Doctor Who_ Eye Of Heaven Part 6

'Don't forget the provisions, will you? I'm rather partial to a nice chocolate surprise - only someone I could name seems to have wolfed it all.' The Doctor winked at me as he picked up the bottle and a mug.

'So. Anyone for champagne? Sorry about the mugs - I couldn't find the gla.s.ses.' His grin, already enormous, seemed now to swallow up his entire face. 'I think perhaps the butler stole them.'

The Doctor poured two mugs of champagne and was in the middle of a third when the doorbell rang.

'Horace,' the Doctor prompted Stockwood, still absorbed in his study of the rongo-rongo. rongo-rongo.

Stockwood looked up. 'Yes?'

'Doorbell. No butler, remember?'

'Oh. Oh yes, quite' Stockwood glanced at the rongo-rongo rongo-rongo again. again.

The Doctor looked at the window. 'I'll meet you in Portsmouth tomorrow. I'll arrange pa.s.sage for us and book hotel rooms. You take care of the packing here. We'll need your notes, the tablet, instruments... all the usual stuff.'

'Yes... of course...' Stockwood finally put the tablet away and began to pay attention. 'Bless my soul, is that someone banging on the door?

Did n.o.body hear?' And he went to answer the door.

I looked at the Doctor. He offered me a mug. I sipped champagne. It was disgusting. I spat it out. It tastes like poison!'

The Doctor grinned. 'It is.' He got up off the table and walked towards the window that opened on to the grounds. He unlatched the window and pushed the curved sheet of gla.s.s open. Beyond him I could see the ornamental fountain in which the TARDIS had landed.

'See you tomorrow.' He tipped his hat. 'Noon, at the George Hotel.' And he was gone.

At that moment Stockwood came back into the room with another man. They might have been brothers. They both had grey hair, though the newcomer had rather more than Stockwood, and it was neater, too. He also sported a short beard. They were even dressed similarly. I wondered about that. The skins the two men wore clearly came from animals so similar in shape and colour they must have been born twins.

Stockwood introduced his companion. 'Leela, this is James Royston, MD. James, this is Leela.'

I pointed at Stockwood. 'I am his best friend.'

'Indeed.' Royston made a strange face. It was almost a smile, but not quite. He looked puzzled but, when he spoke, he sounded almost amused. 'Well, Horace, for a man who roughly speaking makes a friend every decade your current choice seems about par for the course.'

Royston continued to look at me. I rested my hand on the hilt of my dagger. Was I going to have to show every man in this land that I was not his for the choosing?

Stockwood looked at Royston. 'Leela is more than she seems, James. I suggest you choose your words carefully in her presence.'

'Judging by the blade on that dagger, I certainly will.' Stockwood looked around for the Doctor. 'Where is the Doctor, Leela?'

'Port... smouth.' I struggled over the unfamiliar word. He said we were to meet him tomorrow at noon. At the hotel named George.'

Stockwood nodded. He spoke to Royston. 'Well, James, if you've come to be social I'm afraid I must decline. Leela and I are going on a little trip.'

'I know. Rapa Nui via Portsmouth.' Royston said casually. 'And at your age you'll need a good physician. I'm coming with you and I don't want to hear any arguments. I've already packed.'

Stockwood seemed happy. But I didn't like this newcomer. He seemed too relaxed. Too confident. Too... well, I didn't know, but something about him made me suspicious.

'How did you know we were leaving so soon?'

'Why, the Doctor told me this very afternoon.'

I was not convinced. I leaned closer and sniffed his jacket. He seemed amused. 'My dear, you'd be a corker at parties.' He paused thoughtfully.

'They'd have to be the right sort of parties, though.'

I let him laugh. While he was off guard I took a leather pouch from his pocket. I sniffed it. 'Old Holborn,' I told him. 'The butler smoked Old Holborn and he tried to steal the rongo-rongo.' rongo-rongo.'

Royston reached for the pouch with a strange look. He was pretending to be angry. But it was clear he wasn't. He just wasn't clever enough at lying with his body to trick me. I decided I didn't like Royston. I would watch him with the Hunter's Eye and if he tried to steal anything or hurt Stockwood I would cut out his heart so fast he would not even know he was dead.

5.

Maps and Blood Tweed had been running down the wind with all sails set, following sunrise for many days, and the weather had remained sunny and bright, if not quite as hot as it had been since we had left the Equator. I had been trying to find the Doctor - of all the people I have known he is the only one who could remain unseen for a nine-day on something the size of a sailing ship. I wanted to talk to him about my suspicions about Royston and Richards. I wanted him to take back the promise he had made me keep so far about not killing anyone. had been running down the wind with all sails set, following sunrise for many days, and the weather had remained sunny and bright, if not quite as hot as it had been since we had left the Equator. I had been trying to find the Doctor - of all the people I have known he is the only one who could remain unseen for a nine-day on something the size of a sailing ship. I wanted to talk to him about my suspicions about Royston and Richards. I wanted him to take back the promise he had made me keep so far about not killing anyone.

