Doctor Who_ Father Time Part 4

The Doctor took a p.a.w.n with his knight. 'Check.'

'So, did you ever play chess professionally?' she asked.

'No.'

'University team?'

'No.' She had hoped for a hint of his background that was a clear invitation for him to discuss his past but none was forthcoming. He wasn't being evasive: he just didn't take the hint. Mrs Castle took the castle back to take the Doctor's knight. The Doctor brought the other knight forward.

'Check. Mate in thirty-four,' the Doctor announced.

A couple of the other players looked up.

'You can't say that,' Daniel announced knowledgeably.

Mrs Castle wasn't so sure. She looked around the board. Everything seemed OK. There was the threat from the knight, but she could get that with her bishop.

She looked again.

'My G.o.d,' she said. Then, louder, 'Gather round, everyone.'

'Mrs Castle?'

'Look at this,' she told the children as they huddled around her desk. A couple of the brighter ones were already working out what would happen. It was a beautiful trap sheer clockwork: to get out of check, she'd move a piece that would expose her king to further danger. But she wouldn't have a choice the attacks would keep coming and coming, move after move, her pieces would swirl around the board, most of them falling into danger as they moved to defend. She couldn't see thirty-whatever moves ahead, but she could see far enough to recognise that the Doctor had her beaten.

Miranda and Stephen were looking at each other, unable to believe what they were watching.

Mrs Castle went through the motions for the others, let the Doctor spring his trap. She explained with every move that she didn't have a choice a different move would place her in check or even checkmate. As the Doctor took her last castle and the game, there was even a small round of applause.

'Let's see if you lot can do any better,' Mrs Castle told them, ushering them back to their own tables.

The Doctor returned to the main task, working his way around the tables.

Three fell straightaway, including Stephen, who was clearly annoyed to be beaten. The rest fell more intently into their game, worried now they could see how good the Doctor was. This gave the Doctor an opportunity to return to Mrs Castle's desk.

'Tell me about Miranda,' he said.

'She's bright.'

'Right. Good at maths? A lot of chess players are.'

'Not quite top of her cla.s.s, not far off. She's one of the candidates for extra tuition.'

The Doctor tapped his lips with his fingers.

'And ' Mrs Castle hesitated 'she's got two hearts.'

The Doctor stared at her.

'Really,' Mrs Castle insisted. 'A birth defect. Well, not a defect at all, really. Both hearts are fully developed, one on each side. It means she's never out of breath, she's '

'How do you know?' the Doctor asked levelly.

'Her parents have known since she was born. They didn't tell the school, but Miranda bruised a rib last year in PE and we had to take her to St Kitt's for an X-ray. They didn't give their consent to any other tests, which annoyed the doctors. The parents said they didn't want anyone to know she was different. That's fair enough: you know what kids are like. It doesn't bother Miranda, though.'

The Doctor was barely listening. 'Do her parents have ?'

Mrs Castle laughed. 'I've never asked. Why, do you think it runs in the family?' The Doctor didn't answer. He went back over to continue the games, more distracted than Mrs Castle would have thought.

Two more of his opponents fell, one of them resigning.

Daniel, Stacey, Rachel, Miranda and Paul were left. Stacey and Rachel were beaten quite quickly. Paul asked if he could have Stephen's help, which the Doctor allowed. The two boys conferred, but quickly agreed they were in a hopeless position. So the Doctor literally turned the tables and made a move. The two boys looked equally perplexed now they had command of the Doctor's old pieces.

Daniel almost beat him, then almost forced a draw, but the Doctor got him in the end.

Only Miranda was left now. The Doctor sat down opposite her looking very silly in a chair designed for a ten-yearold and began concentrating. The other children drew up their chairs, and Mrs Castle stood behind them, watching the game.

'Do you think that man was really chased by a s.p.a.ce monster?' Miranda asked.

'Miranda,' Mrs Castle warned.

'What do you mean?' the Doctor asked.

'The UFO man.'

The Doctor looked up, stared at the girl.

'It's in the paper. A man ended up in hospital on Sat.u.r.day night. He says he was chased by a monster.'

'St Kitt's?' the Doctor asked. Greyfrith had its own hospital in those days.

Mrs Castle shifted uncomfortably 'That's right. We shouldn't talk about it, and we shouldn't let it worry us,' she told Miranda, and the rest of the cla.s.s.

Miranda grinned, showing a row of teeth that would have been perfect if one of the front ones hadn't been missing.

The Doctor leaned forward. 'Where was this?' He was talking to Miranda like an adult, and Miranda was happy to be treated that way.

'Cooper's Hill.'

'On Cooper's Farm?'

'Yeah,' said Stephen.

'Gosh.' The Doctor looked over at Mrs Castle. She nodded.

'There's no need to scare anyone,' Mrs Castle warned.

The Doctor nodded thankfully understanding that there are some things you shouldn't say in front of children.

'So how long have you played chess?' the Doctor asked Miranda. 'Ages,' she said, suddenly a little shy.

'You're very good.'

'She's not,' Daniel snorted. 'I don't see why it's taking so long for you to beat her.'

