Sherlock - The Game Is On!

The Great Game- Eight

Chapter Eight

Third POV

The Planetarium - Night

"Jupiter! The fifth planet in our solar system. And the largest. Jupiter is a gas giant. Planet Earth would fit into it eleven times..." Jupiter appears, projected on the ceiling. Bathed in its light is a elderly woman in a track-suit. Professor Cairns was operating the control panel. "Come on, Neptune. Where are you hiding?" She suddenly stops, stiffens. "Hello?"

"Discovered by Urbain le Verrier in 1846..." She stops the tape. Peers about. Her face is blue with the image of Neptune. "Tom? Is that you?" Someone was moving in the darkness. "Tom?" It wasn't Tom. A huge shadow falls across her face. She gasps in terror as a immense hand closes over her face, Swamping her nose and mouth. THE GOLEM! She staggers back against the console. "A star begins as a collapsing ball of material composed mainly of hydrogen..."

"Golem!"

We enter, bathed in the star-light projected...

A nightmare face...

A living skeleton...

The Golem's milk-white, bald head and deep-set eyes give him a vampire's look. The skin is shrivelled, dry as parchment. He grins, exposing yellow peg-teeth. John and I raise our guns. "It is astonishing to think that many of the stars in the night sky are no longer actually there." The Golem lets go of Professor Cairns and she slides to the floor, dead. The Golem giggles and darts into the shadows. His laughter echoes through the chilly building.

"John! Michelle!" We run towards, cutting of Golem. He knocks rows and rows of seats as he runs. Banging like pistol shots. "The Crab Nebula exploded in 1054..." Sherlock races down an aisle. No sign of Golem. Suddenly the projection changes and Golem reveals himself behind Sherlock. His hand closes on Sherlock's face like petals of a monstrous flower. I shoot my gun, the bullet landing in Golem's hand and grazing Sherlock's face. "It is an example of what we call a pulsar..."

The Golem screams and sags a little. Sherlock dives free, rubbing his face and whooping for air. Stunned, Golem swings around and jabs me savagely in the stomach. Before I could recover his hand was slowly closing in on my face. Golem cocks his head to the side only to reveal the boys clicking their guns at him. He starts to close his fingers around my mouth. I start to scream a little, frightened. I hold onto my dog tags for dear life. "Let her go. Or I'll kill you, Dzundza. I will kill you."

Golem released me scrabbling away towards Sherlock. "Are you alright?"

"Think so." I gasp. "You'll forgive the hoary cliché, I hope Mr Dzundza but, who are you working for?" Sherlock asks Golem. He sprints towards the console pad. Sherlock shoots but fires the control console. The recorded voice-over squeals madly into life, the images do the same. Planets, stars, galaxies flash insanely over the ceiling and our faces. "Their light takes so long to reach us that many are actually long dead. Exploded into supernovas..."

Golem dives for the exit, I grab the gun of Sherlock and fire bullets until the canaster was left empty. I caught fire on his leg making him stumble into the exit and leave. Sherlock and I run to the doorway, only to see a car leave. "Damn It!" I growl chucking my gun towards the car. I look towards Sherlock's face and see a graze. I trace my fingers over it. God I didn't mean to hurt him. "I'm so sorry."

"It's OK, good shot, though." I was welling up with tears a little. He enveloped me in a hug, kissing the top of my head. "Let's get to the gallery."

I stood in front of the lost Vermeer, Sherlock was tapping away wildly on his phone. John and Lestrade hover close by. Miss Wenceslas looked thunderous. "This had better be good."