by Terry Nation
Halfway across the great cavern, Kovak sat down for a moment to peel some of the accumulated threads from his shoes. He pulled away the worst of it and then tried to stand up, but couldn’t. He was firmly stuck by the seat of his trousers. He used his hands to try and push himself up, and immediately they too were meshed in the threads.
Rebecca and Captain ‘K’ each took one of his arms and heaved. Kovak came free with the sound of a sticky plaster being ripped off.
“Let’s get out of here,” he said. “Fast.”
But before they could move, they were startled by a whirring sound from above. They looked up. The millions of tiny, blue lights were moving.
Suddenly, two of them swished past Rebecca’s face. They weren’t lights at all. They were eyes. The eyes of small bat-like creatures. The Silkies. The whirring sound was the noise of their fluttering wings.
Within seconds the air was filled with them. They swooped and dived and flapped around the travellers’ heads. Rebecca threw her arms over her face.
“Run!” shouted Grisby.
But running was impossible.
Behind each of the Silkies trailed an endless thread of sticky gossamer. As they flew among the stumbling, terrified group, they wound the thread around them like a web. Around their arms and legs. Through their hair. Over their eyes. The web grew thicker and stronger as strand joined strand, spinning itself into strings, twisting itself into ropes, weaving itself into sheets.
Rebecca clawed the cobwebs from her face and saw that, like herself, her friends were blanketed by the mesh. Captain ‘K’ and Grisby blindly blundered into one another, and were immediately locked together by the strands.
Kovak, using all his strength, pulled an arm free and ripped some of the sheeting away, desperately trying to reach a hand into his pocket. Rebecca forced herself towards him. She managed to rip some of the veiling off Kovak, giving him a chance to find what he wanted.
He pulled his hand from his pocket, his fingers clutching a box of wax matches.
“Strike one!” he yelled at Rebecca.
Already the matchbox was becoming covered with the threads. Kovak forced the box open, and with her free hand Rebecca groped for a match. Several spilled onto the floor, but at last she managed to light one.
At once, the thread around her hands sizzled and shrivelled away. There was no flame or smoke, the web simply disappeared.
Kovak tore himself free and struck a second match. This seemed to terrify the Silkies who fluttered high into the air, where they waited like a great cloud, ready to swoop again.
Rebecca and Kovak moved to the swaying white bundle that was Grisby and Captain ‘K’. The great cocoon fell away at the touch of the flame. Kovak threw a lighted match onto the ground ahead of them, melting a clear path. They started to run.
Staying close to the roof of the cavern, the swarming Silkies followed them. Kovak kept striking matches and tossing them in front of him. They had now nearly reached the door, and safety.
Kovak felt in the box for another match. There was only one left.
The Silkies seemed to sense that it was again safe to attack. They swooped.
“It’s the last match,” screamed Kovak. “Give me something to light!”
Captain ‘K’ hesitated, but only for a second. He tugged his GHOST stick from his belt.
“Light it,” he shouted.
Rebecca felt a surge of panic.
“You can’t burn the GHOST stick,” she said.
“Light it,” said the Captain forcefully. “It’s our only chance.”
Kovak struck the match and put the flame to the end of the GHOST stick. The GHOST wood was as dry as tinder and caught immediately. The Silkies retreated towards the roof.
Swirling the flame in front of him, Captain ‘K’ led his friends to the huge, iron door.
Grisby tried to pull it open. It didn’t move. Kovak went to help him.
“Hurry,” shouted the Captain.
He held on to the stick until the flame was scorching his finger tips, then he dropped it. Instantly, the Silkies swept down again.
But now they were too late. The door had been forced open just wide enough to allow the friends to squeeze through. Captain ‘K’ waited until they were all inside, then followed them. Grisby pulled the door shut.
The four friends staggered forward and collapsed on to the floor.
Rebecca looked across at Captain ‘K’. Burning the GHOST stick was the greatest sacrifice he could have made. Mister Glister had offered him gold and diamonds for it. It was the only one in this whole world. The only weapon the GHOSTS feared, and now it was gone.
