GHOSTBUSTERS: The Return Page 25

  The ghosts gave Goodraven a wider berth, though - particularly after he grabbed one of the disembodied spirits and it burst into flame. The fact that he had done it without so much as breaking stride was nearly as impressive as the effect.

  Venkman vaulted over the hand railing and dropped down to the stairs below. Goodraven followed close behind, moving swiftly without seeming to hurry.

  Some of the creatures chased them down the stairs. But scores of them continued to push toward the remaining Ghostbusters.

  Ray, Egon, and Winston stood their ground, back to back, facing the sea of creatures that swarmed around them on all sides. They fired blasts into the crowd, ripping through the spirits' borrowed "bodies," and stamped on the pedals of ecto-traps whenever any of their attackers came too close. But still the creatures kept coming. Now, the tallest of the dinosaurs was craning its neck down toward them, too.

  "Pseudo-organic possession," said Ray, blasting through a pair of thirteenth century Teutonic knights.

  "Just like the dummy at the sporting goods store," said Egon, triggering one of the traps to suck the ghost out of an Aztec warrior.

  "Careful, though," said Ray. "A lot of these things are priceless artifacts. It'll be a lot harder to replace them than a display dummy."

  "That's a nice thought, Ray, but it's kind of hard to replace us, too," said Winston, nailing a flock of penguins. "Those things'll tear us to pieces if we don't stop them!"

  "The traps can't hold this many," said Egon. "It'll overload the systems."

  "So what do we do?" asked Winston.

  "Hope that Pete and Goodraven stop Xanthador in time," said Ray. "And in the meantime..."

  "Dominos." said Egon.

  "Dominos?"

  "Fire strategically," said Egon. "Place every shot for maximum effect."

  As if to illustrate his point, he fired upward. The ion stream blew away the spectre that was inhabiting the largest dinosaur skeleton and shattered the skeleton into bits. With a nervous squeal, Geezil leaped from the creature's skull, catching himself by embedding his claws in the wall. Heavy bones rained down, smashing open suits of armor and knocking limbs off dummies that were dressed like Inuit hunters.

  "Dominos," said Winston.

  He fired over the heads of the nearest attackers to strike a charging mastodon skeleton, blowing it apart. The long, heavy tusks alone took out nearly a dozen of the creatures.

  Yet, despite their small successes, there was only so much that they could do; the sheer press of numbers weighed heavily against them.

  Little by little, the creatures surged forward. The unliving circle around the Ghostbusters was tightening. It was only a matter of time before the undead attackers overwhelmed the team's defenses.

  Venkman and Goodraven tore down the stairs, with a hodgepodge of animated warriors and snarling beasts of prey in hot pursuit.

  "Just stay ahead of them!" Venkman said, as an African spear sailed past his head. "We'll be okay as long as we don't get cornered!"

  He was so preoccupied with what was behind them that he was only a few steps from the bottom by the time he looked down. When he did, he swallowed hard. A huge brown bear was Iying in wait for them. As they approached, the bear reared up on its hind legs and roared.

  Acting mostly on reflex, Venkman reached out, grabbed the bannister, and swung around to vault over it. The drop wasn't far, but with his heavy proton pack throwing him off-balance, he hit hard and went sprawling across the floor.

  That still put him in better shape than his pursuers, though. The mob of possessed museum exhibits was too big to react quickly. Indeed, the ones in the rear couldn't even see what was happening in front of the pack. So when the creatures in the lead stopped to follow Venkman, the ones behind them kept going. The result was that all of them wound up tumbling down the stairs in a tangled mess, where they smashed into the waiting bear and bowled it over.

  "And that's why you shouldn't run on stairs," Venkman said. He took advantage of the momentary confusion to get back to his feet.

  But where was Goodraven? He hadn't made the leap, and Venkman couldn't go on without him.

  Just then, the tall, unscathed figure of Goodraven emerged from the chaos, walking calmly. He straightened his tunic as he walked. "Let us proceed," he said.

  Beyond Goodraven, Venkman could see most of the creatures - the ones that hadn't been demolished in the fall - regaining their footing. He turned to see a monstrous blue whale, more massive than a city bus, inching its way toward them from the other direction. "Oh, you've got to be kidding,.."

  He grabbed Goodraven and headed for the signs that marked the entrance to the planetarium.

  The Mayor stormed back into his dressing room in a cloud of determination and rage.

  "G-great job in the debate, sir," said an aide, edging out of his way. "You r-really - "

  "What's going on at the park?" snapped Lapinski.

  "They're not at the park anymore," said Wong.

  "What about the ghosts?"

  "Sea monsters. They trapped them. Now, Venkman's crew is at the Natural History museum."

  "The museum?!" he demanded. "Why?"

