Doctor Who_ Return Of The Living Dad Part 18

This made all of the cheerful women laugh, for some reason. Roz found herself silently praying for sleet.

Chris pulled over and switched off the engine. He looked at Tony. 'You're in charge,' he said.

The Tzun took Chris's communicator and fiddled with it for a moment. 'This will lead you to his tracking signal,' he said. 'The wood is only a kilometre thick, though it's about five kilometres long. Joel isn't more than a klick from here.'

'What do I do if I run into a soldier?'

'Pretend you got lost,' said the Tzun. 'Don't let them get hold of your communicator under any circ.u.mstances.'

Chris nodded. 'What will you do if you run into a soldier?'

Tony produced a long, silver wand with an oddly shaped, flat piece of metal on the end. 'I haven't used one of these since the incursion.'

'What is it? Some kind of, um, probe?'

The Tzun's hologram smiled weirdly.

Benny shook the Doctor's shoulder. 'G'way,' he said, 'I'm sleeping.'

'No, you're not,' she said.

He blinked awake, looking up at her and Isaac. 'Oh,' he said.

'How did you find me?'

'The usual way - we just followed the trail of disturbances. The hotel owner let us in.'

'Mmm.'

'Are you all right?'

'Doctor?'

'Yes?'

'You and Isaac need to talk.'

'Mmm.'

'Doctor?'

'Five more minutes.'

There was no way to move silently through the forest. No way that Chris knew about, anyway. He settled for crunching along, listening hard with one ear while he held the communicator to the other.

There was some kind of tracking doohickey in Joel's communicator, sending out little quantum pulses that the other communicators could follow. Chris heard it as a soft pinging, Dopplering up as he moved in the right direction.

There was no sign of the soldiers. With luck, they'd already given up and gone home.

It wasn't more than ten minutes before the communicator started pinging wildly, indicating close proximity. Chris switched it off, looking around, puzzled. There was no sign of Joel. He hoped the boy (boy? - he wasn't much younger than Chris) hadn't just dropped his communicator.

'Over here,' someone whispered.

Chris spun around, and saw Joel peeking out from under a fallen tree, his pale face framed by the leaves. 'Wow,' he whispered, hunkering down to help him out. 'You sure were hidden. Any sign of the soldiers?'

'I haven't heard the chopper take off.' The boy was shaking all over. His clothes were soaked. 'But I haven't heard them for maybe twenty minutes.'

'Let's get you back to the car.' Joel nodded stiffly. Chris took out his communicator. 'Tony?' he whispered.

'I'm afraid I can't talk right now!' spluttered the device.

There was a shot, not too far away.

'Oy gevalt,' said Joel.

'Run for the road,' said Chris. 'You'll see the car.'

Joel obediently wobbled off through the forest as quickly as he could manage. Chris ran towards the shot, wondering what he was going to do.

He almost ran right into one of the soldiers. The man was standing stock-still, his mouth hanging open, staring off into the trees. Chris waved a hand in front of the man's face.

Nothing.

Tony nipped out from behind a tree and jiggled his wand about. 'He's just reliving some childhood experiences,' he said. 'He'll be fine. Where's Joel?'

'I sent him back to the car.'

'Let's go.'

Chris followed the Tzun through the tangled branches.

Suddenly, there was another shot. He looked around wildly.

The soldier was running at them from their left. He stopped to take another look.

'Tony,' said Chris. 'Go!'

There wasn't time to discuss it. The camouflaged Tzun glanced back once and ran on.

Chris dived for cover as the man fired again. 'Hey!' he shouted. 'Don't shoot! I give up!'

The man was less than twenty feet away, the rifle still raised. 'Stand up and put your hands on your head!' he shouted.

Chris peeked out from behind the log. There was another man working his way through the trees towards them. He put his hands up and stood up, carefully.

The soldier with the rifle came right up to him, careful to keep him covered as the other man pushed him up against the tree and patted him down. 'Why were you shooting at me?' Chris demanded. 'This isn't private property.'

