Ghostfinders 02 - Ghost of a Smile

we need to find out what. So let’s go up and take a walk through the other floors and see what there is to see, before we go have our nice little chat with the New People.”
    “I just knew he was going to say that, again,” said Happy.
    “You must be psychic!” Kim said sweetly.

FIVE
    SOMETHING OFFAL
    There comes a point in every investigation into the unnatural when it’s easier to go on than to go back. When you’re in so deep you have to pull up your waders and press forward, and let the Devil take the hindmost. Though no-one had ever really been able to convince Happy of that. But JC drove him up the next set of stairs with kind words and curses, and soon enough they came to the next set of doors, the next floor, and the next chance to find a few answers. JC didn’t bother with listening at the closed doors. He barged right through and into what proved to be another long open-plan laboratory. More workstations, more computers, and more high tech he couldn’t even name, let alone understand. The only difference he could see was that on this floor there was a tall standing partition, some two-thirds of the way down.
    JC strolled through the place liked he owned it, hands stuffed deep in his trouser pockets, smiling cheerfully around, defying anything to jump out at him. Kim strode along beside him, head held high, and only the truly unkind would have pointed out that her feet weren’t quite making contact with the floor. Melody followed, stopping and starting as she was distracted by some new shiny machine she hadn’t seen before. Happy settled for sulking in the rear, glowering suspiciously in all directions.
    Surprisingly, it was Kim who stopped first and looked unhappily about her. “I’m getting a really bad feeling from this place,” she said slowly. “But nothing like what we experienced downstairs. The scientists were working on something different here, something completely unconnected with the ReSet drug. I think this . . . is where they made monsters.”
    “What?” Happy snapped. “Monsters? Could you perhaps be a little more specific?”
    “No,” said Kim. “You’re the telepath. You tell me.”
    Happy shuffled his feet and avoided everyone’s eyes. “It’s like . . . the closer we get to the New People, up above, the more their sheer presence overwhelms everything else. I feel like I’m trying to peer through a thick fog, but even so, I’m not picking up any thoughts here.” He stopped, and sighed. “Melody, put that down. You don’t know where it’s been.”
    “I was only looking at it!” said Melody.
    “No you weren’t,” JC said sternly. “You’re like a little kid—you can’t look without touching. And I would have to say that you weren’t just touching that . . . whatever it is—you were caressing it in a quite disturbing way. Don’t think I haven’t got my eye on you, young lady.”
    “But they’ve got things here I’ve only heard about in nerd and geek chat rooms!” said Melody. “Tech so advanced Stephen Hawking would get a hard on from just looking at it! I am having this, JC. If it doesn’t all go bad like the tech on the lower floor did, I am having all of it. It belongs to me on a moral level.”
    “Melody . . .” said JC.
    “I found it! It’s mine!”
    “Concentrate on the job,” said JC. “And we can talk about a little quiet looting when it’s all over.”
    “It’s not even close to being over,” said Happy. “Heads up, people, we are not alone here. Still not getting any thoughts, but something’s in here with us. Not human as such . . . I can sense its presence, but I’m damned if I can get my head round what it is.”
    They all stood close together, staring quickly about them. Fierce fluorescent lighting picked out everything in sharp detail, with hardly a decent shadow anywhere. No sound, nothing moved, and there wasn’t a sign of a living soul anywhere. The atmosphere was cold and tense, but the Ghost Finders were getting used to that. They all still jumped when Melody abruptly broke from the group to pick up and study some papers on a nearby desk. They watched as she speed-read through them.
    “Well?” JC said politely, after a while. “Anything interesting, or indeed, you know, useful?”
    “Oh, you will not believe what they were up to here,” said Melody, skimming through the last few pages. “What happened on this floor is officially banned in every civilised country, and even a few others who have