Doctor Who_ Blue Box - Kate Orman [58]
I shifted uncomfortably. ‘That’s enough about me. So where are you from?’
The Doctor raised an eyebrow at me. ‘It’s best not to know everything about a person. A little mystery is a good thing.’ I couldn’t interpret his smile.
We arrived in Ocean City not long afterwards. Peri sat up and peeked out through the venetians.
‘Grim,’ commented the Doctor.
‘I don’t know,’ she said. ‘I kind of like it.’ Which made me wonder what kind of places she usually visited. ‘It reminds me of being a kid. Do you think maybe when this is all over we could come back here?’
The Doctor hesitated. ‘Perhaps in summer.’ It was hard to imagine him on the miniature golf course, that was for sure.
‘Maybe,’ said Peri, in a small voice. I think they had both just remembered that they might not be together once this was all over. ‘It’d be nice to just look around and not have to rush off because the planet’s going to blow up.’
We parked several blocks from Cobb’s house. The Doctor packed a dufflebag with equipment from the back of the RV: I could see the weight of it as he hefted it onto his shoulder. The machine he had built on our trip was inside, obviously. But what else had he stuffed in there? We followed him, Peri breaking into short bursts of running to keep up with his long stride.
The phone rang.
Swan froze at the sound. Literally froze, every inch of her skin turning blue-cold. The dead phone in the living room had come to life.
Years ago, Swan had seen an episode of some black-and-white anthology show, in which a phone junction box came to life and started calling people. Her younger self had been equal parts fascinated and frightened – too scared to touch a phone for weeks, but secretly jealous of the monster and its power to mock the human voice. She had played its role many times since: the unseen, threatening caller, the voice which could be coming from the next room or from thousands of miles away. Now, for a second, she was that kid again, jumping every time she heard the phone ring.
Swan got up from the desk and stomped into the living room, furious with herself, ready to tear the ears off whoever was on the other end of that line. If it was some blundering telco technician, she was going to wish ’em into the cornfield.
Swan snatched up the receiver and said nothing. After a moment, the Doctor said,’Ah, there you are. I’m afraid you beat us there after all.’
‘You freakin’ idiot,’ said Swan. ‘If you hadn’t told me about Cobb, I’d never have come out here. What’d you think you were doing?’
The Doctor was silent for a long second. ‘I assumed you knew one another.’
‘Of course we knew one another. But he never mentioned anything about this.’
‘Oh, good grief,’ said the Doctor.
While they were arguing, Peri and I were marching up the street to Cobb’s house. I was carrying the duffle bag, which wasn’t light.
We both saw the veranda, and the office equipment inside, at the same moment.
‘Stay back,’ said Peri. She was tugging the Doctor’s ramshackle device out of the bag. ‘I’m gonna torch the porch.’
‘You’re going to do what?’
Peri hefted the long machine. ‘Like this,’ she said.
Fire erupted from the end of the thing with a heavy kerosene smell.
‘Shit!’ I scuffled sideways like a startled dab.
The window burst inwards. Peri let go of the trigger for a second, startled. Then she got a crazy smile going and stepped up to it, pushed the blunt nozzle through, and pulled the trigger again.
‘Jesus, girl, what are you doing?’
Peri started to turn towards me, making me jump back even further as the line of flame followed her motion. She realised and turned back to the window. ‘Well, what does it look like I’m doing?’ A pile of papers on Cobb’s desk erupted with a crackling roar.
This time she held the trigger in, holding the Doctor’s improvised flamethrower with both hands, moving it back and forth in quick little jabs. The desk erupted like a warzone in puffs of orange and black. The box of diskettes issued a hideous chemical smell as it began