Part 15 (1/2)

'I don't know. s.h.i.+ne your light here,' she whispered, tapping the protruding object with her toe.

It was a little pile of rocks.

'That's mine!' Polly breathed. 'My marker. I must've come this way.' She frowned. 'I'm sure it wasn't so dark before.'

She peered at the little heap of rocks. Beside it was one much larger. 'Here. There's been some sort of subsidence, the tunnel I went through has been sealed off.' She paused. 'I think that weird place with the blue light and the countdown is on the other side of this rockfall.'

'Come on,' Shade said. He sounded preoccupied. 'I mustn't let Lindey get too far ahead.'

Polly shrugged but gave no argument. Their crunching footsteps set a mournful tempo as they set off after her.

'Have you known her long?' Polly asked tentatively.

'What's that supposed to mean?' Shade said with a sideways glance.

'Nothing. I just wondered. With you being a team and all.'

'Well, then, no. I haven't known her long. I haven't known a lot of this crowd long. We're soldiers. What's to know? We fight till one day we die.'

When Lindey s scream tore through the blackness Polly thought her heart would give out.

There was movement in the dark. Now Shade gripped her her arm, as if not wanting her to run away and leave him. arm, as if not wanting her to run away and leave him.

There was a heavy rus.h.i.+ng noise, a pressure in her ears, and Polly's perceptions seemed to skew. She glimpsed something in Shade's torch beam: some grotesque, squat little figure, then a pale face falling away into the darkness like a stone down a well as Lindey, still screaming, was s.n.a.t.c.hed away at unnatural, frightening speed.

Chapter Six.

By the p.r.i.c.king of my Thumbs

I.

'We've got to help her!' Polly shouted, Lindey's screams still ringing in her ears.

Shade raised his wrist to his lips. For a few moments he just breathed, deeply and shakily, before speaking. 'Marshal Haunt. Have lost Lindey.'

There was nothing but static.

'Oh no,' murmured Polly.

'Marshal Haunt,' Shade repeated. 'Respond.'

'Maybe...' Polly swallowed nervously. 'Maybe whatever it was got Haunt too.'

The static stopped, replaced by the heavy silence of the tunnel.

'Shade?' Haunt's voice from the communicator made them both jump.

'Marshal, it's Lindey. Dragged off, it was so fast...'

'Get after her,' Haunt snapped. 'I'm on my way. Out.'

'Come on,' Shade said. He took Polly's arm and they ran on together. The torch beam played crazily over the dark and jagged surface. The rock walls were moth-eaten with entrances to other tunnels, gaping open like mouths ready to suck them both inside.

There was a sudden sc.r.a.ping, rattling noise, and Shade ducked down. Polly gave a short shriek of alarm, but a moment later Shade was up again. 'It's all right. I dropped my palmscreen. Let's go.'

They didn't have much further to run before the darkness suddenly gave way to a thick, porridgey light. She and Shade had emerged into a vast vaulted chamber. It had five walls, stacked high with the familiar dark slates, though one was partially obscured by another of the extraordinary gla.s.s tapestries. The ceiling was heavy with the luminous weed. It hung down in sticky strands, and here and there on the smooth stone floor it lay in glowing heaps that were cl.u.s.tered with the pale insects. Five tall stone columns reached up from the stone-paved floor like huge candles, each one crowned with a pair of ma.s.sive stone sculptures. Eerily lit from above, they reminded Polly of Renaissance cherubs grown fat and gone to seed. It must've been a statue of some kind she glimpsed back in the tunnel.

The chamber was otherwise empty and silent, save for the ghostly chiming of the tapestry fragments, disturbed as if by a breeze. There was no sign of Lindey.

Footsteps behind them made Polly jump. She saw Haunt tearing towards them, rifle raised, staring wildly around.

'Where is she?' Haunt demanded of Shade.

Shade shook his head but said nothing.

Haunt glared at Polly. 'Did you see anything?'

'There was no time,' Polly murmured. 'It all happened so fast.'

'Too fast,' Shade agreed. 'She was just... taken.'

'Taken by what, for G.o.d's sake? By a droid? By the hand?'

Haunt's voice rose a notch, and she slapped a palm angrily against Polly's shoulder. 'By the colour of this stupid s.p.a.cesuit?'

'There was nothing Shade could have done,' Polly insisted.

Haunt grabbed hold of Polly's chin and leaned in close. Her voice was low and threatening. 'Listen to me. You do not speak for any of my squad. Never.' Her eyes were dark, unblinking. 'You follow me?'

Polly nodded mutely. Shade just looked on, apparently unmoved.

'What is happening here?'

Polly could have cried with relief as the Doctor's voice rang out imperiously around the chamber. Haunt widened her eyes in one more silent warning, then let Polly go.

'There's no sign of Lindey,' Haunt snapped. Polly saw she was ignoring the Doctor and talking to Shel, who stood behind him. 'Could whatever took her have got past you?'