The children ran away and kept running until the first few of them couldn’t run any further. They regrouped, gathered in a place they knew well, the Metal Room. Big and square, it was at the base of one of the tallest towers.
It made them feel safe, because it took four of them to push the door open and closed. It never closed all the way, because for some reason the sides had great fist-thick metal rods embedded in them.
The room contained something really valuable: little strips of paper, printed with pictures of people and buildings and number symbols. If you held the paper up to the light, you could see other faces trapped in there. One of the oldest kids, Joss, had once said those were ghosts, and everyone laughed at him and called it joss paper from then on. The paper burned really well, kept them warm.
There were also neat piles of shiny yellow metal bars and
great tubs of bagged-up metal discs. They were no good for burning and just got in the way.
The older, fitter kids still had some energy, and they kept watch. They all knew that the ghosts never followed them, but they were still shaken up. Frad had been popular. They’d go back to the alley later, and lay a floral.
What none of the kids knew was what had happened to the skinny grown-up in the odd brown coat. This didn’t stop them speculating, and opinion ranged from him being the man that had been summoning up the ghosts all these years, right through to imagining that the ghost they’d seen ate the man after they ran off. Soon, everyone was arguing about the Ghost Doctor.
The stocky girl was clever enough to understand that she couldn’t explain who the man was. The idea that there was a person she didn’t know disturbed her. She listened to the bragging for a few minutes before it began annoying her so much she had to slip outside.
She got her thoughts straight, tried to separate out what she’d seen for herself from the confusion and rumour.
They were getting silly in there, treating it like a game.
They were kids. If she was thinking like that – and she’d been thinking like it for months – it meant she was growing up. She fought the next thought, tried to keep it quiet, but still it came: there’s no choice, it’s nearly time to go back.
The Ghost Doctor was too important for kids to deal with. Too big for games. Boy games or parent games. She fished around in her bag, found what she was looking for right at the bottom.
It had been months since she’d last seen the comm, and during that time it had got a long, annoying scratch down its screen.
She swirled one of the controls and it bleeped to let her know she was being connected. It was a whole minute before Professor Jeffip answered. A tiny hologram of him appeared, hovering over the top surface.
‘Alsa… are you in trouble?’ he began.
‘No. Frad was taken by a ghost, but—’
‘This is for emergencies,’ he chided her, turning away.
‘Real emergencies. The batteries, Alsa. The batteries.’
Despite herself, she was guiltily imagining the electricity seeping away like sand from an hourglass.
‘There’s a… man we don’t know here.’
Jeffip scowled. ‘You must be upset, but that’s no excuse for making up stories—’
‘I’m not,’ she snapped. ‘It’s true. He’s not a ghost, he’s a…’
‘Stranger,’ he said, supplying a word that Alsa only dimly knew and had never spoken.
‘ Stranger.’ She rolled the word around her mouth. ‘Yes.
We cornered him, and then a ghost appeared and we ran off. I think he might have summoned up the ghost, but I’m not sure. He asked stupid questions, like whether we had six toes.’
Professor Jeffip believed her. He knew she wouldn’t dare waste the comm if she was making up a story. He wasn’t treating her like a kid. Alsa liked that.
‘Describe him,’ he said.
‘Tall. Thin. He was old, but not as old as you. He said
he was called “the Doctor”, but that’s not a proper name, is it? His clothes looked… made but not new. Not torn or dirty or anything, just…’
‘See what he’s up to. See if there’s anyone with him.
Use the comm to take pictures of him and send them here.’
‘The batteries…’ Alsa said.
‘I know, but this is important.’
Alsa hesitated.
‘Who do you think he is?’ she asked.
‘I don’t know. I might if I see his picture.’
‘Do you think it was him who murdered Jall?’
‘Jall was frightened to death by a ghost.’
‘She wasn’t,’ Alsa hissed. ‘I heard she was—’
‘Don’t start that again, Alsa. Look… this Doctor sounds dangerous. Stay careful, Alsa. It’s good to hear from you.’
