Doctor Who_ Loving The Alien Part 35

He looked accusingly from one to another of them, then fixed on McBride, who was staring into his lap.

'Cody?'

'Sorry, Doc,' McBride mumbled. 'The way he explained it to me it didn't seem like I had any choice.'

166.

Chapter Eighteen.

'Well?' demanded the Doctor. 'Grateful as I am to you, I feel I require an explanation. Cody?'

The car was bearing them swiftly and powerfully north through the darkness of London.

'Well, he got you out, didn't he?' McBride knew he sounded defensive. Guilty. 'After they took you and my head stopped spinning, I went back to the office. Those two were waiting for me Limb and the girl. He offered to help me free you. What was I supposed to say?

He came up with the plan, got hold of the building blueprints, he even thought of a greased magnet for unlatching those iron furnace doors from the inside.

'But why? This is the question.'

'I think you should listen to him, Doc,' said McBride.

'Thank you, Mr McBride,' George Limb cut in. 'Please let me a.s.sure you of my good faith and n.o.ble purpose. I want your help to stop a nuclear war.'

They eventually stopped outside a big house in Islington, long since turned into flats. The Doctor marched up to the front door, flanked by limb and Jimmy. The Doctor rang the bell and they waited.

'Are you sure this is the right address?' the Doctor snapped.

'I am certain,' said George Limb. 'Ring again.'

'Wait,' said the Doctor, pressing his hand against the front door. it swung inward on its hinges.

The Doctor strode into the darkness.

'Dr Drakefell,' he called, but got no answer.

There was a sobbing sound coming from behind a door. The Doctor opened it. Drakefell was lying on his side, curled up on the bathroom floor The Doctor immediately dropped into a squat beside him.

'Dr Drakefell, are you all right?'

Drakefell didn't seem to recognise him. His mouth moved but no words emerged.

'Edward, my dear chap...'

167.

At the sound of Limb's voice Drakefell's face contorted into a snarl.

'You lied!' he suddenly shouted. 'They were here!'

'Who was here?' the Doctor demanded.

The Russians! They wanted the device from the s.h.i.+p! He's betrayed us!' His voice tailed away to a whisper. 'I've betrayed us...'

'You managed to rescue the dimensional stabiliser. 'Good! Where is it?'

But Drakefell had lapsed back into silence. He could only stare at George Limb. The Doctor too turned towards the old man.

'The device is quite safe, Doctor. They won't find it. Though I daresay they will turn my lovely new home upside down.'

'Where is it?'

'All in good time, Doctor.

'Why will no one listen to me?' the Doctor shouted. 'We have no time left!'

Rita awoke in Regent's Park from a nightmare dream of brain-drilling on the roofs of careering buses. She was cramped and s.h.i.+vering.

All thoughts of dreams, all thoughts of Communist plots had by now vanished from Rita's head. Seeing Stella... plugged in plugged in like that... like that...

She'd seen Invasion of the Body s.n.a.t.c.hers Invasion of the Body s.n.a.t.c.hers not long ago. She'd heard the Doctor and McBride mentioning aliens. That had to be it. not long ago. She'd heard the Doctor and McBride mentioning aliens. That had to be it.

Everybody'd been taken over.

Except the Americans and the Chinese... Maybe they had some natural immunity. She remembered at the end of the movie the Body s.n.a.t.c.hers won.

She didn't know what to do. She wished she could find the Doctor and McBride.

She didn't know how long she'd walked for. It had been dark for hours when she'd fetched up here, more by luck than judgement.

She'd squeezed through a gap between the ma.s.sive hedge and ornamental gate, dog tired, and gone to sleep in a bush.

The park was cold and damp, though quite beautiful in the milky light of dawn. She crawled around the dripping bush and stumbled over what she thought was a log, until it moved.

She screamed. The log became a bundle of rags, that made some attempt to a.s.semble itself into a person.

'What you want?' the figure spat.

It was a tramp. An old man. The first she'd seen, Rita realized, since the world had gone mad.

'Easy, old feller,' she said. 'I'm not gonna hurt you.'

'American,' the tramp grunted.

168.

'Uh, yeah,' said Rita. Boy, was she getting tired of this.

The old man smiled.

'Like to go to America,' he said sadly 'Should've gone. Could've. A lot did. But I stayed. It's all mad now.'

Rita felt a wave of pity for the smelly old man.

'What happened to you, old-timer?' she asked gently 'Wouldn't have the implants,' he muttered. 'Wouldn't have the b.l.o.o.d.y implants.'

