Doctor Who_ Loving The Alien Part 19

Much of the fuselage had been burned away, and a good deal of what was left was torn and twisted. The craft's spine seemed to have snapped a series of cranes, straps and huge wedges were holding the thing together.

'Is Dr Drakefell not joining us?' asked the Doctor.

'Nope. Keeps saying he has to do it... but he won't.'

'Ah, well... You might have to give me a hand, Davey. I rather injured myself during our nature ramble.'

Immediately O'Brien hoisted the Doctor high into the air and deposited him in what presumably was the entry-hatch. The Doctor 97 clambered inside.

The craft was compact, sleek and well designed, and bathed in a soft light that seemed to have no discernible source. No s.p.a.ce around the pilot's chair was wasted, yet the ship was elegantly and ergonomically designed so that movement within its confines was fluid and easy.

O'Brien dropped through the hatch and let out an awed whistle.

'I've never seen anything like this. I wouldn't even know how to start the windscreen wipers.'

The Doctor was barely listening. He was looking for something.

'Aha! Found it'

He lowered himself into a painful squat over a flat metal plate, about six inches by four, set into the deck.

'Do you know what this is, Davey?'

'Not a clue. The ashtray?'

'It's a dimension stabiliser. Or rather, in this case, a dimension de-stabiliser. It's what he used to get here.'

'The guy who's supposed to be me?'

'Yes. He used it to bore a tunnel through the walls of reality itself.'

'Hang on, I thought you said the explosion did that when the ship our ship blew up.'

'From our side, yes. Reality is a funny thing, Davey.'

'No kidding,' said O'Brien, looking around him.

'Have you even considered what might have happened if, say, the day your father first met your mother at the County Fair he'd decided to stay at home and do the gardening instead? No Davey O'Brien. The world turns on the tiniest of axes, Davey.'

'The flip of a coin,' said O'Brien sombrely.

'Quite. Now suppose I told you that there was another universe many, in fact where your father did stay at home gardening, and one where he went to the show and met somebody else first, and one where you won the toss and went up in the Waverider. Your alter ego, the chap who piloted this perhaps he won the toss. There are infinite parallel universes, some of which the ones closest to our own, are similar to ours in almost every detail. I can perfectly believe that this ship was sent up on a mission identical in spirit to your own. What they they did deliberately happened did deliberately happened here here by accident that's the only real difference.' by accident that's the only real difference.'

O'Brien puffed out his cheeks.

'It's all quite a lot to take in. I thought one world was chaos enough now you say there are... millions.

'And more,' said the Doctor. 'But they should never be crossed not in this way, at least. Dimension stabilisers were developed to repair 98 damage to the time lines, not inflict it.'

He used to carry one in the TARDIS...

'Do you have a screwdriver on you by any chance?'

O'Brien rummaged in his pocket.

'Swiss Army knife,' he said sheepishly, handing it to the Doctor.

'Twenty-four blades. It's about all they'll let me have.'

'I used to have something similar,' said the Doctor, flicking through the a.s.sorted blades. 'Just a bit more hi-tech.'

He squinted at the plate he was trying to detach from its housing.

'Strange screw-heads...'

He flicked again through the blades, thrust one into a narrow slot and twisted. He repeated the procedure five times, then held the little knife aloft, admiring.

'What is this blade for?' he asked.

'I'm not sure,' said O'Brien. 'I think it's the one for taking stones out of horses' hooves.'

There was a creaking on the fuselage above their heads. They both craned about to see Drakefell standing at the edge of the hatch, watching them.

'Well done, Dr Drakefell,' said the Doctor. 'You see? Not all that monstrously alien.'

He lifted the dimension stabiliser from its base. Its underside was a thick knot of cables and wires that plumbed the machine into the guts of the ship.

'Hopefully with this I can repair the damage to the time lines before it's too late,' he said.

The Doctor tugged lightly at a wire. This was delicate and dangerous work. He had to isolate the little machine from the ma.s.sive power supply that drove it, and that took up about a third of the ship. Any power surges would blow the hanger sky-high.

There was a sequence to this. If he could remember it...

'What if you can't?' Drakefell asked.

'The holes will expand... more will appear. The fabric of s.p.a.ce/time will start to unravel and the universes will bleed into each other. I've already encountered a swarm of giant ants.

'Giant ants?' queried O'Brien.

'Yes,' said the Doctor, tugging at a stubborn cable. 'Giant ants. Size as an absolute concept has no meaning between dimensions. Some universes would fit in your pocket.

'My G.o.d,' said Drakefell hoa.r.s.ely. 'What you're saying is I could have brought about the end of Creation... everything.'

'Oh, I doubt it will be that bad,' said the Doctor. 'Not now that I've 99 got my hands on this.'

