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Authors: Stephen Cole
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really, Marshal, look at us.’ He tittered to himself. ‘An old man, a boy… and somewhere nearby, I hope, a young girl. Can we be much of a threat to you and your men, hmm? Can we?’
IV
Polly checked the rocky mouth to this latest passageway for one of her piles of stones, for some sign she’d been walking round in circles. She would’ve taken the news as a comfort, that this place wasn’t big enough to get truly lost in. But her hands met nothing except cold wet stone, and the tickle of the flea-things that jumped and skittered about in the gloom. They made Polly’s flesh crawl, as if they were swarming all over her, just as the glowing weed crowded over the rocky roof above, dimly lighting her way. She felt she could be under the sea.
But as she entered the new tunnel, she realised a new light was seeping into her view. Polly caught her breath. There was a window in the rock. She supposed it must be some kind of glass but it was smearless, free of all distortion. Through it she could see a night sky beautiful and brilliant with stars. They looked like diamonds, like she could stick out her hand and take one in her palm.
Not under the sea then. In space.
‘
We’re definitely in a galaxy very distant from the Earth’s. Very distant indeed
.’
Polly took a deep breath and turned away from the window, willed herself to stay calm. The TARDIS had brought her here. The TARDIS would take her away again. All she had to do was find it.
Instead, she found two people crossing her path stealthily along an adjoining tunnel: a black woman with the most amazing blonde dreadlocks, and a man following on behind her. Both were armed to the teeth.
Seeing the man in profile revealed a nose that had surely been broken a half-dozen times. As he shot a glance up ‘her’ tunnel, Polly thought she could see the faintest of cocky smiles on his face. She shivered, reminded of the type of bruiser that had hassled her so many times in bars and clubs all over London. So many close calls…
She pressed herself up against the wall, hoping the pair wouldn’t notice her in the shadowy mouth of the tunnel. Were they hunting for her? Polly wished now she hadn’t chosen to wear what was probably the only spacesuit in daffodil yellow in the universe.
The two figures walked past with only a cursory glance down the tunnel that hid Polly, and she breathed a sigh of relief. She was alone again. All alone. Except of course, for however many others there could be waiting for her down here.
Polly bit her lip. Once she was sure the couple were too far away to hear her, she crossed into their tunnel and crept down it in the opposite direction. Soon she came to a gaping hole in the rock to her right, a side-tunnel that twisted off into the darkness. She decided to take it. The roof was higher than in some of the others, and the abundance of weed made it lighter, less claustrophobic.
But as she moved cautiously through it, a slow, rhythmic sound ebbed into her ears. A hissing, throbbing, pulsating noise, weird and alien.
The walls seemed to shift and shimmer around her. A bright blue light seeped into the tunnel like water into a sewer, and with it a strange kind of noise, almost like a pressure in her ears. Polly felt giddy, nauseous. For a second she was acutely homesick, remembering late-night London spinning her its sights and sounds, reeling in drunkenness as she staggered with friends in search of a cab, night-life neon reflected in dark street puddles. Moving on to the next party, the logical next step of the night.
This was the sound of something starting.
Polly found herself staggering now, wobbling as if in towering heels towards the blue light.
V
Ben breathed a sigh of relief as Haunt stalked back over to join Roba and Shel by the body in the chair.
‘All right,’ she announced with bad grace. ‘Seems we’re landed with some refugees.’
‘Refugees…’ The black giant, Roba, considered, then nodded. ‘State of those
IV
Polly checked the rocky mouth to this latest passageway for one of her piles of stones, for some sign she’d been walking round in circles. She would’ve taken the news as a comfort, that this place wasn’t big enough to get truly lost in. But her hands met nothing except cold wet stone, and the tickle of the flea-things that jumped and skittered about in the gloom. They made Polly’s flesh crawl, as if they were swarming all over her, just as the glowing weed crowded over the rocky roof above, dimly lighting her way. She felt she could be under the sea.
But as she entered the new tunnel, she realised a new light was seeping into her view. Polly caught her breath. There was a window in the rock. She supposed it must be some kind of glass but it was smearless, free of all distortion. Through it she could see a night sky beautiful and brilliant with stars. They looked like diamonds, like she could stick out her hand and take one in her palm.
Not under the sea then. In space.
‘
We’re definitely in a galaxy very distant from the Earth’s. Very distant indeed
.’
Polly took a deep breath and turned away from the window, willed herself to stay calm. The TARDIS had brought her here. The TARDIS would take her away again. All she had to do was find it.
Instead, she found two people crossing her path stealthily along an adjoining tunnel: a black woman with the most amazing blonde dreadlocks, and a man following on behind her. Both were armed to the teeth.
Seeing the man in profile revealed a nose that had surely been broken a half-dozen times. As he shot a glance up ‘her’ tunnel, Polly thought she could see the faintest of cocky smiles on his face. She shivered, reminded of the type of bruiser that had hassled her so many times in bars and clubs all over London. So many close calls…
She pressed herself up against the wall, hoping the pair wouldn’t notice her in the shadowy mouth of the tunnel. Were they hunting for her? Polly wished now she hadn’t chosen to wear what was probably the only spacesuit in daffodil yellow in the universe.
The two figures walked past with only a cursory glance down the tunnel that hid Polly, and she breathed a sigh of relief. She was alone again. All alone. Except of course, for however many others there could be waiting for her down here.
Polly bit her lip. Once she was sure the couple were too far away to hear her, she crossed into their tunnel and crept down it in the opposite direction. Soon she came to a gaping hole in the rock to her right, a side-tunnel that twisted off into the darkness. She decided to take it. The roof was higher than in some of the others, and the abundance of weed made it lighter, less claustrophobic.
But as she moved cautiously through it, a slow, rhythmic sound ebbed into her ears. A hissing, throbbing, pulsating noise, weird and alien.
The walls seemed to shift and shimmer around her. A bright blue light seeped into the tunnel like water into a sewer, and with it a strange kind of noise, almost like a pressure in her ears. Polly felt giddy, nauseous. For a second she was acutely homesick, remembering late-night London spinning her its sights and sounds, reeling in drunkenness as she staggered with friends in search of a cab, night-life neon reflected in dark street puddles. Moving on to the next party, the logical next step of the night.
This was the sound of something starting.
Polly found herself staggering now, wobbling as if in towering heels towards the blue light.
V
Ben breathed a sigh of relief as Haunt stalked back over to join Roba and Shel by the body in the chair.
‘All right,’ she announced with bad grace. ‘Seems we’re landed with some refugees.’
‘Refugees…’ The black giant, Roba, considered, then nodded. ‘State of those
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