In his dreams, Luke thought he remembered hearing that sound before. For half of half a second, he saw the face that belonged to the sound; a whippet-thin, dark-haired man with soulful deep brown eyes that sparkled with daring and humour, reaching out to him, desperate to reach him…
Then Luke realised — he could hear that sound, couldn’t he? Not in his dream, but outside, in the real world, in his room!
He startled awake, bolted up in the bed.
But now there was only silence.
Chapter Three
The Terror Of
Travast Polong
A week later, Luke had forgotten all about the strange noise and the dream.
Today was the big day — he was going to meet Peter, who was coming over to collect him and his mum and take them out for lunch. He was determined to make a good impression, and was checking in the mirror. ‘I hope I look okay.’
K-9 was watching. ‘“Okay”,’ he twittered. ‘Definition: adequate but unremarkable quality.’
‘I don’t know how I’m supposed to react,’ Luke confessed. ‘What do I call him? Peter? Mr Dalton? Dad? What if I don’t even like him?’
These were the kind of questions K-9 couldn’t answer. His head dipped a little sadly. ‘Regret I do not have the answers to these questions, Master Luke. Suggest consult another human being.’ There was knock and Sarah Jane stuck her head around the door. ‘Come on, Luke, he’ll be here any moment! Chop chop!’ She was gone in a blur.
‘Right,’ said Luke. He was heading out when a thought occurred. ‘Remember, stay quiet K-9. He mustn’t find out about you, got it?’
‘Understood,’ K-9 whispered.
Rani was trying to think of an excuse to be out on Bannerman Road when Peter arrived. She couldn’t stop herself being curious. She was only human, wasn’t she? It was strange — sometimes Sarah Jane felt more like a friend her own age. They’d been through so much together, so it was only natural she should want to give the new man in her life the once-over. Wasn’t it?
Okay, Rani admitted to herself, I’m just being nosy. I’ll say I’ve left my phone charger in the attic or something, and act surprised when Peter turns up. She opened her front door to see Clyde walking up the road. ‘What are you doing here then?’ she called.
Clyde nodded to Sarah Janes house. ‘Think I left my phone charger in the attic,’ he said, trying to look natural and failing. Rani shot him a look. ‘All right,’ said Clyde. ‘I want a good old look at the mystery man.’
He walked over the road and Rani shot off after him. ‘Hold on, so do I.’
Outside Number 13, Sarah Jane was signing a slip for a deliveryman. He nodded and set off in his van, leaving her with a large cardboard box, which was stained with strange slimy patches. She was about to take it inside when a car pulled up and slipped past into the big drive. Peter waved to her from the driving seat. She waved back, looking a little nervously between him and the box.
‘Oh, hi, Sarah Jane,’ said Clyde casually, nodding to the car. ‘Is that your man?’
Sarah Jane looked between him and Rani, as if they were the last people she wanted to see. ‘What are you doing here?’
Before they could answer, the side of the cardboard box bulged. Sarah Jane’s face fell. ‘Oh no!’
Peter approached, holding a big bunch of flowers. ‘Hello!’ he called brightly, holding them out to Sarah Jane. These are for you.’
Rani thought Peter looked very handsome for a man of more than her dad’s age. He was dark-haired with lively, characterful dark eyes and a pleasant, open face. A good match for Sarah Jane.
Sarah Jane looked between Peter, the flowers and the box, dumbstruck.
‘Everything all right?’ asked Peter.
Instinctively, Rani grabbed the box from Sarah Jane. There was obviously something strange in it, something she didn’t want Peter to see. It was quite light for its size. ‘Oh, thanks for looking after that for me,’ she bluffed. ‘Come on Clyde.’ She started walking back over the road.
Clyde was looking uneasily at the box. He’d definitely seen it move. ‘But what’s in there —’
Rani glared at him.
‘Oh right, yeah,’ he said brightly. He nodded to Peter, and followed Rani.
Sarah Jane took the flowers from Peter, snapping back to normality. ‘Peter, they’re lovely. Thank you!’
Peter looked curiously at her. ‘Are you sure you’re okay?’
On the other side of the road, Clyde and Rani were heading for the door of the Chandras’ house — when it opened, and Rani’s mum Gita came out. She looked past them, her face a picture of unabashed nosiness. ‘Ooh!’ she said. ‘Is that Sarah’s man arriving?’ Gita had an unfortunate habit of forgetting Sarah Jane’s full name.