“I’m very sorry,” said Rebecca softly.
“It belonged to my father,” Captain ‘K’ said, staring at the floor.
“It saved our lives,” Grisby murmured.
Captain ‘K’ nodded. He seemed numb.
“Well, when we find the GHOST tree you’ll be able to cut another one,” Kovak said in an effort to cheer him up.
“I’m beginning to think we’ll never find it,” said Captain ‘K’ miserably.
They all lapsed into silence again.
Rebecca got to her feet. They were in a small, square room. One wall was made from rock and contained the door through which they had entered. The other three were of metal. Polished and shining.
“Well there’s nothing frightening about this room,” she thought gratefully.
And then she had a second thought. The only way out was through the door into the cavern of the Silkies!
She walked around the three smooth walls. There was no crack or gap or join. She edged to the corner where the smooth wall formed a right angle with the rock wall. Set into the polished surface was a small, red button—marked ‘PUSH’.
So Rebecca pushed it.
There was a ‘Sssssssshhhhhhhuuuuuuussssssshhhhhhhh’, and a smooth, rumbling sound. Two metal doors slid into sight, closing across the cavern wall. They clunked together. There was a whir of machinery, a slight lurch, and a falling sensation. Suddenly Rebecca realized where they were.
In a lift. And going down.
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
Mister Glister remained camped at the foot of the great Needle Rock for a long time, waiting for Rebecca and her friends to descend.
He stood with his head thrown back staring up at the tip of the pinnacle hoping for some sight of them. The seconds became minutes and the minutes hours, and with every passing moment his temper worsened.
When finally it became clear that the fugitives had somehow escaped, he erupted into a volcano of rage. And what made it worse was that after all the time spent staring upward, the muscles in his neck had stiffened so that he couldn’t bend his head forward again.
Able to see nothing but the sky, he lurched around in a frenzy of wrath. He stamped his feet, tore down the tent, broke the china and kicked blindly at anything that came within range. Then, exhausted, he sat on the ground and cried. His head was tilted so far back that the tears ran into his hair.
Lurk and Cringer advanced on him cautiously. They looked down into his face.
“Nearly tea-time, Sir,” said Cringer. “Would you like me to drop some bread and jam into your mouth?”
Mister Glister stared up through brimming tears. “Just get my head straight,” he said in a voice that would frighten tigers.
Cringer cupped his hands beneath the back of Mister Glister’s head. From the front Lurk pressed hard against his Master’s shoulders. Both men pushed and pulled with all their might.
Mister Glister’s head shot forward with a crack. His scream of pain echoed around the valley like a mighty trumpet call.
On a distant hillside a misty muster of GHOSTS heard the cry. Like oily shadows, they changed direction and slithered towards Mister Glister’s camp. Silent as falling night, they spread in a circle around it. Then, like the tightening fingers of
a hand, they closed in.
And when the hand opened, Lurk, Cringer and Mister Glister were prisoners of the GHOSTS.
* * *
The whirring sound slowed. The falling sensation ended. With a tiny shudder, the lift stopped.
The four friends stood in a tight huddle, staring nervously at the doors. They began to open.
Beyond was a perfectly circular opening. The entrance to a large pipe that stretched away as far as the eye could see.
“Looks safe enough,” said Kovak.
They stepped out of the lift. The doors hissed shut behind them. Rebecca felt a light breeze stir her hair.
The breeze became a wind. It grew more and more powerful, pulling them off balance and into the pipe. The mighty vacuum drew them faster and faster into the tube, until they were hurtling along at incredible speed.
“What’s happening?” Kovak yelled against the roar of the wind.
“I think we’re being sucked along the tube of a giant vacuum cleaner!” Rebecca shouted.
The great tube twisted and turned like the body of a snake as the four travellers were swept along on a cushion of air.
“Look out!” shouted Grisby.
