The Ghosts of N-Space - Barry Letts [46]
Maggie held her breath.
Max looked down at Jeremy, as he lay unconscious amid the broken pieces of two grand’s worth of polished wood.
161
‘Wait until we’re half way across – and dump him,’ he said.
162
Thirteen
The fiend that was waiting for the Brigadier was quite different from the ones that he’d seen before.
The rest of his new army were still lagging behind, so that when he walked up from the entrance lobby and saw the entity standing at the other end of the great hall, swine-faced, drool-lipped and globular, some twelve feet tall and nearly matching in diameter, he thought for one moment he might be able to prevent them from seeing it.
‘Keep back! All of you!’ he snapped. But he was too late.
Mario was the first through the door. He gave the monster a cursory glance and made his way unsteadily to his chair by the fire. He was followed closely by Roberto, whose rendition of ‘I Ain’t Nothing But a Hound Dog’
drifted to a faltering close as he saw the creature, which was swaying like a gargantuan pink blancmange and grunting quietly to itself.
By this time, Sergio had appeared in the doorway. His little eyes pushed aside the soft ridges of fat which hindered their view and popped wide open. Unlike Roberto – and indeed, the Brigadier, who quickly joined him in the corner behind the chimney breast – he made no attempt to hide. On 163
the contrary, he moved slowly forward, his eyes still staring, as if in a hypnotic trance.
The creature, looking like the reflection in a fairground mirror of the man opposite, was blobbling towards him, its rolls of sogginess dragging along the floor. They met; and for a moment Sergio disappeared into the clammy folds of not-flesh.
But as the Brigadier watched in horrid fascination, the huge mound began to shrink. Its skin wrinkled like the surface of a cold rice pudding and it seemed to be sucked into the now revealed Sergio. Then it was gone.
Sergio turned, his face full with satiation – and yet with the clear anticipation of gluttony yet unsatisfied. ‘She’ll cook for me now,’ he said, and walked with a firm waddle out of the door and away down the hill.
‘I was afraid I might find something of the sort.’
It was the Doctor’s voice coming from the far door.
The Brigadier moved into view, leaving Roberto leaning against the chimney breast, wide-eyed and panting slightly, murmuring to himself, ‘Too much, man. Like, too much!’
‘Good afternoon, Doctor, Sarah,’ said the Brigadier. ‘As you saw for yourself, we’ve just had a visitor.’
164
A snore came from the big chair, where Uncle Mario had fallen into the happily uncaring sleep of the very old (or the very young).
‘As I predicted, Lethbridge-Stewart, the cracks are extending. The catastrophe could happen at any time.’
‘I’m certainly glad to see you. We seem to be under threat from the front and the rear. Our friend Max Vilmio –’
‘I’m sorry. We’re not stopping. I came to warn you that you are under an even greater threat than you may think.
Now please listen carefully.’
As he finished his tale, the Doctor delved into his capacious side pocket and produced the gun that he had been working on in the TARDIS. ‘Do you recognize this?’
‘Certainly. It’s one of the small stun guns from Parakon.’
Of course! thought Sarah.
‘A very useful weapon,’ went on the Brigadier. ‘Just what we need.’
‘I nicked it when Onya wasn’t looking,’ said the Doctor, handing it over. ‘I’ve modified it so that it is effective to an extent against N-Forms as well as living beings. It’ll only hold a fiend up briefly, but it will literally blow a ghost away.’
How could you kill a ghost? thought Sarah.
165
‘How can you kill a ghost, for Pete’s sake?’ said the Brigadier.
‘I said “literally”,’ he said severely. ‘And you’ll need it, believe me. This creature of Vilmio’s could come through a wall and then open the door to him. Good luck!’
He turned and walked away. Sarah looked at the Brigadier and shrugged.
‘May I say how fetching you look, Miss Smith,’ he said.
‘Thank you,’