Doctor Who_ Atom Bomb Blues - Andrew Cartmel [33]
‘Just the small matter of whether the world is going to blow up, yes.’
Ace glanced at him but she couldn’t make out his face in the darkness. ‘Did you talk to Teller? Did you manage to convince him his equations are wrong?’
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‘Yes and no. Yes, I spoke to him. No, I couldn’t convince him. But I will persist in trying. It won’t be easy. He’s a complex fellow, Teller.’
‘You did a lot of research on these people before we came here.’
‘Yes I did,’ said the Doctor. ‘And I discovered some startling facts.’
‘For instance?’
‘For instance, discovering that in the early part of his career Raymond Morita was a mediocrity with a poor academic record and showed no promise whatsoever.’
‘You could say the same thing about Einstein.’
‘Why, Ace,’ said the Doctor delightedly. ‘Yes, indeed you could. Cosmic Ray was teaching in a high school. Then something happened to him. He turned into one of the brightest stars in the field of advanced physics.’
‘Maybe someone gave him some of your fish oil capsules.’
‘No, I suspect something else is going on.’
‘Why?’
‘Because the old Raymond Morita was what they call a south paw. The man we saw here tonight is right-handed.’
‘You’re saying he’s not really Ray Morita?’
‘Sadly, it’s nothing as straightforward as that.’
Ace turned and looked at the Doctor. They were now approaching the WAC
barracks where she was staying. The rows of dark windows glinted in the moonlight and Ace suddenly realised that it was long after lights out and she was going to have trouble getting inside. But at the moment this was the least of her worries. She peered into the shadows of the Doctor’s face, trying to discern his expression.
‘Doctor, what the hell is going on? Why did we come here?’
‘Because someone, or something, is trying to tamper with history at this most delicate point. And thereby destroy the human race.’
They came to a stop by the front steps of the WAC barracks. ‘Well thanks for that,’ said Ace. ‘I’m really going to get a good night’s sleep now.’
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Chapter Five
By the Pond
The next day Ace was stuck in the classroom at the ranch school with the Doctor again, laboriously working through calculations. A constant stream of visitors meant that they hardly had a moment to themselves and Ace wasn’t able to ask any of the questions that were burning inside her. Instead she had to sit, silent and bored, but also frightened, as the Doctor argued matters of physics with an endless series of distinguished visitors. Occasionally she was called upon to do some work and, since she had taken her capsule that morning, she performed each computation with breathtaking speed and complete accuracy. The visitors, who included Teller and Fuchs, were duly impressed with her efforts, but Ace derived no pleasure from them. She felt like she was on display in a freak show.
Things got much worse when Professor Apple turned up. Under the pretext of getting Ace to help with some calculations he passed her a folded piece of paper, then hastily retreated from the room. Ace looked at the folded scrap of paper in her hand, then at the Doctor. He raised his eyebrows quizzically.
‘From Professor Apple?’
‘He passed me a note,’ said Ace.
‘So, what does it say?’
‘I don’t dare look at it. Here.’ She passed the paper to the Doctor. ‘You read it for me.’
The Doctor took it, unfolded it and peered at it. Ace could see that the paper was densely packed with minute handwriting in peacock-blue ink. The sinking feeling she’d experienced when Apple passed her the note suddenly intensified. She repressed the urge to ask the Doctor what it said. He seem to be taking an inordinate amount of time reading it.
Finally he looked at her and said, ‘Hmm. He goes on rather at length but, to synopsise, he wants to take you to the movies.’
‘What movies? Where?’
‘Apparently they show films here on the Hill on a regular basis. He wants to take you