But the warning was too late. Rebecca had only a glimpse of the black opening that marked the end of the tube before she was swept through it.
The vacuum switched off. Rebecca felt herself slowing down. She and Kovak collided with Captain ‘K’ and Grisby, and in a writhing tangle of arms and legs they stopped.
They were bundled together in what looked like the bottom of a giant plastic bag. There was a zipping sound and a large gap appeared in the side. Arms reached inside and grabbed at the dazed quartet. They were pulled out like fish from a net.
It took them a moment to gather their senses and realize they were surrounded by a group of very strange looking people. They were not particularly frightening. Just odd.
Rebecca noticed that they all had one thing in common. Their jaws and mouths were twisted into very strange shapes. Their lips were up on one side, and down on the other. Their chins seemed to point towards their shoulders.
One of them opened his mouth to speak. His tongue was curled like a corkscrew. His speech was difficult to understand.
“Crum rith wus,” he said.
“Did you say ‘Come with us’?” Rebecca inquired.
The man with the corkscrew tongue nodded. He led the way along a corridor to a heavy, black door, which he opened and ushered them through. As they stepped inside, the door was closed behind them. They heard the sound of keys turning and bolts being driven home.
They were in a great, gloomy library. The four vast walls were covered from floor to ceiling with books. None of them had ever seen so many books before.
Apart from the books, the room was empty. High in the centre of the ceiling was a small, dusty skylight. The glass was so crusted with grime that hardly any light penetrated into the room.
Rebecca gazed around the books in awed admiration. She liked books. “You could learn anything you wanted to know from all these books,” she breathed.
Immediately, Grisby started pulling books from the shelves and flipping through their pages.
“What are you looking for?” asked Kovak.
“A book that tells us how to get out of here,” said Grisby.
There was a sound from the door. A panel in its top half swung back. There were bars across the opening. Behind the bars was a face.
It smiled at them.
It was the largest mouth Rebecca had ever seen. So large she didn’t even notice the other features. The face seemed to be just one great, big mouth.
“Well, well, well,” said the mouth, forming its words with great care. “Always nice to welcome new slaves.”
“Slaves?” echoed Rebecca.
“Right,” answered the mouth. “If you don’t pass the tests, you stay here and work for me for the rest of your lives!”
Rebecca remembered the riddle on the map. “You’re the Tongue Twister Monster,” she exclaimed.
“Right again,” said the mouth, smiling still more broadly. “You might have noticed that the slaves who brought you here have some difficulty in speaking. That’s because they spend their lives trying to invent new tongue twisters that I won’t be able to say. They’ll never succeed of course.”
“Er…what is a tongue twister?” inquired Grisby nervously.
“A tongue twister is a group of words that is extremely difficult to say,” answered the mouth. “You have to repeat the words three times quickly. I’ll give you an example. You. The one in the baggy red suit. I’ll give you an easy one to start with. Say…‘Peggy Babcock’ three times quickly.”
Captain ‘K’ licked his lips and then rattled, “Peggy Babcock…Pebby Badcock…Peppy Cabdock.”
“Failed,” roared the mouth triumphantly. “Now, you in the fur coat,” it said. “Try…‘Sheep sleep sweetly in sheer silk sheets’.”
Grisby cleared his throat. He began. “Shweep sleet sleetly in sheer shilk sheeps…Sweep steet weetly in seer stilk sweets…Sheet sweep sleetly in sweer swilk sweets!”
Grisby grinned at his friends. “Not bad, eh? Said it perfectly.”
“Rubbish,” shouted the mouth.
“Well, perhaps I did make a little slip,” said Grisby.
Kovak was the next to try.
“Say…‘Pop the salt pot top on Poppy’,” ordered the mouth.
Kovak pursed his lips and tried to speak very precisely.
“Pop the salt pot top on Poppy.”
“Faster,” roared the mouth.
“Pop the salt pot pop on Potty…Pot the salt tot top on Totty.”
“Dreadful,” chuckled the mouth. “Now little girl, let’s see if we can find an easy one for you. Try…‘Red leather yellow leather’.”
