'You're so wrong,' he said. 'I never wanted to die. Never.'

'Well, it's immaterial now,' De Sande said, clicking the safety catch on the gun. He rubbed his neck with his free hand.

'You've proved that you're too dangerous.' He suddenly looked puzzled, then a broad grin swept across his face. 'Oh dear,' he said insincerely, 'it seems my associates don't like the way this conversation is going.'

He walked over to his desk, put the gun down and picked up a large clay jar. 'Let him go, please,' he said calmly, looking up at the guards.

They did so, and Chate fell to the floor. His eyes widened, almost bursting out of their sockets, and he clasped his neck as if he was having trouble breathing. De Sande walked over to the younger man, grabbed his head and forced his face against the jar's opening. There was a disgusting retching noise as Chate threw up, and Polly could see a bright glow beginning to emanate from the jar. It was the Selyoid essence, getting out of Chate's body as quickly as it could.

When Chate had finished, De Sande let him fall to the floor, replaced the jar on his desk and sealed it with a lid. He picked up his gun once more.

'How does it feel,' he said, 'to be lonely? How does it feel to be inferior? No more Selyoids, no more belonging... no more friends. You're nothing now, nothing.'

Chate was sobbing uncontrollably. 'I was a star,' he cried. 'I was everything.'

'Not any more you're not,' De Sande said, pointing the gun at Chate. 'Now, where were we?'

Polly could feel the tension, feel the joy in De Sande's heart, feel Maria's relief that she was soon to be rid of her annoying fan. And most curiously of all, she could feel pain. The pain that the Selyoids were experiencing. She realised they were mourning the loss of Chate from their essence, were trying to regroup and pull together to get over the loss of strength.

Looking at Chate, a pathetic, snivelling wretch, Polly wondered just how perfect the Selyoid society would be. Maria had told her that she'd be a star, and so far she'd been treated just like that, but at what cost? She'd become an overnight success, one of the Chosen, one of the select few elevated to stardom by the Selyoids' gifts. But people were suffering. She looked at Chate, at the expression on his face. Had she really become so dispassionate? Was it all worth it? Who else would the Selyoids hurt?

She thought back to the premiere, to her argument with Ben. She thought about what she had said to the Doctor. The Selyoids gave her a family, gave her stardom, gave her happiness and security. They gave her everything she wanted, but what had they taken from her in return? Why be loved if you're incapable of loving back? She had lost her friends, and it was her own fault.

Caleb Rochefort flashed through her mind. He'd been one with the Selyoids, like she was now. He hadn't been strong enough to fight the influence of the Selyoids within him and they'd made her kill him. Polly looked at De Sande and realised that he genuinely wanted to kill Chate. The expression on his face showed pure delight in his actions. Polly had seen the final, mournful expression on Caleb's face. She realised now what his expression had meant: that in his dying seconds the star had regretted his pact with the creatures.

Polly saw Maria walk over to De Sande and kiss him, one final piece of salt to rub in Chate's wounds before they shot him.

Someone had already died because of Polly. She couldn't let that happen again.

Polly walked over to De Sande, her soul screaming at her to stop. She felt the Selyoids burning inside her, trying to reassert their control, trying to alter her hormones to make her feel better. She hesitated and almost stopped but knew she had to fight the creatures, had to ignore their words of comfort.

Getting closer, the Selyoids screaming... The whole sequence of events took seconds, but felt like hours. She neared De Sande and as she did so he looked up, the Selyoids within him triggering a reaction, picking up on the panic emanating from her. He turned his gun away from Chate, and she seized the moment, sending her fist crashing down on his arm. The gun went spinning to the floor. Polly dived down and picked it up.

The security guards leapt for her, but she managed to flip herself round and point the gun at them before they could touch her. They froze, slowly lifting their hands into the air.

'Move!' Polly shouted, gesturing for De Sande and Maria to go and stand with the security guards. They did so and she slowly walked over to Chate, making sure not to take her eyes off the others. 'Get up,' she said sternly, trying to act calmly despite the raging emotions inside her.

