Doctor Who_ Loving The Alien Part 11

mannered. Twenty across. Imbecile.'

'Oh, yeah....' said the youth, scribbling hurriedly.

The Doctor wasn't prepared to waste any more time here. He shot around the desk and through a door marked 'Staff Only' while the youth was still making his corrections.

He closed the door on the din and trotted down the corridor in search of Rita.

In fact she found him.

'Where the h.e.l.l have you been?' Her voice blasted out from one in a line of cubbyholes that pa.s.sed for offices. 'Come in! There was a bomb.'

'Yes, said the Doctor. 'I'm afraid Chief Inspector Mullen was badly injured. Mr McBride's all right, I'm glad to say.'

'But you haven't found your friend?'

'No. I was hoping you might help me.'

'Sure. This is great stuff.'

'Ace will die soon unless I can prevent it,' the Doctor said gravely.

'I'm sorry,' Rita replied. 'Go on'

'It seems certain that our separate problems are in fact one. For some reason Ace is involved on the fringes of espionage. And so I can only hope that my decision is the right one.'

He drew a heavy breath, then fished in his pocket and handed Rita a brown envelope.

'I want you to give this to Cody as soon as you see him. And if heaven forbid anything untoward should happen to him, I want you to open it yourself immediately and though I have no right to demand this of you, and it will involve danger carry out the instructions inside to the letter.'

'What are you going to do?' asked Rita.

'I'm going to Winnerton Flats. If things do not go well, I might find myself detained there. Locked up. I might not get back before Ace...'

He couldn't finish the sentence.

'What are you going to do out there?'

The Doctor began pacing the tiny s.p.a.ce. It helped him think.

'Is your Major O'Brien permitted visitors at Winnerton Flats?'

'Not without clearance, no.'

'I see.'

'What can O'Brien tell you? Trust me, Doctor he never went up in 62 that ship.'

'Oh, I just need him to confirm a worrying theory. But I also need to know exactly what they're doing out there. I suspect it's something very dangerous.'

'Dangerous... like... war?'

'The ants were the clincher.'

'Ants?'

'One-foot-long ants, Miss Hawks.'

'So it's true...'

'Oh, yes.'

'And that's what? Radiation doing that to them?'

'No.'

'So, what are they? Like, s.p.a.ce ants?'

's.p.a.ce/time pollution. Very dangerous. Very destructive. And I must get to the bottom of it or Ace's future will be only one of billions lost.'

He suddenly turned and shook her hand. 'I thank you in advance for what you might have to do for Ace. Forgive me for putting this trust in you I know it isn't fair.'

Rita smiled.

The Doctor smiled back.

'Do you have a car?'

An hour and a half later the Doctor was lost. Rita had drawn the way on a road map (and had even done a quick sketch of what she knew of the Winnerton Manor set-up on the back), but he'd lost it when the bubble blew open.

He had braved the City traffic, navigated round Bank and crossed London Bridge in a giant light-bulb. It was a terrifying experience. He was below the level of the rest of the traffic they couldn't see hull and he couldn't see past them. He vaguely remembered that these things were made by Messerschmitt after the war, using the machinery and design of their wartime fighter c.o.c.kpits. He knew how the pilots must have felt.

His sudden emergence into fields took the Doctor by surprise. He'd forgotten how far London had still to spread before Ace's time.

It occurred to him that he might not have given Rita the best explanation of the events she was caught up in. That had been shockingly selfish of him. She deserved the whole truth. Then it struck him how often in the past he had done exactly the same thing. The truth was, he hated giving explanations before he was sure he was right. Or maybe he was just a pathological show-off. Or maybe he'd read too much Agatha Christie. He didn't know but it was just such 63 deception, he recalled with a shudder, that had possibly driven Ace to her death.

And yet what else could he do?

He was hamstrung by his knowledge of future events. He knew Ace's death was merely a bait for him, and he knew he was meant to discover what was happening out at Winnerton Flats. Why otherwise the hospital tag on Ace's toe? They were removed before burial.

He knew it was a trap, and yet what else could he do? It was already sprung, and he was being drawn irresistibly in.

There was a vague, niggling familiarity about the situation.

The horizon was flat now long, low heathland skirted by a lattice of streams, low d.y.k.es and patches of waterlogged marsh.

At last he could see where he was going. He spotted the great house with ease, on slightly raised ground, surrounded by a large, walled, lightly wooded estate. The wall was topped with barbed wire. Signs every fifty yards or so read 'HM Government Property Maximum Security. Absolutely no admittance.'

He couldn't help but smile. That should foil the Russians.

The gate, when he found it, was open. Clearly, a stern warning was considered sufficient.

He hunched his head down, gripped the steering-wheel hard, and hit the accelerator.