  "I don't know. We have early reports of patrons fleeing in a panic."

  "That's all the police could tell you?"

  "Not the police." Wong gestured toward the television monitor that stood in a corner of the room. "The news."

  For the first time, Lapinski registered the image on the television screen. The news channel was carrying a live feed. A reporter was standing on the street, talking into the camera. In the background, the museum and planetarium were clearly visible as was the crowd that had already gathered outside.

  "Perfect! Just perfect!" shouted the Mayor. He kicked a chair across the room, where it crashed into the wall. What else can possibly go wrong?"

  Wong looked uncertain how to reply.

  "What else can go wrong, Nathan?" Lapinski repeated

  "Well...Goodraven's with them."

  The Mayor froze. Only his reddening face and the vein that bulged from his temple attested to his growing rage.

  "Arnie?" Wong said, in a soft, tentative voice. "Mister Mayor?"

  "Venkrnan set this up!" said Lapinski.

  "What?"

  "It's the only explanation that makes any sense! The timing's too neat! He planned all of this!"

  He crossed the room to the television monitor and stared into the screen. "This stunt's going just like you wanted, isn't it?" he hissed at the screen. "What are you up to?"

  Built on the site of its predecessor, the original Hayden Planetarium, the Rose Center for Earth and Science was a tremendous, seven-story blue sphere housed inside an even larger glass case. Inside the case, smaller spheres circled around the main one, giving the impression of orbiting planets. It was a remarkable sight.

  At the moment, the events inside the planetarium were equally remarkable.

  Venkman and Goodraven raced into the lower half of the sphere, to find a reddish open space nearly fifty feet in diameter. Out of the comer of his eye, Venkman spotted a bright flash of white light and a group of spectral forms.

  "Ghost!" he cried, still on the run. He whirled to fire a blast from his nutrona wand, and smacked into a transparent plexiglass barrier that ringed the center of the room. The impact took him by surprise, causing him to drop the wand and fall onto a matching circle of plexiglass flooring.

  As he hit the transparent segment of the floor, he saw that the source of the phenomenon wasn't supernatural at all. They weren't ghosts, but images of cosmic phenomena, projected onto a bowl-shaped screen that was recessed below the floor.

  Only then did he notice the recorded female voice that was speaking all around him in surround sound. "It is believed that the Big Bang was the source of all... "

  The urgency of the situation was marked by the fact that Venkman didn't even make a "Big Bang" joke.

  Goodraven was already on his way up a sloping walkway that extended from t
he far side of the room. Venknnan got to his feet and followed.

  He ran along the walkway, circling the perimeter of the mammoth sphere and ignoring the scenes of cosmic evolution that decorated the walls on either side. He was more interested in catching up to Goodraven, but the distance between them and the curvature of the walkway kept the exorcist out of view. He moves fast for a big guy in old clothes, Venkman thought.

  Then, suddenly, he was out of the walkway and in a vast, open space. For a second, he thought he was outdoors, staring up into a nighttime sky filled with stars... but then he remembered that it was the middle of the afternoon.

  He was standing in a round theater, surrounded by hundreds of seats that faced the center of the auditorium. At the center stood a large, spherical Zeiss projector that resembled a steel ball covered in lenses.

  It rotated and pivoted as it projected the bulk of the images that could be seen all around him. The effect of the projection was deceptive, but Venkman assumed there was a dome-shaped ceiling somewhere up above him. The visuals were accompanied by voice-over narration that was introducing him to the wonders of the universe.

  More important, he saw Goodraven standing on the far side of the projector and gazing at the display on the ceiling. But Xanthador was nowhere to be seen.

  Venkman caught his breath long enough to breathe a sigh of relief. "Yo, Johnny! We got here first!" he called to Goodraven, shouting to be heard over the narration and music. "Xanthador must've stopped to check out the gift shop."

  Goodraven ignored him.

  "Fine," muttered Venkman. "Last time I waste my A-list material on you."

  He walked to the center of the theater to examine the projector. "We'd better pull the plug before those planets align. There's got to be an 'off' switch here somewhere."

  Taking care to keep his eyes away from the blinding light that streamed from some of the lenses, Venkman studied the body of the projector and the pedestal that supported it. He ran his fingers along their surface. But it was no use - he couldn't find any controls.

  He took a step back, and watched the precise movements of the spherical projector as it swiveled first one way and then the other. He looked around to see if someone was operating the device, and confirmed that, apart from Goodraven and himself, no one was around.

  "Must be run by computer," he concluded.

  He turned away from the projector and started to walk through the darkened theater, looking for a control panel. The task would be easier, he decided, if the lights were on.

  For his part, Goodraven continued to stare upward, watching the program unfold above his head. Venkman gave an exasperated grunt. "Hey, Johnny!" he yelled, his raised voice dripping with sarcasm. "I don't want to pull you away from your show, but can I get a little help here?"

