Part 10 (1/2)

'But?' said Chris.

'But they're amateurs.'

'What are we, then?'

'Trained.' Roz harrumphed. 'You'd think that after all this time they could manage not to lose their aliens.'

Chris recalled the meeting they'd had at the Pyramid.

Benny had phoned them at the cottage. Five minutes later they were at the Pyramid, ignoring the CLOSED sign hanging on the door. The crew had already gathered around a table where Isaac had spread out a map of the area.

Isaac was marking an irregular shape around the town with a red pencil, following the roads that surrounded it. 'Roz and Chris, I want you to do a sweep right around this perimeter. We're expecting Albinex back from Aldermaston in the next hour. Joel, Tony, I want you to check out the church, the forest, anywhere close at hand where Ia might be hiding.'

'Do we know why she went?' asked Roz.

'Once or twice, guests have just wandered off in a fit of claustrophobia. Each time we found them nearby and calmed them down.'

'What if she's left the area altogether?' said Chris.

'Then that's her business,' said Isaac firmly. 'We can't help her if she doesn't want our help. But Myn thinks it's unlikely that she'd leave without letting him know. Which brings us to our third, least pleasant, possibility.'

'She was abducted,' quavered Tony.

The door bells jingled as Benny came back into the shop.

'Um. I can't find the Doctor,' she said. 'We'll have to start without him.'

Thunder cracked suddenly, and the lights flickered. 'I'll be staying here,' said Isaac. 'I want to do a head count of the guests. I'm not letting Myn out of my sight, and I need to coordinate the rest of you. Report anything anything out of the ordinary.' out of the ordinary.'

Jason said, 'What, you mean aliens, time travellers, that sort of thing?'

'Anything,' said Isaac sternly. 'If Ia was picked up, she'll be the first alien we've ever lost. We'd have to bug out.'

That was an hour ago. They were still doing the perimeter sweep, with no sign of the Lacaillan. Chris frowned.

If their coming here had triggered this somehow, it would be so... unjust.

'They must've had some amazing adventures,' he said.

Roz smiled involuntarily. 'Well, they must have. It would make a great sim series.'

'Yeah, but who wants to watch a bunch of aliens?'

'Oh yeah,' said Chris. 'Funny thing. In this century n.o.body likes aliens because they're supposed to be invaders, and in our century n.o.body likes aliens because they're supposed to be janitors.'

'Yeah, well don't let them hear you say that, or it'll be slime time.'

Chris returned her smile. 'I like like aliens. The more tentacles the better.' aliens. The more tentacles the better.'

They stopped at the crossroads. Chris pulled out the communicator Joel had loaned them. 'This is Cwej calling the Pyramid,' he said. 'Cwej calling Pyramid. Come in!'

'h.e.l.lo, Chris.' Isaac's voice was half hidden by a storm of static.

'We've reached the crossroads, sir,' he said. 'We haven't seen anything we recognize as being out of the ordinary.'

Roz hissed at him, suddenly, and he dropped the phone into his pocket almost before he knew what he was doing. A car was coming towards them, headlights slas.h.i.+ng through the rain. It slowed down as the driver saw them. 'What do we do?' said Chris.

'Good question.'

The driver's window rolled down. The short man inside was in his twenties, with thick eyebrows and a pouting mouth.

He wore a dark grey jacket over a white T-s.h.i.+rt. 'You must be Cwej and Forrester,' he said.

'Albinex,' said Roz.

He nodded. 'Any luck so far?'

Roz shook her head. Albinex frowned. 'Can I give you a lift back into town?' 'We need to finish our circuit of the boundary roads,' said Chris. 'I'll see you back there, then.

Good luck.' He wound up his window and drove off slowly.

'Wherever the Doctor is,' said Roz, grimacing up at the sky, 'I'll bet he's dry.'

'Why do you look for ghosts?'

Woodworth took the kettle off the camp stove and poured the steaming water into their mugs. 'There are all sorts of reasons,' she said. 'Curiosity. The chance to look beyond the veil. Solving historical mysteries.'

'Ah,' said the Doctor, taking the mug of tea from her. 'But why do you you look for ghosts?' look for ghosts?'

Woodworth sat back, listening to the rain hammering the tent fly. It was large enough to cover the remains of the room, keeping them dry if not exactly warm. 'Because they're dangerous,' she said.

'So it's the adventure.'

'No. I... was once in the military. And that was because I wanted to protect people. But there are plenty of police.'

'But not many ghosthunters.'

'Exactly. Oh, for the most part, the apparitions are harmless - bad dreams, or overactive imaginations, or a squeaking floorboard that the landlord likes to say is the footstep of a phantom.' Her eyes were hard in the yellow light of the lamps. 'But for centuries, people have been driven mad, or actually killed, by ghosts. We need to understand them so that we can protect ourselves from them.'

'So you see them primarily as hostile,' said the Doctor.