He patted the dimension stabiliser like a not-entirely-to-be-trusted-with-your-fingers dog.

'And as for the Waverider, I shouldn't entirely blame yourself. After all, we still don't know for certain what caused the explosion.'

'Well, obviously it was my tampering.'

'Except that Captain O'Brien here informed me that the explosion began on the ship, just after the satellite was launched. The satellite was just caught in the blast. I suspect that you weren't the only saboteur, Dr Drakefell.'

'What do you mean?'

'Well, surely the best way to disguise this satellite would be to surround it with as much debris as possible. A very small bomb would blow the Waverider apart.'

'But the satellite was destroyed.'

'Yes and when the blast hit your little package it triggered a much bigger explosion. I suspect the bomb went off too early. Unfortunate, really. Nothing to do but cover your tracks and make some political capital by blaming the Russians.'

'Crawhammer...'

A sound behind them caused the three men to turn suddenly. Major Collins was sliding through the ship's entry-hatch. He had his gun in his hand.

'Well, I'll be... What the h.e.l.l is going on here?'

'Major Collins,' the Doctor smiled. 'I can a.s.sure you there's no need for the gun.'

'Did you lose your way, mister?' Collins said. 'I freed you from custody to save your neck!'

He shook his head in self-disgust.

'All my counter-intelligence training and you took me in.'

The Doctor took a step towards him.

'Stay where you are,' Collins barked. 'I'm within my rights to shoot you on the spot.'

100.

Chapter Eleven.

Why, with petrol still being rationed, was there always so much G.o.dd.a.m.n traffic in this town? It took Cody McBride two hours to make the journey from St Paul's to Regent's Park. The zoo it was the only other lead they had on Ace.

It was closing by the time he arrived, which suited him. It was already dark. He strolled among the cages, trying to look casual, watching all around him. He was used to this. Divorce cases affairs always involved trailing people around the G.o.dd.a.m.n zoo.

The attendants were asking people to make their way to the gate.

McBride slipped into the shadows next to the primate house and kept moving close to walls, low to the ground, away from light. The few visitors left were thinning out. A few keepers trotted back and forth with buckets and brooms. Apart from the noises of the animals, it was quiet.

This was all backwards. He was running about trying to solve a crime that hadn't taken place yet. It struck him that he'd accepted the Doctor's claim that Ace was going to be fatally shot with barely a raised eyebrow. How did the Doctor know? It hadn't occurred to McBride to query his strange statement.

How much did he really know about the Doctor, or Ace for that matter? They'd turned up in his office one day during the Blitz, claiming that aliens had landed. And it turned out to be true. The Doctor had dragged both him and Mullen into a war within a war, with an enemy more soullessly destructive than the n.a.z.is. And then he'd vanished as suddenly as he arrived.

And now he was back. And there were Russian spies everywhere and giant ants in Nine Elms.

McBride lit a sly cigarette, shielding the match with his coat, and the glowing tip with his hand. He smiled to himself. He'd had too many lost dogs to find recently. The Doc was back.

He set off to comb the dim grounds once more.

'Just one of the keepers having a f.a.g. Everyone else has gone.'

Ace retreated from the high-set window that looked out onto the zoo 101 at ground level. She attempted to disentangle herself from the mangled bedsheet, which was wrapped around her otherwise naked body like an over-enthusiastic toga. She spun in a circle, twisting to unwrap herself from its coils, and let it fall to the floor as Jimmy lay before her, smiling, watching her. She started to gather up her clothes.

'I've really got to go,' she said. 'There's something I've got to sort out.'

To tell the truth she didn't really know where to start. She'd run from the Doctor in haste, and had no real idea where to find him. She supposed she'd just head back towards the TARDIS and hope he did the same.

'Aww...'

'I'll come back later.'

'I want you now.'

Jimmy rolled onto his side and pulled her back onto the bed, nuzzling her belly as she tried to dress.

'Later we've been in here hours. I'm starving. All I've eaten is that toffee-apple.'

Ace scrambled free of his embrace and continued pulling her clothes on. Jimmy seemed to reach a decision and followed suit. He was dressed before she was.

Ace grabbed him in a bear-hug and planted a deep, wet kiss on his mouth, then made for the door.

Suddenly Jimmy darted in front of her, blocking her way.

'Jimmy...' He didn't move. 'Get out of the way.'

Ace tried to push past him but he blocked her again, and thrust her back into the room.

This was ceasing to be funny.

'Look, are you going to let me out?'

'No,' snarled Jimmy, suddenly agitated. 'I know your game.'

'What?'

'I even saw the badge on your jacket.'

'What badge?'

'Your G.o.dd.a.m.n Commie red star. I know you're working for them.'