The Vinyl Detective--Noise Floor (Vinyl Detective 7) by Andrew Cartmel

Author:Andrew Cartmel
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags:  
Publisher: Titan

14: RAVE

We turned off the main road onto a side road that led us onto a winding path through the forest. Then the trees on either side of us thinned out to be replaced by fields. All at once, we came around a curve and saw it: a gathering of cars and people in the field to our right. Numbers were hard to estimate with that milling mass in the darkness, revealed by random and dramatic spasms of coloured strobe lights, but my guess was at least a hundred ravers were present.

It had cost someone a great deal of exertion to set this up.

I wondered if everyone present would adamantly swear the year was 1999.

Besides the people and the cars, I saw some small tents, a bouncy castle… and a flying saucer.

It was either the same one from the back garden of Noise Floor or an identical model. And its presence here was somehow reassuring. We seemed to be making progress in our quest to find the wandering Lamb.

Music was blaring from two giant speakers and people were dancing all around, although they seemed to be mostly clustered in the area between and behind the speakers. And as we drew nearer, I saw there was a man standing there bent over turntables and other equipment set up on a folding table. He had long hair and was whipping it around, throwing his head back and forth and dancing like a dervish. It made my neck ache just to watch him. But watch him I did, because he looked startlingly familiar.

“He’s here,” said Rodney. He was trying for hushed awe in his voice, but the volume of the music meant he had to virtually shout. “He’s here, Lil.”

Lilith turned to us, beaming, and said, “It’s Imperium Dart.”

It certainly looked like Imperium Dart. But unfortunately not the Imperium Dart we were searching for, but rather the way he would have looked about a quarter of a century ago. Someone had gone to a lot of trouble to source a lookalike.

But then someone had gone to a lot of trouble all around.

Rodney drove into the field, carefully steering around some dancers who seemed oblivious of his approach, then slowed to a halt, cut the engine and headlights, and scrupulously applied the handbrake. He turned to look at us sitting in the back of his van. His excitement seemed unfeigned. “Welcome, visitors from the future,” he said. “Come on, Lil.”

They opened their doors and hopped out, running off hand in hand and leaving us visitors from the future sitting in the back of a Volkswagen camper van with luminous owls painted on it, in a dark field full of dancing strangers. It’s true that we’d been in a lot worse situations over the years. Nevertheless, none of us were in a hurry to join the party.

“Well, shall we get out?” said Nevada.

“I wish I had some earplugs,” said Agatha, as the music rattled the windows of our vehicle.

I was about to heartily endorse this

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