  Slowly, Goodraven's gaze moved from the ceiling to focus on Venkman. His eyes were ablaze with a fiery red glow.

  "Uh, Johnny..." Venkman said in an uncertain tone, "You shouldn't watch so much TV. It's bad for your eyes... "

  Goodraven's lips parted into a broad and nasty grin. The sight was so disquieting that it made Venkman wish he'd go back to showing no emotion at all.

  Then Goodraven started to laugh.

  Oh, great, thought Venkman. Now I get a laugh.

  It was an unnerving sound that held no mirth or joy at all. It reverberated around the theater, growing in intensity until it drowned out the soundtrack from the planetarium show entirely.

  Then its body started to change. At first, Venkman thought it was an optical illusion - one caused by the light and shadows cast off by the projector. But it soon became clear that it was no illusion. Goodraven's body swelled and grew, ripping through his ancient garb.

  His shape was changing, too. His skin turned dark and scaly. His body grew slender and sprouted a long tail that was tipped with bony spikes. His fingers grew long and menacing claws. His eyes - all seven of them - turned a sickly shade of yellow. His jaws extended to reveal rows of gleaming, razor-sharp teeth.

  When it was done, Goodraven no longer looked even remotely human. He towered high above Venkman, crouching to fit beneath the forty-foot ceiling. A sizable portion of the star show was now being projected on his body instead of the ceiling.

  Venkman stared, wide-eyed, at the creature that used to be Goodraven. "Let me guess... " he said.

  "TREMBLE, MORTAL," said the creature. "FEEL THE ICY GRIP OF FEAR UPON YOU! PLEAD FOR YOUR WORTHLESS LIFE BEFORE THE GREAT AND TERRIBLE WRATH OF XANTHADOR!"

  CHAPTER 19

  Venkman hit Xanthador with everything he had. The blinding light of the ion stream instantly transformed the nighttime scene to a theater at high noon. He ran the searing beam up and down the demon's body, from head to tail and back again. Yet, when the smoke cleared, nothing had changed. The barrage hadn't bound Xanthador. It hadn't even singed his flesh.

  Without warning, Xanthador's tail whipped out to wrap itself around Venkman's torso and snatch him off the ground. Venkman's arms were pinned to his sides as Xanthador hoisted him up to eye level, near the peak of the domed ceiling. Venkrnan writhed about. struggling to free himself, but to no avail.

  Even with the situation as dire as it was, the irony wasn't lost on him. A Ghostbuster bound, dangling high above the ground, and unable to struggle free?

  All Xanthador needed was an ecto-trap and a jurnpsliit to make the picture complete.

  "FOOLISH MORTAL!" Xanthador hissed, in a voice that made the very walls shake. "YOU DARE TO MAKE YOUR FEEBLE ATTEMPTS AT MY TIME OF POWER? YOUR CHILDISH TOYS ARE AS NOTHING BEFORE THE SUPREME MIGHT OF THE OVERLORD OF DREAD!"

  "Sorry," said Venkrnan. "My bad."

  "YOU HAVE EARNED A SLOW AND PAINFUL DEATH. I SHALL SAVOR THE TASTE OF YOUR SCREAMS AS THE FEAR WELLS UP WITHIN YOU."

  Venkman swallowed hard, but he forced himself to remain calm. The last thing he needed was to add to Xanthador's power. "Y'know, I never thought I'd say this, but I think you were a nicer guy when you were Goodraven."

  Xanthador smiled, which only served to emphasize his lethal fangs all the more. "GOODRAVEN WAS BUT A SHELL. A SHAM."

  "Taking a walk on the wild side, huh? Seeing how the human half lives?"

  "CERTAIN PREPARATIONS WERE NECESSARY, IN ORDER TO READY THIS WORLD FOR MY IMMINENT SOVEREIGNTY. AS I COMPLETED THOSE PREPARATI ONS UPON THIS PLANE, IT AMUSED ME TO TAKE THE FORM OF THE MORTAL WHO SOUGHT TO OPPOSE ME IN EONS PAST."

  "And who kicked your extradimensional tail, the way I hear it."

  Xanthador's smile was gone. His seven eyes narrowed.

  The demon's tail shot out, thrusting Venkrnan headfirst toward a particular portion of the ceiling. It stopped without warning, his nose scant inches from impact. When Venkman dared to open his eyes, he found that his shadow blocked part of the display in front of him, but he could still make out the distinctive rings of Saturn.

  "OBSERVE, MORTAL! THE TIME IS UPON US. IN MERE MINUTES, THESE WORLDS OF LIGHT AND IMAGE SHALL ATTAIN THE PROPHESIED ALIGNMENT."