Ghost of a Smile by Simon R. Green Read Free Book Online

deafeningly loud. Parts rose and fell, other parts slammed together, and a work-force of hundreds moved around them, operating machines, darting back and forth, picking things up and conveying them away. It was terribly loud and unmistakably present, but still, somehow . . . distant. As though separated from this Time by some unimaginable direction. JC moved in close beside Tiley, so he could shout in his ear.
    â€œThis is the top layer of the stone tape, a recording, playing back. Past events soaked into their surroundings, emerging again in the Present. What you’re seeing is a vision, a portrayal of what used to be here. A true vision, of real events, but not real now. We can see it but not affect it.”
    Graham Tiley shook his head numbly. “I remember this . . . I know these people! Men I worked with, men I knew . . . Faces I haven’t thought of in years, and old friends long dead . . . Am I in there, somewhere? They all look so young! I want to go to them, and talk to them, warn them of things that are going to happen . . .”
    â€œBut you can’t,” said JC. “Because they’re not really here. If you walked among them, they couldn’t see you . . . You’d be a ghost to them. An image, out of Time.”
    â€œSome of them are going to die young,” said Tiley. “Some are going to be maimed, and killed, stupid accidents that could so easily be prevented. And I can’t help them. The Past can be cruel, sometimes.”
    And then the huge machines, and all the work-force tending them, began to slowly fade away. The sound went first, the thunder of the machines growing steadily quieter, as though receding into the distance. Then the image itself grew thin and insubstantial and was gone. The top layer of the stone tape disappeared, as something else moved forward to take its place. New images began to form, out of the Past.
    â€œIt’s the next layer of the stone tape,” JC said to Graham. “The level below, from deeper in the Past. Pushing aside the more recent image to make itself known.”
    â€œIt’s rising,” said Kim. Her gaze was far away, and her voice didn’t sound entirely human. “Forcing the more recent Past aside. JC, Something’s coming . . .”
    â€œWho?” said JC, quietly but firmly. “Tell me, Kim. Who is it that’s coming?”
    â€œLiving things, old things, summoned things,” said Kim, not even looking at him. Her gaze was fixed on something only she could see. “Power. Old power. Harnessed power . . . blood and death, set to unnatural purpose . . . Something very old was called up here, to do terrible things . . . and it’s still here!”
    â€œSummoned?” said JC. “What was summoned up, Kim? And who summoned it? Why?”
    â€œRetribution,” said Kim.
    JC stepped forward and took off his sunglasses. Tiley and Susan both cried out as they saw why he wore them. Something had happened to JC on a previous case. Trapped on a hell train, surrounded by demons, fighting for his life and for Kim, when all seemed lost, Something had reached down from the Higher Dimensions and touched JC briefly. Giving him the strength he needed to save them both. Much of that strength was gone now, but his eyes still shone like the sun, glowing with a strange brilliance. JC saw the world very clearly now; and when he needed to, he could See a great many things that were usually hidden from the living. All the secrets and wonders of the invisible world.
    It had taken him a long time to find sunglasses dark enough and heavy enough to hide his glowing eyes.
    JC glanced at Graham Tiley and Susan, and they both shrank back from his illuminated gaze.
    â€œDon’t worry,” he said easily. “Think of them as psychic searchlights.”
    â€œStop fannying around being pleased with yourself, and concentrate,” snapped Melody, not looking up from her display screens. “What