Doctor Who_ Return Of The Living Dad Part 30

And in the end Roz got fed up with chess and with waiting for the phone to ring, and had pulled on her coat and gone out into the freezing morning, leaving him in the lounge.

Chris had got hold of the Doctor's ghost-detector. The Time Lord had dropped it in the mud when the s.p.a.ces.h.i.+p's beam had caught him; he must have been trying to take some kind of reading. Bit more precise than a divining rod.

Chris had dampened a tea towel and wiped off the worst of the mud and bits of wheat. The thing was making little humming noises, so it must still be working a bit. He could see a couple of batteries taped into the mechanism just behind the tea-strainer.

There was a roll with times printed on it and a long, slow line drawn by a needle. Mostly the line was flat. He gently lifted the needle and wound the roll back.

At about noon that day, the needle had gone berserk.

As he was staring at the roll, the pen jumped in his hand.

He quickly pulled his hand out of the machine, and the needle started hopping and scratching all over the paper, faster and faster.

'Oh frag,' he said.

He bolted out of the cottage. She was just about to go inside the coffee shop. 'Roz!' he shouted. 'Wait!'

She turned, as he ran up the road towards her, the rough surface biting his feet and he could see that feathered horror he could see that feathered horror descending on her, rus.h.i.+ng from all sides like a hurricane descending on her, rus.h.i.+ng from all sides like a hurricane with her in its eye - with her in its eye - Roz batted at the thing as it battered at her, waving her hands wildly and shouting. Chris knew that no one else could see it.

She could see it because it was attacking her, and he could see it because he'd already seen it twice.

He saw her mouth open as he sprinted the last few metres between them. He knew she was being taken back to the beginning, that her life was being read like a book that someone was flipping through, fast, uncaring, looking for a particular paragraph or picture.

He grabbed hold of her as she was catapulted into her own future.

And suddenly they were married, living on a lush green world where he surfed and fought villains and she danced and wrote laser-sharp political commentary. And from time to time the Doctor visited them, sometimes wearing a different face, but always with that conjurer's twinkle in his eye.

And suddenly they were lying on a road in 1983, free of the ghost storm, and it was so cold that he could feel his bare toes turning blue.

Roz was shaking in his grip, outraged, still struggling. He jerked backwards, letting her go, giving her s.p.a.ce. 'Did you see it?' he asked her, as they sat up. 'Did you see it?'

'I didn't see anything!' she shouted wildly. 'Christ! I didn't see anything anything, all right?'

24 Plan B

Albinex pressed his palm against the engine room lock. The door slid open.

Inside, his time engine was lying in disrepair, little puffs of burnt stuff scattered over its surface like black flowers. His transformation arch had been dragged away from the wall, and was lying flat on the floor, sizzling softly.

The Doctor, not surprisingly, was gone.

'Never mind,' said Albinex. 'Never you mind.'

He turned on his heel and walked the short distance to his larder. The door slid open at his touch. He stepped into the room, found the canisters he wanted, brus.h.i.+ng away the condensation to read the labels.

'I knew you would come in handy,' he breathed. 'The both of you.'

It's surprising what you can think of in an hour.

25 Conference

Someone was helping Roz up, flapping his hat at the bees that were still b.u.mbling around her. Chris scrambled to his feet.

It wasn't the Doctor. It was Tom Sullivan, the old guy from the post office. 'Are you all right, missus?' he said. 'Is this fellow annoying you?'

Roz dusted herself down. 'No more than usual,' she muttered. 'No, I'm fine, thanks very much.'

Tom gave Cwej a suspicious glance, but pushed his hat back down on his head and wandered off down the road towards the graveyard. Roz watched him go, thoughtfully.

'It was the ghost,' said Chris. 'The Doctor's ghost. Well, not his his ghost, but the one he was talking about before. That little machine started going nuts.' ghost, but the one he was talking about before. That little machine started going nuts.'

'Oh, great,' said Roz. 'Government conspiracies, UFOs, and now ghosts.'

'It recorded stuff when I was having that dream this morning,' said Chris. He plucked a dead bee from his joggers. 'And the bees were there again.'

'Okay, well, we'd better let Isaac know.' Roz headed for the coffee shop door.

'It showed me the future,' said Chris.

Roz hesitated at the door. She didn't look back at him.

'At least, I think it was the future,' he said.

He wanted to go to her, put his arms around her again.

Touch her. He wanted to touch her.

He stood where he was, still in the road, awkward.

'At least, I hope it was the future,' he said quietly.

Roz glanced at him with eyes like black gla.s.s. She pushed open the door, and followed the sound of bells into the shop.

