" If I do make contact with it..." " It may decide to come back." " It can only come forward..." " Yes." "It may well decide to bargain from here." " This room?" " Somewhere here!" "You could be face to face with it, Steel!" "Yes!" "All right." "But watch for it." "I may not be able to help you." "Please be careful." "'We wish to talk with you." "'We have something to say to you." "'Something important." "'Something important." "'Very important. '" "'All irregularities will be handled 'by the forces controlling each dimension." "'Transuranic heavy elements may not be used where there is life." "'Medium atomic weights are available." "'Gold, Lead," "'Copper," "'Jet, Diamond, Radium," "'Sapphire, Silver and Steel." "'Sapphire and Steel have been assigned. '" "'We wish to contact you." "'We wish to make contact with you as soon as possible. '" "Us?" " They want to talk to us?" " It must be us!" "No!" "Not us." "It's heard us, Steel." "It's heard us." "It's coming to us." " It's stopped." " Where?" "It's stopped somewhere." "Now?" "In the time we're in?" "No, in its own time." "Almost." "It's..." "The footbridge!" "It's on the footbridge." "That's the between point." "That's the halfway point." "It's moving again." "Still in its own time?" "No." "It's crossed over... into ours." "It's coming, Steel." "'Be careful, Steel. '" "I sent for you." "I want to talk to you." "So let's talk, shall we?" "I have something of importance I want to discuss with you - a deal." "Well, a transaction." "So, where are you?" "I can't very well discuss something if I can't see you, can I?" "You're here, I know you're here." "So why not show yourself?" "We've seen you before, seen you as the darkness." "So let's see you now." "Here, on the stairs if you like." "Neutral ground." "No?" "All right, we'll forget the whole thing." "I'm in no mood to play cat and mouse." "As far as I'm concerned, you've gone." "You never arrived." "The deal is off." "Come on, Sapphire, it's not interested." "Let's not waste our time." "Sapphire, wake up." "It's time to go." "I said wake up." "It's not here." "It's not interested." "If it is it's... not interested." " Come on." " It's here." " What?" " I said it's here." "Where?" "Here." "Don't play games with it." "It's inside my head, it's inside my brain." "And I can't see you because it has my eyes." "It's watching you and listening to you through my eyes so please don't try to trick it." "It could take my eyes... and my mind." "It could snuff out my mind as easy as you could snuff out a candle." "Steel..." "I can't see you." "I'm here." "I understand what's been said." " You asked it here." " I did, yes." "It's here so ask your questions." "I don't have any, just a proposal." "One proposal." "What is it?" "The darkness thrives on resentment, am I right?" "That's right." "It's parasitic." "Resentment is food and drink to it, blood and tissue." "Right?" " These are questions." " No, they're statements." " Am I right or not?" " You're right to a degree." "To a degree." "I have something to offer." "An original source of resentment." "A real reason for resentment." "It's on offer but it can't be bought cheaply." "Describe the offer." "Sorry, no." " Please, do as it says." " Then tell it not to try that." "It's either you negotiating or it." "All right." " Well, my offer?" " It's not interested." " No?" " It has a source of resentment." "It's happy with that." "Then it has poor judgment, hasn't it?" "Or blind faith." "I mean, what has it got?" "The spirit of a soldier who died at the wrong time when his war was over." "The ghosts of three young men who were trapped in a submarine... and some lost soul of a pilot who risked his life flying a deathtrap." "You call that resentment?" "!" "There are others." "Many of them." "Yes?" "I expect they are all third-rate grievances as well." " Steel..." " No." " Don't make it angry!" " By telling it the truth?" "Please." "I can't see you, Steel." "Come back to me." " Where are you?" " I'm here." "Please take my hands." "Please, Steel." "I'm frightened." "Come." "Thank you." "Tell it, Sapphire!" "Tell it what I'm offering could give it enough negative energy, enough resentment, to last for 500 years!" " It wants to know." " I'll tell it, but not here." "Not 12 days out of time." "Tell it to take us all back to where we were and I'll explain my offer." " Every detail of it?" " Only if it takes us back." " It will take you back." " No." "All of us or none of us." " It agrees." " Good." "W-When do we go back?" "Soon." "It will go back, it will meet us where we were." "Sapphire?" " You said it had gone." " It has." "This way." " Does it matter where we are?" " Yes." "I want it on the footbridge." "On your feet, Mr Tully." "We don't have very much time." "But I saw it." "Something came through here." " I asked you to rest." " I saw!" " Did you rest?" " Not really, no." "Fine." " Why the footbridge?" " What?" " Why the footbridge?" " You said it was a between point." "For anything that wants to cross time." " Well, we're crossing time." " We're what?" "No, Steel!" "No, Steel, we're being taken back." "That's what I don't like - not being responsible for my own actions." " Could we hurry?" " I negotiated this deal." "The deal still stands..." "except for one amended clause." "You can't play tricks with the darkness." " I realise that." " Would someone tell..." "Yes..." "I'll tell you." "We're going back 12 days." "Well, not exactly 12. 