SECRET OF THE MANDALA

CHAPTER IV: The Natives Are Restless...

They found Ray waiting for them outside.

"Nice of you guys to join us. Did you bag the little spud?"

Peter favored him with a sour look.

"Ray, we need to have a serious heart-to-blob talk with this one or we'll have discipline issues with him as a teenager."

They had just come round the corner to the main hall and lobby to see Egon on the other side firing proton streams as a pair of the bellhop ghosts rocketed past, cackling madly.

"Uh-oh! Looks like your initiation is over Cadet! We've got some really troublesome spirits here."

By now Marty had the proton stream down to an art form. And his Mother said that all those hours of video gaming were a waste! The Bellhop ghosts were a big pain to get wrangled however, constantly darting here and there, possessing random furniture, throwing luggage. But at last, they were wrestled into the traps, Marty even dragging one into his own trap.

"Man, Doc is never going to believe this when I tell him! Then again, after some of the stuff we've seen..." Marty said, forgetting that he was in the presence of others.

"Doc? Who's Doc?" asked Ray.

"Oh, um, he's a friend of mine. He's mostly the reason I got this job. He's got a... project that he needs the money for."

"Ah I see. Oh and one thing about your traps here," said Ray, picking Marty's trap up off the floor and showing the top end of the device to Marty.

"These are a new model we just designed, the Mk. II's. They can hold more ectoplasmic mass, that is to say ghosts, inside them. You can see how full it is with the indicator here." A light bar on the front end of the device was lit up about ¼ of the way.

"That means you could probably catch about 3 more ghosts in there, depending on their ectopresence and ethereal mass and..."

"Ray, enough with the tutorial, we need to go give the manager our newest invoice, you know, while he's still in shock about the ballroom," cut in Peter, waving his proton thrower at the damage they had done to the lobby. Despite Marty's good aim and the other three's long experience, there were long, squiggly scorch marks on the walls, chunks blown out of the masonry and moulding, destroyed light fixtures and etc.

"Damn, do you guys usually do this much property damage?" asked Marty.

"Not always," replied Egon.

"But often," added Ray.

"Who is going to pay for all this?!" cried a strident voice.

"Speak of the devil..." muttered Venkman.

The manager had finally left the Alhambra Ballroom, only to come upon the latest damage done by Marty and the Ghostbusters.

"Not to worry sir!" said Ray jovially, "As you know the Mayor rode to office on a strictly pro-Ghostbusters campaign, and we know invoice the city directly for all captures and eliminations. An un-haunted New York is a tourist-friendly New York."

"No... I meant about the damage," hissed the manager.

"The Mayor and the City Council also took out an extensive insurance policy, so you should be covered for that as well," added Egon.

The Manager still looked like he was about to explode in high-pitched fury so Venkman chose this moment to break in.

"Honestly guys I'm sensing some hostility here. Perhaps we should just but the ghosts back?"

His suggestion had the intended effect.

"NO! No... but please, be discreet."

"Discretion is our professional watchword," said Ray.

Just then, the tubby blue ghost with the fishing pole that Marty and Ray had seen in the kitchen burst out of the wall with a roar. He flew around the Ghostbusters and the Manager once, causing the Manager to gasp in fear and duck back towards the Alhambra, and then flew off towards the elevators.

"Whoa! Where did he come from?" exclaimed Ray.

"We saw him in the kitchen," said Peter. "Although I can't help but wonder what the Gordon's Fisherman has to do with a New York hotel..."

"I suppose we should go after him?" asked Egon.

"Yeah. Cadet, go with Dr. Spengler and check out our angry fisherman. Peter and I will stay down here in case there are any more surprises."

"Don't jinx it Ray. I'm done with surprises tonight," winced Peter.

Marty and Egon followed the PKE trail of the ghost until they reached the main stairwell. As they carefully climbed the steps, trying not to draw attention to themselves, Marty noticed a flash out of the corner of his eye. Something was coming right for them!

"Look out!" he cried and leapt up the steps. But the object, which turned out to be a bobber on a fishhook, latched onto the stairs above them. The line went taught and with a mighty cracking wrench, a large section of staircase crashed down between Egon and Marty.

"I can't get up there with you! I'll have to find another way! Keep on his tail!" said Egon as he started back down the stairs.

You really want me to go after him... just by... myself?" asked Marty, his fading down from a shout to a whisper as it became clear that Doctor Spengler wasn't putting the matter up for debate. Marty gulped and started up the stairs again. All of a sudden he didn't feel so sure about this anymore. Up until now he'd always had another of the Ghostbusters with him but now he was alone. He'd seen enough horror movies to know that was usually never a good thing.

To his not so surprise, he found himself on the twelfth floor again, unable to go any higher due to the busted stairs. It was where he needed to be, assumed Marty, because the sounds of a ship's bell, the rolling of the waves and seagulls were coming from this floor, but strangely distorted and echoing as if the directions the sounds were coming in were constantly shifting but still coming from the general direction of the twelfth floor. Just as Marty was about to round a corner, he saw a flash of violet light. He gulped again, uncomfortably aware that he was covered in clammy sweat. He jumped around the corner, into the hallway, neutrona wand ready to fire and... nothing.

"C'mon McFly, get it together," he whispered to himself, "This isn't any worse than facing down Mad Dog Tannen."

The problem with that analogy though was that Marty knew where Tannen was at all times during their duel. Here the danger could literally come out of the walls and it didn't help that he was having the scenes from Aliens where Ripley was desperately searching through the atmosphere generator playing through his head, no matter how much he wanted it to stop. Suddenly there was a roar or noise from down the corridor and the fisherman ghost came tearing around the corner and headed straight for him... followed by a huge fountain of water that curled and boiled through the hall. Marty fired a blast but the fisherman blew past him, covering him in slime. Before he could react, the plume of water hit him and knocked hi off his feet. He landed hard, his back twinging painfully as it dug into the proton pack harness. For one wild moment, Marty thought he was going to be drowned and he screamed, a sound watch sounded muffled and bubbly thanks to the water. Then the water was past him and he could breathe again. He climbed to his feet, spluttering and shivering. Suddenly this job didn't seem all that fun anymore...