Hologram disguises person

‘It’s gone very quiet in here,’ she observed, and indeed the background noise of the ride had gone down to just a few creaks and groans as the equipment settled down. Even the interminable ‘Darling Clementine’ was conspicuous by its absence.

‘They’ve all knocked off,’ shrugged Kevin.

‘Just like that? The miners haven’t knocked off, surely?’

‘Waiting for the night shift to come on, eh?’ answered Kevin cheerfully.

‘I don’t like it. Not one little bit,’ protested Peri.

‘Come on then,’ answered Kevin, shortly, ‘let’s get out of here.’ He motioned for her to lead the way again, and she took a breath and started walking along the path.

It wound up, along the wall of the gallery, climbing quite steeply to disappear into a fissure in the rock wall, the scene with the gold truck and cabin forming a valley between where they were now and the ride-track they’d been following since they came into the ride. Peri wondered idly just how Kevin had found this track from where she’d left him – come the back way, obviously...

Kevin let her walk on a little, then looked around, carefully. In the far distance, right at the end of this gallery, a boiler suit moved into sight briefly from the tunnel, just long enough to wave in Kevin’s direction.

After a glance at Peri’s retreating back, Kevin waved back, then he turned to follow her.

For a split second he seemed to stagger off-balance and, as he did so, his head started to shimmer and fade out. The effect would have been perfectly familiar to the Doctor, who had seen the same thing happen to his cell door not too long ago, but even the Doctor would have doubted the evidence of his eyes, for in less time than it takes to blink, the shimmering had vanished and Kevin was himself again, the only detectable difference now being a wolfish grin on his face as he regarded the distant figure of the girl ahead of him, a grin that belonged far more comfortably on the face of Stefan.

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The Nightmare Fair, Chapter 5

***

‘Why?’ repeated Kevin, dumbly.

‘I mean, why now, especially?’ She had stopped to ask Kevin the question and, from the corner of her eye, watched another boiler suit duck behind some cover. They had been following them, she knew, for the last half-hour at least. And if she had seen them, Kevin must have seen them too. ‘What was the deal?’ she asked, off-handedly.

'What?’ repeated Kevin.

‘When you sold out,’ she continued. ‘Your brother back, was that it?’

‘I don’t understand,’ started Kevin, feebly.

Peri hefted the crowbar. ‘Stay back,’ she warned, as he moved towards her. But Kevin chose to ignore the warning and made a dive for her. With all the pent-up tension and plain anger of the last couple of hours, she brought it round in a terrific belt, half-expecting his head to fly off in the same way the miner’s had done, back in the ride.

Instead the crowbar simply whooshed through the head as if it wasn’t there. The arm which came up to catch hers was real enough though, and it held her long enough for the boiler suits to come running up and hold her even more securely. Kevin stepped hack, and surveyed the girl with disdain.

‘The start of the game was most amusing, and I wish I could say you were a worthy opponent,’ he sneered, ‘but in truth, you need to practise for a very long time. We shall have to see what we can do about that.’

‘Who are you?’ Peri whispered, but the figure of Kevin merely laughed, thinly and without humour. Then the figure started to shimmer and, with no sound at all, faded away. The two guards seemed not at all surprised by the effect, as they led Peri, unprotesting, away.

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The Nightmare Fair, Chapter 6

***

‘Stefan, I have just been busy enjoying myself, a feeling I haven’t had for a very long time. A very long time indeed.’

‘I am glad to hear it, Lord,’ replied Stefan, unsurely.

The Mandarin’s idea of enjoyment was rarely Stefan’s or anyone else’s for that matter – and Stefan was wisely reluctant to commit himself until he knew more about the nasty little pleasure the Mandarin had devised for himself now. Given the time the Mandarin seemed prepared to devote to even the simplest diversion, it had to be grotesque indeed.

‘You don’t understand, Stefan,’ said the Mandarin, giving voice to a thought that had occurred to him a hundred times a day for longer than even he cared to remember. ‘I have actually found a distraction... something I can even develop. Something with almost boundless possibilities – why, it could be good for centuries yet. I cannot become another person – that is beyond even my capabilities – but I can pretend to be another person, to the point where even his dearest friend or closest relative would never know the difference – the possibilities for sport are positively enormous.’ The glee in his voice made even Stefan shudder. He had seen the Mandarin at work for long enough now to be passingly familiar with his caprices – was he not here now through just those caprices?

‘I owe that young lady and her friend a great deal,’ he finished, dreamily.

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The Nightmare Fair, Chapter 7