Fourth Reel

Chapter Twenty-Four.

Ben could hear screams, could smell sulphur, but he could see little in the darkness except a terrifying shape flying straight towards the Doctor. No, not towards him. It had flown straight through him. And then the room filled with light, and Ben heard the sound of the whimpering scream as the creature faded away until it had disappeared completely.

'Doctor,' Fletcher said loudly. 'I've made a decision. This is all beyond me, so I give in. I'll help you, OK? Just let me know how to stop that thing. I'd hate to end my days as demon dinner.'

'I suspected that those projections can only take on a physical presence with enough supportive energy from the audience,' the Doctor explained. 'If we don't believe they're real, if we don't believe they can hurt us, then they're helpless, nothing but advanced projections of light. At the end of the day, all this is about light. Everyone at FOCAL is obsessed with it, with good reason. It's the one thing that makes going to the cinema possible. The projector has to have a bright light, but the rest of us can't can't have light if anyone is to see what's being shown on the screen. Without darkness, with too much light, we can't see the projected images any more and the Selyoids have no way to influence us. No way to create their illusions. Once I'd turned on the light we couldn't see what was on screen any more. When we couldn't see them, we couldn't fear them, and when couldn't fear them they couldn't feed.' He walked over to the projector and switched it off. 'Light will find a way.' have light if anyone is to see what's being shown on the screen. Without darkness, with too much light, we can't see the projected images any more and the Selyoids have no way to influence us. No way to create their illusions. Once I'd turned on the light we couldn't see what was on screen any more. When we couldn't see them, we couldn't fear them, and when couldn't fear them they couldn't feed.' He walked over to the projector and switched it off. 'Light will find a way.'

He reached down for the glass device and picked it up. 'Ow!

he said, almost dropping it. 'It's hot!'

'Hot?' Ben said. 'How can a piece of tat like that get hot?'

'It's clearly generating heat somehow. If it's powered that would explain why it appears to glow so unnaturally. Maybe it creates a thermal field that alters the room temperature enough to create the ideal environment for the creatures to come to life in? I believe that this device concentrates light and heat on to the film in such a way that it transforms the creatures embedded in the film, giving them life, giving them the freedom to move around in a form other than a dried-out chemical. You saw the way that monster glowed... I'm starting to think that what we saw was our minds' interpretations of the Selyoids' natural form.

We saw them shift through several different interpretations. For some reason they've been trapped on the film, but that device...

It has the power to give them life, to give them form away from the film. Normally we just see the impression of the creatures on the screen, but with this device they can reflect off the screen into reality. And that's how De Sande's effects are so special.'

'But what about that thing from the premiere?' Ben asked.

'There wasn't any device there... There wasn't even a projector.'

The Doctor looked puzzled. 'Indeed, that is a mystery. It certainly looked the same as the other creatures and it was almost as vulnerable as them to bright light that wasn't coming from itself or the projector. Maybe it was a more evolved being than the others. Maybe the creatures are finding a way to leave the confines of the film without needing projectors and strange glass devices. In that case...'

'In that case we're all on the night train,' Fletcher sighed.

'The last thing we need is a horde of those monsters overrunning the city.'

'But it's OK, isn't it?' Ben said. 'They'd all die the moment the sun comes up.'

The Doctor shook his head. 'They've found a way to leave the confines of the film... Who's to say they won't find a way to become immune to other sources of light?'

He reached down towards the projector and removed the glass device. He held it up to the light, turning it round to examine it. 'This object...' he said. 'This gives the Selyoids life.

Without it they're nothing but projections on a screen. De Sande wanted it back. I wonder how many he has?'

The Doctor walked over to window and opened the blinds, then checked his watch. 'It's midnight,' he said in a serious tone.

'A new day begins here. The day when we find out just how terrifying the impact of the Selyoids will be on these people. The day we try one last gambit to stop the madness.' He turned and looked Ben in the eye. 'This morning Dying in the Sun Dying in the Sun will be released in cinemas. I hope with all my soul that we live to see tomorrow.' will be released in cinemas. I hope with all my soul that we live to see tomorrow.'

'What about Polly?' Ben asked. 'You saw how she was last night. We have to find her today and work out what's up with her.'

'Don't worry,' the Doctor consoled him. 'We'll find her, and find out what's going on. We'll find her.'

It was almost eleven o'clock in the morning and the streets were jammed with cars. Angry commuters beeped their horns and shouted at each other whilst traffic cops desperately tried to keep order in the mounting tension.

The Doctor's rental car was moving at a crawl.