The little car roared forward, backfiring as it shot through the gate and up the long drive towards the old house.

To the sentries in the gateside guard-boxes it looked and sounded like a giant champagne cork popping.

The Doctor's eyes darted about frantically. Keeper's Lodge, off the main drive, set in a beech thicket... The drive forked. The Doctor chose at random. In his aviator's wing-mirrors he could see the two guards in pursuit. They were on motorbikes and catching up with him.

They closed, one on each side of him. He was about level with their knees.

And then he saw the brown stone lodge. He jammed on the brakes, hit the handbrake and swung the wheel wildly. The little chariot spun around in a broad arc, narrowly missing the pursuing bikes as they shot past. It teetered alarmingly on only two of its three wheels, and skidded into a narrow gap between beech trees. The sound of the bikes was suddenly swallowed by the great trees. The cottage was dead ahead at the end of a white gravel path.

He sc.r.a.ped, to a halt at the cottage porch and flung open the windscreen-c.u.m-door on this ghastly contraption. Why Rita had 64 bought it he couldn't imagine. He scrambled out and rang the bell urgently and continuously until the door was answered. He pushed inside, his hand offered to a young man in cardigan and slippers.

'h.e.l.lo. It's Captain O'Brien, isn't it? I'm a friend of Rita Hawks.'

An amused smile played around O'Brien's mouth. He shook the Doctor's hand.

'Pleased to meet you, uh...?'

'Oh, Doctor,' said the Doctor.

O'Brien shrugged. 'OK...'

From outside the door they could hear two motorbikes drawing up.

'I should warn you, there are some guards chasing me. I think this is them.'

'Really?' O'Brien couldn't suppress a grin. There was a hammering on the door.

'I really do need to talk to you,' the Doctor said.

O'Brien opened the door. The two guards had guns in their hands.

'What is it, boys?' O'Brien said.

'It's him, sir,' one of the guards said, gesturing past O'Brien to where the Doctor was standing. 'Do you know him?'

'Of course. He's an old friend.'

'Was his visit cleared, sir?'

'No, he just showed up.'

'He'll have to come with us, sir.' At least the guard had the decency to sound regretful.

'Oh, come on, lads. I'm going out of my mind in here. I've got no television, not even a radio... Half an hour.'

The guards looked at one another and started whispering.

The Doctor scanned the room. An idea had hit him. An officer's cap and baton were hanging next to the door. He s.n.a.t.c.hed them up, huffed and coughed and guffawed, giving it as much Lethbridge-Stewart-on-a-wet-Monday-morning as he could muster.

'Quite right, Captain, quite right. These men are only carrying out their orders.'

He planted the cap on his head and took a step forward. Just enough shadow to do the trick...

'Quite right, men. Quite right.'

The guards looked confused. O'Brien grinned, the penny dropping.

'Well, thank you for dropping in... uh... General.'

The two guards snapped to attention.

A sly smile flickered between the Doctor and O'Brien.

'You see what sort of staff car they give me?' He waved the baton imperiously into the light. 'd.a.m.ned cutbacks.'

65.The guards were floundering.

'Uh, sorry, sir. We never realised...'

'Half an hour, guys...' O'Brien chipped in.

'Uh... yes, sir. Whatever you say, sir.'

'At ease, lads,' O'Brien grinned as he closed the door.

'I wanted to say that,' said the Doctor.

My dear Cody, As I am writing this, I know that unless we can prevent it, Ace has at most another twelve hours to live. I am forced to visit Winnerton Flats, most another twelve hours to live. I am forced to visit Winnerton Flats, so I leave Ace in your care. I beg you, find her by any means possible so I leave Ace in your care. I beg you, find her by any means possible I am sure Miss Hawks will help. Get Ace to the TARDIS. Tell her it's where we left it, in the bas.e.m.e.nt of St Thomas's Hospital on Lambeth where we left it, in the bas.e.m.e.nt of St Thomas's Hospital on Lambeth Palace Road. I'm afraid the way in will be guarded, but it is the only Palace Road. I'm afraid the way in will be guarded, but it is the only place I feel sure Ace can find refuge. place I feel sure Ace can find refuge.

I shall return as soon as I can.

My deepest thanks, The Doctor And then an odd sort of seal.

Rita had waited two long, agonising hours before she opened the envelope the Doctor had left with her. She had stationed herself at McBride's office and waited. He still hadn't returned.

The Doctor had said they had little time.

And he'd wanted her to open it anyway, if anything happened to McBride...

She was a little disappointed by the contents, but instantly sensed the urgency of the note. The girl had to be found.

She scribbled something to McBride on the bottom of the note, placed it back in the envelope, and put the envelope on McBride's desk.

Then she headed for the door.