The hologram faded away, and the tiny device powered down. That had been the longest comm call Alsa could remember.
Alsa stood, ready to go. Gar had come out. He was always so dirty. They were the same age, and he’d always been taller than her until this year. He hadn’t grown for ages, and she’d done nothing but. It felt like she was twice his size. He never took his hands out of his pockets. That had never bothered Alsa before – these days it did nothing but bother her.
‘Where are you going?’ he said, his voice a little whiny.
‘I’ve commed Professor Jeffip. Told him about the stranger. He wants me to follow.’ She started walking, soon passing the Blue Pyramid.
Gar looked confused, and trailed after her. ‘You told on us? You told them where we are?’
‘No. I told Professor Jeffip about the Doctor and his ghost. It’s important, Gar.’
‘So’s not telling.’
‘This is more important. Bigger.’
‘Is he part of your plan?’ he asked, half-cheekily, half-respectfully.
‘How could he be? I didn’t know about him.’
‘Thought you knew everything.’
‘I’ll hit you in a minute.’
They picked their way over a large pile of metal slabs.
They had obviously once all fitted together to make a building. It must have blown over. Or perhaps some other kids had vandalised it. There was no better route round, but climbing over the metal involved a lot of sliding, and every time they put a foot down it made a clanging sound.
At the top of the pile, Alsa took the opportunity of a good vantage point to take a look around. Then she skidded down, back to ground level, Gar close behind, almost losing his footing – and his foot – in the attempt.
‘The Ghost Doctor was good at fighting,’ he said when he was back on level ground.
Alsa frowned. ‘He wasn’t. He was nearly killed by a bunch of kids.’
‘That’s not what happened, is it? Everyone tried to get him, but no one even touched him.’
She hadn’t thought of it like that. ‘If he was good at fighting, he’d have hit back,’ she said, finally, unsure of
her argument.
There was a mid-level golden walkway close by, and they took the pedestrian ramp about a dozen levels up to it.
Alsa was already drawing up a plan. ‘We know he was by Car Wall, but not where he’s heading. Stay up here and we’ll get a good view of him.’
‘If he’s still on ground level.’
‘If the Ghost Doctor doesn’t live here, he won’t know the best routes.’
‘I don’t get it. Only kids explore. He’s a parent.’
‘He’s not, he just looks like one. All we need to worry about is that he’s dangerous.’
‘We need to make sure he doesn’t see us.’
‘Oh, I saw you when you were by that blue pyramid,’ a man’s voice said.
Alsa and Gar whirled round. The Doctor was standing there.
For a while, the Doctor had stood in the alleyway, staring at where the ghost had been. He’d tried waving the sonic screwdriver around to see if it could detect anything. He knew the ghost was dead and gone. Even more dead and gone than normal for a ghost
. In the end, he’d concluded there just weren’t any clues there for him. The Doctor had his suspicions, but he’d decided not to worry about it for the time being.
The three hours he’d estimated it would take to get to the Fortress looked absurdly optimistic. He’d barely got half a mile in the first hour. He knew he’d be hard pushed to get to the Fortress before dark. Added to that was the fact that Arcopolis was busier than he’d anticipated. With ghosts and feral – if very well-dressed – kids around, the sooner he could get to the Fortress and concentrate on the job at hand the better.
The Doctor passed another gang of children, or perhaps two gangs, playing with a cylindrical ball that players would occasionally just grab and use as a club. Most of them were boys; they were all in their early teens. He gave them a wide berth, and they were too busy with their game to spot him.
Soon after, he’d seen two of the children who’d attacked him – the grubby boy and the stocky girl. They were looking for him, and after a little while, he’d decided to show himself.
‘Hello again.’ He was grinning. ‘If you’re going to back away from me, watch out for that drop behind you. No handrail. Common design problem in megacities across the universe, I’ve found. I’m the Doctor, by the way.