'We'll never get there at this rate,' Ben said. He rolled down the window and poked his head outside the vehicle. 'Oi!' he shouted. 'Come on! This isn't a car park you know!'

'I don't get it,' Fletcher said. 'I've never seen so many cars round here. Where the hell are people going?'

The Doctor pulled in to the side of the road and turned off the engine. 'At this rate we'd be quicker walking,' he said.

They got out of the car and the Doctor hurried up to a traffic cop who was frantically trying to direct vehicles away from each other.

'Excuse me, officer,' the Doctor said, 'is the road ahead closed? Why is there such a delay?'

The cop turned to the Doctor and shrugged. 'It's the movie theatres on Hollywood Boulevard. The queues are stretching back miles. Everyone in town's trying to get there.'

The Doctor turned back to Ben and Fletcher. 'Right then,'

he said, rubbing his hands together. 'Let's see what all the fuss is about, shall we?'

They hurried down towards Hollywood Boulevard, past the endless line of gridlocked traffic. The sun was beating down on the cars, making the passengers hotter and more flustered.

After fifteen minutes they reached the stretch of the boulevard where the cinemas were. Outside each one a long queue of people trailed along the pavement, and as they walked past Ben heard various arguments and shouting matches coming from the crowds.

The Doctor walked up to tal , blond-haired and extremely bored-looking girl who was standing on her own in one of the queues. 'Excuse me,' he said, 'could you tell me what everyone's waiting for?'

The girl shot him an indifferent look. 'Don't you know?' she said. 'It's that film everyone's been talking about. The one about death under the sun, or something.'

'But why?' the Doctor asked. 'It's only just been released.

Why is everyone so keen to see it now? The cinemas won't have been open very long, surely?'

The girl shrugged. 'I was just driving along, saw some posters for it and thought, why not? It'll get me out of the heat, at least.'

The Doctor thanked her for her time and began to walk away, muttering to himself as if he was working on a particularly complicated calculation.

'Come on,' he said, 'let's see what the cinema staff think of all this.'

He began to walk faster, Fletcher and Ben hurrying to catch up with him. There must have been thousands of people queuing up, far more than could fit in to all the screenings at all the cinemas that day, but this didn't seem to put the public off.

The crowd seemed edgy and nervous but all were quite patient.

They were prepared to stand around just in case extra screenings were announced, just in case some of the people in front of them decided not to bother with the wait.

As he walked along the boulevard with the Doctor and Fletcher Ben noticed that several people were giving him evil looks, as if to chastise him for pushing into their queues. He wondered why the crowds assumed he was there to see the film.

On any normal day hundreds of people walked down this street without giving the slightest thought to the cinemas. Why should today be any different?

'I've seen the film,' Ben called out for a joke. 'It's not very good, promise!'

'Liar!' a tearful woman shouted angrily as if Ben had kidnapped her child. 'I saw it earlier and it's wonderful. The best film ever!'

'Did you see that?' said the Doctor as they walked on. 'Can Dying in the Sun Dying in the Sun really be affecting people that badly? When we saw it at De Sande's the hysteria in the room seemed to bounce off everyone watching it. I wonder if the effect is amplified when the film is viewed in a forum with hundreds of people.' really be affecting people that badly? When we saw it at De Sande's the hysteria in the room seemed to bounce off everyone watching it. I wonder if the effect is amplified when the film is viewed in a forum with hundreds of people.'

'Amplified?' Fletcher said. 'You mean the more people that watch it, the stronger the effects, and the more they want to go and see it again?'

The Doctor nodded. 'Like an exponential addiction racing through the city. A few days of screenings and the entire city will be affected, will be slaves to the Selyoid whim. If humanity is to retain its freedom we have to stop it happening.'

He barged forward through a queue, pushing his way towards the box-office booth.

'Excuse me!' he called to the waiting cinema-goers.

'Excuse yourself,' a voice said.

'Get in line like the rest of us!' another shouted.

The Doctor seemed unfazed by their remarks and soon reached the box office. The sales window was closed and a sign plastered across it said THIS WEEK ONLY: DYING IN THE SUN: FREE PREVIEWS.

'Get in line!' a tall, hardened-looking man shouted, grabbing the Doctor by the collar of his jacket. He threw the Doctor aside and Ben ran up to help his friend.

The Doctor brushed himself off and eyed the tall man with suspicion. 'I don't think they're going to let us through, somehow.'

The noise of shouting could be heard from the front of the queue, as people became more and more desperate to see the film. A commissionaire was trying to keep everyone back, telling them they still had a while to wait before the next available screening. 'You're not the only ones who've got complaints about today,' he shouted.