Polly, stop this. Think how happy you are. You don't want to lose that, do you? that, do you?

'Get out of my head!' she shouted to De Sande. 'Get out!'

She reached down and pulled Chate to his feet. 'Come on,'

she said. 'You want to live don't you?'

Chate looked up and his eyes filled with relief. He had given up on life and yet now, out of the blue, a second chance had appeared. Polly put her arm around his shoulder, supporting him. 'Can you walk?' she asked. He nodded and they began to stagger out of the office, Polly keeping the gun trained on Maria and De Sande.

As they got to the doorway, Chate stopped and looked back at the others.

'Screw you,' he said quietly. 'I'm never going to die.'

He and Polly hurried out of the hanger as quickly as they could, Chate's strength quickly returning. They pushed their way through the crowd then moved into the undergrowth surrounding the airport before De Sande's security guards could be sent after them. The Selyoids in Polly continued to scream at her but she managed to silence them by looking at Chate, by seeing and thinking about the pain in his eyes. De Sande's men would be all over the area looking for them, and until the Selyoids decided to extricate themselves from her in the same way they had from Chate, she knew that De Sande would be able to locate her.

They had to get away and Polly knew where they had to go.

They had to find the Doctor.

Chapter Twenty-Six.

The seething mass of cars drove steadily along Western Canyon, blindly following the Selyoids' subliminal influence.

In one of the cars, the Doctor, Ben and Fletcher were frantically trying to get as far ahead of the traffic as they could.

'How much further?' Ben asked.

The Doctor pointed towards the hills in the distance. 'Not much. I think wherever we're heading is just up there.' He turned to look at the side of the road and pointed to a billboard advertising Dying in the Sun Dying in the Sun. Another proclamation of the movie's merits. Another vision of hope, of perfection.

'What do you see?' he asked Ben. 'What's the sign telling you?'

Ben looked at the billboard and realised that he really wanted to see the movie again. The poster made it look so good, so epic...

'I want to see Dying in the Sun Dying in the Sun again,' he said. 'But not as much as I want to follow everyone else.' again,' he said. 'But not as much as I want to follow everyone else.'

'But how would you feel if you hadn't seen the film before?'

the Doctor wondered.

Ben shook his head. 'Oh, can you imagine? What a nightmare. I'd probably do anything to see it. Anything.'

'I haven't seen it,' said Fletcher, and suddenly Ben realised why the cop had seemed agitated. 'Maybe I should. It sounds so good.'

'No,' the Doctor insisted. 'Once you see the film you'll be as susceptible to the Selyoid influence as everyone else here. Stay with me, and try not to look at the billboards. You'll be fine.'

'I must see that picture,' Fletcher moaned. 'Maybe I can catch you up afterwards?'

'No,' insisted the Doctor. 'Don't you see what's happening?

You're being influenced by the posters. They're telling everyone who hasn't seen the film to see it, and once they have the posters tell them to move along this road, to head for the hills.

Notice how there's one of these billboards every three hundred yards? It's like they're navigation points, giving these people new instructions at every interval.'

They'd been driving for almost an hour when they finally reached the car park in Griffith Park where the pilgrimage of thousands had gathered. At the sides of the parking area, several large illuminated billboards displayed posters for Dying in the Sun Dying in the Sun.

A large canvas marquee had been erected near the billboards and a long queue trailed from it.

'Come on,' the Doctor said to his friends, 'let's take a little detour.'

Ben and Fletcher followed as he ran around the edge of the car park, moving through the undergrowth until they got to a position behind the tent, away from the queue. 'Hey, Doctor,'

Ben said, thumbing around the marquee, 'the entrance is on the other side.'

The Doctor grinned. 'Is it really? Well then, it's a good job I don't want to go inside yet, isn't it?'

Placing his hand on the side of the marquee, he felt along it until he found a join in the canvas sections.