Miranda looked over to the Doctor and they shared a smile. Daniel's jealousy was transparent.

The Doctor moved his queen into danger. Stephen and Mrs Castle exchanged a look they'd noticed... but Miranda hadn't. She was at the other side of the board, faffing with her p.a.w.n structure.

The Doctor hesitated. 'You're letting me win,' he concluded. Miranda looked up.

'I am,' she apologised.

'But why?'

She couldn't make eye contact with him. 'Well, if you lose, it's not as big an achievement, is it? If you win ten games, but lose one, it's not as good.'

Mrs Castle gasped a laugh. She wasn't boasting, or being condescending.

The Doctor looked astounded. He moved his p.a.w.n to the eighth row, made it a queen. Checkmate.

There was a round of applause. The Doctor had won.

Miranda smiled.

'Why didn't you tell me that Arnold had seen a monster?' the Doctor asked Mrs Castle.

'I didn't think it was important,' she told him. 'Look, I've got a couple of things to do, then we can go down to the Dragon and I'll tell you everything he said.'

'Yes. I can't believe you didn't say anything before,' the Doctor repeated.

Mrs Castle smiled, pleased with herself. 'I thought you'd be less likely to help. After all, there are no such thing as monsters, are there?'

Chapter Four.

Close Encounters There was a couple on the swings where Daz Lewis was due to meet Julie.

She'd agreed to come here after she'd finished her shift at the Co-op, without changing. Daz had never told her, but he liked seeing her in her checked uniform and with her hair up. He unwrapped some gum and began chewing it. It was like Clark Kent and Superman, Daz thought. Julie could take off her gla.s.ses and suddenly she'd go from being plain to being dead beautiful. The uniform was dowdy, but when she took her hair down, suddenly she was the most beautiful woman in the world. He knew she had a good figure, but only he he knew the rest of the world saw only the b.u.t.toned-up old uniform. knew the rest of the world saw only the b.u.t.toned-up old uniform.

Daz checked his watch she was due in five minutes and the couple were still on the swings. He knew she'd see him, really, wherever he was in the small park. He knew they'd go and find somewhere else that was quiet. It was just that he'd planned this moment since Sunday, when they'd last seen each other. He wanted everything to be perfect. He'd even brought his Polaroid so he could take Julie's picture. There were a few more kids than Daz was expecting, and it was colder, but this was just how he'd pictured it. Apart from the couple on his swings.

Daz decided to ask the couple if they could move. He walked over. They were sitting with their backs to him, and didn't see him. He could see they were talking, and didn't want to interrupt.

They were about the same age as each other, and they looked like they were related. They were wearing plastic macs and odd-looking tracksuits.

'It was him,' the man insisted. He had a girlie voice, and Daz sn.i.g.g.e.red when he heard it. 'It's him, and that means this whole operation just got a hundred times more complicated.'

'Oh, it didn't look like him at all,' the woman said. Her voice sounded gruff, as if she smoked a lot of cigarettes. 'What are the odds of his just turning up here, of all the places he could turn up?'

The man sighed. 'Remember who we're talking about here. It's definitely him. Oh, come on, you must remember the last time...'

The woman rolled her eyes. 'It had had to be the Doctor. Mr Gibson and he have history, too.' to be the Doctor. Mr Gibson and he have history, too.'

'Mr Gibson?'

'That's what he's calling himself here he says he wants to blend in.'

'Blend in?' he mimicked. 'I can't think of anywhere that he'd "blend in".'

'I'm just repeating what he told me. He's a psycho, you know that. I told you he would be trouble. I'm surprised he's managed to get this far without killing anyone.'

'Not for want of trying.'

Daz stopped in his tracks. These two were criminals, and they had an accomplice. They hadn't seen him yet, and he knew he should have got away, but instead he tried to keep very still and hear what they were saying, so he could tell the police, or at least his friends.

'I didn't want him along,' the woman said. 'The Prefect felt he was needed in case we ran into opposition.'

'To keep an eye on us, you mean.'

'I've asked him to keep a low profile from now on.'

'Well, hopefully he won't destroy this planet like he did his own.'

'Eh? But the reason he '

'Oh, I know what he says, but that's not the whole story.'

Daz hesitated. Did the man just say their colleague had destroyed a planet? He couldn't have done. He must have said 'plant' or 'part', or something.

'But he said that it was destroyed by '

'I've heard it enough times from him, I don't need to hear it again. All I'm saying is that he's not as innocent as he paints himself.'

The woman smiled and stroked the man's face. 'Who is?'

Irritated by the attention, the man pulled a small device that looked a bit like a calculator from his belt and swept it around. 'If we hadn't spent so much of our time looking after Mr Gibson, we'd have target acquisition by now. Trust us to land on the one part of Earth where everyone's looking out for aliens.'

'It might not be a coincidence. Our arrival would have created warping in s.p.a.ce-time the lights in the sky that these people have seen could be echoes of that.'

'Or it could be that everyone on this planet is just a stupid Joey who points up to the sky every time there's a funny light in it.'

'We're in the right area,' the woman a.s.sured him. 'We've done pretty well to narrow it down to this town in this time zone.'