A barrage of excited laughs and screams came from somewhere to the side of the cinema. Ben turned and saw a crowd of people emerging from an exit. Judging by the excited buzz coming from them, they were the ones who'd just seen the film.

'I wanna go again!' Ben heard one girl say.

'Oh, yeah, but look at the line,' another said.

'Do I care? I just wanna see it again.'

'Well come on then, let's get in line now!'

Ben shook his head in amazement. Couldn't these people see what was happening? Couldn't they see that they were becoming addicted to Dying in the Sun Dying in the Sun? For the first time the enormity of what was going on hit him. It was the process of seeing the film with so many others, the buzz people got from the hysteria of watching it that's what people craved. Ben remembered how he had felt when he had watched the film at De Sande's, and thought how terrifying yet amazing it would feel if those feelings were multiplied by several times. You'd never want to leave, and it was clear that this lot certainly didn't.

A bulky individual who had just left the film barged through the crowd and, out of the blue, threw a punch at another customer that sent him flying to the floor.

'What the hell are you doing?' a woman next to the injured man said.

'I must see that film again,' the bulky man said. 'You don't understand. I have to see it now!'

'No, you damn well don't,' said another man. He threw a punch right under the bulky man's chin, then threw another one that sent his opponent flying backwards, knocking over several customers like bowling pins.

'Oh dear,' the Doctor said as the fighting began to ripple through the crowd. 'I think we'd better get away from here.'

Fletcher nodded and reached into his jacket. He took out his gun and fired a shot into the air. The crowd dispersed slightly, leaving enough space for him, the Doctor and Ben to get out on to the street.

'Let's get to my car,' Fletcher said as they paused to catch their breaths. 'I'll radio for backup.'

The Doctor shook his head. 'Just remember that somewhere in that crowd Selyoid partners are generating waves of emotion that are driving people into the cinema, driving them to hear the Selyoid message, to have their minds converted to the Selyoid cause. It doesn't matter how many police come down here, they're also human beings, susceptible to the same sounds, smells and influences that everyone else is. All that will happen is that they'll get involved in the fighting too, only they'll have more guns.'

'So what do we do then?'

Ben noticed that the queue didn't stretch anywhere near as far as it had minutes before. 'Where did everyone go?' he asked.

'Down there,' said Fletcher, pointing along the street to where a large number of people were getting into their cars.

'Well, come on then,' the Doctor said, running in the direction of the crowd.

They soon caught up with the men and women who looked panicked as they started to drive their cars away as fast as they could, past the gridlock of traffic coming in the other direction.

'Where are they going?' asked the Doctor. 'Why don't they want to see the film any more?'

'I think I can answer that,' Fletcher said, pointing to the side of the street.

Ben looked up and saw a giant billboard. A standard poster for Dying in the Sun Dying in the Sun was plastered across one half, with the title in giant red letters and a painting of Caleb Rochefort staggering through a jungle, but on the other half was a picture of the hills over Hollywood showing the HOLLYWOODLAND sign. was plastered across one half, with the title in giant red letters and a painting of Caleb Rochefort staggering through a jungle, but on the other half was a picture of the hills over Hollywood showing the HOLLYWOODLAND sign.

Looking at the picture made Ben uneasy. There was something not quite right about it. Something unreal.

It reminded him of being in a dream state. How you can read a book or see some writing on a sign, and even though you can't read in your sleep, can only see shapes, you somehow just know what the writing says. You can read by simply looking at the text, rather than actually reading the individual letters. That was how he felt now. The logical side of his mind told him that what he saw as a billboard was in reality a blank, a large stretch of dark violet. The irrational, emotional side could see that the space was a photograph no, not a photograph, a real image like a window on whatever it wanted to show.

Ben realised why it looked so vague. The image was being projected on to the billboard, and that could mean only one thing. The Selyoids were using it to direct people through it, and this explained why the image he saw seemed so real. They were telling his mind that he was seeing reality. And he knew what he had to do.

'How interesting,' the Doctor said. 'A still-frame projector nudging the general public's behaviour.'

'Can you see it, Doctor?' Ben asked.

'I can see how people are reacting to it. I wonder if it's giving everyone the same message? What is it telling you? Where is everyone going?'

'See the film.. ' Fletcher said. 'It's saying, see the film and then get out, get away from here. It's not safe, we need to see the film and then go.'

'Go where?' the Doctor said, hands tight to his chest, keenly awaiting the answer.

'Away from here,' he growled, 'up into the hills.'