Doctor Who_ Atom Bomb Blues - Andrew Cartmel [40]
‘Nothing,’ said Ace. ‘No wait, you said something about Ray. I know. You said he was going to be eating the chilli with us.’
69
The Doctor swivelled in the chair, his arms behind his head. He nodded, silent, smiling benignly.
‘And she didn’t want to kill Ray. So she dropped the chilli. She didn’t want to kill Ray because they were working together. They’re both enemy agents.
So tell me again why we aren’t turning Ray in?’
‘Is that what you want to do?’
‘No, I personally like Ray. But with enemy agents, it’s sort of the thing to do, isn’t it?’
‘We must learn more before we take any action. There’s a great deal at stake here, Ace.’
‘That’s what worries me.’
‘Very sensible. Now if you’ll excuse me, I have an appointment with Edward Teller.’ The Doctor got up from the swivel chair and came out from behind Henbest’s desk. He moved towards the door of the office.
‘He’s a nasty piece of work, isn’t he, Teller?’
The Doctor paused at the door. ‘On the contrary, Ace. He’s a human being, caught up in the inexorable machinery of history, like so many others. He and I are going to go over some figures together.’
‘You’re going to try and convince him he’s wrong. About the chain reaction.
About the world going up in flames when they detonate the bomb.’
‘Correct.’
‘Because it isn’t going to, is it?’
‘I have to be going,’ said the Doctor gently. ‘Can I walk you back to the WAC
barracks?’
‘No, I think I’m going to sit here for a moment.’
‘Here in Professor Henbest’s office?’
‘He’s got some very comfortable armchairs. This is the first comfortable chair I’ve sat in since I’ve got here. I’ve got sore feet and I’m going to sit here for a minute.’
‘Very well. But you mustn’t return to the barracks after curfew again. I’ve received the most emphatic reprimands about bringing you back there late.’
‘So our reputations are at stake,’ said Ace. ‘I’ll make sure I’m back well before lights out. I’m just going to sit here for a moment.’
The Doctor smiled. ‘Because your feet hurt.’
‘And because I saw a dead rat today. . . and everything else.’
The Doctor came back and perched on the arm of her chair. He studied her.
‘Do you want me to stay with you for a minute?’
‘No, actually I need to chill on my own for a bit.’
‘Chill away,’ the Doctor smiled again as he bobbed up from the chair. He closed the door behind him as he left. Ace was alone for the first time in what seemed like ages. After the empty splendour of the TARDIS, sleeping in 70
the women’s barracks had seemed at first a pleasantly gregarious novelty, but Ace was now beginning to feel the lack of privacy. Also, the toilet paper was terrible. She leaned back in the soft embrace of the chair’s bulging cushions and peered dreamily out the window, towards the pond and the trees.
The door to the office popped open and John Henbest stepped inside.
‘You’re still here. Good.’ He bustled in. ‘Where is the Doctor?’
‘He had an appointment with Teller.’
‘I see. Good. Then we can proceed with your psychiatric evaluation.’
Ace cursed herself. Why hadn’t she left with the Doctor? Henbest came towards the chair where she was sitting. There was a look of sudden concern on his face. ‘Wait a minute. What’s that on your arm?’
Ace glanced at her arm. There wasn’t much of it that could be seen, under the navy-blue sleeve of her blouse.
‘It looks like some kind of rash,’ said Henbest, leaning forward to get a better look. He took something from his pocket, a small, white, metal case about the size of a cigarette packet.
‘What, where, I don’t have any rash,’ said Ace.
‘There under your sleeve. You can just glimpse it.’
‘There’s nothing to glimpse. There’s nothing there. No rash.’ But now that she looked at her wrist, Ace couldn’t be so sure.
‘Please,