When I finally found him and told him all this he simply suggested I was bored and restless.

'Of course I am bored and restless!' I said. 'And fat, too, I should not wonder. I am a hunter. There is nothing here to hunt. Except fish.'

The Doctor smiled. 'If the mind is willing there is always something to hunt.'

'I do not understand.'

'Then hunt that. Hunt understanding. Make it your enemy and track it to its lair. Grapple with it. Take it and make it your slave. Your tool. Use it.

Feast upon it. Grow fat on it.'

'That is silly. Understanding is not an animal. It cannot fight.'

'Galileo wouldn't agree with you. Why don't you start by asking Captain Stuart about sailing around the world?'

I had done so, and to my surprise the Captain had agreed. This surprised me since he had not hesitated in accepting gold from our enemy - one who had tried to kill all of us before setting sail from Portsmouth so many nine-days ago.

Whatever I thought, the Doctor told me to listen to the Captain and I trusted the Doctor enough to do this. In fact the Captain was a man worth listening to, I had already decided. Had I not planned to kill him along with all those who betrayed us as soon as we reached dry land, I probably would have liked him very much.

When I told the Doctor this he chuckled. 'I'm not surprised you like him. Captain Stuart has Viking ancestors.' He smiled to himself 'I wouldn't be surprised if you're related.'

I found Stuart a cheerful man with a Scots accent very much like that of the cook, only mild where the cook's was abrasive. He was tall, with a shock of red hair, thinning on top, which made him look like was wearing a bright cloth cap with a hole cut in it. He was not a particularly big fellow, but he was wiry and strong. The last time I let the pigs out for a bit of fun, he had been the one who helped me wrestle the old sow to the deck. As a captain, Stuart maintained the respect of his men not through violence or threat but by virtue of common sense and kindness. In this I found him confusing: after all, he had betrayed us by allowing himself to be bought by our enemy. I had talked to the Doctor about this. His advice was simply not to worry about things that you could not change. That was sensible enough.

This morning, Stuart took me to his cabin shortly after the bosun rang end of morning watch and Spanker Jack brought our breakfast to us, with compliments of the cook. The breakfast was accompanied by bread for the first time in a month. The Doctor had found some wheat seed in his pocket. While it was growing he showed the cook how to build a bread oven from metal sc.r.a.p found in the bilges. Cook had found this enterprise astonishing - and had promptly given the Doctor free run in the galley any time he liked. This was good. The Doctor was an excellent cook. And farmer, too, it seemed.

The bread was excellent.

Captain Stuart thanked Jack and dismissed him. He placed the two plates of food on a heavy wooden desk, whose legs were bolted to the floor. I glanced around the cabin. It was small, and, although the ceiling was one of the highest on the ship, I could still reach up and touch the deckhead without even trying. The cabin was beneath the quarterdeck, at the very stern of the ship. The walls curved with the curvature of the ship. A set of narrow windows looked out directly aft. The frames were thick wood, stained and polished - well made, like the desk, bunk, chairs and other small items of furniture. The walls held two pictures - one with writing I could not read and another showing a picture of Tweed Tweed herself, in which she looked very different. herself, in which she looked very different.

Stuart saw me looking at the picture. ' Tweed Tweed wasn't always a sailing ship, you know. She started life as a paddle-steamer. Built in the Bombay shipyards by the East India Company.' wasn't always a sailing ship, you know. She started life as a paddle-steamer. Built in the Bombay shipyards by the East India Company.'

'I have heard of that. The Doctor told me they made tea.'

'And ships. Fine ships too. She was called Punjab Punjab then. One of the last pair of frigates built by the Wadia family. She's known war and weather, Leela. War and weather. In 1854 she weathered a cyclone in the Bombay harbour which had her sister ship then. One of the last pair of frigates built by the Wadia family. She's known war and weather, Leela. War and weather. In 1854 she weathered a cyclone in the Bombay harbour which had her sister ship , a.s.saye, , a.s.saye, smashed against the castle walls. Five square riggers and three steamers were dismasted and hurled ash.o.r.e that day. Not smashed against the castle walls. Five square riggers and three steamers were dismasted and hurled ash.o.r.e that day. Not Punjab. Punjab. She took what the wind could give, took it and laughed in the face of the storm. In 1855 She took what the wind could give, took it and laughed in the face of the storm. In 1855 she took two hundred and fifty horses and half the Tenth Hussars to Suez during the Crimea. In November of the same year she sailed for Bombay as a warship sent to fight in the Persian War. In 1857 she played her part in the Indian Mutiny. Four seamen were killed and twenty-one wounded. But Lieutenant Lewis and his detail received high commendations. And a young midshipman - Arthur Mayo - was awarded the Victoria Cross.'

