Doctor Who_ Return Of The Living Dad Part 7

'That's why you've been expecting the Doctor.'

'We've been tidying up his messes for twenty years,' said Isaac. 'Pm surprised he hasn't got around to us before now.'

Woodworth was starting to wonder whether she hadn't 'missed' Little Caldwell after all. She'd been driving in circles around Newbury for half an hour. She pulled over. The radio was murmuring something about cruise missiles.

It wasn't anything supernatural, she'd just missed the turnoff, twice. She folded up the map and shoved it back in the glovebox.

After a moment, she pulled out the gun and put it in her bag, Pushing it to the bottom under the jars and bags and books.

'Breathing' started on the car radio as she pulled out onto the road. 'Third time lucky,' she muttered.

Benny closed her eyes for a moment, breathing the breakfast smells. This ought to be a barren plain on some far-flung moon, or an alien graveyard with human names scattered amongst the headstones, or the shattered sh.e.l.l of the Tisiphone Tisiphone suspended in s.p.a.ce. suspended in s.p.a.ce.

She opened her eyes. Tony, his hologram restored, was cooking bacon and eggs behind the counter. Chris and Roz were working their way through a huge plate of doughnuts, At the next table, Jason was describing his adventures to a rapt (and rather too-young-to-hear-them) Joel. And at the next, a tall black woman and a plump forty-ish woman - Ms Randrianasolo and Jacqui - were listening in, amused.

Benny's heart was thumping, and it wasn't the macchiato, Jason had shaken Isaac's hand, formal as a business rival, The Doctor was even worse. He was sitting next to her, and he and the Admiral were eyeing each other like a pair of cats disputing territory.

The Doctor spread strawberry jam on a croissant, deliberately. 'How large is your crew?'

The crew proper comprises myself, Ms Randrianasolo, Joel, Tony and Albinex,' said Isaac. 'Only Ms Randrianasolo and myself are members of the original Tisiphone Tisiphone crew.' crew.'

'What happened to the others?'

'One married, one disappeared, one died.'

'Do you know what caused the wormhole? Or why you landed here, of all places?'

Isaac shook his head. 'I've been wondering that since nineteen sixty-three.'

The Doctor drummed his fingers on the table. Benny imagined that the pattern matched the rhythm of his inner thoughts, rapid and staccato. 'Just how many fugitives have you helped?'

Isaac met his eyes. 'Hundreds.'

'So, many of them must have been hostile,' said the Doctor. 'Dangerous.'

'Most of them are frightened and miserable and just want to get home,' said her father. 'The ones who don't want our help are UNIT's problem, or sometimes the CIA. A few times we've tipped them off ourselves. There was a Lalandian safari killing people in Durham in nineteen seventy-six -'

'Grief,' said Benny. 'I was in England in nineteen seventy-six. And in nineteen sixty-eight. If I'd known I could have just phoned you.'

'They must offer you a great deal,' said the Doctor.

'Technology, funds, a lift home...'

'We're not interested,' said Isaac. 'When I joined s.p.a.cefleet, I took an oath to keep Earth and all its territories safe, and that's just what I'm doing.'

The Doctor stirred his tea. 'I've often wondered what happens to all the leftovers,' he said.

'There are rather a lot of them,' said Isaac dryly. 'UNIT's policy has always been blow it up or cover it up.'

'To my eternal frustration. This is very good tea,' he said.

'We'll have to wean you off that stuff,' said Isaac. 'It's not a patch on my espresso.'

Tony pushed open the gate to one of the little cl.u.s.ter of cottages. 'We only have a few guests with us at the moment,'

he said. 'So you can have this one all to yourself. I hope it's okay.'

'It looks nice,' said Chris.

Tony unlocked the front door and led them into the lounge. 'I've switched the electricity back on, and there should be towels and things. Um, is there anything else you need to know?'

'About a hundred things,' said Roz.

'Oh,' said Tony.

'How have you managed to avoid detection for so long?

We had a look around the place. There aren't any monitors and there aren't any weapons.'