Rebecca closed her eyes and concentrated. She formed the words very carefully before she spoke them.
“Red leather yellow leather…Red rether yellow rether…Red rether yerrow rether.”
“Not a hope,” smiled the mouth.
“Does that mean we’re your slaves?” Captain ‘K’ asked.
“No, no, no, no,” the mouth answered. “That was just a demonstration. You have to make up a tongue twister that I can’t say. If you do, I’ll let you go. But I warn you, I’m superb.”
“So would I be,” thought Rebecca, “with a mouth as big as yours.”
The adventurers huddled together in a tight group, trying to invent a tongue twister.
“No hurry,” said the mouth. “There are four of you so you get four chances.”
Rebecca stepped up to the bars in the door.
“Say…‘How the old bold bald owl howled’,” she said carefully.
“Easy peasy,” said the mouth. “How the old bold bald owl howled.” It said it three times without faltering. “One chance gone. Three left,” it added confidently.
“I’ve got one,” said Grisby. He chuckled excitedly. “Oh dear,” he said. “I can hardly say it slowly, never mind fast. This one will have you.”
He chuckled again, then flexed his lips and said haltingly, “Say…‘Green screen grim scream’.”
The mouth raced through the words with total precision. There was no trace of a mistake.
“Two down, two to go,” intoned the mouth.
The group had another conference. This time Captain ‘K’ had an idea.
“Say…‘Shall Sheila sell sea shells said the Seal’.”
Three times the mouth sped through the line without hesitation.
“Last chance,” it said menacingly.
“We need to find something really complicated,” whispered Rebecca.
“What’s the point? He’s too good for us,” said Grisby. “We’ll all end up with our tongues twisted like corkscrews.”
Then Rebecca thought of something. It was a trick they used to play on one another at school in a game called ‘Do as I do, Say as I say’. It just might work here.
She stepped up to the door.
“Now this is our last chance, so just let me be sure I’ve got the rules right,” she said. “You have to repeat whatever I say three times very quickly. Exactly what I say. Is that right?”
“Right,” snorted the mouth.
“Very well then,” said Rebecca. “Here we go. ‘Say…we wonder which witch washes watches for the thirty-three free thrush throttlers’.”
The lips of the mouth pursed and then began. “We wonder which witch washes…”
“Wrong!” Rebecca interrupted loudly. “You’ve got it wrong.”
The mouth curled into a snarl.
“I never get it wrong,” it snapped. “I’ll do it again even faster. We wonder which witch washes watches for…”
“Wrong, wrong, wrong!” cried Rebecca. “You were supposed to say exactly what I said. And what I said was ‘Say…we wonder which witch washes watches’. You didn’t say ‘SAY’ at the beginning. We’ve won!”
“Cheating,” roared the mouth. “That’s cheating!”
“No it’s not,” said Captain ‘K’ with great dignity. “You made the rules and Rebecca just happened to outsmart you.”
“We beat you,” said Kovak. “You promised you’d let us go.”
“Never,” pouted the mouth. “You cheated and I’m not playing anymore. You can stay locked in there for ever. So there!”
The panel in the top of the door slammed shut and they heard the mouth go muttering away down the hall. Grisby tried the door. It was well and truly locked. They were prisoners.
Rebecca wasted no time. She ran to a shelf and took down two huge volumes of a dictionary. She carried them to the middle of the floor.
“I know how to spell ‘HELP’ if that’s what you’re looking up,” Captain ‘K’ said.
Rebecca hurried back to the shelves and picked out some more books.
“Pick out the biggest books and bring them here,” she ordered.
Though puzzled, the others did as they were told. The pile of books grew swiftly. Rebecca positioned them into neat stacks, and within half an hour they had built a towering pyramid.
Kovak, panting slightly, handed up another armful of books to Rebecca. Balancing carefully, she placed the books like building bricks and clambered on top. Her outstretched fingers just touched the glass of the skylight.