Didn’t catch your names before.’
If he set a ghost on her, Alsa knew she wouldn’t be able to get away. She’d already decided she would throw herself from the walkway instead.
‘Gar,’ said Gar.
‘Alsa,’ Alsa found herself answering. ‘How did you get up here so quickly?’
‘Ah, well, trick of the trade. I’ve been doing this sort of thing a very, very long time.’
‘You a doctor?’
‘Yes, that’s right.’
‘An ossticktrishian?’
‘Obstetrician?’
‘Yeah.’
‘No. Well, not really. I dabble.’
‘Did you kill Jall?’
‘No.’
Alsa knew he was telling the truth, because he hadn’t hesitated, hadn’t pretended, he’d just answered. He looked a little sad, added he didn’t know about Jall and asked them to tell him about her.
Alsa was wary, but Gar had already started. ‘She was a girl. Fair hair. They found her body a couple of days ago.
The parents say she died of fright because she went where she wasn’t meant to.’
Alsa narrowed her eyes. ‘What are you doing here?’
The Doctor pointed. ‘Heading to the Fortress.’
Alsa gasped. Beside her, she swore Gar was swaying.
Perhaps it was her.
‘You can’t,’ Gar said firmly. ‘No one’s allowed there.
Kids or the parents. No one would want to go there.’
‘So… it’s a forbidden zone,’ he said.
Alsa frowned. ‘A what? It’s just the Fortress, that’s all.
It’s the way it is.’ She crossed her arms over her chest.
‘We’ve told you everything we know,’ she said curtly.
‘Even those of us who come to the city don’t go to… that place. We just don’t.’
‘You didn’t build it, did you?’
‘Of course I didn’t build it, I’m just a kid.’
The Doctor laughed. ‘Not you personally. Your people.
Your parents’ people.’
‘No,’ admitted Alsa. ‘It happened before we was born.
Fifteen years ago. It just appeared one morning. If you go to one of the towers nearby or the Car Factory you can see the half-buildings.’
The Doctor nodded thoughtfully. ‘Everything in the space the Fortress materialised into would have been destroyed. Anything that wasn’t would have been unaffected. So there are buildings that were sliced in two.
The half-buildings. Fascinating.’
‘No one knew what the Fortress was or where it was from or why. They tried investigating, but still didn’t know. Then three days later everyone vanished. Everyone but the parents. They were all in the same travel tube. It broke down, and they dug their way out and when they got there everyone was gone. Just vanished, and something had been done to the jennraters and puters and fabs so they didn’t work any more.’
‘All the birds and fish and animals went, too,’ Gar said.
‘I’ve seen pictures of them, though.’
‘The plants survived,’ the Doctor said.
‘The parents would have starved otherwise,’ Alsa said.
‘How many parents are there?’
‘All of them,’ Gar replied, puzzled.
‘Thirty-seven,’ Alsa told the Doctor.
‘Why do you think it happened?’ he asked.
‘The parents argue about that. No one knows.
Especially the ones who say they do know.’
The Doctor was looking at Alsa, intently, but when she faced him, he looked away suddenly and guiltily.
‘We did something wrong, didn’t we?’ Gar said. ‘We was punished.’
‘You were punished all right,’ the Doctor said quietly.
‘But not for anything you did. You certainly didn’t do anything wrong. You weren’t even born.’
‘You know what happened?’ Alsa asked him.
The Doctor smiled gently and got up. ‘I’m going to the Fortress. It’s going to be very dangerous.
‘You can’t get inside. There’s no doors.’
‘There are if you know where to look.’
‘People who go there get struck by lightning.’
‘Bet they do. That’s why your parents are right, and you have to stay away.’
‘Can I take your picture with my comm?’ Alsa said suddenly.
‘Um… yes. I suppose.’
The Doctor quickly ran his fingers through his hair and then watched – with a rather fixed grin the whole time –as Alsa took the device out, waggled the control and made a hologram of him.