He sank back to the ground, wriggled a bit and then went back to his slumbers.

It took Rita a moment to snap out of her reverie. Suddenly she too wanted to be back in the States. However backward these weird auto-people seemed to think her country, she wanted it more than anything.

She dusted herself down and set off across the park. It was promising to be a warm, bright day. She saw a young couple, arm in arm, strolling towards her. Strolling, not careering at her at breakneck speed. The sight filled her with a surge of relief and gladness.

Other people started to appear. Old people. Families. Almost all appeared, for once, to be living life at a normal pace. She heard a distant church-bell ringing. It must be Sunday.

She knew she had to start getting some answers, but for the moment all she wanted to do was bathe in this unexpected languid normality.

She strolled across the park to the zoo and peered through the railings into the wolf cage.

'Howdy fellas,' she said. 'Long time no see.' She smiled, struck by a sudden thought. 'Hey,' she said, 'guess what. I can't get out of the park either. I'm just like you.'

And we're both a long way from home, she thought, turning away and striking out for the nearest bench.

They had remained at Edward Drakefell's flat just long enough for the Doctor to clean the grime of the escape from his body and climb into one of Edward Drakefell's suits. Cody McBride had baulked when he heard where he was going.

Now Jimmy was driving the Doctor and Limb straight into the heart of government.

'So tell me...' said the Doctor.

The pair were sitting in the back seat. George Limb raised an eyebrow.

'Well, it's rather difficult to know where to start.

'Why did you go to all this trouble to lure me here? That's all Ace was, a lure.'

169.

'Of course, but one I knew you couldn't resist.'

'But why?'

'I needed to smoke you out! I knew or feared that you were close. I'd seen Ace at the zoo, do you see? I must admit it gave me quite a shock. I have important business afoot at the moment I couldn't afford to have you suddenly popping up over my shoulder, Doctor. I had to think on my feet. I told Jimmy to befriend her, which gave me a little time to think. I didn't resolve to kill her until the following day.'

'It wasn't necessary.'

'Well, perhaps not, but you see, I wasn't sure where you were. Or when, more to the point. I had to lay a trail, to be certain you would come. I had to send out a larger signal. One that would endure, one that you would surely come across at some point in your doubtless extraordinary travels.'

'Ace's death.'

'I fear so. It afforded me no pleasure, Doctor, please believe me. I was always fond of the young lady. She had great spirit.'

'You're unspeakable, Limb,' the Doctor hissed.

'Oh, Doctor, please be a.s.sured I intend to right the wrong I have done to your young friend. Just as soon as I get Betty back.'

'I beg your pardon?'

'Ah,' Limb smiled, 'the Cybermen's time machine.'

'Betty.'

'That's what I call her.'

'Infantile,' jeered the Doctor. 'It's just a mode of transport, and a dangerous one at that.'

'Well, I must admit I thought I was going to die the first time, when I made my escape from Jersey. It was rather like the Big Dipper... But I ended up, somewhat disappointingly, in London in 1954. A jump of a mere thirteen years. I dreamt of seeing mighty vessels charting a course to distant suns. Instead I got petrol rationing.'

'You were lucky to survive,' said the Doctor.

'You're too pessimistic, Doctor. Betty's fine once you get to know her. I poked around in her for a while, trying to work out what was what, then I took the plunge. She does have some frustrating limitations, though. I could never seem to get back any further than my point of departure in late 1940.'

'Correct,' said the Doctor.

'And she always insists on bringing me straight back here after every journey. To the point at which I first arrived.'

'When you were poking around you must have switched the lode 170 circuit on,' said the Doctor. 'It's possible it's been on ever since.'

'And, try as I might, I can't seem to get any further forward than 1962. And I've only managed to get that far once.'

'It's a banger! It's only capable of short hops, and then you were lucky.'

'But it was so frustrating, Doctor. 1962 is a tantalising time. The austerity of the war is finally lifting. Young people seem to be coming into their own. There's something quite tangible in the air. There's a very interesting young musical group performing in Liverpool...'

'I've met them,' said the Doctor dryly.

'You know Burt Swanley and the Debonnaires?' Limb sounded impressed.

'Er, no,' said the Doctor. 'Go on.'

'Well, we... had a lot of jolly outings, Betty and I. Time is such a wonderful playground, Doctor.'

The Doctor felt his muscles tense and his nostrils flare.

'What have you been doing?' he hissed.

'Experiencing history Doctor. More than that! Changing history!'