The Shadow People (audio story)

The Shadow People was the fifth Sarah Jane Adventures audiobook released. It was written by Scott Handcock, produced for BBC Audio and read by Elisabeth Sladen. It accompanied the CBBC broadcast of series 3.

Publisher's summary
A camping trip spells trouble for Sarah Jane and friends, in this exclusive audio adventure read by Elisabeth Sladen.

When both the school bus and Sarah Jane's car break down in Snowdonia, the gang find themselves stranded in the middle of nowhere.

Exploring by a lake, Rani sees a shadowy figure that looks exactly like her. Then Sarah Jane hears a voice asking for help, and sees a mysterious figure outside her tent. Who is watching them, and why? How can Rani be in two places at once? And what secret does a nearby cave hold?

Plot
Sarah Jane's Saturday off is interrupted when Luke and Clyde come to her door, wanting a ride to school, having missed the bus after an encounter with an alien disguised as a cat. That day the school was having a field trip to Wales, and Sarah Jane knows that it was important to Luke. They use a mobile phone tracking device to track Rani's mobile phone.

After a long drive, they discover the bus broken down on the side of the road. Not long after, their car breaks down as well. Neither the car nor the bus will even begin to start.

The four of them, Sarah Jane, Luke, Clyde and Rani, go looking around. They walk up to a pond, noting how beautiful it is. Rani, however, seems nervous, looking over her shoulder, as if she is looking for someone.

Rani, as it turns out, is nervous due to a strange thing that happened to her earlier that day. While she was by the pond, she began to hear voices calling out to her, but when she would look around no one would be there. Then, out of the corner of here eye she saw the reflection of someone crouching over her in the pond. Upon closer inspection, she found the figure was another her, crouching over her reflection with bloodshot eyes. The apparition soon passed, yet she still felt like she was being watched. Sarah Jane agrees, secretly also feeling it.

Soon nightfall comes, and they are put into pairs to pitch tents to sleep in. Sarah Jane, Luke and Clyde work together, and Rani helps her father.

Meanwhile, Sarah Jane wants to find out more about the figure that Rani had seen. She goes to a mountain and finds out that a Shedagen spaceship is inside the mountain. Rani Clyde and Luke are also there, however Luke is there twice. It turns out that the second Luke is one of the Shadow People who imitates Luke's appearance. The figure tells Sarah Jane that it was working on the space ship of the Shedagen when the space ship crashed on Earth. There it took care of the Shedagen until they died. Then it stopped existing until Rani, Clyde, Luke, Haresh and Sarah Jane arrived there, At first it thought that it was one of the students, but then it realised that it was one of the Shadow People and was created by the Shedagen. It is afraid, that it stops existing when Sarah Jane and her friends leave, so it wants them to stay where it can serve them. However Sarah Jane convinces it to let them go. The figure waves Sarah Jane when she is leaving. Then it disappears.

Characters

 * Sarah Jane Smith
 * Luke Smith
 * Clyde Langer
 * Rani Chandra
 * Haresh Chandra

Worldbuilding

 * Luke and Clyde are late to school due to an encounter with an alien disguised as a kitten.
 * The Shedagen are an alien race that create the Shadow People.
 * A Shedagen spaceship crashes on the Snowdonia national park.

Continuity

 * Carla's advanced sat-nav is used again. (TV: The Mark of the Berserker)
 * Sarah Jane tries to fix her car with her sonic lipstick. She previously used it to disable and then fix the engine of her parents' car. (TV: The Temptation of Sarah Jane Smith)
 * Clyde refers to how his mum describes him as a "demon in the kitchen". (TV: The Mark of the Berserker)
 * Sarah Jane says she has met things that look like her before, mentioning clones and androids. (TV: The Android Invasion)
 * Sarah Jane had previously investigated ghosts in Romania in 2002. She related the story to Luke, Clyde and Rani. (AUDIO: Ghost Town)