Chapter 4
The silence was deafening. That was the only way to describe it. Absolutely deafening. It was a silence he had never experienced before, and he'd heard silence.
Real silence. The silence out in space when one's radio was malfunctioning.
But here, now, this was a thick, solid silence, as if he was surrounded by impenetrable walls that cut off every single noise.
There was nothing. No footsteps, no traffic, nothing. He could hardly hear his own breathing, and for one moment he had the terrible thought that perhaps he was not actually breathing.
He was almost too afraid to open his eyes or to move even an inch, for fear that he would find himself in some tiny, coffin-like space, confined and trapped and captured by the alien. Then, he heard it. A small cry, more of distress than terror. Marie.
And as he heard her, his strained senses became aware of her touch, of her small hand in his, her little body leaning against him, as if she was clinging to him for protection.
'Marie?' He risked his sanity, opened his eyes and looked at her. His voice sounded loud in the unnatural quiet. 'Marie?' he said again, more softly.
He couldn't really understand what she said to him. Her words were distorted by her muffled sobs but he held her tightly and tried to comfort her. Something had happened. Something terrible.
He didn't know yet what it was, but he knew that they were both in a dangerous situation. He stood up, and scooped her into his arms. She was too distraught to walk and he had to get her to safety.
And then he realised what else was wrong.
They were alone. Totally, utterly alone.
Not one person to be seen. No-one. Even though there had been several groups of people in the distance, and crew members and actors walking between the sound stages just moments before.
All gone. No traces left. No discarded items, or dropped valuables. No indication that everyone had fled the scene and gone elsewhere. And if they had, he would have heard them, surely?
Surely.
And then he noticed the stillness. The complete absence of movement. No tree branches moving, no discarded papers or bits of rubbish scampering across the pavements. When he left the sound stage he had noticed the breeze, a gentle movement of air, just enough to feel on your face and to stir the leaves and papers.
But now, nothing. He couldn't feel any sensation of air at all. It was highly unlikely that it had dropped so quickly, so completely. So, why could he not feel the coolness of the wind, or see any motion?
He hurried as quickly as possible to his studio office, carrying the child almost absentmindedly, hoping against hope that he would meet someone, anyone who would be able to give some rational explanation as to why everywhere was silent, abandoned.
But it was a forlorn hope and he knew it.
Knew that they were on their own, and that there was an alien out there, somewhere, nearby.
And probably following them.
Miss Ealand was not at her desk. His office door was open and he went in. Despite all his attempts, the door would not close. He opened the cigarette box.
'Straker'
Nothing. No response. He flicked the switch anyway. Still nothing.
He wasn't really surprised that the elevator didn't work. It would have been more of a surprise if it had, he reasoned. Nothing could startle him now.
And yet, it was still a shock to finally enter the Control Room having gone through one of the hidden access stairways, and to find the very heart of SHADO empty and deserted just like the studio.
Every system was out. Every link, every line, every console; all powered up, lights green, but silent, screens flickering with soundless lines of static. And every operator's chair empty.
He put her on his chair at the conference table, and tried to contact Moonbase, Skydivers, mobile units, anyone. Nothing.
The absence of any noise was overwhelming, overpowering, and he sat, resting his head in his hands as he tried to think, to understand what had happened. A sudden movement startled him and he looked up.
The child, Marie, he reminded himself, had come over to stand in front of his desk and was peering at him through the crystal obelisk.
Her small face was distorted by the refraction of the glass and despite his concerns he smiled, gently amused. She looked up at him and smiled back, a shy, but still nearly tearful smile.
He sighed. 'Come on Marie, let's see if we can find anything to help explain what's going on.' Standing up, he held out his hand to her and took her out into the corridor that led to the Staff Lounge.
He had hoped to find someone, well, not really hoped; he knew the prospect of finding anyone was extremely slight, but he was trying to put a brave face on what was an increasingly serious situation.
The Staff Lounge, accessed from corridor 14, was close to the accommodation area and opened onto the corridor through an archway. It made for a more informal setting; staff tended to wander in and out unnoticed, and Straker was pretty sure that he and Marie would be able to get inside the lounge without any difficulty.
It was about the only thing that he was fairly sure of at this moment in time.
But there was no-one in the lounge area. Just the TV screen flickering soundlessly with that annoying blue haze as if the signal was being subverted, subjugated, somehow. He couldn't even get the damned thing switched off. It was as if nothing electrical would respond.
Marie held his hand tightly, her tears stilled for now as she looked around the empty space. He was glad that she seemed to be more amazed at the situation than afraid. He himself was beginning to feel the cold dread of fear. What had happened to them? And would they ever get back to reality.
He was increasingly concerned about the inability to use any normal equipment. Anything electrical seemed to being operating outside his control, and sliding doors that were closed simply refused to open. He wondered what else would be denied them. Would they be able to get anything to eat or drink for example?
'Thirsty?' he asked her and she nodded, mutely. He realised that so far she had not spoken a word to him since they had entered SHADO HQ. Perhaps she was too scared to speak. 'Let's see what we can find to drink. Hopefully there might be some chocolate as well.'
She smiled at him, and he grinned back at her, pleased to see that she was beginning to respond.
The dining area, just off the lounge, provided food at all hours for the SHADO staff. He took her inside and looked around. It too was deserted. He tried the chiller cabinet but the electrically operated magnetic door refused to open.
He began to feel the first real pangs of worry, but then, in an open store room he found some bottles of water. He picked up a couple of bottles and found some chocolate bars on a nearby shelf.
They went back to the lounge to sit on one of the deep leather sofas that were spread through the room.
'Okay Marie. Have a drink and something to eat and we'll see about finding where everyone has got to.' He handed her his handkerchief and she wiped her eyes.
Then she looked askance at him, her green eyes staring at his face. 'What's your name?' her voice was light and clear.
'My name? I'm Ed Straker. This is my film studio. Pleased to meet you, Marie.' And he held out his hand to shake hers, formally. She giggled but took his hand and shook it carefully, before tearing the wrapper off the bar of chocolate and taking a healthy bite.
'That's horrible.' The chocolate was spat out as she gave a look of disgust that only a seven year old could make.
'What's wrong with it?' Straker picked up the bar and took a bite. It tasted of nothing. No that was wrong. It tasted as you might imagine dust to taste. Dry and powdery, neither sweet, nor salt nor sour.
The taste of emptiness. Of ashes
The water was the same. As if it had been distilled, even, and it sounded ridiculous but it fitted the taste perfectly, dehydrated. Completely and utterly devoid of any flavour or the ability to rehydrate or refresh.
He persuaded her to drink some water anyway. She scowled at him but did so, reluctantly, just a few sips before she put the bottle down and refused to have any more.
This was going to be a problem he could tell. If he couldn't get her to eat or drink and they were stuck here for any length of time she would soon become dehydrated and weak.
He finished the chocolate bar and sipped from the bottle of water he had opened. And worried. He felt her lean against him, and he put his arm around her and hugged her comfortingly.
And worried some more.