JC looked back and forth, frowning hard, then his gaze stopped on Happy. “You know… I do have an idea…”
“Oh bugger,” said Happy. “That’s never good. I’m really not going to like this, am I?”
“I said, time for you all to die!” said the dead man.
“Oh hush,” JC said coldly. “We’re talking.
“Go ahead,” said Patterson. “Plot and plan. I do so love to watch my prey squirm.”
“Listen, Happy,” said JC urgently. “You couldn’t get inside his head before, through all the mental shields, but that was only you. What if you had help? What if you linked your mind with mine, with my extra power? And Melody, with her scientific self-control? Could you do that?”
“Well, probably,” said Happy. “These aren’t the best conditions, but stark terror motivates the mind wonderfully. And if I can tap the power within you, use that to strengthen the link… But what then?”
“Then we push the rider out,” said JC.
Happy was already shaking his head. “Even if we could do that, it would step right back in the moment we stopped pushing.”
“Not if we put someone else inside,” said Latimer. They all turned to look at her, but she was looking dispassionately at Kim. The ghost girl stared back at her with wide, frightened eyes. And now JC was shaking his head.
“No. We’re not putting Kim at risk.”
“She’s already dead,” Latimer said ruthlessly. “Nothing more can harm her in this world. She can inhabit Patterson’s body and hold it, deny the rider access. After a while, he’ll have to depart, or risk dissipation. Then she can come back out of the body and let it fall.”
“No,” said JC. “This is a bad idea. A really bad idea. Somebody else come up with another idea.”
“It will work, and you know it,” said Latimer. “And it’s the only real chance we’ve got. You haven’t any more weapons, and I’m completely out of tricks. The ghost girl is our only chance, our only hope.”
“She has a name,” JC said tightly. “Her name is Kim.”
“Of course,” said Latimer. She bowed very slightly to the ghost. “I’m sorry, my dear. I can’t make you do anything. But if you want to save your young man here, it’s the only way.”
“It’s all right, JC,” said Kim. “I’ll do it. I quite like the idea of being the only one of the team left to save the day. It’s not as if anything could go wrong. I’m dead. That’s as bad as it gets. Just.. . don’t leave me inside that thing any longer than you have to.”
“I’m not sure I like this,” said Happy.
“Do you have a better idea?” JC said savagely. “I’d really love to hear a better idea! No? Then let’s do it. Happy-link us.”
It only took a moment. Happy concentrated, reached out, and brought the three of them together into a single unit. Three minds meshed together, like the working parts of a single great mechanism. Fitting as though they’d always belonged together. They still knew who they were, but now they possessed all of each other’s strengths and none of their weaknesses. They turned to look at Patterson, at the dead man, and he flinched suddenly because now all three of them had glowing golden eyes. The glare burned brightly in the dark of the night, so very bright, and the dead man had to turn his dead gaze away from it. He couldn’t even move, held where he was, but even so, the three minds working together still weren’t strong enough to punch through his shields. Latimer stepped forward.
“Robert! This is your chance! Your last chance to be the man I always knew you were! Break the shields from your side! Let them in!”
And whether what was left of Robert heard her, or whether the linked trio finally won through, or whether the rider’s power wore out
… the shields fell, and JC and Melody and Happy rushed in. They reached out to Kim and urged her on. The ghost girl smiled bravely and moved towards the dead man. Some unfelt breeze swept her on, flapping her dress and ruffling her long hair. She drifted up to the dead man and on into him, disappearing inside as though walking on in a direction none of the others could follow. In a moment, she was gone, and the dead man swayed and almost fell. A great mental cry of rage and pain and horror briefly filled the night, then was gone. The dead man slowly straightened up, broken bones scraping loudly against each other, and for a moment someone new looked out of the dead man’s eyes. And then it was only a corpse, standing still, and Happy broke the link.
JC and Melody cried out briefly as they dropped back into their own heads. They were already forgetting what it had been like to be so much more, because deep down they knew that was necessary for their continued sanity. Happy could have remembered if he’d wanted; but he already had enough problems. Latimer looked at them all expectantly, but they had nothing to say to her.
“Is it done?” she said finally.
“Of course it’s done,” said Happy. “Look at the bloody thing. Not an ounce of malice left in it. Probably fall over if you breathed on it. And I feel much the same, thank you for asking.”
JC moved forward to stare right into the dead face. “Kim? Are you in there?”
“She can’t answer you,” said Happy. “She is occupying the body, not possessing it. Give her a few minutes, to be sure the rider isn’t coming back, and I’ll haul her out of there.”
JC nodded slowly, only half-convinced. “Hang in there, sweetie. I have to talk to the Boss about something.”
“Right,” said Happy. “Boss, while we were linked, and touching the rider’s mind, we Saw something.”
“Something important,” said Melody. “Something bad.”
They all stood close together, as though afraid of being overheard, even though there was no-one else in the quiet, deserted street.
“Is this something to do with the rider’s identity?” said Latimer. “Did you See who it was?”
“No,” said Happy. “He’s gone. No trace of him in the body, or anywhere in the area. I’d know.” He looked briefly about him. “Quite a few other ghosts, though. Lot of good people died here. Most are already dissipating, fading away, passing on… You’d better bring another field team in to do the mopping up. This place is going to be a spiritual black spot for years. Too much has happened here.”
“Are you sure the other A team is dead?” said Latimer. “I mean-Diego and his people… I depended on them for years! They always got the job done!”
“They got arrogant and cocky,” said JC. “And they got caught by surprise. Can happen to the best of us.”
“None of them are here,” said Happy. “No ghosts, nothing. They’re gone.”
“Pity,” said JC. “I would have liked a chance to say I told you so .”
“Cold, JC,” said Melody.
“Stick to the point,” Latimer said sternly. “What is so important that you need to tell me all about it right now?”
“We found something inside the dead man’s head,” said JC. “A memory, but not from Patterson. Maybe not even from the rider. Maybe something the rider saw, or was exposed to… A memory or recording of past events, featuring the appearance on this Earth of something from Outside.”
“A memory, or a vision,” said Happy. “I stored it, because I knew you’d want to see it. So come here, oh Boss and mighty one, and See what we Saw.”
Latimer moved forward, one slow step at a time. Not because she didn’t trust Happy but because part of her really didn’t want to see what he had to show her. Happy thrust the memory into her head, and she cried out in spite of herself. The ocean, blue and grey and green, a choppy surface stretching away forever, miles and miles and far and far from land, under a clear blue sky. And then a door opened in that sky, and something fell through. A great crack in the sky, dark and crimson and full of roiling energies like the opening of some great eye of terrible aspect. A crack in Time amp; Space amp; Other Things, a split in Reality itself, and a brief glimpse into what lay beyond. Things came and went on the other side of the door, huge and awful shapes, big as cities, then a bright shaft of light shone through from the other place, into this world. A light that was so much more than any light should be. It scorched through the air, slammed down into the sea, and ploughed on down through the waters like some great driven force. Even in the stored memory, so many years after the original intrusion, the light was unbearably bright to look at, overpowering to merely human eyes. A kind of light that didn’t belong in this world, this smaller reality. And in the short moment the door was open, Something came through. It fell down through the