'That's right. This village is so small and uninteresting that a lot of people drive right through without noticing it. We don't want any alien technology about the place.'

'But you have a hologram generator,' said Chris.

'Well, of course,' said Tony. 'I'm supposed to be inconspicuous inconspicuous.'

'Blasters?' asked Roz.

Isaac flicked the big red switch on the back of the PC. It ground to life, chewing on the 51/4-inch diskette in drive A.

'I'm very glad,' he said, 'that we only have to do this once a month.'

Benny was walking through the small bookshop, peering at the crammed shelves. Handwritten cardboard signs marked the different subjects: WESTERN MYSTICISM, ZEN, CLOSE ENCOUNTERS, TAROT. At the far end, big front windows gave a clear view of Little Caldwell. It must be a speck on the map. 'Do you get a lot of customers?'

'Yeh,' said Isaac. 'Enough. Paranormalists come here from all over the country.'

'But wouldn't that be the last thing you'd want?' said Benny, taking a copy of Dreaming the Dark Dreaming the Dark off the shelf. off the shelf.

'Know thine enemy,' said Isaac. 'Or better still, recruit them. A lot of our contacts are UFO spotters.'

'What happened to the Tisiphone Tisiphone?' She put the book back under WOMEN'S SPIRITUALITY.

'We appeared halfway between Earth and Mars, and limped as close to Earth as we dared.' He was tapping keys, bringing up the inventory program. 'Then we sent the ship on a course for the sun and crammed ourselves into an escape pod.'

'Where did you land?'

'In the Welsh countryside. We were lucky to come down over land. Hogan got married nine years ago. He's living in Upper Norwood. Beilby died of the common cold. And no one knows what happened to Langford.'

'I'm sorry.'

'That was all a very long time ago.' The PC beeped. 'This thing is ready at last. You know, the onetime M'Kabel -

that's Tony's real name - pulled the cover off this thing, he looked inside and just started to laugh.'

'I didn't know Tzun laughed.'

'Neither did I.'

'Grief!' said Benny, picking up a different book. ' The The Sh.o.r.editch Incident Sh.o.r.editch Incident, by H.O. Macbeth.'

'Autographed,' said Isaac.

'You've met him?'

Isaac nodded at her across the room. 'We had dinner together last year. Don't tell me you were at Sh.o.r.editch?'

'Before my time.' Benny flipped through the pages, her eyebrows skittering up her forehead. 'I wonder how many of these are about the Doctor.'

'Dozens of refugees have landed on our doorstep because of him.'

Benny frowned. 'He's saved this world a hundred times.'

'Of course,' said Isaac. 'And I've met hundreds of the survivors. You should meet Adam Colby - he's still got the nightmares, seven years later.'

She crossed the floor, put her hands on his. 'You have to get to know him,' she said. 'He's not at all like you think he is.

You know, he stood in for you at my wedding?'

Isaac looked down at her hands. 'So much of what we do has revolved around him for such a long time, and we know so little about him.' He looked back up at her. 'We dance around in a ring and suppose -'

'But the secret sits in the middle and knows,' finished Benny.

They looked at one another in astonishment.

'I used to say that when you were a child. When you asked awkward questions,' said Isaac.

He put a hand on top of hers.

'No blasters,' said Joel. 'We don't have any weapons at all.

And they're not allowed inside the perimeter of the village.'

'That's not going to make the star cops happy,' said Jason. He was looking out through the door. 'There'd better be more than one bedroom in those houses.'

'Well, of course there is,' said Joel, wiping down the counter. 'Which year did you say you were from?'

Jason hesitated. 'This one,' he said.

'You're from now?'

'Yeah, but I spent a lot of time out in s.p.a.ce. Long story.

Me and Benny have been living in the twentysixth century.'

He tested a mouthful of forgotten cappuccino. It was cold.

'You know, I'd sort of prepared myself not to say anything futuristic that might give us away.'

'Yeah,' said Joel. He threw the damp cloth into the sink with a flick of his wrist.

'But nothing about us surprises you at all.'