Sapphire and Steel by Peter J. Hammond

Author:Peter J. Hammond
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Science-Fiction
Publisher: Star Books
Published: 1979-10-14T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter Nine

Steel made no immediate move back on to the landing. He stood at the top of the first flight of stairs and took a careful look at the landing area. Rob noticed that there was no surprise on the man’s face, only the look of calm determination that was always there whenever he was confronted by a difficult and dangerous problem. And it seemed as if this particular problem was of a kind that he was used to, that he might possibly have experienced before. Once more, he was like an expert examining a minefield before attempting to cross it.

Eventually, he called out quietly to the empty landing. ‘Sapphire?’

There was no reply.

Rob looked at the landing, looked at all the familiar objects that once symbolised home. The decorative table, the putty-coloured earthenware jar, the dried plants, the painting of the tumbledown cottage.

‘Sapphire?’ Steel called out a second time, and there was a trace of urgency in his voice now.

‘Yes, Steel?’ Sapphire’s voice seemed so close at hand that Rob was almost startled by it.

‘Just tell me.’ Steel lowered his head in concentration, to listen rather than to watch.

‘I’m in a room. A tiny room,’ said Sapphire’s voice from the deserted landing.

‘Sitting, standing, what?’

‘Standing.’

‘Where are you standing?’

‘Facing a wall. Just a blank piece of wall. It’s an old wall. Old plaster. Beams. It’s very old.’

‘In this house? Rob’s house?’

‘No.’ And there was just the slightest tremor in Sapphire’s voice. Rob heard it. He looked at Steel, but Steel was still listening hard, still concentrating.

‘You haven’t changed your position?’

‘No,’ replied the unseen Sapphire. ‘I’m standing exactly as I was when I was last in the house with you.’

Steel raised his head quickly. ‘You’re still in the house, Sapphire.’

‘Yes, Steel.’

‘Keep remembering that.’ He looked hard at the landing now. ‘And don’t change that position. Don’t move at all. Don’t make yourself a part of that room. Do you understand?’

‘Yes, Steel.’ Sapphire’s voice said, with a slight exclamation, like annoyance, like self-reproach.. ‘We walked right into it, didn’t we? I walked into it.’ And Rob sensed the touch of nervousness in that voice and it worried him.

‘Don’t think of that. You’re still in the house.’ Steel raised his voice as he drove home the warning. ‘Remember that you’re still in this house with us. Right?’

There was no answer.

‘Sapphire?’

The reply was only a second or two late but, to Rob, the emptiness of the landing made it seem interminable. ‘Yes, I heard that, Steel,’ said the trapped voice.

‘Good.’ Steel seemed to relax slightly. He then looked up at the landing space once more. ‘Now, from where you stand, describe that room to me.’

‘It’s a — well, its like part of an old cottage.’ Sapphire’s voice said from the landing of the house. ‘A scullery. Yes, a scullery. A scullery in an old cottage. Not a — not a very tidy place. It seems a bit ramshackle.’

Her words reminded Rob vaguely of the picture. He was about to glance up and across at it when Steel spoke again.

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