Relatively Strange (38 page)

“Oh I knew I was right about you,” she said, softly, “Knew it all along, and so did that Isaacs bitch.” I didn’t say anything. Usually only too happy to partake in a bit of carefree banter, I was feeling so bad I wasn’t sure I could open my mouth without throwing up. Sam was unmoving, face colourless, mind turned inward. If he’d been learning to put his faith in me, it had been a short, fruitless lesson.

When the door opened to admit Dreck, I was unsurprised – this was after all, old home week.

“Who the hell’s that, lying out there?” He demanded.

“Muldrew. ”

“What . . . ?”

“Not important.” Miss Merry dismissed the unfortunate Muldrew with an impatient hand.

“What’s going on? Who’s she?” Sleep rumpled, the Doctor looked even less endearing than I remembered. When Miss Merry told him, I could see, he recalled me, but only vaguely. Obviously I hadn’t made as much of an impact on him but then during my previous visit, I’d spent so much more quality time with her.

His mind was as difficult as ever to get into but it was definitely there, and in the moments after he entered, I was able to read him a little. There’d been a seismic shift in the balance of power between them, a change in the dynamic of their relationship, I wondered what had happened. She slipped open a drawer and handed him a small black object, I couldn’t see what, it was hidden by first her hand then his. He slipped it swiftly behind one ear and immediately, there he was – gone! As blanked out as she was. The device must have nestled neatly behind his ear, because only a thin black wire hooked over the top was visible. It was unobtrusive, but I now saw she had one too. Some kind of jamming device, I couldn’t imagine how it worked but I felt genuinely affronted – how rude.

“I told you, back then,” She was slapped her hand down hard on a pile of files on the desk, in exasperation “You wouldn’t listen. We let this one slip right through our fingers, you wouldn’t listen to me – that bloody blind girl knew.” The Doctor was eyeing me like a butterfly-collector sizing up a specimen and deciding where to stick the pin.

“Shut up and let me think.” He said, “Can we keep her?”

“Not for long.” “Hang on a minute.” I protested, “You can’t just go kidnapping someone off the street.” Miss Merry smiled, “Hardly off the street, you broke in, remember.”

“There are people who know I’m here.” Aiming for defiant, I just about reached defensive.

“Bully for you,” she snapped. “When they come looking, we’ll just have to see what they can find. Meanwhile you’re exactly what we need, couldn’t have timed it better, especially as your little friend here’s been so uncooperative.” She looked over at Sam, unnaturally still and silent. In the presence of Merry and Dreck, he seemed to have shrivelled both outwardly and in. He was deathly afraid and the loathing and fear he felt for the two in the room, combined with the horror of whatever lay beyond, was piling on the pain for both of us. Things weren’t going well. They got worse.

*

“Karl, the lights.” She said,

“What now? We’re doing it now?

“You brought John didn’t you? We might never get a chance like this again. It’s fallen right into our laps.” He nodded and moved swiftly behind me to the switch. The lights in the office went off and as they did, lights in the room next door went on, mirror transformed to window. Miss Merry pressed a button on an intercom on the desk.

“Now, John.” she said and her eyes were on me, waiting. The room beyond the glass echoed the one we were in but was unfurnished, other than with a small table and chair anchored to the floor as Sam’s had been. The door in the mirror room opened and a man I’d never seen before led in, by the hand, something I’d also never seen before.

I wanted to look away, knew I should but couldn’t. Instead I leaned forward, drawn implacably, trying to rationalise what I was seeing. Sam’s monster hadn’t perhaps been so much a horror of the imagination after all.

She’d been a little girl once, similar age, I thought, to Sam. She wasn’t really that any more. Her shaved skull was oddly misshapen, hugely swollen, the very large forehead bulging and scarred, the size of the head completely disproportionate to the rest of her body and far too heavy for her neck. The Doctor, it appeared, had in the intervening years, found the time and opportunity for the odd operation.

She was dressed in Winnie the Pooh patterned pyjamas, the brightness of the colour, the familiarity of the design, shocking against the yellow pallor of her hands and what I could see of her face. There seemed to be something wrong with her co-ordination and she shuffled and stumbled a couple of times as the man who, I noted absently, was also wearing one of the black ear-pieces, led her across the room to the chair and table. She sat. Miss Merry pressed another button on her intercom and I heard a buzzer sound faintly in the room next door. The child looked up.

She couldn’t see us, but she knew we were there. She found me immediately, I was new. My body reacted faster than my brain, tried to shut down, black out, but not fast enough. My shielding was less than useless. The malevolent madness of her mind flooded mine in a bitter rush of sewage which reached into every part of me. I felt myself surge forward, retching as my body sought to void her presence. Her world was one of stimulus and reward, disobedience and pain, nothing left of any kind of free will. As we mingled, I could feel no real memory of anything before this terrible existence – who she’d been, where she’d come from, how long she’d been subjected to this. I took with me, imprinted on my closed eyelids, a bright blue gaze, devoid of innocence in a dreadful, swollen face as I leapt, with desperation, into unconsciousness. But not before I’d shared with her the agony of the electric probe. That was what they used to switch her off.

