Part 27 (1/2)

'We are near a source of great power. A power great enough to distort your perceptions.'

'Quiet down,' Ben complained.

'It wants you to approach with your defences down,' the old man insisted. 'I am sure of it, this place is some kind of trap.'

'Well shut yours then, for starters.' Ben couldn't stay angry for long with a view as gorgeous as this. Just across the sea there was some kind of island, dark filtered through the moonlight. Grainy sand, spiky palms, the perfect desert island. He'd always kidded with the boys on the Teazer Teazer he'd go AWOL the moment it came along. Now all he had to do was float over and see it for himself. Decide if he wanted to stay. he'd go AWOL the moment it came along. Now all he had to do was float over and see it for himself. Decide if he wanted to stay.

Ben imagined it was paradise there.

'It is using your memories, your imagination, to reel you in close enough to strike!' Ben felt himself spun round. A craggy old face leaned into his own. 'Think of Lindey, and Denni.

Pulled away into the darkness. Pulled apart by winged statues.'

Ben pushed the old man away. 'Leave me alone!' His arms felt dead. The rest of him felt dead drunk. The sky was spinning above him, streaked with stars.

'Think of Polly, alone, back in that room with the sick and the dying!' The old man was back again, back in his face.

'There is evil, here, Ben. Evil that we must defeat if we are to survive. Do you understand me now, hmm?' Ben felt bony fingers digging into his shoulders. 'Do you understand?' 'Do you understand?'

'Yes!' screamed Ben.

He stood shaking, trembling, at the edge of the precipice.

The spell was broken, the rus.h.i.+ng static noise in his head reduced to a whisper. As he turned, he saw that the shadowy island was some kind of machinery housed across the divide.

And while Creben stood just a few feet away with his hands pressed against his ears, face twisted in pain as if he was trying to shut out some terrible sound, Joiks, Roba and Tovel had actually walked off the lip of rock into the chasm. Ben stared, woozily, half-expecting the lot of them to look down at any second and, actually realising realising they were walking in mid-air, plummet to the ground like the coyote did in the cartoons. But they didn't. they were walking in mid-air, plummet to the ground like the coyote did in the cartoons. But they didn't.

'Some kind of force bridge, I suppose. Now quickly, Ben, while I deal with Creben, go after them. They must be stopped! None of us know what's waiting for them!'

While the Doctor started shouting at Creben - an easier conversion it seemed, since he was already trying to fight off the influence in the first place - Ben sprinted to the edge of the precipice. With a deep breath, he stepped out into thin blue air. It gave slightly beneath him, but held. He took another cautious step, then broke into a run. Tovel, Roba and Joiks had almost reached the shadowy cylindrical ma.s.s Ben had seen as an island. It looked now more like a couple of giant gla.s.s cotton reels stacked on top of each other in a rocky alcove. A dark liquid seemed to swirl inside, carried he supposed by the confused junction of pipes coiled all around the structure, disappearing into floor and ceiling.

'Oi, you lot!' he yelled, wondering what each of them was seeing now. 'It ain't safe! It ain't what you think it is!' They ignored him. Soon they would've crossed to the other side.

Then inspiration struck.

'Blimey, here comes Haunt!' Ben shouted. 'She don't look too happy at the state of you lot!'

The three men paused on the slate grey sh.o.r.e of the weird machine's peninsula. They turned, almost as one person.

Tovel and Roba looked like someone had thrown a bucket of water over them, stared round in surprise.

But Joiks's face clouded over again. He turned back to the gla.s.s cylinder.

'Terrific,' Ben muttered. He sprinted past Roba and Tovel, and brought Joiks cras.h.i.+ng down in a rugby tackle. The big man made no attempt to break his fall, and landed like a brick. The shock seemed to bring him round. He rolled on to his back, and looked about him in a daze.

'Hope that didn't hurt too much, Joiks,' Ben said, hiding a smile. That one had been for Frog.

He turned to find the others, the Doctor and Creben included, were standing round him in a semi-circle. Roba hoisted Joiks to his feet.

The Doctor was puffing for breath. 'Well done, Ben, my boy.'

Ben nodded vaguely. He was looking back at the gla.s.s tank, and the inky liquid vortex inside. There were occasional flashes of energy from within. Even the air seemed to carry some sort of charge.

'Well, Doctor?' asked Tovel. 'Is that thing part of the drive systems?'

'Part of them? Yes, I believe so.' He drew himself up to his full height. 'We must be very careful.'

Cautiously they advanced. The gla.s.s crackled and spat light at them, as if warning them away.

'How is it powering this thing?' Creben wondered. 'The fuel required for a chunk of rock this size...'

'Hey, what's that?' Roba gestured to a sc.r.a.p of dirty fabric caught on the rough slate of the wall beside coils of piping.

Ben skirted the gla.s.s cylinder to see. The material had been white once, but now it was filthy with grime and rusty stains.

'Could be blood, I suppose.'

Creben took the sc.r.a.p from him. 'It is is blood.' He turned to the others. 'It's from one of the Schirr.' blood.' He turned to the others. 'It's from one of the Schirr.'

''Ere, wait a minute.' In one of the gla.s.s cylinder's more vivid sparks Ben caught sight of something gleaming, pressed into a crack in the rock. 'There's something else down here.'

Creben drew a short-bladed knife and prised out a metal band. 'Webset,' he muttered. He worked more urgently with the blade, forcing the headband out. 'I've found a webset!' he yelled. 'And another beneath it.'

'Right little treasure trove, ain't it?' Ben commented.

'Lindey's and Denni's, they must be!' Creben shouted to the others.

'Why would anyone hide their websets down here?' asked Tovel.

'I say dump them,' Joiks said quickly.

Creben frowned at him. 'What?'

'Come on, who needs them?'

'They must've been hidden here for some reason,' said Tovel.

Then there was a hiss and a crackle like fat on a flame, and then the sound of something heavy slamming into the gla.s.s.

Ben whirled round in time to see a huge hunk of flesh smeared against the inside of the cylinder, just for a few seconds, until the relentless swirl of inky fluid swept it back into the maelstrom.