I listened quietly. Know your enemies. Stuart was a good storyteller. I could smell the blood and hear the cannon fire and see the square riggers washed ash.o.r.e to the sound of cracked masts and splintered timbers.

Stuart paused to eat part of his breakfast. I joined him. The piglet I had been playing with not a nine-day before tasted quite delicious.

'In 1862, after the old Indian Navy was merged with the Navy, Punjab Punjab and and a.s.saye a.s.saye were sent to England for conversion to screw steamers. Both were sold to the present owner, John Willis. He sold the were sent to England for conversion to screw steamers. Both were sold to the present owner, John Willis. He sold the a.s.saye a.s.saye for more money than both had cost and then converted the for more money than both had cost and then converted the Punjab Punjab to sail. He renamed her after the river he was born on. She's been a steamer and a warship, run cargo and pa.s.sengers in luxury the Queen herself could wish for, and just three years ago outran the mail steamer between Hong Kong and Singapore. It's my pleasure to have her known as " to sail. He renamed her after the river he was born on. She's been a steamer and a warship, run cargo and pa.s.sengers in luxury the Queen herself could wish for, and just three years ago outran the mail steamer between Hong Kong and Singapore. It's my pleasure to have her known as "Willis's Wonder".' Stuart was silent for a moment, chewing bacon. 'If I have my way I'll never lose a man under my command or damage so much as a spar or plank of her hull.'

Know your enemy indeed. Stuart was a man in love with a machine.

He was like the Tesh. But still, somehow, different, in a way I could not quite work out.

'The Doctor said I was to ask you about sailing around the world.'

'So he did, so he did. And I promised him I would show you. Now look here.' Stuart set down his breakfast - I had eaten mine while listening to him speak - and moved to a smaller desk at one side of the cabin. On the desk were maps and unfamiliar objects made of finely carved wood and equally finely crafted holy metal. And something else. A thing like a ball made of wood and carved in intricate patterns, suspended in a circular wooden frame so it could spin freely when touched.

Stuart pointed out of the window. 'Do you see the ocean?'

'Yes.'

'What shape is it?'

I frowned. Was Stuart trying to trick me? 'Flat of course. All water is flat.'

He smiled. 'Have you ever thought about why you can't see the end of it then?'

'No.'

'I see.' He touched the wooden ball, set it spinning gracefully within its frame. 'The water is curved, Leela. So is the land. But they are very big. So big that they seem flat to us.'

'I do not understand.'

Stuart took the wooden ball from its stand and gave it to me. 'Look at this. You can see the curvature, yes?'

'Yes.'

'Now hold it up to your eye. That's right. Really close. And close the other eye. Get as close as you can. Look at just a little piece of the edge.'

I held the ball as he instructed, feeling very silly. 'Now what?' 'Now tell me, does it look so curved as before?'

'No.'

'Why not?'

'I do not know. It is magic. The ball changes shape when it is near my face.'

'No, Leela, it doesn't do that. What changes is the way your eye sees the ball. And it's called a globe, by the way.'

'Ball, globe. I do not understand. I can see, I am a hunter. How can I see things differently if they do not change?'

'Because you're only seeing a little bit of what you're looking at. You've been up in the crow's nest with Jack.'

'Yes.'

'What does the ocean look like from up there?'

'Why, it's round, like a -' I blinked 'Like this globe.'

Stuart grinned. 'That's the first lesson. This world is round. Like a ball.

Gravity holds us on it. And it seems flat because we are very, very close to the surface. Now look.' He took the globe from me and put it back on the stand. 'This globe is really a map of the Earth. Here's England, and Portsmouth, where we sailed from. And here's London, where you came from.'

'But they're so close together. It took us a whole day to travel from London to Portsmouth.'

Stuart nodded. 'And here's where we're going.' He spun the globe.

'Easter Island. In the Pacific Ocean.'

I compared the distances. 'No wonder we have been at sea for so long.'

I studied the globe. 'If it took us a day to go this far, and we have been at sea for this many days, then we should be...' I stopped puzzled. 'We should have been there by now.' I frowned. 'It is a trick. Distances cannot change.'

Stuart grinned again. He moved the globe around, pointed to a spot on the underneath, almost half a world away from Easter Island. 'We are here.

We rounded the Cape of Good Hope a week this Tuesday gone, travelling due east. G.o.d and icebergs willing, we'll see Australia in another month.'

'But we are sailing away from Rapa Nui!'

'At the moment, yes. But look what happens when you continue on from Australia into the Pacific.' He spun the globe again, tracing a route with one wind-gnarled finger.