The Ghosts of N-Space - Barry Letts [98]
‘He felt its force as a weapon and so, in the frame of reference he had established, he saw it as a sword.’
‘But I saw it as a sword, too.’
‘Well, of course. It had become a sword.’
‘Like his.’
‘Like his.’
‘But his sword was real. He cut your leg with it. I saw the blood. It was a real wound.’
‘Which healed up as soon as I killed him,’ said the Doctor.
They flew along in silence for a while.
‘You still don’t get it, do you?’ said the Doctor.
‘Everything here is as real as your mother’s pussy-cat –’
‘Poodle,’ said Sarah.
‘Poodle,’ said the Doctor. ‘It’s just a different order of reality. To say it’s all a matter of belief, or it’s all in the mind, doesn’t make it any the less real. You could say the same of your perception of your Auntie’s budgie.’
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‘Parrot,’ said Sarah. ‘Fair enough. But the difference is that here, if you believe that you can fly, you can. Right?’
‘Right.’
‘So why didn’t you? He’d have been a sitting duck for a bit of dive-bombing.’
‘It would never have worked. His mind was set in such a rigid system of belief that I had to challenge him on his own ground, so to speak.’
‘I see,’ said Sarah, doubtfully.
‘He’s stuck, you see, as badly as any of your ghosts. It’s only when you understand that you’re free to see things as they are.’
She thought that she knew what he meant; though seeing things as they were was a bit difficult when they kept changing.
Even as they returned over the flat plain they’d flown across earlier, what she could see below was different all the time. Sometimes she could see the herds of N-Forms still; sometimes people in their N-Bodies – ghosts – acting out their sad tales. Yet she never saw one changing for the other; and what she saw was never a surprise to her.
So when at last they found themselves coming back to the castle, she wasn’t at all taken aback to find that she was seeing it as it was in Louisa’s day, with the ugly gash in the wall as if it had only just collapsed – though it was with a 342
lurch of her heart that she saw the figure in white wandering through the cloistered yard, wringing her hands and calling,
‘Giuseppe?’ over and over again.
Nor was it any surprise to find herself on the clifftop walking towards the sad lost girl. It seemed perfectly natural
– indeed, the rightest thing she’d ever done – to take her hands and speak to her.
‘Louisa?’
For a moment, she seemed not to have heard. But then her eyes found Sarah’s face. She spoke as one coming out of a dream.
‘Sarah? Sarah Jane? My dearest creature, is it indeed you?’
‘Yes, my love, it’s Sarah.’
‘It’s been so long. So long.’
The empty eyes wandered round the courtyard. ‘I was engaged to meet Giuseppe here. He is going to…’
Her voice died away and a sly look came over her face.
‘But that’s a secret,’ she said.
‘Come with me, Louisa,’ said Sarah, trying to draw her gently forward.
‘But no,’ she answered, pulling her hands away. ‘I cannot. I must await Giuseppe.’
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Her eyes scanned the courtyard once more until they alighted on the pile of broken stone. A look of horror came into her eyes.
‘No!’ she cried. ‘It cannot be!’
She took a step forward. Her hands flew up to her temples as though to stop the memories. A cry of grief burst from her lips.
‘He’s gone, my lovely boy. Giuseppe!’
Her voice re-echoed round the cloistered walls. She started forward towards the cliff edge.
‘Giuseppe! Wait, my love. I’m coming!’
Sarah stepped in front of her. ‘No! You mustn’t!’ she said. Louisa tried to push her way past, but Sarah threw her arms around her body and held her back.
‘Let me go, let me go. Without Giuseppe, there is nothing left.’
She was fighting Sarah now with all the strength of desperation, Sarah was only just managing to hang on to her.
It’s no good, she thought. I can’t do it; any more than we could change the past.
But just as she was about to give in, Louisa stopped struggling. All her strength seemed to leave her and she collapsed weeping into Sarah’s arms.
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They sank to the ground together, Sarah holding Louisa close as if she