Doctor Who_ Blue Box - Kate Orman [27]
‘What’s the plan, Doctor?’ said Bob.
‘I want a little time to examine our strange device. This is my chance to learn something about it for myself... although I won’t be able to stall them for long.’
‘We’re coming along to that meeting!’ insisted Peri.
‘Right on,’ said Bob.
‘I’ve already explained,’ said the Doctor. ‘They won’t risk contact with anyone besides myself.’
‘We risked a lot to get that for you!’ said Peri. ‘While you sat wherever you were and twiddled knobs, we were breaking the law!’
‘Perpugilliam Smith,’ he said severely ‘you have done far more dangerous and far more dubious things in your time. But few that have benefited your little planet more.’
‘That’s right, man,’; said Bob. ‘We’re not scared.’
‘Stop trying to protect us, Doctor,’ Peri insisted. She planted her fists on her hips and looked up at his face. ‘It’s time you let us in on what’s happening.’
It made me think of my pet, Stray Cat. She was in my lap once when another cat climbed onto the balcony. She hissed and spat and bristled and then she took a swipe at my face: she couldn’t attack the enemy, so she attacked whoever was around instead.
The Doctor raised both hands, scowling. ‘I knew this would happen if I showed my face.’
‘Since when did you ever take a no from someone?’ said Peri.
‘True,’ said Bob. ‘If they want more help from us, they have to include us.’
‘Don’t go overboard, Bob,’ said the Doctor. ‘We are trying to save the world. All right, see what I can arrange.’
‘Hello, Mond,’ said the voice on the other end of the phone.
‘Guess who.’
‘Aw shit,’ said Mondy. He glanced at the tape recorder set up next to the phone in his mother’s basement. The tape had automatically kicked in the moment it began to ring.
‘Nice to hear your voice too,’ said Swan.
‘I thought you swore you would never so much as dial my mom’s number.’
‘I didn’t dial her number,’ said Swan, amused. ‘Does she know you’ve got six other numbers forwarded to her phone?’
‘You said you would never hassle my mom,’ said Mondy.
‘Why don’t you run upstairs and see if I’m bothering your mom, said Swan sourly. ‘Or maybe you’d like to shut up and find out why I called.’
‘Oh my God. What? I guess you’ve already done about everything you can think of to me.’
‘New technology is always comirtglikmg,’ said Swan lightly.
Some buffer in Mondy’s brain overflowed. ‘All I ever did was get in an argument with you. That was two years ago. And it was your fault anyway for being such a bitch!’
‘Whereas you’re such a smooth diplomat.’
‘Why can’t you just drop it, Sarah? Why’ve you got to try and make my life a mess? How many other people are you screwing up this way?’
He caught his breath, clutching the phone, waiting for her answer to come crackling through the silence. He half-expected to hear police sirens as she sicked yet another 911
call on him. He knew the answer, anyway: the technology is vulnerable, but human beings are the weakest links.
‘That’s not what this is about. I want a favour, Mond.’
He spluttered. ‘You’ve got to be kidding.’
‘If you give me what I want, I’ll stop bugging you. Now and forever.’
Mondy was thunderstruck. ‘You’re full of it.’
‘You know I keep my word,’ she said. ‘I never have bothered your mom, have I? Or your brother in Calvert County.’
‘No,’ he had to admit.
‘Good. Then you know I mean it. No more trouble for you if you just do what I say.’
Mondy hesitated. Was this the real reason she had picked on him for so long – because she knew one day she’d want to use his skills?
He smacked the listening end of the receiver against his forehead a couple of times. ‘Ah, shoot,’ he said at last. ‘What do you want me to do?’
The Doctor’s black suit turned out to be Peri’s idea. ‘You’re not wandering around Washington in your circus outfit,’ she had insisted. He’d made a lengthy speech about the historical variability of costumes and