'Do either of you have anything sharp enough to cut this?'

he asked.

'Here,' Fletcher said, pulling a sharp letter opener in the shape of a dagger out of his pocket and handing it to the Doctor. 'I picked this up by accident from Captain Wallis's office. It should do the trick.'

The Doctor used the letter opener to slice a hole in the marquee's side. 'Now,' he said as he handed it back to Fletcher, 'let's see what's going on inside.' He knelt down and peered through the hole. 'Now this is interesting,' he said. 'Very interesting indeed.'

He stood up and gestured for Ben to take a look.

'I feel like a right old Peeping Tom,' Ben grumbled as he knelt down to peer through the canvas.

Inside the tent, he saw a crowd of people queuing up to a bright white podium similar to the one the ceremony with the corpses had been conducted on at the FOCAL meeting. Behind the podium was a large vat from which robed figures, who Ben assumed were Selyoid animated corpses, were scooping the golden Selyoid liquid into vials and offering these to each member of the public in turn. To the side of the crowd, on a raised platform, stood an audience of smartly dressed, good-looking men and women who seemed to have captivated the public with their charms. Everyone was looking and pointing at them. Ben realised these were the ones who didn't just believe in the Selyoids' way and follow their orders but had physically melded with the creatures and subsequently been given an irresistible quality that made everyone believe they were stars.

At the front of the platform stood De Sande, immaculately dressed as always, a self-satisfied grin across his face. His dream of Los Angeles succumbing to the will of the Selyoids was coming true. No wonder he was happy.

Ben fought the urge, tried to ignore what his brain was telling him. Go on, it said. Join the queue. You know you deserve to be celebrated.

'Are you all right, Ben?' the Doctor asked.

Ben blinked and stood up. 'They're all mad in there,' he said, ignoring his feelings.

'Yes, well,' the Doctor said, rubbing his hands together, 'what we need to do now is find a way to stop those people helping the Selyoids. Without De Sande and his friends, the Selyoids are helpless. They need human help to perpetuate their plan, and if we cut off that help...'

'Then we win,' said Fletcher.

'Come on,' said the Doctor. 'Let's see if we can stop those billboards displaying the Selyoid messages. If we can snap some people out of their delusions, maybe they'll help us.'

Inside the marquee De Sande sat in a chair on the edge of the celebrity-filled podium and took a well-deserved drag from his cigar. He looked out over the willing crowd, all nervously hoping to join with the Selyoids, to feel the joy the messages from the billboards promised them. After years of snubbing him, years of laughing at him, the people of Hollywood were now in the palm of his hand. This was power. This was justice.

He glanced at Maria who was standing up at the front of the podium, addressing the crowd. She was explaining the way forward to the general public. Explaining that a new celebrity order was coming.

A lucky few De Sande estimated that about two hundred people were needed would be Selyoid hosts, and everyone else would serve them. He realised he had to be careful not to spread the creatures out too thinly. Caleb had died because his dosage hadn't been strong enough. He hadn't been able to exert the power he should have done, but now De Sande knew better.

From now on the people merging with the Selyoids would be stronger as they were drinking a liquid that contained a far stronger concentration of the creatures than previously.

Caleb and Martin had both been sharing themselves with the Selyoids, and both had been killed. De Sande had revelled in the joy of making their killers, Polly and Chate, into Selyoid servants. The ultimate revenge. Now though, against De Sande's wishes, the Selyoids had deserted Chate, and while they liked Polly too much to leave her it was clear she wasn't responding to their wishes as much as she should.

De Sande could deal with Chate once the Selyoid control of Los Angeles was firmly established. Once all the Selyoids were living as humans, living their lifestyle in human bodies, he could worry about locating the traitors. While the Selyoids remained in Polly she and Chate wouldn't be hard to find anyway.

Besides, did it really matter? He'd already humiliated Chate for what he did to Revere, and there were so many thousands of people all desperate to serve, to join with the Selyoids. If two helpless individuals rebelled... so what? But what if more decided the Selyoid way wasn't for them?

