Doctor Who_ Return Of The Living Dad Part 4

She wore jeans and a denim jacket with big pockets - adventuring clothes. There were lines of tension around her mouth. She looked so businesslike that Jason didn't dare to hug her. It had taken almost an hour to persuade him to stay behind.

'We're just taking a quick look round,' said Benny gently.

'We won't stay for the whole show.'

'I'll be waiting for you,' said Jason, almost keeping the bitterness out of his voice.

Chris and Roz stood about, looking awkward. The Doctor said, 'We'll be materializing aboard the Tisiphone Tisiphone in thirty seconds.' in thirty seconds.'

Benny nodded. She gave Jason a quick kiss. 'I'll talk to you in five minutes,' she said.

She couldn't help smiling as the old, familiar noise of the TARDIS materialization ground through the console room.

The Doctor put his hand on the door control. 'Are you ready?'

he said.

Benny gave him a quick nod. He tugged on the door control, and the big double doors swung open.

Benny stepped out onto the Tisiphone, and nearly walked right into her father.

4 From Here to Paternity

Aboard the Tisiphone, 2543 Stay calm.

The TARDIS had parked itself in a narrow corridor, an access tunnel curving through the inside of the big s.h.i.+p. Dark walls were covered in stencilled lettering. The floor shook.

The air stank of burning electrics and smoke.

Benny steadied herself against the TARDIS, staring at her father.

He looked just like he did in the photo. Except for the battle fatigues. And the soot and the blood. And the blob of grease over one of his cheekbones. And the faintly puzzled expression.

He looked her up and down with those startling grey eyes, raised an eyebrow at her, and walked quickly away down the corridor.

Benny jumped as someone put their hand on her shoulder. She was light-headed, unable to call out after her father, unable to move. Stay calm Stay calm, she told herself, stay stay calm calm.

'He just pretended we weren't here!' she whispered, blinking back tears in the smoky air. 'That's insane. Why?'

The Doctor shut the TARDIS door. 'We still have three and a half minutes to find out.'

They followed Isaac through the s.h.i.+p, which tossed and rolled like a sailing boat in a storm. There were tremendous clanging noises, missiles or energy bolts striking the outside hull. If there was a breach, they might be trapped in a sealed section as the air whooshed out into s.p.a.ce.

He glanced back at them, once. Benny opened her mouth to call out to him through the noise, but he had already turned around, fighting his way along the corridor.

The s.h.i.+p rolled almost onto its side as they reached the entrance to the brilliantly lit c.o.c.kpit. Seen through the front screen, the battle was a video game, all blips and lines of coloured light. Playing out the hologram Benny had watched.

'Reeve and Lawrie aren't answering their intercoms because they're dead,' her father was telling his bridge crew.

'Engine containment looks stable, but the lateral stabilizers are a mess.' He struggled back to the captain's chair.

'We're good for another ten minutes at the most,' said the African woman at what Benny guessed was the engineering panel. 'After that, the emergency stabilizer system's going to lose power, and - what the h.e.l.l!'

She'd seen them. Benny almost took a step backwards into the shadows, but the Doctor's hand kept her in place.

'No,' said Isaac. The African was nearly out of her seat.

'The Daleks' hallucinatory weaponry. Don't let them distract you, lieutenant.'

The other members of the crew swung around, glanced at them, turned back to their controls. Only the pilot, a plump redheaded woman, was still staring. 'Admiral,' she said, 'how do you know they're hallucinations?'

'Because,' said Isaac, without looking around, 'that's my wife.'

The Doctor and Benny glanced at one another. 'Just pretend you're not really here,' said the Time Lord.

'Why not?' said Benny, more hysterically than she would have ideally liked. 'That's what they're doing.'

The pilot yelled as the controls caught fire. She s.n.a.t.c.hed an extinguisher from a hidden panel.

'Options,' shouted Isaac.

'We can make another attack run,' said the lieutenant.

'But it'll leave us helpless. We can pull out of the battle - we might be able to limp back home.'

'Right,' said Isaac. 'I have a better idea.'

The Doctor raised his head suddenly, frowning, as though listening to something.

