page SIX
(Why not?)
(How are you feeling?)
(I'm okay... My mind keeps wandering... I keep thinking I'm on the mountain... It's kind of hard to focus. Where are you, anyway?)
(Suffice it to say I am approaching you now. As for your mental state, child, you did have a restless night.)
(Did the whole lot of you just sit around and watch me sleep?)
(Pay attention to your footing, Ace.)
Thirty-five years in the future I stop and realise I've almost stepped on a soft snow bridge. I'd have fallen through, and it is a long way down. (Thanks, Smokey,) I think, and place the last glass on the table. All done.
When I walked through the arch to report, Sally and Peace were helping Gladys sit up. Gladys smiled at Peace.
'I know you, don't I, dear?'
'You should, Aunt Luuna,' said Peace gently, sitting with her.
'Oh, don't start with that "Loony" nonsense again! I've no idea what that means!'
Peace smiled warmly at her, then tentatively over at me.
'I'm sorry. I'll call you Aunt Gladys if you'll call me Peace. Now, if it's okay with mom I want to go talk to Ace, there.'
'Yes, that's fine. Don't go far, dears.'
'I thought I'd show Ace the fleet.'
***
'That's just... Oh, wow!' I said a minute later, when I saw what was in the driveway, 'There's two of them?'
Precisely parked in the wide driveway were two Space Cadillacs.
'Allow me to blow your mind: there's three of 'em. Uncle Jack says the third is on it's way. Didn't say who was driving, though. I thought we were all here.'
Smokey said, 'I am approaching you now.' Was it possible?
Peace was still talking, faster and faster. 'What will the neighbours think, right? Let's see, that's Alpha. It's a 1957 Coupe deville. Note the subdued fins. Now check out the beauties on Beta. That's a top of the line 1958 Eldorado Brougham, that is. She's Uncle Jack's favourite, I think. You haven't seen either of these. The '59 Sedan deville, with the biggest fins of all, that's Gamma, she's Luuna's favourite.' She drew a shuddering breath. 'That, that's the one you saw last night...Oh, Ace, what the hell's going on? What's wrong with me? Nobody will tell me what happened last night and I keep thinking I'm somewhere else and, and...'
She swayed on her feet. I caught her, meaning to step back when she was steady, but she wrapped her arms around my back and nestled her head under my chin. I tentatively stroked her hair as she shook with sobs. 'There, there.' I said, lamely. I couldn't understand how this was the same girl I'd been so afraid of last night. I sort of understood how the Professor felt, dealing with my outbursts. What would he do? Be the strong one?
'I don't know what's happening, Peace, nobody will tell me anything, either. But look at me!' She blinked back her tears and gazed up with soft, grey eyes. 'Whatever happens I'll make sure you're all right. Me and the Professor, that's what we do. I promise!'
I saw doubt and said it again. 'I promise, do you hear?'
I pulled her close and rested my cheek on her hair. Something kicked inside me and I heard her go, “Oh!” and something passed between and united us. For a long, puzzling moment we were the only person in the universe.
Then I heard a familiar waltz and there was Gamma weaving drunkenly up the drive. It shuddered to an off-kilter stop, lurched ahead another meter, then stopped again. The engine stuttered and died and a figure leaped out like a reluctant sailor back on land. A trim man in a tuxedo, cape and turban, who cried, 'Infernal machine!' and kicked the door shut.
'Is that you, Smokey?'
'Greetings, Ace. And you are Peace, I assume.' He studied us for a moment and cleared his throat. 'I pray my arrival has not intruded on some manner of adolescent, hormonal experimentation?'
We separated quickly, red-faced, and Peace said to Smokey, 'Dream on, slime ball. You ain't intruding on nothing. You know this joker, Ace? And who said you could drive Gamma? Hell, who said you could drive, period?'
Smokey said, 'Quite' and he and his tattered dignity breezed past us and through the open front door. I heard a distant chorus of greetings. I turned to Peace, who was carefully looking the other way. She saw me looking and shrugged. 'Never mind him,' I said, 'he's kind of a jerk but he's okay, I think.'
'I know him, but I've never met him,' she said, 'and does that make any sense?'
