Survival

[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]

be the same again. If you use your powers to leave this place, to fight,
to defend yourself- for anything - the change may accelerate.'
'Yes.'
'If you try to leap off this world it will increase its hold on you, but the
rest of us are trapped here unless you help us escape.'
Ace blinked. She remembered Midge, snarling on his leather lead,
leaping for home and taking the Master with him. She remembered the
Master's scornful words. 'He doesn't remember his name.' She focused
on the Doctor again. He was watching her gravely, waiting.
'What should I do Professor?'
He shook his head.
'Tell me,' she persisted. 'I trust you.'
He shook his head again. 'It's your choice, Ace.'
Ace watched him for a second with her animal eyes before she broke
into a grin. She held out her hand. The Doctor smiled back, took her
hand, and held out his other one to Shreela. Shreela's face brightened
as
she guessed what they were up to. She caught Derek's hand. Finally,
reluctantly, Paterson joined himself to Derek and the human chain. Like
children about to play ring-a-roses, they stood looking expectantly at
Ace. The Doctor squeezed her hand.
'Lets go home, Ace.'
Ace broke into a run. She looked back at the line of people that she was
pulhng after her and laughed as if it were a game. She jumped into the
air.
The wind blew the dust over the empty hill-top; there was nothing
human left.
Chapter 7
Midge stood looking at his reflection in the plate-glass window of a
motorcycle showroom. He liked what he saw. His hair was freshly and
stylishly cut and he had a new set of clothes. He stroked the heavy,
expensive material appreciatively. It was black - he was all in black like
the figure that watched him from the other side of the street: the
Master, the man who put the thoughts in his head and gave him what
he wanted.
He liked what he saw inside the showroom as well: A row of gleaming,
powerful bikes, leaning quietly on their stands. He wanted one.
There were two men in the back office of the showroom. One talked on
the phone; the other was busy with paperwork. Midge eyed them
carefully. He turned back to the Master who still watched steadily from
across the street. His instruction was clear. It was so simple. Midge
grinned and pushed open the door of the showroom.
The TARDIS was still standing on an empty street, empty until Ace, the
Doctor and the others appeared out of thin air beside it. For a few
seconds, none of
them moved. They blinked at the bright, familiar world that had been
so suddenly restored to them. Ace turned to the Doctor. Her gaze was
slightly questioning as if she no longer remembered how they had got
here. And her eyes were their usual colour again.
Shreela laughed with delight, waving her arm at the whole street.
'We're back! We're home!'
Derek and Paterson still stood hand in hand. They were stunned. Each
wore an identical blank expression.
Shreela turned to Ace and gave her a brief, hard hug. 'I've got to get
back home!' She pelted off down the street.
Paterson suddenly noticed he was still clutching Derek's hand. He
dropped it abruptly. 'What's your game then?' he demanded, eyes
popping in outrage.
He backed off and stared at them suspiciously. A frantic look on his face
suggested he was casting around desperately for rational explanations.
He appeared to find one.
'So I had a blackout,' he spluttered. 'Perfectly normal - stress, overwork,
that's all. I've had medicals, sound as a bell I am.' He slapped his chest.
'Sound as a bell. Did you get a doctor? Should've got a doctor to me
though, that's the least you could've done, instead of keeping me lying
about in the street.'
He pointed an accusing finger at the Doctor. 'You are a doctor, right?
You should know better.'
Ace folded her arms and stared at him. 'Thanks, Ace,' she spat out, her
voice heavy with sarcasm, 'thanks Doctor, thanks for saving my fife,
getting me safe home.'
'Don't know what you're talking about,' Paterson retorted nervously.
He looked down at his torn and
mud-stained uniform and brushed at it ineffectually. Whatever it
suggested to him he was not prepared to consider it. 'I'm late for self-
defence,' he muttered. He turned and walked off with a brisk and
determined march.
Derek looked at Paterson, Ace and the Doctor. A sane and human smile
spread across his face. 'Thanks,' he said quietly. He ran off in another
direction.
Ace shook herself as if she was waking up. 'Looks like everything's back
to normal,' she beamed at the Doctor. She turned towards the TARDIS.
It looked like home. She patted it affectionately.
The Doctor was still looking up and down the road, a puzzled frown on
his face. Ace sighed impatiently.
'Come on, Professor. What do we want to hang around here for?'
'Unfinished business,' murmured the Doctor.
'What unfinished business?'
The Doctor looked at her seriously. 'The Master.'
Ace snorted. 'What would he still be hanging round the dump of the
universe for?'
'You were the one . . .' began the Doctor.
'. . . who wanted to come home,' finished Ace. 'Yeah, yeah. Heard it.
Listen,' she banged the side of the TARDIS again, 'this is the only home
I've got now, OK?'
The Doctor stared at her intently for a moment. 'Yes, you brought us
here, home.' He looked at the TARDIS. 'So Midge would - where does
he live?'
Ace gaped. 'Who?'
'Midge!' The Doctor was getting impatient.
'I don't know. He used to be in those flats there.' Ace pointed at a
couple of high-rise blocks that loomed over the semi-detached houses.
The Doctor instantly set off at a brisk walk. He glanced back over his
shoulder. 'Well, come on!'
Ace stared at the cat that had come to sun itself at the door of the
TARDIS. It was a red-eyed kitling. They looked at each other for a long
moment.
'Ace!' The Doctor's voice was receding.
Ace shook herself and ran after the Doctor.
In the bike showroom, Midge was sitting on a monster machine, still
dazed with the thrill of possession. Behind him, the office was empty; [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]

Podobne