‘Mum!’ said Rani. ‘Have you got no shame?’
‘At least we were trying to be subtle,’ said Clyde. He nodded to the box and asked Rani, ‘What is that?’
‘How should I know?’ replied Rani, taking the box into the house.
Gita continued to stare over at Sarah Jane and Peter. It was about time Sarah got herself a man, she was thinking. And this Peter looked a bit of all right, at least from a distance…
Rani put the box down in the living room, and quickly ducked back out. She wasn’t going to let her mum embarrass her. She could worry about what was in the strange box later.
The side of the box bulged, as if something inside was trying to get out.
‘You must be Luke,’ said Peter, shaking hands.
‘Nice to meet you, Mr Dalton,’ said Luke.
‘Please, call me Peter,’ he said. ‘I’ve heard a lot about you. You’re the apple of your mums eye, I can tell you.’ He smiled at Sarah Jane, then looked up at the big house. ‘This is your house? Amazing place.’
Over the road, Gita was staring at Peter. ‘Blimey, quite dishy,’ she said. ‘She’s done all right for herself.’
Clyde gave a grunt of approval. ‘He’s got a cool car.’ He found himself feeling oddly protective of Sarah Jane.
Gita couldn’t resist any longer. She had to know more. She breezed over the road, making a very bad job of just passing by.
Rani emerged from the house just in time to see this. ‘Mum, come back!’ she hissed, to no avail. Despairing, Rani dragged Clyde back into the house.
‘Oh, morning, Sarah,’ said Gita as she cast a beadily approving eye over Peter. ‘Just popping to the shop. Want anything?’
‘No thanks,’ said Sarah Jane, who was used to this kind of behaviour from Gita, and wasn’t fooled for a moment. ‘Peter, this is Gita from over the road.’
‘Ooh, Peter and Gita, it rhymes, funny!’ giggled Gita.
‘Gita, nice to meet you,’ said Peter, shaking her hand.
‘Pretty flowers,’ said Gita. ‘I run a flower shop, my darling, Bloomin’ Lovely on the parade, drop in, I’ll give you a discount.’ She winked at Peter. ‘I do lovely displays for weddings!’
‘And that’s quite enough of that, thank you,’ said Sarah Jane.
‘Well, I’ll be off then,’ said Gita, heading left.
‘The shop’s that way, Mrs Chandra,’ said Luke, pointing in the other direction.
‘Oh yeah,’ said Gita. ‘Well. See you later!’
As she bustled off, Peter gestured to his car. “Shall we get going?’
‘Let me just pop these in some water,’ said Sarah Jane, going back in to her house.
‘Okay, he looks all right,’ said Clyde as he and Rani entered Rani’s living room.
Then he broke off. The mysterious cardboard box had definitely twitched.
He turned to Rani. ‘Did that just move again?’
Suddenly, the side of the box bulged again — and a veiny eye on a long flexible stalk jabbed out.
Up in Luke’s bedroom over the road, K-9’s sensors twirled. ‘Alien activity detected in vicinity Alert!’ he said urgently, heading for the door. This was an emergency. He couldn’t stay quiet now.
He pushed o
pen the door and trundled on to the landing. The stairs would have been a problem for his predecessors — but he was K-9 Mark 4, kitted out with some impressive new features.
‘Activating hover mode,’ he said, and with a hiss of air he rose from the landing, angled himself correctly, and flew neatly down the stairs.
Clyde and Rani backed away as a prong punched out of the box, packing material flying everywhere.
‘Whatever it is, I hope it’s harmless!’ said Clyde.
‘Sarah Jane wouldn’t have let me take it if it was dangerous,’ said Rani, hoping this was true.
With a final crash, the box was torn apart — and a strange slimy creature, something like a cross between a lobster, a slug and an insect — burst out. It looked terrified.
‘Stay calm!’ said Rani. ‘We’re going to help you.’
The creature’s eye fixed on her. It quivered, jibbered and squeaked nervously.
Then it shot out of the living room, through the hall and out of the front door.
Clyde swallowed — today more than ever, Sarah Jane needed things to look normal. And now this!
