(no subject)

Guppy lies on his bed, fiddling with the radio. He’s pretty pleased with his new toy. The familiar voices and songs make him feel much more relaxed and at home. The pain is still there; it aches for him like the feelings that Asar-Suti probably has when Gil is away. He misses his city like a friend. If only this thing would pick up Radio Holby, he would be sorted.

He twists the knob slowly, seeing if it will pick up anything else. Apart from the channels he’s already found, there doesn’t seem to be much else, at the moment anyway. He finds another one in a foreign language towards the higher end of the frequency scale, but moves on after a minute or two. It’s a discussion, about stock markets or stamp collecting by the sound of the tones. In other words, it doesn’t sound very interesting. As he gets near the top end he sighs. Well it was silly to suspect it would pick up Radio Holby. He should be grateful that it works at all. He is just about to give up and turn it back to Radio Caroline when, right at the top frequency, it picks up something else.

The signal is so clear! A woman’s voice, singing. The language is strange, but the music is beautiful. The words caress his brain and he is happy. Grabbing his pen and paper, he tries to write some of it down. The same lines repeat over and over again, but never become boring. It sounds a bit like Welsh. Living close to Wales, he has picked a little up from time to time. He writes it as it’s said then looks at the words.

Gnos neri syle nol ymra eh

Gnos neri syle nol ymra eh

Eid ton didt ahte noeh tmai

Yrc ott fel yeh teno eht sawi

Dael piwo nem nioj dna emoc

Da elih ta peh tnow onog

Thgiran rutd naroo deht tuo

Thgilon sier ehter ehwot revo

Thgi arts dna ecing niog nopeek

Tiawi ereh wemd nif, ton pik

Gnos neri syle nol ymra eh

Gnol agni suo yemh tiwe reh

He stares at them, listening to the music, for a long time. It isn’t Welsh. But he doesn’t care. It is a beautiful sound, so lovely that he wants to join the singer, wherever she is. He wants to find the lonely woman who calls to him.

He becomes aware of a headache. The music will soothe it and heal it. He lies down on the bed and shuts his eyes, listening to the melody drift around him.

Inside his mind, something stirs.

It stretches.

It opens his eyes and sees for the first time.

It tells him that he sleeps.

He believes it.

The spirit of the siren takes hold of his mind, and works out how to use it.

It has waited a long time to follow the song’s instructions. It has waited thousands of years to take the last siren her victim.

Guppy is completely unaware, thinking that he is sleeping. The siren controls him. He stands and makes his way to the door, carrying the radio. Without speaking to anyone, he moves from memory and heads out of the back door.

The siren is normally blind. She cannot understand what she sees now. She just follows the instructions of the music. Guppy turns and heads into the forest then walks in a straight line.

He doesn’t for very long. The siren does not understand what she sees. And the instructions are not made for Milliways bar, but for a place on Earth. The signal is lost. The spirit is lost. They cannot consider certain obstacles.

Guppy comes back to reality with a bump as he walks into a tree. The headphones fall off. He falls backwards; a little dazed, his head aching.

How did I get here? Ouch, my nose.

Put the radio back on.

He blinks. Where did that last thought come from? He looks around.

Put the radio back on. You want to hear the music.

"Who said that? I know it’s not me thinking, it isn’t my voice, and I don’t think in the second person."

He looks around. There is nobody there.

I am your inner self.

"I don’t believe you. If you were my inner self, you wouldn’t be calling me you, you’d be calling me I or me. And why would my inner self talk in a female voice?"

I am also your feminine side.

"You’re a bloody intruder! Get out of my brain!"

Put the radio on now before I accidentally fall over some of your synapses

.

Guppy gets up, somewhat unsteadily and picks up the radio. He takes the batteries and throws them in the bushes. The spirit screams at him.

Go and get those now you arsehole!

"NO! The only thing you’re getting is scanned by Ray’s PKE meter."

He turns around and heads back towards the bar, guessing the direction by how he hit the tree. If whatever is inside him doesn’t know that a tree is in the way, there can’t have been many trees in his path. All the way back the spirit hurls abuse at him.

He goes in through the back door and flops into the nearest armchair.