6. Oh mercy, thou whose smile hast shone
It had been nearly a month since they had last seen the adjudicator.
Ruth looked up at the window, as she did every morning and wondered
what was happening out there. Only the barest of news reached them in
the remote farmhouse that was still their prison. The days were long
and dull, with little to do.
The adjudicator had made much use of the TTC. True to her word, she
had threatened to kill one of them if they continued to refuse to pilot
it for her, and they had given in without further resistance.
She had forced them to take her on various journeys through time.
Most of the time she did not tell them why she was going, only where.
She always took two of the prisoners to pilot the TTC, as well as
guards, so that she could threaten to shoot one of them if they became
uncooperative. They were never left alone with the TTC.
Sometimes, though, she would tell them what she was doing, to make them angry or upset. Tracking down Thespis scores
seemed to be the purpose of many of her trips, and finally she had all
the ones that could be traced. When she found the last one, she took
all the prisoners to watch as her guards burned down the house.
“Well, now we know why no scores survived,” Agnes said. “It’s a mystery solved.”
Ruth, her ankle now recovered enough to stand on although still
painful if she had to walk far, looked at the burning house and sighed.
Now the score they had brought back from their original trip was the
only one. Back in the dingy bare room that was still their prison, Ruth
looked down at the photocopied sheets to check the music before they
were taken back to the cavern yet again to create more fantoms. The
adjudicator’s plans were going well and a dozen or more full strength
fantoms roamed the corridors of power, ensuring everything was done to
the adjudicator’s liking. She didn’t even have to do the tiresome
business of governing herself- it was all done without one person in ten
realising that she, rather than elected politicians, was the real power
in the land.
She was so depressed now that it had hardly come as a shock when Tom and Adam came back from a time trip with news.
“It was her that left if for us,” Tom said. “The Thespis score. It wasn’t an accident we found it in that bin.”
“We’ve just taken her back there to leave it for us,” Adam explained.
“I wish there was some way we could have warned our earlier selves,”
Tom said sadly. “But there wasn’t. We weren’t even allowed out of the
TTC.”
“I wish there was something we could do,” Agnes said. “Is she just going to keep us here for the rest of our lives?”
But this morning there was a surprise. The adjudicator rolled up in
her posh car, and they watched from the window as the door was opened
for her. A few minutes later they heard the click of her heels and the
swish of her dress as she came up the stairs. The door was opened and
she looked at them, a Fantom looming behind her.
"My plans are going well," the adjudicator said. "But I remembered
that I had a promise to keep." She turned to Patrick. "You betrayed
your friends- I presume they know that now, and know why." He did not
look up, as every eye in the room watched him. His betrayal had not
been easily forgotten, stuck in their isolated prison with nothing to do
but dwell on the past.
"In return, you were to get a chance to perform professionally," she
said. "I am planning a great performance here in Buxton to celebrate
where my plan began. You will take part, and not just you, but all your
friends too. What do you think of that?"
"I would never have got involved if I had known what you were
planning," he said. "But I did it, and I can’t change that now. I
don't care what you do."
The woman smiled evilly at him. "Too late for remorse," she said.
"I'm sure you all know how many deaths there are in G&S?" She was
still looking at Patrick.
"One," he replied.
"And that is?"
"John Wellington Wells, in The Sorcerer."
"Which I think you have played?"
"Er...yes."
"How would you like to reprise that role?" There was something in
the way she said it, the way she had approached the question. One
character who dies? Why did that matter?
"I...I don't know," he mumbled, unwilling to commit to anything when there was clearly more to her question than was obvious.
"Well, there are adjustments easily made, if that doesn't suit. Jack
Point falls insensible...or dies. The pirates may refuse to yield at
Queen Victoria's name and kill the Major-General. The Mikado may find
Koko's explanation less than satisfactory and order the execution of
half the cast. Or- her eyes rested on Ruth- the fairies might not
intervene to save Iolanthe from the Queen. What do you think, my little
Jessie Bond?" She turned on Ruth, who shrank back.
“If you mean what I think you do, I think Gilbert and Sullivan would
be ashamed to see how you are planning to use their shows,” she said,
trying to sound brave.
“Oh, I might have known you’d guess,” the woman said. “Yes. The
Fantoms require a sacrifice to renew and strengthen them. One of you.
Then the pathway for them will be opened for good.” The adjudicator
turned back to Patrick. “But you made me promise not to kill any of
your friends, didn’t you- so you must be willing to be the one to die?”
Patrick shrank back, not speaking but desperately searching with his
eyes for any way out, any help, any pity.
“This isn’t fair,” Ruth began, but the adjudicator rounded on her at once.
“Shut up,” she said, “Unless you're volunteering to take his place?”
Ruth's heart jolted. “That wasn’t what I meant,” she said quietly.
“But I will. If one of us must die, it might as well be me.”
The story continues...
No comments:
Post a Comment