Chapter VI: "A Great Intelligence"
And so, we reach the end of our story. But not before I tell you its final part. With 'the Doctor' now convinced of a good reason to help me investigate this case, we were now finally together. And I for one was most certainly ready - he was far greater than Mr. Holmes, and all I needed to do was to discover the truth about him to begin our adventure. Likewise, we began our investigation into the mysterious, sentient snow in the vicinity of the Montague Mansion.
Lestrade began making his usual inquiry, while I...investigated. I shouldn't technically have been there, but then again, I had several theories about 'the Doctor' that, if true, would have given me a higher authority to do so. Though I was not sure my theories were correct, my experiences with Mr. Holmes had changed me to the point that I now believe a detective's natural instinct should be considered an authority to the head, and most undeniably the heart. Holmes had helped me find my heart. And it was because of this that I now intruded upon the house in order to investigate this scientific impossibility.
I'd followed my orders precisely as instructed, and found my way into the house's laboratory. I do not regret to admit that I was apprehended by the resident doctor's henchmen, as it helped me discover a fascinating, if tangential, lead: Dr. Simeon believed me to be a work of fiction. He himself was of a hideous countenance. With a miserable face, and a slither of ice in his heart. If I'd known better, I would have mistaken him for something of an Ebenezer Scrooge.
The machine in the middle of the room was a remarkable invention: electricity whizzed and banged, with a huge glass dome in the centre, filled with snow. Like an ordinary snowglobe, if it were electrical. But anyway, upon breaking-in, I was apprehended and questioned. Not just of my credentials, intentions and associations, but of my very existence. Honestly, it's something I still don't understand.
But the mystery of this was increased exponentially by what happened next: there was a knock at the door. I was hidden-away in a cupboard, while they let in the man at the door. It could hear him well-enough. It was 'the Doctor', as I'd expected.
"Ah, yers! Nice office, big Globey Thing!", began the Doctor, as he strode inward, at the sound of footsteps approaching the cupboard that pressed-against my face.
"I enjoy 'The Strand' magazine as much as the next man, but I am quite aware that Sherlock Holmes is a fictional character."
And that is when I began to panic. 'The Doctor' was impersonating Sherlock Holmes, whom he believed, with Dr. Simeon, to be not real. It's at this moment that I realised why he wanted to be associated with me - he was investigating how I could be alive.
"This is your business card - it says so on the front!"
"What are you doing here?"
"This!" cried the Doctor. "Wakey wakey!" This was followed by the sound of many large, singular clangs, presumably on the snow globe in the middle of the room.
And now, yet another character enters the equation.
"We are The Intelligence" uttered a deep, protruding voice. I could tell purely from this they were in-fact Dr. Simeon's masters, not servants.
"Ooh, talking snow! I love new things."
"You are not of this world?" asked The Intelligence.
"Takes one to snow one!" laughed 'The Doctor'. And just like that, I knew. I knew he wasn't lying, because he didn't know I was listening-in. I had discovered his secret, which also confirmed the higher authority I had suspected. "Let's see...multi-nuclear, crystalline organism, with the ability to mimic what it finds. Looks like snow, isn't snow." I must say, I'd missed this.
"You must leave here now," declared Dr. Simeon, but 'The Doctor' reacted cleverly.
"Shut up, I'm making deductions, it's very exciting!" And it was. Exciting to hear him deduce, mimicking my 'lost' friend, Mr. Holmes, but also painful for him to do so, knowing he was impersonating a character from a book. "What are you? A flock of space crystals? A swarm? The snowmen are foot-soldiers, mindless predators. But you, you're the clever one, you're Moriarty." That was what caused the greatest pain. He knew of Mr. Holmes' death, he knew of Moriarty. He knew the whole story. And he hadn't tried to help me.
It brought to mind several existential discussions. How had he come-into my story? Had I come-out of mine? What is my story? Is it my diary entries? If so, since what point? Perhaps a third-person narrative from an omnipresent narrator? Who was the author?, etc.
His monologue went on for a while, but then, the truth of the matter emerged: the Snowmen weren't enough to take-over, The Intelligence needed a sample of Human DNA in ice form to evolve. And that's how 'The Doctor' worked-out that the frozen governess was now an ice lady, the template for the future of Humankind, in The Intelligence's eyes.
After this, while I was still in the cupboard, 'The Doctor' destroyed the snow globe, which then proceeded to drive Dr. Simeon's body, like a carriage. Except...this is where it gets interesting. It turns-out, the snow fell to this planet naturally, from space. And, during the winter, it froze where it had fallen. One of those places was the Reichenbach Falls, where Mr. Holmes and Prof. Moriarty had fought each-other and lost to the elements. But it appeared that the ice freezing-over that place had somehow brought the Professor back to life, in a mental form, slowly commanding the Dr, Simeon. And this could only mean that Mr. Holmes may too have been resurrected from that abyss.
The main clue as to his true identity arose when the Doctor, having banged-away at the sphere for some time, made a crack, which shout-out toward Dr. Simeon and took over his body.
"You underestimate the power of your words, Doctor! For I really am Moriarty!"
I...could not take it any more. Moriarty's apparent return, 'the Doctor''s impersonation of Mr. Holmes, etc. I became what I suppose was too emotional. And...I shed a few tears. Incidentally, both Prof. Moriarty and Mr. Holmes proved to me that the loss of a friend is far more a powerful feeling than the anger of the villain who killed him.
This next bit is my favourite part. Of everything I have described to you today, what happened next may not have been the most exciting, mysterious, or intriguing, but it was most definitely the most miraculous.
The Intelligence had grown strong over Dr. Simeon pouring his feelings into it. He's an extremely sociopathic person, but I believe he could have been saved if someone would simply open-up to him. But The Intelligence had grown so strong that it had taken-over him. My strong emotional reaction to recent events had been a dominating force in the presence of it.
Once 'The Doctor' had rescued me from the cupboard, he explained that a sadness of that strength had been enough to reduce the Snow to water. It had lost its host, and I had been the next-nearest Human. My current psychological state had liquidised it.
Once the ordeal was over, 'The Doctor' had walked with my through London. He me offered a place in his police box, that it travelled through space and time. I politely declined. I explained to him that if Moriarty had been brought back to life by the Snow, then perhaps Mr. Holmes had been to. The Professor may have been defeated a second time, on this occasion by myself, and although 'The Doctor' may have been the most remarkable man I'd ever met, but there was now hope that Holmes had lived. If I could find him, I could help him.
While 'The Doctor' was saddened that I'd chosen against becoming his new travelling companion, I explained my reasoning. He seemed intrigued by me, as though trying to discover some secret information. I still only mostly trust him.
We shook hands at our goodbye, and the snow began to fall. According to 'The Doctor', it was actually a result of the liquidation process completing and dissipating into the atmosphere. He also explained that "The Intelligence" that been the collective consciousness of Moriarty being used as an energy source for each individual of the Snow. They had done nothing more but feed from his soul. Moriarty was as dead as a doornail. But, he stepped inside his police box, and I swear to you, loyal readers, that what happened next is the honest truth.
That police box simply disappeared. There was a soft, but echoing "bong" sound. It began to glow a golden colour, becoming transparent, phasing in and out again, before the bright lamp atop itself filled the area around it with light, and it dissolved from existence.
Now I had no doubt whatsoever. He really was a traveller in space and time. And now that I knew that, I realised anything was possible. And that meant Holmes really was alive. And it was my job to find him.