‘You said there was no power after everyone vanished,’he said through his teeth. ‘How does that run?’
‘Batteries,’ she said simply. ‘You can’t waste them.’
‘May I?’ She handed it him. He’d finally stopped grinning. ‘And this is a “comm”, so – what? – that’s short for communicator? You can talk to people with this, too?
So your parents have managed to set up a telephone network?’
‘It’s my mum, Olva, that keeps it running,’ Gar said proudly. ‘There’s big batteries and one aerial in town. It’s
for emergencies.’
‘Good for her,’ the Doctor said cheerfully. He stood up from the bench then looked over the edge. ‘Ooh! What’s that?’ he asked.
Gar and Alsa ran past him to take a look. They didn’t see anything, and when they turned back to challenge the Doctor he’d vanished.
‘We need to call Professor Jeffip again,’ Alsa said. She didn’t like to admit it.
‘What with?’ Gar said. ‘He’s nicked your comm.’
The sonic screwdriver had its limits. Not many, but it wasn’t just a magic wand. Using it, the Doctor could fiddle around and make a piece of equipment run a little faster or give it more range, but it couldn’t easily turn a toaster into a CD player or a lawnmower into an electric toothbrush.
Take Alsa’s comm (as, indeed, the Doctor just had). It was a mobile phone. There came a point where there was no point making a phone any smaller or lighter, or its memory any bigger, or giving its camera any more megapixels. There were only so many human emotions in need of emoticons to express them. This was a nice piece of technology. It was easy to use, with all sorts of foldyouty, 3D, pluggy-inny things down the sides. Once it had topped up the comm’s battery and buffed out the scratch on the screen, there wasn’t all that much else that the sonic screwdriver could add or enhance.
The Doctor had been more interested in what it could tell him. There had been a slim hope that the city datanet was still around, or that bits of it were. But, no, there was nothing but that one mast that Gar’s mum was in charge of.
You could have the most brilliant device for accessing the internet going, but if there was no internet it wasn’t much use.
He had thought all that through without slowing his pace. He was now back on target, and the Fortress was so close that it had started to loom. The evening light seemed to fall into the Fortress, unable to escape. He’d be at those black metal walls in half an hour.
The terrain had changed. A sewer main or railway tunnel had caved in, leaving a wide, tile-lined river. Plants had thrived, and all sorts of reeds and mosses proliferated in, beside and along the banks. The air was thick with pollen. The water was slow-flowing, and really rather a pleasant surprise, like finding a nice canal path while walking around a busy city centre. Everything was clean, as you’d expect it to be after fifteen years of cleansing rains. The ground was nicely squishy under his feet.
The Doctor passed through an archway formed by two small buildings, one on each bank, that had toppled and half-collapsed into each other——and suddenly there was nothing between him and the Fortress.
It felt as if it had jumped out at him, and the Doctor edged back under the concrete arch, keen to get out of its sight. He peeked round the corner and – careful to give himself as much cover as possible – got a good view. He quickly understood how the Fortress had managed to sneak up. The collapsed and sunken buildings had formed a series of dams and terraces, and, over the years, the water had collected, overflowed, built up, until a large artificial lake had formed. It was a clearing in the forest of skyscrapers, space needles, pylons and towers.
One side of the Fortress was facing full on to the lake, the other two were swept back and partially embedded in a huge, curving white building. Smaller towers and needles– each one as large as any that had ever been built on Earth – lay around the Fortress, like felled redwood trees. The lines of the Fortress were broken up with buttresses, battlements, odd jutting features that might have been watchtowers. Plates of metal seemed to have been bolted on, carelessly at times, to reinforce the structure. There weren’t any obvious windows or hatches.
The lake was a mile wide, easily. Every so often, nowhere near enough to provide a set of stepping stones, masonry and metal fins broke the surface of the water. The far shore was lapping against the solid black Fortress wall.
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