Doctor Who_ Return Of The Living Dad Part 22

'He'd better rest up,' said Jacobus, 'if you are keeping him...'

Woodworth handed the dentist his clipboard.

'I haven't decided yet,' she said.

Benny and Isaac were running across the grounds of the big, old house. They dropped behind a bush, squinting into the lights that surrounded the building.

'I thought the place would be crawling with guards,' she whispered.

'Only at strategic points,' he said. 'And sometimes not even then.'

'This isn't the first time you've done this.'

Isaac shook his head. 'You said you'd been here before.'

'In nineteen sixty-eight,' whispered Benny. 'The Doctor was held here for three weeks. They were supposed to have closed the place down. I'm worried about him.'

'Will he let us down?' asked Isaac.

'No!'

'Then you let me worry about him.'

They both ducked down as someone appeared from a side door. It was a white-coated lab worker, a man in his thirties. He lit up a cigarette, peering into the darkness beyond the brilliant lights.

'Right,' said Isaac. He touched the hologram generator on his shoulder, and suddenly he was gone.

White Coat looked up at the rustling noise. Benny expected to see him jerk suddenly and crumple, punched by the Invisible Man. But instead Isaac used a nerve pinch, catching the man as he fell silently. Probably like one of the pinches she'd been taught at the Academy.

He blipped back into existence and waved at her. She climbed out from behind the bush. He was examining the man's ID badge. 'He's a dentist,' he said, surprised.

Benny glanced up at the house. 'I hope we're raiding the right place.'

Sergeant Lidz grimaced up at the pair of idiots who were making his life difficult. 'Look,' he said, 'like I told you, sir, your pa.s.s is valid, but you can't bring your a.s.sistants onto the premises unless they have prearranged pa.s.ses too.'

The little man made an exasperated noise. The black woman glared down at Lidz. The other woman looked around in a vague fashion.

'I want to speak to your commanding officer,' said the little man.

'I've already explained, sir, he's not available.'

The little man shoved the phone across the desk at him.

'Then call someone who is available.'

The main doors banged open, and suddenly the foyer of the building was full of troops. Lidz stood up to see past the three nuisances.

It was another black woman and a short man, being dragged roughly in by four soldiers.

'Smith?' said Lidz.

Private Smith saluted. 'We caught these two in the grounds, sergeant.'

'You're breaking my arm!' shouted the woman.

Lidz glanced back at the three pests, suddenly worried.

The little man caught his eye.

Held it.

Lidz turned back to the trespa.s.sers. 'What are you doing here?'

The man said, 'We're protesting the military's use of this house as a base. It ought to be with the National Trust.'

Lidz glanced back at the little man, who nodded. 'How did you get in?'

'We climbed over the fence,' said the woman.

'Right,' said Lidz. 'Since you haven't done any criminal damage, I'm going to have you thrown off the premises. If you Come back into the grounds, it'll be much worse, all right?'

The two protesters scowled, but said nothing.

Lidz jerked his head, and the soldiers hauled them out the door.

'In a good mood tonight, sarge?' grinned Private Smith.

'Watch it,' growled Lidz. Smith saluted again and scurried out after the others.

'Excuse me,' said the little man.

Lidz turned around.

The short black woman punched his lights out.

Gillikin was sure he'd heard a noise.

He put down his newspaper and came out of his office, switching on the lights in the main lab. It took a moment for the thick fluorescent tubes to buzz into action.

Nothing but s.p.a.ce corpses. He grunted to himself.

Yesterday the colonel had been very seriously telling them to keep an eye out, in case any of the subjects showed signs of change or even resuscitation. They were alien life forms, she had reminded them. Anything might be possible.

As far as Gillikin was concerned, it was like Elvis's coroner had said, right. If they weren't dead before the post-mortem, they sure as h.e.l.l were now.

s.h.i.t, there it was again!

Gillikin narrowed his eyes, turning, checking every shadow and every shape. He ducked down, hands on his thighs. Nothing was hiding under the trolleys, heavy with their plastic-bagged burdens. Nothing he could see, anyway.

Wait a minute. The cupboard. What if someone was hiding in the cupboard?

He mentally counted corpses, just in case one of them had got up and started to walk around. Nope, there was the blue one, and the two from today. And the three from last week, bagged, waiting for disposal orders.

Gillikin drew his pistol. In every horror movie, right, you were shouting 'Don't open the cupboard!' when some idiot went to open the cupboard. But they didn't have a gun, right.

He grinned and pulled open the cupboard door.

There was an alien inside with a huge white head and big slanted black eyes and a little smiley mouth.

There was a redheaded kid standing behind the alien, squished into the cupboard. 'Um,' said the kid.

Gillikin opened his mouth to scream at the alien. It reached up and tapped him between the eyes with its silver wand.

At least, that's what Gillikin's hypnotherapy tapes said happened.

Jacqui knelt down next to the unconscious soldier. There was a bit of blood on his mouth.

'Roz,' said the Doctor, looking at his companion, 'was that entirely necessary?'

'No,' she answered, with relish.

Jacqui helped them pick the soldier up and put him on the floor behind the desk. The Doctor rolled him onto his side to make sure he could breathe properly.

Someone came around the corner, making them all flinch, but it was only the Admiral's daughter. A moment later, the Admiral himself appeared out of thin air.

'There are only twelve people in the building,' said the little blond guy.

Ms Randrianasolo closed her eyes for a moment. 'Two are asleep,' she said.

'Closed for the night,' said Roz.

Jacqui sat on the corner of the desk. Nothing looked familiar, but she remembered the smell of the place, underneath the smells of fresh paint and winter.

'Almost all of them are downstairs.' The Admiral was reading the screen on his handscan. 'If we -'

He stopped short, staring at the Doctor. Jacqui followed his gaze.

The little man's eyes had grown huge, the pupils shrinking away to nothing. He pressed a hand to the centre of his chest and stumbled forward, eyes closing in a strange, intense expression.

Jacqui gasped and leapt back, nearly falling over the desk.

But nothing awful happened. The Admiral grabbed the Doctor before he could fall, supporting him awkwardly.

Bernice took the scanner, and he helped the little man stand up.

The Doctor was shaking his head at Bernice. 'She's found the TARDIS,' he said hoa.r.s.ely. 'She's found it.'

'Who's she?' asked Roz.

'Are you in pain?' asked Isaac.

'No,' said the Doctor. He straightened up. 'I'm all right now.

Let's get a move on.' He turned to go, but not before he saw the way that Jacqui was looking at him. He frowned at her, not understanding. Jacqui trailed after the group, hands in her pockets.

Woodworth had dismissed the medical staff. She was sitting on an orange plastic seat, regarding the man in the dentist's chair. He was still upside-down - well, tilted back, anyway.

He seemed to be fading in and out of consciousness, his eyelids flickering from time to time.

He made her stomach churn. They could at least have covered him up, decently, so she didn't have to look at him.

But he was her responsibility, now. She had to decide whether to let the lab boys have him.

It was cold in the room, cold and bright. She was wearing her overcoat, despite the fitful efforts of a heater in the corner.

He rolled his head towards her, as though noticing her for the first time. 'Can I have my clothes back?' he said. His voice was raw and shaky. There was a nasty bruise on his forehead.

Woodworth reached into one of her files and brought out a photograph. 'Have you seen this man?' she said.