Sarah Jane was closing the door of her house — when suddenly K-9 burst out, his tail antenna wagging wildly. ‘Emergency! Alien activity detected, Mistress!’
‘What?!’ Sarah Jane looked over, panic stricken, to where Luke and Peter were chatting by the car. ‘K-9, shut up! Get back inside, he mustn’t see you! It’s all meant to be normal!’
But K-9 was not to be stopped. ‘Alert, Mistress!’ he cried and trundled past her, out towards the street.
Luke couldn’t believe his eyes. ‘K-9!’
‘Previous instructions overridden, Master Luke, danger!’ said K-9, trundling in the direction of the Chandras.
Peter stared at him. ‘What’s that?’
‘Er…’ said Luke, catching Sarah Jane’s eye. ‘It’s mine. It’s a toy. Comes from Japan, robot dog, K-9, get it?’
‘But it talks,’ said Peter. ‘It spoke to you.’
‘No, it comes programmed with phrases,’ said Luke.
‘Do not look at me,’ chirped K-9 unhelpfully as he passed Peter. ‘Everything is normal.’
Peter boggled after K-9 as he trundled across the road.
‘It’s a prototype,’ said Luke quickly. ‘It always finds its way home again.’
Peter smiled at Sarah Jane as she rejoined them. ‘I think I’d like one of those.’
‘Let’s go then,’ said Sarah Jane, walking quickly to Peter’s car.
‘Alert, alert!’ K-9 called.
Peter opened the driver’s seat door of the car. ‘The toys kids have got nowadays, computers and things, it’s incredible,’ he said.
Over his shoulder, Sarah Jane saw Clyde and Rani rummaging in the bushes outside the Chandras’ house — and then suddenly, the alien burst from the undergrowth, shooting up the path towards K-9.
‘Remember that thing with the horse?’ said Peter. ‘I thought it was the best thing in the world, you had to put stuff on its back and —’
‘Alert! Alert!’ cried K-9.
The alien squeaked and dashed away.
Peter was about to turn round — and see everything.
Sarah Jane grabbed him. ‘Buck-a-roo! Yes, it was great, wasn’t it, and then there was Meccano, of course, and hula hoops, and those dolls with the string thing. She grabbed him by the arm and virtually bundled him into the car.
‘Let’s go!’
‘Yeah, I’m starving,’ said Luke.
The car pulled away from Bannerman Road — and just a second later Clyde, Rani and K-9 raced down the road after the alien.
‘Come back here!’ cried Clyde.
Half an hour later, Luke, Sarah Jane and Peter were in a pizza restaurant on the other side of Ealing. Sarah Jane was pleased to see that Peter and Luke seemed to be getting on, though she couldn’t help but be worried about what might be going on back home.
Luke was telling Peter about his future plans. ‘I really want to go to university, but I think I’d also like to work on my own projects Suddenly Sarah Jane’s phone rang. She looked at the screen and saw who was calling. ‘Better get this, sorry,’ she told them and hurried off to a quiet corner where she answered the call.
‘Ram?’
Clyde slammed a big garden waste bin down on the floor of the attic, right in front of Mr Smith. Muffled squeaking and jabbering came from inside. There you go, my son!’
‘We got it,’ Rani told Sarah Jane over the phone. ’What is it?’
‘He’s called Travast Polong,’ said Sarah Jane. ‘Not evil, just trouble. I saw him on eBay. The seller had no idea what he was, turns out he was in his dormant cycle.’
‘He would choose today to wake up,’ said Rani.
‘Get Mr Smith to open up a link to Polongus and they’ll transmat him home,’ said Sarah Jane.
‘Already on it,’ said Rani.
‘Polongus receiving now? said Mr Smith. ‘Earth transmitting now.’
A glow surrounded the waste bin and it disappeared.
‘Problem solved,’ Rani told Sarah Jane. ‘So you have fun, right?’
Luke was relieved that Peter was such easy company. Like Sarah Jane, there was something slightly formal and old-fashioned about him, but also something young and dynamic. They made a very good couple.
Right now they were talking about Sarah Jane. ‘Must be being a journalist,’ Peter was saying, ‘she always has to know everything about everything.’
‘Yes, that is so true!’ said Luke, smiling.
Sarah Jane was walking back. ‘Watch this,’ Peter told Luke playfully.