'I reckon he's human,' said the man who was searching him. 'How the h.e.l.l would you know?' said the other one. 'Go get the stretcher. I'll keep him covered.' 'Aren't you going to read me my rights?' said Chris. The man with the gun didn't answer.

Benny stood on tiptoe, trying to see between two planks that had been nailed over the broken window of the church. The tips of her boots sank into the soft ground, and she swore as she almost slipped.

'Careful,' said someone. She turned, hanging onto the wall. It was Albinex. 'Can I help?' he said.

'I'm looking for Jason,' she explained. 'He doesn't usually sulk past lunchtime.'

'Oh, well, let me show you the secret entrance,' said Albinex.

She followed him around to the side of the church. He was short - even shorter than the Doctor - wearing denim and a lot of hair gel. It made him look younger than he must be. 'What have you got in here?' she asked.

'Nothing,' smiled Albinex. 'It's a red herring.'

'Oh...'

'It's helped to distract awkward visitors on more than one occasion. Ghosthunters are particularly enamoured of it.'

They had come to a boarded-up side doorway. Albinex reached up under the boards and undid a catch, and the whole criss-crossed ma.s.s of wood swung open. 'It's just an old flyscreen door with planks nailed into it,' he said.

Benny followed him into the church. It was designer-messy on the inside - a layer of dust coating carefully arranged fallen beams and skewed pews. There was no sign of Jason.

'We should just check the crypt,' said Albinex. 'I've been talking to our contacts in the military,' he continued, as they climbed over the rubble. 'Usually they have a few interesting things to tell us.' He opened a heavy door, letting out a puff of stale air. 'Usually there are all sorts of leaks. Not this time.'

Dad said it was as though we were being teased,' said Benny. Albinex gave the lightswitch a few experimental flicks, then took out a pocket torch.

'Hmm. The military usually wouldn't be so subtle.'

Albinex took a few steps down the old stone stairs, and shone his torch around. 'No one home,' he said. 'Have you told the Admiral he's missing?'

'Missing.' Benny pressed her teeth into her bottom lip. 'I don't like this,' she said.

'I don't blame you,' said Albinex. 'Come on, let's see what we can do about it.'

Woodworth's object de l.u.s.t (and she still still hadn't found out his last name) was messing about, like a mad scientist, with a bunch of electrical components, peering at them through a delicate pair of bifocals. hadn't found out his last name) was messing about, like a mad scientist, with a bunch of electrical components, peering at them through a delicate pair of bifocals.

Woodworth glanced at her watch. The smell of solder was mixing with the smell of the coffee shop. She'd called in to take a look around the bookshop, and found him here, muttering to himself as he worked.

He yelped as he burned the tip of one of his fingers.

'What exactly is it you're doing?' she said.

'I'm making a ghost-detector,' he said, with the complete seriousness of someone who doesn't realize they're mad.

'I see.' Woodworth took a spoonful of fluff off the top of her cappuccino. 'How does it work?'

'The "ghost" is actually a sentient individual who has been shifted forwards in time by one picosecond,' said the Doctor. 'Producing some very strange effects. This -' he tapped the jumble of components will detect the characteristic ripples in local s.p.a.ce-time as she moves through it.'

'She? You sound as if you've seen a ghost.'

'I have,' he muttered, joining two diodes with a paperclip.

He looked up at her suddenly. 'She could explain the bees,'

he said. 'And the out-of-season wheat. Small-scale temporal distortions.'

Woodworth breathed a silent sigh. Who was it who'd said, 'The story of my life - if they're handsome, they're nuts'?

'I would have thought you'd be fascinated,' he said.

'I am,' said Woodworth, 'but that doesn't mean abandoning my natural scepticism.'

He'd finished whatever it was he was doing. Now he wound gaffer tape around the thing to hold all the bits in.

'So what are you going to do with her when you find her?' Woodworth said.

He smiled at her. 'I could ask you the same question.'