'I think so,' I said, 'have you ever been upstairs with the boys?'
Her expression was unreadable. 'You mean at the temple, right?'
'Yeah. What'd you think I --'
'Nothing! The answer is, 'no'. Aunt Luuna goes up there, of course, with every pilgrim, and... my mom did once, before I was born.'
I let that Important Clue sail right past in my eagerness to tell her about Smokey.
'Guess what? I went up there yesterday and that's where I met Smokey. Except he was taller, sort of. You really don't know what happens up there?'
Her eyes flashed. 'I know I've been told my whole life that it's dangerous and forbidden! I know the strictest laws of the Brothers forbids the female animal from partaking in the cosmic communion! I know --'
'Oi, Peace, you're doing that freaky Luuna thing again!'
She looked shocked for a moment and then smiled, embarrassed.
'Oh, God, I'm sorry. I had so much training, it's so easy to be like her. It's like sliding into your oldest, most comfortable pair of jeans.'
She smiled at a private thought. 'Come on, let's get off our feet.' We sat on Alpha's bonnet, a flag of planet Baraclese between us, and she took my hand in both of hers. I let her; touching didn't feel as strange as before. Her hands were thin and cold.
'What were we talking about, again? Oh, yeah, the boys upstairs. I know that going near the stairs was an instant scolding from Uncle Jack. But mostly... you know, Ace, I never once felt like finding out. Isn't that weird? If you were me, wouldn't you try to sneak up there at least once? Oh, wait, scratch that. You did.'
'Yeah, but what I'm saying is, I think Smokey let me.'
'What, that hypnotist guy? Who is he, anyway?'
'He ain't human, I'll tell you that. You didn't see him yesterday.' I shook my head at the memory. 'Don't let that "Amazing Mystico and Janet" routine fool you. He's... powerful. I think he kept you downstairs all those years, kept you from being curious. Listen, why don't I tell you everything that happened yesterday? Just promise me you won't get upset.'
'You think I might?'
'I would, if I were you,' I admitted. 'Still want to hear it?'
She nodded.
'Okay, first thing you have to know is that the Professor and me are a team. He's the brain and I'm the muscle. We aren't tourists. We're... I don't know, kind of like detectives...'
***
Now, you're probably wondering something. What, exactly, was
going on there with me and Peace? I'd chatted with her in the diner and she'd
freaked me out a little. I'd met her in a darkened wood and she'd freaked me
out a lot. These are not circumstances that generally lead to huddling together
on a sun-warmed car bonnet, with her holding my hand and flirting with me (not
that I, Britain's Miss Oblivious, realised).
But here I was, easily chatting about my adventures with the girl who, for all I knew, was my chief suspect. Suddenly, since we'd hugged, really, there was something between us, some secret communication. She was both alien and familiar, uncharted territory that was nonetheless enticingly familiar, like the curving trail I follow up Misery Hill. My breath grows short again, and I pant in my mask. My heart hammers with exertion. But I don't care. I am almost there.
The Sun has dropped behind the mountain. I am in cold shadow.
I grit my teeth and take measure. A hundred meters away, the mountain ends and the sky begins. Where they meet, a black object is suspended. Indistinct figures mill about it. One detaches and comes down to greet me. So close, now. As I struggle upward my heavy feet crunch through the crust, but she keeps pace atop the snow alongside me, grave and attentive until my story ends.
'I am Luuna'. I can't believe I said that,' she said. 'The last thing I remember is seeing Gamma outside the diner after work. Then I woke up in bed this morning with mom asleep in a chair beside me. Hey, is that jacket warm? What's it called?'
'Puffa-jacket. Yeah, it's warm.'
'I've always wanted a leather one, but mom says she wouldn't be caught dead wearing one.'
'I used to be in a pretty cold place. I don't really need this. You can wear it, if you want.' I started to shrug off my jacket when Sally called, 'Come and get it, ladies! It's not getting any warmer!'
As we swept past into the warm house, Sally held the door. Her expression, I remember thinking, was bittersweet, like reuniting with a dear old friend at a funeral.
