Ghosts

Chapter 2

Based upon Sanctuary, created by Damian Kindler

Hello, all. I have returned. Thank you for being patient.

. . . ~ ~ . . .

"Can you hallucinate?" Will asked, the words falling untactfully out of his mouth. He tried again when Magnus replied with that Magnus-look of hers. "What I mean is: Is it possible, with your programming, for you to hallucinate?"

She thought for a second. She hadn't considered that. She didn't know. She was a computer know, could she hallucinate? "I'm not sure, Will. My programming is based on my brain, but I'm not sure if a computer can simulate a hallucination."

Will frowned. "Well, let's assume, for the sake of argument, that you aren't hallucinating. We'll tackle whether you can or not if it comes to that."

She nodded. "Fair enough."

They had made their way to her - the? - new study. It had a similar home-y / Victorian style to it, as her old study did, but the room was definitely it's own. "Can you explain to me what you saw? What kind of ghost are we talking about? Ghosthunters ghosts? Scooby-Doo ghosts? Hamlet's father?"

"It started as a shadow, a whisper, like someone brushing past me in a crowd. But recently, I can almost see him. It's as if . . . " she paused, searching for the words to describe it. "I see a form, like a penumbra projected onto the space in the room, not a surface."

Will nodded at her vaguely specific - specifically vague? - description.

"Sometimes I can hear him. I can hear him calling my name. It sounds as if he's so far away, or right on the other side of a thick barrier. His voice is muffled. Yet, I can hear his inflection; he's pleading."

He could tell she was clearly troubled by the entire situation. "So, if you're not hallucinating, and he actually is here somehow, what can you do?"

"What ever is going on, it's against John's will. He wants to materialize here, but he cannot. I suppose Nikola might be able to design something which would induce an electric forcefield and force him to materialize."

"Why can't he materialize?"

Helen shook her head. "I don't know. He should be able to. We're far away enough from large loadstone deposits which would prevent his molecules from coalescing."

"Magnus," he took a step closer to her. "I don't know if it's Druitt or not. But I know that you're seeing something and whatever it is, is real."

"You're sure?"

He nodded. "Positive."

She took a deep breath. "Than he is here."

"Something is here, that's for sure."

"Well, let's bring it to Tesla and Henry, maybe they can come up with something."

"My ears are burning," the Serbian said as he entered the room.

Will groaned audibly. "I thought you two were trying to fix the power fluctuations?"

"We were," Henry grumbled. "We were halfway to my lab when-"

Tesla cut him off, "When I asked why we weren't going to my lab."

"You don't have a lab," Will said.

"Exactly!" Tesla turned to Magnus. "You built a Sanctuary out of advanced Praxian technology and you didn't build me a lab?"

"Nikola, don't see it as an insult, but lack of a tether. I didn't want you to feel confined."

His hand flew to his chest. "You know my heart!"

"But, I am going to ask you to stay a while longer, the power fluctuations aren't the only problem."

Her tone must have interested Henry, because he stepped closer to Magnus. "What's up?"

"I think John Druitt is here. I think he's unable materialize and he may be the reason for our power troubles.

"So, we should do what?" Tesla asked. "Use an EM pulse to permanently scatter his energy?"

Magnus gave him an indulgent smile. "I want you to help him materialize."

"You want us let Jack the Ripper in?" Henry asked.

"Helen," Tesla said in a quieter tone than Will was used to hearing him use. "I like John as much as the next person. There's probably only one person in the world who likes him more than I do, but he has proven - time and again - that he is working towards his own goals."

"Gee, who does that sound like?" Will asked.

Tesla turned to him. "I'm not a homicidal maniac who sided with another homicidal manic in an effort to change the past." He turned back to Magnus. "He's reckless and untrustworthy, even more so than I am."

"Which is through no fault of his own," Magnus countered.

"You're right, it's not, and that's sad. He's as much a victim as all his victims. That doesn't change the fact that he killed them. It's not that I want to kill him. I want to help him. I tried. I've tried twice, which is two more times than you have. Both times, he became violent again. The second time, much faster. When you got him from Cambodia he was only partially sane when he was with you and he deteriorated extremely quickly once you left."

"I'm not trying to suggest that this will be easy. I'm saying that he was once a good man and we shouldn't make him suffer anymore. If we can bring him here, I'm confident we can somehow free him from his elemental. And therefore we should."

Tesla crossed his arms and sighed heavily. "I'll need a lab."

. ~ .

Two weeks, eleven power fluctuations, and six Druitt "ghost" sightings later, they sat in the main lab.

Nikola had a glass of wine, with two open bottles (one of them empty) and a third unopened. Will and Henry played a lazy game of catch with the new baseball Abby had gotten Will. She had bought him one signed by Mickey Mantel, but one he could play with too. Erika, who had arrived the day before, was reading a medical journal.

And Helen . . . Helen was pacing. She hadn't been one for pacing while she was alive, but she found herself quite nervous. She hadn't seen John Druitt in 114 years. At the time he was essentially sacrificing himself for her. Now . . . She had no idea if the energy creature was still within him. She didn't know where he had been in the past year. She didn't know why he couldn't materialize here.

The lights flickered. Everyone started and became attentive.

She saw him. Sort of. His form was still shadow, though he was becoming a little more coherent with each appearance. She heard his voice. A screaming whisper, a whispering scream, a call for help, her name. He was calling her name. Like music on the wind, she heard his voice in her ear, calling her name. Pleading with her.

"Now, Nikola! For God's sake!"

Nikola activated the energy field and John's characteristic purple flash and smoke didn't appear. Instead Helen could almost see particles rushing at each other, aligning with the forced energy field which they now inhabited. The particles rushed together and formed him.

He wore the dark slacks and jacket he had when she saw him last, in these caves, one or one hundred fourteen years ago.

He turned and saw her. His face held an expression of fear, pain, anguish, agony, terror, and a thousand other emotions. He dropped to his knees, clutching at the floor, wailing sounds trying to escape from his throat.

"John!" She rushed to him.

He reached out and grabbed her leg, clutched her to him. "Helen," her name came from his lips as a cry of anguish.

She dropped to her knees and he threw himself at her, pawing at her hair, at her back, burying his face in her neck. "Helen," he sobbed again.

"John, I'm here."

"Am I?" he asked, not pulling himself from her.

"John, you're here."

"Am I here?" he repeated.

"You're right here, John, here with me."

"Am I real?" he asked.

She hesitated for a moment. It occurred to her that he may not have materialized between now and a year ago. "You are real, Montague John Druitt. Real, tangible, corporeal." She held his head to her shoulder. "You are real."

. . . ~ ~ . . .