Doctor Who_ Return Of The Living Dad Part 23

The boy looked at the picture, squinting. She held it closer. 'No,' he said faintly.

Woodworth turned the picture around. It showed a young man with long blond hair, caught by an amateur photographer. Heathrow, 1982. Another snap showed the same man talking to Lethbridge-b.l.o.o.d.y-Stewart earlier this year. He was supposed to appear in disguise sometimes, too, but these were the only photos Woodworth had been able to get her hands on.

'That's a shame,' she said, tucking the pictures away.

'Tell me something, just between us, all right?'

He nodded.

'What are you? An alien? Some kind of mutant?'

'I'm human,' he murmured.

'Don't you dare say that,' she snapped. 'I don't know what kind of weird mutation or experiment you are, but don't you ever dare claim you're a human being.'

He looked at her, uncomprehending. 'Not to me,' she said. 'Never to me.'

She sat down again. 'I've been doing this job for a long time. A long time. Almost n.o.body knows the whole story about any of this stuff. UNIT keeps things from C19. C19 keeps things from MI5. MI5 keeps things from Parliament.

And they all keep things from the public. You know who has to know all of it?'

'The Doctor,' he murmured.

Woodworth vibrated like a well-struck gong.

'Good,' she said. la Jareshth told us a lot, you know, but she hadn't actually seen him.' The boy looked at her, but didn't say anything. 'Never hitchhike,' she told him. 'You never know who might pick you up. Right, my lad. If you can tell us something about the Doctor, I might be able to keep you out of the hands of the dissection team.'

'You dissected her?'

Woodworth shrugged. 'She didn't know anything.'

'You killed her? But what about -'

'Her human rights?' smiled Woodworth.

His eyes focused, suddenly, just for a moment. 'You're going to have to cut me up,' he said, 'because I'm not going to help you.'

'Now, son,' she said gently. 'You think about what you just said for a moment.'

She looked around at the white plaster walls. 'This is an old house, you know,' she said. 'You might feel heroic, but you're just another one of the hundreds who've ended up here. You're not unique. Do you know how long I've had this job?' He didn't answer, but she wasn't really talking to him anyway. was one of the few they didn't purge in the seventies. That's the grat.i.tude you get for keeping the country safe, for keeping the planet planet safe all these years. So you see, son, I've seen dozens like you. It means nothing to me to send you down to the bas.e.m.e.nt.' safe all these years. So you see, son, I've seen dozens like you. It means nothing to me to send you down to the bas.e.m.e.nt.'

He pulled against the straps. 'I haven't done anything,'

he said. 'You don't want to keep the planet safe, you don't even care why I'm here.'

'Don't you try to put the blame on me!' snapped Woodworth. 'How dare you come here, and let diseases loose, and terrorize people in their beds!'

She shook her head. 'I don't know why you aliens can never get it through your skulls. This is what human beings do do. You push us, and we push back.' She picked up one of the dentist's probes, tapping it against a fingernail. 'There's no Amnesty International for you. No human rights. You can come upstairs with me and answer some questions, or you can go down to the bas.e.m.e.nt.'

'Go to h.e.l.l,' breathed the boy. His eyes were closed.

'Anybody can die,' said Woodworth. 'Any amateur can manage it. But it's one thing to make your heroic decision, and another thing to have to live through the next few hours.'

He didn't say anything. Perhaps he was unconscious.

She picked up the clipboard and checked a box in red pen.

'Does this mean dinner is off?' Woodworth whirled. 'What the h.e.l.l are you you doing here?' 'Doctor!' said the boy. 'Jesus Christ up a flagpole!' said Woodworth. doing here?' 'Doctor!' said the boy. 'Jesus Christ up a flagpole!' said Woodworth.

18 Chris Chris bang bang

Chris wandered back into consciousness. His first thought was that he had a nasty flu. His head pounded, his mouth was dry, he was a little giddy, and his bedroom light was unbearably bright.

He squeezed his eyes open. 'Mom?' he said to the blurred human shape above him.

'Shh,' she said. 'Lie still. You've got a b.a.s.t.a.r.d of an untreated concussion.'

'Roz?' he muttered.

'Yes.'

'Oh G.o.ddess,' he said, suddenly realizing where he was.

'Am I okay? Are you okay?'

'Don't try to sit up, you idiot!' She pushed him back down, the heel of her hand pus.h.i.+ng into his naked chest, but he grabbed hold of her and hung onto her.

'Oh G.o.ddess,' he said again. 'I'm sorry, I can't think properly. Oh, Roz, they were going to cut me up!'

