Ghostfinders 03 -Ghost of a Dream

the weed-choked tracks, and the heavily rusted rails, before finally giving his full attention to the gaping tunnel-mouth. He studied it thoughtfully for some time. Darkness looked back at him, complete and implacable.
    “This where you detected the dimensional weak point, Melody?” he said, without looking back.
    “Not so much a door as where a door could appear,” said Melody. “And the more the pressure builds, the bigger that door’s going to be. And the greater the impact it will have upon our reality. You can’t force an opening between worlds without some inevitable spiritual fall-out.”
    “Such as?” said Laurie from his doorway.
    “Rains of frogs, spontaneously combusting cows, and the dead coming home to roost,” said Happy. “The universe doesn’t like being messed about with and has a tendency to act up cranky, in protest. Is there any way we can stop the train’s coming back, JC?”
    “We don’t want to,” JC said briskly. “The train wants to come home, where it belongs. And we want that pressure relieved because it’s been building for over a century; so when the doorway finally opens, it’s all going to happen at once, in a big way. Best we can do is hope to control the situation and keep the nasty side effects contained, here within the station. That train is on its way back, finishing its long journey at last, and nothing in or out of Heaven or Hell will stop it now.”
    “The train isn’t the real problem,” said Melody. “Don’t get side-tracked, JC. The real problem is the Ghost Caller. It was dangerous enough when it was first placed aboard the train; by now it could have accumulated enough power to blow a hole clean through the Space/Time continuum. If the stress of the return activates the machine, we could be talking about a mass psychic summoning. One last call for all the dead that ever were.”
    “I am leaving now,” said Happy. “Try and keep up.”
    “Stand still! Show a brave face, Happy,” said JC, sternly. “There are civilians present.”
    “Oh, don’t mind me,” said Laurie. “I told you, no-one with any sense stays here once it gets dark.”
    “See!” said Happy. “See!”
    “We should get danger money,” said Melody.
    Happy stopped and looked at her. “It would help,” he said finally.
    “Hold it,” said JC. “We have company.”
    They all looked around, to find the ghost of Dr. Todd had joined them out on the platform. He stood on his own, some distance away, staring unblinkingly into the dark tunnel-mouth. JC calmly strode forward to join him, looked into the tunnel opening, then right into the ghost’s face.
    “Why are you here, Dr. Todd? You’ve failed to prevent the train’s return, so why are you still here?”
    The ghost looked straight through him, as though he weren’t there, and said nothing at all. JC glanced back at Happy.
    “Are you sure you aren’t picking up something from him? Anything at all?”
    “No thoughts, no personality…it’s as though he’s so far-away, I can barely see him. Something really bad happened to Dr. T; and I don’t think it was only the head injury. I think part of it is still happening. There’s a definite connection between the ghost, the missing train, and the Ghost Caller. I can sense it, feel it; this whole setting is soaked in information. And JC…I can’t feel Dr. Todd, but I can feel something that I’m pretty sure is the Ghost Caller. It’s not simply a machine. It’s close now, closer than it has ever been, ready to break through…And I think it needs Dr. Todd to be here when it arrives. He’s not here through his own free will; the Ghost Caller holds him here.”
    “Why?” said JC. “What’s the connection?”
    “I don’t know!” said Happy. “I’m getting a headache trying to process all this. It’s something to do with the price Dr. Todd paid for the creation of the Ghost Caller.”
    “No-one move,” Melody said quietly. “But look around you. The fog is rolling in.”
    They all looked carefully up and down the platform. A shimmering grey fog had descended on both ends and was creeping slowly and remorselessly along the platform towards them. It rose out of everywhere at once, curling and coiling thickly on the still evening air, pulsing with its own eerie light. The tunnel-mouth was already lost to sight. In a few moments, the fog was already so thick that none of them could make out the opposite platform. The pulsing mists spilled along the railway