***
The Doctor held the back of a chair at the head of the table. 'Come and sit, Ace,' he rumbled. I obeyed, and saw Jack performing the same service for Peace at the other end. She beamed at him, he squeezed her shoulder and he did the same for Sally.
As I said, I was at the head of the table, a bay window with a fantastic view of Shasta at my back. A vast array of food stretched before me. There should be servants, I thought, but there was only us. To my right sat Jack, Gladys (in a smart pant-suit), Smokey and Sally. To my left was the Professor and the three weirdos. I wondered why they were there, and sensed something different about them. They lacked the ebullience of yesterday. Now they seemed quiet and watchful. I wondered if this was their real, human personalities, or if they were hosting another set of tourists. I saw the Professor frown at them and was about to ask what was bothering him when I realised Sally was standing.
'It's customary on Thanksgiving to, well, give thanks. I guess the question here is, to who? Peace and I aren't religious, I'm afraid, so if one of you would like to say a few words, I'd be grateful.' She smiled at the assembly and sat. To my surprise the Professor stood up and cleared his throat.
'Hello again,' he said, ' I'll make this brief.'
I coughed meaningfully and everyone chuckled.
'Oh, yes, very droll, Ace. I know everyone is hungry. But before we start perhaps we should reflect for a moment on the meaning of this quaint ceremonial meal. We celebrate a sadly uncommon event, the time when two cultures meet and, rather than quarrel over resources, share them instead. Here we have representatives of not two, but four worlds, sitting down in harmony.'
Peace mouthed, 'Four?' to me from her end of the table. The Doctor caught it and scowled. 'Yes, Peace, four. I speak of Earth, Gallifrey, Zillotti and,' there was that slight frown again, 'Sto. Now, please let me finish.'
'Hang on there, Doctor,' interrupted Jack, 'What's a "galley fray"? Sounds like a fight in a ship's kitchen. I know those other names, but that one's news to me.'
Smokey turned to him, 'Gallifrey is the Doctor's home world, Jack. It's home to the Time Lords, perhaps the wisest, most advanced and, I must say, recently hubristic mortal races.'
'I'll be damned, Doc,' said Jack, 'I thought you were Scottish. Huh!'
'Well, now I've forgotten what I was going to say.'
I laughed. 'I think we got the point, Professor. One big happy family, right? Sit down and eat.'
'Oh very well,' he grumbled. We all were still for a moment, one of the pilgrims frozen in the act of reaching for a roll. The Professor realised everyone was waiting for him to sit. He sat. 'I'm finished! Eat! Eat!'
We all dug in. I was famished. I was on my third helping of turkey when I remembered I hadn't eaten since yesterday's breakfast. No wonder. I watched everyone enjoying the potatoes and wished the Professor had slipped a mickey into the cranberry sauce instead. I consoled myself with sweet candied yams.
***
Everyone drifted into small conversations. The three weirdos picked at the food and whispered to each other, studying the others at the table. Peace and Sally were speaking in low, serious tones, and I saw Sally sneak glances my way. Smokey was regaling Gladys with magic tricks; her eyes shown and she clapped her hands in delight. The Professor was assuring Jack that Gallifrey was legendarily hostile to tourism when I saw an opening and ventured a question.
'So, what's that all about, anyway, Jack? Tourists from planet Sto. How on Earth did that get started?'
'That's a long story, kiddo. What do you think, Doc? Time to show our cards?' He glanced at the Professor, who nodded and said, 'Yes, Jack, I suppose it's time. Sally, you'd better fetch the pies. We're starting.'
He stood and patiently waited. I'd seen the Professor do this before; as I watched, amused, everyone became aware of him and lost track of their conversations.
Looking mildly surprised to be the centre of attention, the Professor said, 'Very well, Ace, Peace, everyone. Here are all your answers. Some I think you've guessed, some will be news. Yes, Ace, the Illuminated Disciples of the Benevolent Space Brothers is a front for an illegal tourism racket. Rich individuals from the planet Sto pay an exorbitant fund to have their consciousnesses transferred to waiting humans. They wake up in the temple, tour the town...'
'The Four Star package gets 'em a weekend in 'Frisco.'
'...or 'Frisco (thank you, Jack), while the humans consciousness goes... where does it go, Smokey?'