Chapter Seven - Shock

"Rani!"

Clyde sprinted over to the spot where she'd been, feverishly scouring the ground for any sign that she hadn't been an illusion. Her footprints were all that remained.

Clyde looked up. Nothing.

He hurriedly dialled her number into his phone. He knew it by heart. He paced anxiously up and down the pavement, eyes closed. The phone bounced to voicemail. Clyde opened his eyes and inhaled sharply.

He ran over to number 13, barging through the front door.

"Clyde!" Luke said in surprise, but Clyde ignored him and leapt up the stairs three at a time to the attic.

He banged the attic door open loudly. Sarah Jane looked up from her security warning-riddled computer screen and took off her glasses.

"Clyde, I told you not to-"

"Rani's gone!"

"Gone, what do you mean gone?"

"She was standing outside of her house and I heard her scream. I looked over to her and this really bright blue light shone and then there was a wind and she disappeared."

Sarah Jane's eyes widened.

"Mr Smith? I need you!"

"Sarah Jane," the computer said as steam whistled from his keypad.

"Do a full scan of the area."

"Certainly."

"What's happened?" Luke said as he pushed open the door.

"Rani's been taken by the Slitheen," Sarah Jane said.

Luke swore under his breath. Thankfully his mother didn't hear him. He called Maria to tell her.

"What are we going to do?" asked Clyde.

"I'm going to talk to Drahkma and try to reason with her."

"But Rani is up there. She could be dying! Or tortured!"

"I know. I'm working as fast as I can, Clyde," Sarah Jane said. "I'm just as worried as you are."

Clyde nodded and sat down on the couch.

"We have been refused contact with the slitheen spacecraft, Sarah Jane," Mr Smith said.

Sarah Jane raised her eyebrows.

"What could have whisked Rani away? What sort of power would be required for that?" she asked him.

Clyde stood up again. Pacing back and forth seemed more productive than lounging like a potato. Mr Smith and Sarah Jane were conversing about the kind of teleport used to snatch Rani, trying to decipher a way of replicating it. He looked to Luke, who'd just hung up on Maria.

"You alright mate?" Luke asked him.

"Rani's just been kidnapped and we have no way of contacting the evil alien who took her," Clyde said. "Yeah. I'm just fine."

Luke cocked his head to the side slightly.

"Sorry," Clyde said quietly. "Worried."

"Really? I hadn't noticed."

Clyde looked at his phone again. The screen still had Rani's number up from when he'd tried calling her.

"She's going to be okay, mate. We're not going to give up."

Clyde nodded.

"Sarah Jane?" Clyde asked.

"Yes, Clyde?"

"What can I do to help?"

"Can you and Luke take my scanner watch over to where Rani was taken? Mr Smith needs more readings to be accurate."

"Sure."

Sarah Jane undid the strap and flung the watch to Luke, who caught it perfectly.

"Back soon," he promised his mother.

"You be careful, and don't get separated! It only took a minute of being apart from us for Rani to be taken. I have Mr Smith. You two have each other."

Luke nodded, and started towards the door with Clyde. At the exit, he stopped.

"Mum," he said, twisting around to her. "What about Maria? Will she be taken?"

Sarah Jane pursed her lips.

"Mr Smith?" she said without turning from her son. "Do you have that teleport catalyst yet?"

"One more minute is required, Sarah Jane."

"When you get it up, block the signal needed in the greater London area please."

"Of course. If I might add, the power needed to take Rani is very great. The Starship will need a long time to recharge before it can take someone else. Maria will be safe for now."

Luke nodded, his eyes gleaming keenly.

"K9? Keep an eye on the boys from the window, and alert me if anything happens."

"Yes, Mistress," the dog chorused.

Sarah Jane and Luke made eye contact. Clyde could sense a sharp peak in their unspoken conversation; Luke looked away.

"Back soon, Mum," he mumbled, flipping her watch onto his wrist absent-mindedly.

*O*O*O*O*O*O*O*

Clyde jogged across the road and waited impatiently for Luke. He looked up at the attic window at number 13 and gave a small wave to K9 who twiddled his ears in response.

"Where was it she was teleported from?" Luke asked him, watch brandished like a flame.

Before Clyde could answer him, there was a bang of the front door of Rani's house. Luke snapped the watch shut quickly.

"Luke, Clyde!"

"Hello Gita," Clyde said.

"Now tell me my darlings, you haven't seen Rani about, have you?" Gita asked.

"We were…just looking for her actually…but now that you say it out loud…she mentioned she was going into town with Maria earlier on," Luke said cautiously, going up at the end of his sentence so that it was almost a question.

Gita smiled warmly.

"Oh, that's alright then. I might just call her – see if she and Maria want to be picked up."

"I think they were going to walk back," Clyde improvised. "Said they needed the exercise."

"My Rani?"

"…I think they were joking?" he said unconvincingly. Gita didn't notice.

"Ah well," she said brightly. "I don't know what passes for comedy these days. You kids with your facebooks and your tweeters… I don't understand half the things Rani says anymore! Well, I suppose I'll be seeing you two around, then! Drop in if you pass the shop!"

"Bye Mrs Chandra!" Luke called out to her as she slid into her van. She waved cheerily at them.

"She is so funny," Clyde said quietly. Luke chuckled.

"So. Scan the area?"

"Yep," Luke said.

He lifted up the watch lid and pushed a red button. Small red and orange lines danced across the screen and then a series of numbers and diagrams arced over the square. Clyde saw no sense in them at all. Luke raised his eyebrows and inhaled sharply.

"What is it?" Clyde asked him.

"These readings…they're off the scale!" Luke said. "We've gotta show them to Mum quickly. Come on!"