Part 27 (2/2)

Danny's hands closed over the sphere as it plunged into his chest. There was a crack of breaking bones. He stumbled forward choking, a hole torn in the front of his sweats.h.i.+rt.

There was no blood. The sphere had been cleanly absorbed.

No one dared move. They could still hear the bleeping. The cabin was alive with energy. As they watched, the shape of Danny Hinton began to grow. Little storms of electricity played over his expanding, darkening body. He yelled and the yell coa.r.s.ened into an animal snarl, then a roar revealing ma.s.sive yellow incisor fangs. His clothes tore and burst out in eruptions of red-brown fur. His head filled out to take in the ma.s.sive shoulders. His new form reached to the ceiling.

Driven by the dark thoughts embodied in the sphere, Daniel Hinton, School House '91, became a Yeti.

The Brigadier raised the gun to shoot, but one swipe from a flailing claw knocked the weapon from his grip. Harrods, scuttling clear, was knocked flying.

In the crammed melee, the Brigadier saw the chesspiece rolling on the bed. He saw Kate make a dive for the object.

She gasped as the p.a.w.n leapt out of her fingers and into the Yeti's outstretched claw. The monster bellowed in deafening triumph, turned and forced its way out of the splintering cabin door.

The group of Chillys formed a corridor on the bank as the Yeti strode off the boat clutching its prize.

The Brigadier scrambled up from the cabin and watched from the deck as they marched away. He hefted his gun in his hand. He had been a fool, and an old fool too. No wonder they'd retired him early. And now he had brought all this on the one person he had forgotten that he loved. There was no one to trust, not even himself, it seemed. But he had to put things right and avenge the boy's death.

As he ducked inside the broken door, he heard Kate saying, 'This is my home! What's happening?'

She was sitting on the bed, too shocked to cry, and Harrods was crouching by her, trying to console her. When he saw the senior officer, he stood, but not to attention.

'They've got what they want. Now they're going,' the Brigadier said grimly.

Harrods edged a look out of the window. 'Back to New World, sir. That's where it all comes from.'

Kate stared at the floor. 'What sort of job do do you do! That boy was...' She faltered, unable even to explain what she had seen. you do! That boy was...' She faltered, unable even to explain what she had seen.

The Brigadier knelt beside her. 'I have to go after them, Kate. I'll explain later.'

'Just go then,' she snapped.

Lethbridge-Stewart looked up at Harrods. 'Flight Sergeant?'

The little man nodded. 'I'll come, sir. For the lad's sake.'

'Good man. Just wait outside for me.'

'Sir.'

The Brigadier waited for Harrods to clear the cabin. Then he turned back to his daughter. He thought this might be the most difficult moment of his life. He sat on the bed beside her.

'Kate,' he said as gently as he could muster.

'What?' She didn't want to look at him.

He paused and then said, 'Just tell me one thing. Why do you have a box of toys down there?'

She sighed. Then she reached for a drawer by the bed.

There was a pile of loose photographs inside. She lifted one out and pa.s.sed it to her father.

'He'll be five next week,' she said flatly.

He laid down his gun and took in the picture slowly. He wasn't sure what he had hoped for or expected. It showed a small boy with sandy hair who grinned cheekily out at him. He looked a little terror.

The Brigadier worked to find the words, but all he could say was, 'I have a grandson? My My grandson. I never dreamt... grandson. I never dreamt...

Good Lord.'

There was so much he wanted to say. He thought his heart would brim over with excitement and pride.

'Gordon,' said Kate. 'After you. Gordon James. He's safe, away from here.' Tears were getting the worse of her. 'I'm sorry, Dad, I couldn't tell you.'

He was squeezing her hand. 'I have a grandson.' Something in his eye and something catching in his throat, yet he was glowing with the joy of it. Poor Kate. She had kept this from him for so long. Was she so angry or was he so terrifying?

'Kate, can I keep this?'

She nodded tightly.

He squeezed her hand again. 'Thank you, Kate. It's getting late. We'll talk later. I'll be back.'

He stood, still clutching the photograph of Gordon James Lethbridge-Stewart, and left the boat, closing the door as best he could.

26.

Truth is Relative ictoria's mind was spinning so that she could not sleep.

VShe dreamed even when she was awake now, unable to cradle herself in her own chosen thoughts. Wakefulness and sleeping vied with each other to be the more nightmarish. The two states melded into an impressionistic haze.

Professor Travers, if indeed it was Travers, sat in her chair, behind her desk. It was what she had wanted, but far from what she expected. Her long-awaited tutor was ancient and unkempt. He was slumped like a puppet tied up with spider strings. This Travers had promised the Light of Truth, but his gift revealed things she did not want to see. She no longer knew light from shade, truth from fantasy. She dreamed horrors but suppose she was lying to herself?

Was this light also the cold light of day, or the lux aeterna lux aeterna of heavenly compa.s.sion? Might it not be the of heavenly compa.s.sion? Might it not be the ignis fatuus ignis fatuus that leads travellers from the path? that leads travellers from the path?

Which one? she thought. Which light is true?

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