Doctor Who_ Cat's Cradle_ Times Crucible - Marc Platt [69]
From the top of the steps, Ace saw what looked like a clump of shining coloured mushrooms. Despite the clouds, there was still light from somewhere.
"Ready," called Shonnzi from behind her and the coloured umbrellas swayed apart to reveal the drenched Phazels underneath. They gave a loud huzzah. It was the older group — the grumblies. Their drab clothes were gone. Instead, they were arrayed in a bizarre mix of clothes, all random in bright colours and styles. Reogus, dressed in a blue tunic with yellow fleurs de-Lis, raised a sort of bugle to his lips and blew a wild elephantine fanfare. The instrument spluttered as the warm rain got into its valves. There was little shelter under the new arch formed by the collapsed wall. But they were not deterred. Reogus burst out laughing and threw the bugle into a puddle. They hurried eagerly up to meet the Doctor. Chesperl in green, Amnoni Distuyssor in rich scarlet and Reogus, all laughing under their makeshift coloured canopy of umbrellas. Only Pekkary held back, standing under his black brolly, awkward in his maroon jacket. His lank hair was pulled across his blank eye.
The Doctor walked happily into their midst and was festooned with bedraggled garlands made out of old newspaper. "Welcome, welcome!" they kept repeating.
Ace stood a little way back, a nagging suspicion that this outburst was badly mistimed.
Shonnzi took her arm. "Come on, beanbag," he said and pulled her down the steps. "It'll be all right. This is what we've been waiting for. It's no place for a child to grow up."
"A child?" she said and remembered the skinny ginger-haired kid. The kid who had the same coloured hair that he had. "You mean . . . you?" Time was a mess in this place all right. A real mess where the past caught up with you and you had to look after yourself.
"Not just me," he said darkly, but then his face brightened. "You said the Doctor'd rescue us. It's redemption at last."
The Doctor, already drenched, was laughing too. The rain streamed down the Phazels' upturned faces as they danced in a joyous ring around him. Shonnzi pulled Ace into the circle and she was surrounded by smiles. The downpour ran through her straggled hair. She felt cleansed. Her relief at finding the Doctor at all got the better of her forebodings over his state of mind.
"Quennesander Olyesti," Amnoni called to Pekkary, her superior demeanour washed away. "Don't be such a wet vest. Come and join in."
He smiled weakly and allowed himself to be dragged into the dance. They splashed and laughed and twirled their umbrellas. And the Doctor stood at their centre, content to watch their celebration.
They stopped as suddenly and instinctively as they had started. With a degree of ceremony, each of the Phazels closed their coloured umbrellas. One by one, they laid them at the Doctor's feet like religious icons before a saint.
He said nothing. Either he was still confused or reluctant to disrupt a ceremony that was clearly important to the Phazels. The rain had begun to ease. The cloud overhead was gone and with it the smoky nebula. The stars burned like torches.
Ace saw Chesperl and Reogus whispering together. "Yes, I want to," the young woman kept insisting. They turned and approached solemnly through the last spatterings of rain.
"Doctor," Chesperl said nervously, "if you are to bring deliverance from this place to us, Reogus and I have one boon to ask from you."
"Ah," said the Doctor and he began to look uncomfortable.
Reogus had taken hold of Chesperl's hand. "We may have misjudged you in the past, Doctor," he blustered. "But we bear you no ill will now." The heavy man was awkward with words, but his exuberance was overwhelmingly genuine. He almost shook with emotion like an Italian tenor. Ace was touched, and relieved he didn't sing.
"This world is no place to bring up a child," he said.
Ace turned to Shonnzi with a look of disbelief. He took