I probably wasn’t out for long, certainly not long enough. I’d fallen off the chair and was on the floor again. Everything was still hurting. I kept my eyes shut, I really didn’t feel like re-joining the party yet. I probed very gingerly outward. Sam was ominously without thought. He’d met her before and because he’d known what was coming, had withdrawn deep down inside himself and was seeing no callers. Reluctantly, but I had to know, I probed further. I could feel the child in the next room but she was restrained for the moment, held back obediently by the pain of the probe, conditioned not to let her mind roam until the buzzer allowed it.

“Excellent.” Miss Merry was quietly satisfied. The Doctor was pacing up and down as animated as I’d ever seen him,

“What a reaction eh? What a reaction!” He was muttering. “When she comes round, I’m inclined to get the others in too, see how she deals with all of them, not just Megan on her own. Your thoughts?”

“Agreed.” Miss Merry nodded. Dreck walked over and looked down at me, he gave me a small shove with the toe of his shoe. I didn’t react.

“She’s exceptionally receptive isn’t she, doesn’t seem to be able to shut off in the same way as the boy though. Goddamnit, can’t believe we had her here before and didn’t know.” He shook his head, “You were right, you were bloody right.”

“Water under the bridge,” but she was pleased.

I opened my eyes a mere crack, he was peering over at Sam,

“Don’t like him un-medicated, too risky, even when we’re blocked.”

“He’s out of it for the moment – he’s done that before – with Megan.”

“I need to profile these two together, see how they affect each other.” His tone rose with excitement, “God Almighty, what an opportunity, I want bloods and an EEG. Can’t we keep her?”

“Not for long, there’s family, I remember from her notes. We can’t afford to have anything happen to her here.”

“But she’s in his league isn’t she?”

“No question.”

“You think she came on her own?”

“Can’t be sure. Maybe she heard him in some way and decided to find out more – she was a cocky little cow when she was here before. But we can’t risk it.”

“How long’ve we got?” She looked at her watch, pursed her lips,

“1.30 now, at least until the morning I’d think. I’ll set up the disposal people to pick her up then. As long as whatever accident she has is miles away, we shouldn’t have a problem.”

I wondered idly, if maybe this whole thing was simply a nightmare, a bad dream. It would certainly explain neatly how I, with my cosily cautious, North London upbringing – where the biggest risk might be sitting on a strange loo seat without first lining it with toilet paper – came to be lying, lacerated, on the office floor of a couple of scientific psychopaths, planning to put me out with the rubbish. And, more to the point – where were the people who’d got me into this crazy situation in the first place?

Then they were there. Suddenly, blessedly, in my head, all of them joined – I could feel the power of the
gestalt.
I could hear them soothing Sam too, although by that stage he was so traumatised he was probably beyond being shocked. I’d thought I was all out of energy but suddenly I was filled with all-consuming fury.

“Where
were
you?” I shrieked silently,

“We held back.” Miss Peacock was distracted.

“Oh you held back?
You held back?
Well that’s all right then.” Glory was tense too,

“We didn’t want to alarm Sam.”

“Well you bloody well alarmed me!”

“You’re coping. Now, let them see you’re coming round.” Miss Peacock again. I wanted to splutter and shriek. I wanted to drum my heels against the floor, throw something and thump someone – several people actually. I did none of that. I obediently moaned a little and then I moved my head slowly and painfully from side to side as if my neck hurt, not a lot of acting required, it felt as if it had been completely dislocated.

“She’s coming out of it.” No pulling the wool over Miss Merry’s eyes.

“Start to get up now. Slowly.” Instructed Miss Peacock. I struggled onto all fours with my head hanging down, did a bit more moaning and groaning then slowly sat back on my heels, looking around as if dazed. Merry and Dreck were watching with detached interest and he swiftly jotted down a note on a pad he was holding. I gritted my teeth, I knew where I’d like to ram that pad and the pen as well.

I heaved myself up, holding on to the chair and sat in it again, breathing heavily. I glanced across at Sam. His eyes were wide and disbelieving, his world had suddenly got a whole lot more crowded. His thumb had crept into his mouth for comfort, but he was proving to be quite the little trouper. And other than a swift, helplessly inquiring thought to which I don’t think he even expected an answer, he didn’t waste my time or energy. I could feel Ruth hovering anxiously over him.

“Rub your head as if it hurts, we need more time.” Miss Peacock said.

“Stand up.” Said Miss Merry.

“Stay where you are.” Said Miss Peacock. I stifled a laugh, which came out as a snort. It had been a trying evening and there was really rather too much direction going on. Miss Merry couldn’t see the joke and for once she was probably right.

“I said,
stand up
,” She rapped, “We haven’t got all night.” She grabbed my arm, her fingers fitting neatly into the previous set of bruises she’d made, last time she grabbed me.

“Something’s jamming us, what?” Miss Peacock was calm but her urgency was showing.

“A thing – they’re both wearing black things behind their ear, like a hearing aid.”

“Get them off. We’ll help. Now.” Ordered Miss Peacock,

“Now.” Snapped Miss Merry. I was feeling decidedly hen-pecked but as I rose, hands at my side, I lifted the black hook from over her ear. She felt it moving but reached for it too late. I flung it into the far corner, at the same instant flashing to Sam what I needed him to do. Maybe it was expecting a lot of a six year old, but these were desperate times. Sam was up to it, though perhaps not as delicate as he could have been because the Doctor gave a little shriek. I don’t think Sam was bothered.