silent minutes, they quite clearly found themselves re-entering the same little lobby. As they came to a standstill, Jeremy stopped dead, held up a hand and whispered, ‘Listen!’
‘What is it?’ the Brigadier hissed.
‘Ssh! Listen!’
They listened.
‘There’s somebody following us,’ said Jeremy, looking back.
With a gesture, the Doctor indicated that they should all take cover. As Sarah slipped into the mouth of a neighbouring corridor, she heard the footsteps for herself, starting, stopping, now fast, now slow, as of one who wanted to keep up, but didn’t want to be seen.
49
Since they had all taken up positions which hid them from the archway through which they had just arrived, nobody could watch the approach of the person – or thing, thought Sarah with a shudder. The sound of its feet slowed almost to a complete stop before a rush and a scurry brought Sarah’s hand to her mouth ready to stifle an involuntary scream and –
‘Aha!’
The spiky-haired little figure whirled round to face them. ‘You play hide and go squeak? I win you! I claim my forty fit!’ said Uncle Mario.
‘What is that thing?’ said the Brigadier.
Mario – gleeful to join in what he obviously considered an eccentric English game – had soon escorted them to the rear courtyard and out onto the clifftop by the ruined wall, where they stood like assorted lemons while the Doctor adjusted the controls on the top of the gadget in his hand.
Although there was still a pretty strong wind, there was no danger now of being blown over the edge. What with the brilliant blue sky, the springy grass sprinkled with tiny yellow flowers and the far bleating of a goat calling for its kid, Sarah could hardly believe she was standing so near the place of last night’s horror.
50
‘What a one you are for names, Lethbridge-Stewart,’
the Doctor answered. ‘I’ve been too busy building it to hold a christening. I cobbled it up from spare parts for the TARDIS’s navigation circuits. I suppose, if you insist, I could call it a Multi-Vectored Null-Dimensional Temporal and Spatial Psycho-Probe. But I’d much rather not. There we are. That should do it.’
He turned to the little group behind him. ‘Now please understand,’ he said, ‘that anything you see is nothing more than a…’ His voice faded to a puzzled silence.
He began again. ‘Boy,’ he said. ‘Jeremy. What do they call it when they show you a winning goal a couple of times over on the – er – the goggle-box?’
Sarah almost giggled at his pleasure in finding what he obviously thought was a word from the vernacular of the younger generation. ‘An action replay,’ she said.
‘I say!’ said Jeremy. ‘That’s not fair! I was just about to say that. I can’t help it if I had to think a bit. After all, I’m a rugger man myself; though I must admit I didn’t even