11." "It means that you will lose one day of your life but you can afford that." " Steel?" " It's easy." " Easy?" "!" " For you." " What I did just now was dangerous!" " Exactly." "That's why I want to be one day ahead of the darkness." "You can hold time for a day, can't you?" " Yes." " Well, then." "While we're being taken back 12 days, we'll jump off at 11." "Jump off?" "If you're in an elevator and there's somebody on the ground floor you're not sure of, what do you do?" " Get off on the floor above." " And?" " You walk the rest." " Exactly." "You must do it, Sapphire." "I won't trick it any more, I promise." "It's only one day out of 12." "All right." "Mr Tully." "You'll be all right, Mr Tully." " You promise?" " I promise." " If I can be of any..." " Take my hand." "'Stillness." "'Mark... '11... 'ten... 'nine... 'eight... 'seven... 'six... 'five... 'four... 'three... 'two... '" "'Now, Sapphire." "Now!" "'" " One day?" " 22.736 hours." "Well, that's close enough." "Look." " Tully." " Yes." "Go back up on the footbridge." "Wait there." " Wait there?" " Yes, where we were." "And keep watch." " Of the platform?" " Of the platform." "You still need me, then?" "Oh, yes, we need you." "Ah." "Steel." "And we thought you'd gone." "Us?" "No... but we will leave, unlike you." "You'll never go." "You'll never leave this place." " Oh, we're going." " When?" "Soon." "We're all here now." "We'll be going soon." "Where?" "Exactly where will you be going?" "We're gonna live again." "We are." " That's what it's told you?" " Yes." "To live where?" "How?" " To live your own lives again?" " No." " New lives!" "Is that its promise?" " In a way, yes." " Tell him, Sapphire." " It can't be done." "It can't be done because of the nature of the power that's using you." "It thrives on the resentment of the dead." "So what use would you be to it alive?" "Once the others have arrived, it'll start at the beginning again with you." " Me?" " Yes, you." "You will arrive here again and will start to wait for the others." "It's like a loop, a circle." "It is feeding on you so it cannot let you go." "Forever, Pearce." "You'll never see those green fields or summer days." "Forever." "The same motions, the same actions, same circle." "Oh, no..." "And when they pull this place down and build something new, you'll still be here." "Walking up and down, whistling your songs." "Waiting forever and ever." "It can't be like that." "We were promised." " Sorry." " We were!" "I mean, I'd rather..." "What?" "I'd rather go back." "Go back for good an' all." "Well, we all would." "No..." "No, not this place." " Not for always." "No." " I can make sure." " What?" " That you go back." " All of us?" " Yes." " But it won't let us." " Oh, it will." "You leave it to me." "'Sapphire?" "'" "It's all right." "There are no tricks, the deal still stands." "The transaction..." "Your negotiable goods are on the platform, we've brought ours with us." "For exchange of all of your dead we give you... one of the living." "Someone who is due to die in approximately five years' time." "The time of death is not estimated, it is known." "It is recorded." "Take him now and you will have the amount of resentment I promised you." "Not from him, he doesn't matter, but from time itself." "You will have damaged time, perhaps even future history!" "And that could cause havoc in high places." "Is it a deal?" "Your ghosts, who remain dead, for one living subject who isn't due to die for approximately five years." "Well?" "Well?" " Not Tully." " Yes." " But I promised." " It has to be." "It's gone." "They've all gone!" "Now for our part of the deal." "Steel..." "Yes?" "I wondered how we were doing." "We're doing fine." "You just wait up there..." "where I told you to wait." "Right." "We'll be leaving soon." "Do I need to collect my things?" "I'll let you know." "Winning, are we?" "Yes." " They have all gone?" " Yes." "You sense nothing any more?" "No." "There's only that." "That's all that's left." "It's a pasqueflower." "They only bloom at Eastertide." " But it's late October." " I know." " I think you said it once." " I said what once?" "There must be something wrong with a ghost that has feelings."