'It's okay,' she grumbled. 'You're all right now. Hey?

You're all right.'

'I'm sorry,' he said. He was starting to cry, the panic he'd been forcing down coming out of nowhere. Bright lights flashed inside his head when he moved. 'I'm sorry,' he gasped. She was so strong that he could feel the steel of her muscles as she held onto him, awkwardly. 'I'm so sorry.'

'Quit that.' She took his face between her hands. 'You'll be all right. Just calm down.'

'Thank you,' he babbled. 'Thank you for coming and rescuing me.'

'Just stop it, Chris. You're okay now, for Christ's sake!'

He couldn't help it. He grabbed hold of her and kissed her.

She made a m.u.f.fled, outraged sound, and kissed him right back.

She tasted like rosemary and gunpowder.

Somewhere in the middle of it, he lost consciousness again.

'I was here in sixty-eight,' said the Doctor.

Woodworth was sitting on the edge of the dentist's chair, her arms folded tightly. Her eyes were still blank, puzzled, as though she hadn't got over the shock of realizing who he was. She looked... embarra.s.sed.

'They kept me cuffed hand and foot for three weeks,' he said. He looked around at the examination room, the tools and instruments on their metal trays, the sink, the lights. 'I really thought we'd closed down this place. I suppose it was another of those loose threads that I never got around to ravelling up.'

'I really don't give a s.h.i.+t,' said Woodworth.

'Oh, come now,' said the Doctor. 'This is the end of your career. You must be feeling a little bit of excitement. No more aliens to interrogate. No more interesting extraterrestrial bodies to slice up.'

'Don't try to make me feel guilty,' she said. 'Everything I've done has been for the good of Great Britain. For the good of the planet.'

The Doctor leant close, his eyes flas.h.i.+ng with rage.

Woodworth found herself flinching back. He was nothing like the man in her photos. 'The end never justifies the means,'

he said, in a terrifyingly soft voice. 'Because the means used determine the kind of end produced. If I can grasp that, then so can you.'

'We need information,' said Woodworth. 'We have to have information to keep the country safe.'

'You've interrogated them,' said the Doctor. 'But did you ever try just talking to them? You don't do this because you're curious. You do it because you're frightened.'

'How dare you?' hissed Woodworth. 'The number of times I have risked my life -'

The Doctor reached out and poked her on the arm. She jumped back.

'Look out,' said the little man, with a wicked grin. 'An alien is going to touch you!'

Woodworth scrambled off the chair, backing away. 'For G.o.d's sake!' she said, as he wiggled his fingers at her like a manic magician. She b.u.mped against the wall, found herself in the corner. 'G.o.d,' she said, 'I wish I had my gun.'

'There's something even worse in your handbag.'

Woodworth looked down at her bag in sudden horror. It was right at her feet, now, as though the Doctor had wanted her to back into it. It was moving! It was moving!

She jumped away from it as something small and white and alive wriggled out of it. The creature hopped across the floor and jumped into the Doctor's hands while she cringed against the wall, hating herself.

Ask me what I'm going to do with you,' said the Do tor, examining the little white thing. 'You tortured a friend of mine.

You've kidnapped and murdered any number of people.'

'What are you going to do with me?' she choked.

'I'm going to take you back to our our base,' said the Doctor. base,' said the Doctor.

'And then I'm going to lock you in a room with an extraterrestrial and let him him interrogate interrogate you you.'

'You can't. It's a matter of national security. You can't let British secrets fall into the hands of extraterrestrials.'

'All that secrecy isn't good for you,' said the Doctor.

'Department C19 had become a positive cabal by the time the government decided to clean its house. I don't know how they managed to miss you. But you're the only one of the old school left. Subst.i.tuting Star Wars Star Wars for the Cold War.' for the Cold War.'

He tucked the white thing into his jacket pocket. 'Well, there won't be any more secrets for you.'

He turned his back on her and went to the door.

She punched him in the shoulder, hard.

He turned to look at her in disgust. She backed away from the glare, looking surprised, and finally had to bow her head.

He closed the door behind him.

'We're finished here,' said Isaac.

'No,' said the Doctor. 'We're not.'

'Reports, please,' said the Admiral.

Joel was checking his handscan. 'There are still four people in the building,' he reported. 'We've searched every room. There are no living aliens.'

'We found Ia Jareshth in the morgue,' said Tony, 'along with the two Caxtarids who a.s.saulted the Doctor, and three other extraterrestrials.'