The Infernal Aether (First Draft)

Chapter 15 - Men of Clay

The mist wrapped round my arms and body, clinging to me, pulling me in. All around was grey, punctuated by the odd hint of forms, creatures which flitted near me but never strayed close enough for me to do anything more than just sense them.

Sounds reached out to me in my isolation: scratches, shuffles and moans. I whirled round at a sudden sound from behind, only to see yet more curling mist. Again and again this happened, making me feel like a demented dancer.

Something loomed out of the mist, a form which coalesced into a figure. "Mother?" I said.

She stopped a few feet away, recognisably her and yet also very, very different. Her skin was stretched tightly over prominent bones; her eyes were two small black orbs which regarded me blankly. I wanted to call out to her but my mouth and throat were rigid with fear.

She raised a thin, spindly arm and pointed past my shoulder. I turned to see a portal, a window into a room where Maxwell and N'yotsu stood staring back at me. As I watched they brandished some form of device which shrank the portal down and down until it disappeared altogether, leaving me stranded in that place.

I turned back and was face-to-face with my mother, but her skin had stretched even further, exposing yellowing bone within the eye sockets and lips. The shuffling sounds around us grew to a crescendo, heralding other ghastly creatures which drew into view around us.

I tried to scream.

I awoke at a table in a The One Tun, a jerk of my arm sending my ale crashing to the floor. The landlord cursed me from behind the bar but otherwise no one paid me the slightest heed. In that particular tavern in that particular part of town it paid to mind one's own business.

The landlord grudgingly gave me another ale and I settled back down into my corner on shaking legs. My head was numb and foggy and it took all my effort to keep my eyes open. I felt like I had not slept in days, which was indeed the case; not since my close brush with death after my dead mother -- or rather something impersonating her -- had taunted me through Maxwell's Telecommunicator device. What sleep I had managed since then had been plagued by an endless stream of nightmares, a nightly torture which was slowly driving me insane. I was very much alone in this; Maxwell and N'yotsu had thrown themselves into investigating the fresh theories which had been revealed by our brush with the Telecommunicators. As a result I had resorted to drugs to help me forget or at the very least send me into a dream-free oblivion. So far I had managed neither.

I shuddered as my latest nightmare flashed across my mind's eye once more. A long swig of ale simply served to deepen my mood. I glared at my mug, wondering if I was wasting my time, pondering where I could get hold of something stronger and more effective.

The nightmare had been just one further indignity in an already intolerable evening, one which even sleep was apparently not a respite from. Emotionally battered from my exertions over the Telecommunicators I had sought out company to distract me from my dark thoughts. Maxwell was no use on several levels; not only was he too much of a reminder of the events which had recently traumatised me, but he was also far too emotionally stunted to be of any comfort. I had

Out of the corner of my eye I saw someone approaching my table. I gripped my mug tighter and hunched my head down; I was in no mood for conversation.

"Gus," said Kate. Then, louder: "Mister Potts. We need to talk to you." She sat down without waiting for a response.

I sighed and slowly looked up. Kate sat looking at me expectantly, while at her side was a rather nervous-looking old man.

"Shouldn't you be working?" I asked.

She shrugged. "This is Mister Jones," she said. "He's an old friend of my family, and he needs our help."

I stared at them both for a moment and then took a long swig of ale. "You may not have noticed," I said. "But I am the last person you should be asking for help. In fact, if there is anyone offering out assistance around here, I would put myself at the front of the queue for their services."