De Sande looked out over the crowd, at the smiles on their faces, and realised that no matter what happened these people, the people who'd seen Dying in the Sun Dying in the Sun in a crowd with hundreds of others, who'd been exposed to the right stimuli to become loyal servants of the Selyoids, would remain loyal for ever. Not because they were slaves, not because they feared the repercussions if they rebelled, but because these people loved the Selyoids, because these people wanted the celebrities to have a part in their lives. Everyone here knew what they were getting into, and everyone wanted it more than anything. If you weren't sharing your body with the Selyoids, you might as well be dead. in a crowd with hundreds of others, who'd been exposed to the right stimuli to become loyal servants of the Selyoids, would remain loyal for ever. Not because they were slaves, not because they feared the repercussions if they rebelled, but because these people loved the Selyoids, because these people wanted the celebrities to have a part in their lives. Everyone here knew what they were getting into, and everyone wanted it more than anything. If you weren't sharing your body with the Selyoids, you might as well be dead.

But still doubt raged in De Sande's mind. Every time he closed his eyes he saw Polly, saw her face as she ignored the screams inside her. The memory scared him.

Rapturous applause echoed through the tent as the crowd cheered Maria. They loved her. They adored her. She was everything they wanted, and everything they wanted to be. To see someone like Maria, who was now so in love with him, being treated in this way by so many people made De Sande feel amazing. Today, this was his town, and he was pleased.

He felt a wave of passion, of excitement, and he realised that though it mostly came from the people, it partly came from the Selyoid essence inside him, feeding off the crowd's energies and reflecting these back to the celebrities on the stage. The more people listened to the celebrities, the more they fell in love with them, and the more they'd listen to the Selyoids' message.

De Sande listened to the Selyoids inside him. They told him to be careful, told him not to get complacent, but he knew they were just being overcautious. At the end of the day, he was the one who had freed them from the ice, and he knew they were only trying to make sure nothing went wrong. They loved him unconditionally, and this knowledge had given him the security and confidence he needed to build FOCAL up over the last couple of years, to secure funding for Dying in the Sun Dying in the Sun, and to put into practice the ambitious plan now unfolding before his eyes.

He stood up and walked through to a closed-off reception area at the back of the marquee where FOCAL members were eating and drinking, taking a rest from the business of preaching to the fans.

He saw Wallis entertaining in one corner and made eye contact with him. The cop excused himself from his conversation.

'How's it going?' Wallis asked.

'Reasonably well. Apart from a little trouble earlier with your son, things seem to be going to plan.'

'I told you, we'll find him. He's with that English bitch. He won't get far.'

'Oh, Chate will get his just desserts,' said De Sande. 'I've no doubt about that.' His voice dropped to a whisper. 'What I'm worried about is how easily Polly managed to shake off the Selyoids' influence. They should be more powerful than that.

The girl shouldn't have had so many doubts.'

Wallis looked concerned and put a finger to his lips, as if thinking. 'I wonder if the crowd need a little more convincing,'

he suggested. 'Polly wasn't exposed to Dying in the Sun Dying in the Sun under optimum conditions and wasn't completely convinced that the Selyoids were the ones to follow.' He gestured in the direction of the crowd. 'Because there are so many willing people gathered in one place, the Selyoids' power over them is far stronger. Maybe if we do a little more convincing we can boost any stragglers.' under optimum conditions and wasn't completely convinced that the Selyoids were the ones to follow.' He gestured in the direction of the crowd. 'Because there are so many willing people gathered in one place, the Selyoids' power over them is far stronger. Maybe if we do a little more convincing we can boost any stragglers.'

'But how? How can we prove that our way is right? How can we be sure that no one else will doubt the benefits they'll get from following us, that no one else will try to break away from our influence?'

Wallis smiled. 'Easy. We show them just how powerful the Selyoids are. We scare the general public out of their minds.'

'You have a plan?'