‘You boys okay?’ asked Sarah Jane, taking her seat.
‘Yeah, Luke and I were just discussing —’ Peter broke off. ‘Oh, no, never mind, it’s not important.’
‘No, go on, what?’ asked Sarah Jane.
‘It doesn’t matter, Mum, it was nothing,’ said Luke, playing along.
‘No, go on, what were you talking about?’ Sarah Jane persisted. ‘Tell me. Come on.’
She caught the look of amusement that passed between them, and couldn’t help laughing too. ‘Come on, what’s so funny? What?’
Three happy people. Sarah Jane and her son, and the man in her life. The perfect match.
Someone was watching them. Not in the restaurant, but out in the vortex, that mysterious region where time and space are one, through the poly-directrix lenses of a scanner screen. The picture flared as the coordinates slipped again.
The final image the watcher glimpsed as the image broke up was the laughing face of Sarah Jane.
And it broke his hearts to see it.
Chapter Four
The House Of Mystery
In the few days since they’d met Peter — however briefly — Rani had noticed something unusual in Clyde’s manner. Outwardly he was as positive and enthusiastic about the new man in Sarah Janes life as she was. But he was also unusually quiet, and she often caught him staring at nothing-in-particular, apparently deep in thought, which was very unlike him.
With more exams coming up, Clyde had come round to her house to revise, and now he was sat before her laptop at the kitchen table. Rani turned from getting a couple of cola cans from the fridge and saw him looking intently at the screen. On the screen was a photo of a street.
‘What’s that?’ she asked.
‘Just being nosy,’ said Clyde. ‘Looking up Peter’s gaffe. 120 Christchurch Walk, W4…’ He clicked the cursor on the photo and the street view shifted to show a big detached house.
‘Nice place,’ said Rani.
‘Weird, though,’ said Clyde, pointing out a detail of the image. ‘There’s a FOR SALE sign.’ He zoomed in closer. ‘And newspapers in the window. It looks empty.’
‘The picture could have been taken months back,’ said Rani.
‘No, look,’ said Clyde, indicating a date in the corner. ‘It says it was taken three weeks ago.’
‘I’ll ask Sarah Jane, then,’ said Rani.
Clyde frowned. ‘But Luke told me, she’s never been to his place.’ He looked Rani straight in the eye. ‘Let’s go round there.’
Rani laughed. ‘Are you joking?’
‘Just to have a look,’ said Clyde.
Rani sighed. ‘Oh, I know what you’re thinking. Clyde, Peter is not an alien!’
‘I know,’ said Clyde. ‘K-9 scanned him, I’m not saying that. But Sarah Jane’s loaded, right? All that money her aunt left her, the house, what if he wants to get his hands on it?’
‘He’s a partner in a law firm, he earns thousands,’ said Rani. Her suspicions about Clyde’s withdrawn state were being confirmed. ‘I know why you’re doing this. You don’t want things to change. Neither do I. But Sarah Jane’s happy, isn’t that important?’
Clyde got up and grabbed his coat. ‘And I want her to stay happy.’
Sarah Jane and Peter were back at their favourite restaurant. The food and wine had been excellent, but Sarah Jane hardly noticed. They’d talked about everything and nothing, as usual. As the waiter cleared away their plates, and Peter took her hand, she couldn’t help but marvel at how relaxed and comfortable she felt with him, how easy it had all been. They were, she thought, like two jigsaw pieces snapping together.
And then Peter took a deep breath and said, ‘I don’t quite know how to say this.’
Sarah Jane cursed herself inwardly for thinking those happy thoughts. Something always had to go wrong. ‘What’s the matter?’
Peter smiled. ‘Nothing’s the matter, that’s it.’ He took another deep breath. ‘Sarah Jane, I love you.’
Sarah Jane felt a warm blushing feeling running through her entire body.
‘Good’ she said, holding his hand tighter. ‘Because the funny thing is, Peter, I love you too.’
Rani watched as Clyde pushed open one of the large, newspaper-covered windows on the ground floor of Peter’s big house in Chiswick. She looked round the garden nervously. This didn’t feel right. ‘It’s someone’s house,’ she said, ‘what if the police find us?’
[Sarah Jane Adventures 09] - The Wedding of Sarah Jane Page 2