'The Daleks will expect us to retreat. So we'll give them a surprise.' He was moving his hands over the controls, inputting a course. 'What do you think, helm?'

The redhead grinned, fanning away the smoke from her controls. 'Worth a shot, sir.'

The s.h.i.+p lurched once more as they moved onto their new course. And suddenly Benny saw what it was that had been outside the picture.

There was a fat purple moon behind them, its surface flowering with red mushroom clouds. The Daleks had dropped dozens of primitive nuclear weapons onto it - one of their favourite brute-force tactics. How many people had they killed?

The radiation would help to mask the Tisiphone Tisiphone as she shot around the back of the small planet, used its gravity to increase her speed, and attacked the Dalek s.h.i.+ps from behind. as she shot around the back of the small planet, used its gravity to increase her speed, and attacked the Dalek s.h.i.+ps from behind.

He hadn't been running away.

He hadn't hadn't been running been running away away!

Benny whooped. The Doctor turned to say something, but suddenly the s.h.i.+p rolled madly, throwing them both to the ceiling.

Benny tumbled down the wall and hit the floor with a thump that knocked the breath out of her. She felt the Time Lord grab her, pull her upright. 'That's four minutes!' he yelled, over the strained roaring of the engines. 'We've got to go!'

Benny mutely pointed to the front screen.

There was a large yacht sailing past one of the Dalek s.h.i.+ps.

'I think you're right about those hallucinations, sir!'

shouted the pilot.

We have to go!' shouted the Doctor. He caught Benny's arm and pulled her along behind him, winding back down the access tunnel.

She nearly cannoned into him when he stopped suddenly, a hatch slamming shut ahead of them, sealing off a breach.

Instantly he was pulling her down another corridor, stumbling through the smoke and flame, homing in on the TARDIS by instinct. He all but threw her inside.

Her ears rang in the sudden quietness. 'I would have gone!' she coughed. STAY CALM STAY CALM! 'I would have gone anyway!'

The Doctor didn't have time to answer her, hands darting over the console. Jason put his arms around her, but she shrugged him off as they dematerialized. 'What happened next?' she yelled at the Time Lord. 'What happened?'

He nodded at the viewscreen.

They were in s.p.a.ce, watching the battle as though it was on television.

The Tisiphone Tisiphone emerged from behind the moon, cannons blazing. A Dalek s.h.i.+p burst like an opening flower. The Tisiphone flew through expanding wreckage. emerged from behind the moon, cannons blazing. A Dalek s.h.i.+p burst like an opening flower. The Tisiphone flew through expanding wreckage.

A ma.s.sive rip appeared in the blackness, right in front of the Tisiphone Tisiphone, venting b.u.t.terfly colours.

They didn't even have a chance to turn before it gulped them down and vanished.

Benny found she didn't have the energy to get up a good yell. 'What?' she said, faintly.

'The Ants' tunnels?' muttered the Doctor. 'A Dalek time corridor?' The readouts flashed in his eyes. 'Neither.'

'Their hypers.p.a.ce drive?' asked Chris. 'It might have misfired or something.'

'No, look at the energy patterns.' The Doctor glanced up at the viewscreen. A smudge of colour still hung in s.p.a.ce.

'Whatever it is, it's still there.'

Benny grabbed his arm. 'Can we tell where they went?

Can we follow it?'

The Doctor turned to her, took her hands. 'We can try,'

he said. 'But they may not have gone anywhere. That wormhole could terminate in a black hole, or the heart of a sun, or nowhere at all.' He squeezed her hands, gently, as though he was frightened of breaking them. 'We'll be protected in the TARDIS. Do you want to know?'

Benny nodded fiercely.

'All right then,' said the Doctor. 'We can try to follow the s.h.i.+p's transponder signal through the wormhole.' He closed the viewscreen. 'Hold on, everyone.'

5 Little Caldwell appreciates careful drivers drivers

And they landed in December, outside a post office.

6 Dad on arrival

Little Caldwell, Berks.h.i.+re, 10 December 1983 Joel woke up an hour before his alarm was set to go off.

He rolled out of bed, knocked a pile of comics off his clock radio, and switched it on. Static.

Joel closed his eyes, breathing hard. This was stupid.