On the staircase, Benny screamed, 'JASON!'

'The same,' he said, opening his arms.

Benny hurled herself down the stairs and shot across the floor. They ended up in an awkward embrace, with her arms and legs wrapped around him. He stumbled back under her weight.

Roz came up and stood next to the Doctor. 'You've been busy,' she said.

He glanced at her. 'What's yellow, black and fuzzy?'

'A bee,' said Roz.

'I don't know either,' said the Doctor, 'but there's one crawling up your arm.' He reached up his hand, and the lone insect hopped onto his index finger.

'Doctor!' Chris exploded into the shop. 'Jason!' He caused a moment's chaos by trying to shake Jason's and the Time Lord's hands, especially since Benny was still firmly fastened around her husband, trying to kiss him to death.

'What was that s.p.a.ces.h.i.+p? Why did it look like a boat? Are you both okay?'

The Time Lord looked past Benny and Jason, to where Isaac was coming down the stairs. Their eyes met for a moment.

'Conference,' said the Doctor.

'What's all the shouting about?' muttered Joel.

He logged off the bulletin board and switched off the brand-new ancient computer. He gripped his cigarette in his mouth as he pulled on his trainers.

It wasn't until he raised his head that he saw the window.

There was something wrong with it.

It was covered in bees.

Joel took a couple of steps towards the window. The insects were all on the outside, their furry bodies pressed up against the gla.s.s. They wanted in in.

Joel's mouth opened, and the cigarette dangled from his bottom lip.

There was something in the room with him.

'Oh s.h.i.+t,' said Joel. ' Incoming Incoming!'

His whole life flashed before his eyes in a flurry of beating wings. It was like being inside a bird, inside that furious heat and movement, all those feathers. It was as though his life was a ribbon of landscape below him and a roc (Frequency: Very Rare) had plucked him up and was flying over it, faster and faster.

There was the first time he saw Star Trek VI Star Trek VI at the cinema, with a crowd of cheering fans, and the flow of happiness and excitement had been almost overwhelming. at the cinema, with a crowd of cheering fans, and the flow of happiness and excitement had been almost overwhelming.

There was his Professor X Professor X script, all carefully plotted out and typed up at the age of fifteen, ready to send off to London. Thrown out the door into the mud by his father because the pages were littering the floor of his room. script, all carefully plotted out and typed up at the age of fifteen, ready to send off to London. Thrown out the door into the mud by his father because the pages were littering the floor of his room.

And there there was the moment when the time rift had grabbed him - was the moment when the time rift had grabbed him - There was a sudden jar, a grinding sensation that shook the insides of his bones. For a moment he thought it was going to kill him, smash him between its movement and the wall of time.

The beating wings grew louder, then faster, then frantic, and suddenly he was over that b.u.mp, that twist in the landscape.

The years seared past at blipvert speed.

He tried to protest as the bird dragged him onwards, into his future.

It was five minutes before it let him go, with a terrible !eating sound. He found himself on the floor of his room, breathing hard. The bees whirled away from his window with a lazy sound, tracing patterns of dots in the air.

Joel held onto his bed and kept breathing, taking slow, deep lungfuls, until the dizziness and the iron grip in his chest subsided. He pulled himself to his feet.

He plucked the cigarette from his mouth with both shaking hands and stubbed it out in the ashtray. Then he went downstairs.

They pulled chairs from under the tables, arranged them in a tight circle at the back of the shop. Isaac and Ms Randrianasolo, Joel and Chris, Jason and Benny, Roz and the Doctor.

Graeme hopped up onto the counter. Chris held out a hand, and the spatula jumped down to join the circle. 'My hero,' said the Adjudicator.

The Time Lord said, 'I'm afraid that our problems haven't ended with stopping Woodworth's operation. I'm sorry to tell you this, Admiral, but I'm afraid Albinex is up to something.

Something nuclear.'

Isaac nodded slowly. 'He's been gone since last night,'

he said.

'He kidnapped me because he wants a set of government codes he believes will enable him to launch a nuclear missile.'

'Those Caxtarids,' said Benny. She was still hanging onto Jason, one hand on his shoulder and another on his arm, as though a beam of light might come through the roof and s.n.a.t.c.h him away.

'Indeed,' said the Doctor. 'He's holding the TARDIS hostage. He can't do anything to hurt her, though, not with the level of technology he has access to.'

'But why take Jason hostage and then not make any demands?' said Benny.

'I was just along for the ride,' said Jason. 'I was in the TARDIS having a think when Albinex took it. He probably just beamed it up into his s.h.i.+p, or something. The next time I looked out the door I was on board his yacht.'