Doctor Who_ Dinosaur Invasion - Malcolm Hulke [17]
‘I rather like it,’ he said. ‘Have you noticed how clean the air’s become? No cars, no people. Only yesterday I saw a fox in Piccadilly.’
She turned and laughed. ‘And nightingales singing in Berkeley Square?’ She was referring to an old and very sentimental song from the years of the Second World War.
Captain Yates did not laugh in return. He spoke quite seriously. ‘It’s not impossible. Nature is always ready and waiting to take back the places that humans have despoiled.’
‘I like London the way it was,’ said Sarah. ‘Traffic jams, pollution and all.’
‘I suppose you do.’ Yates picked up his own mug of tea and stared into its steamy surface. ‘Perhaps I’m a bit old-fashioned.’
Sarah looked hard at him. What could be going on in his mind?
General Finch, red-faced and angry, was facing the Doctor across the classroom.
‘Disappeared?’ scoffed the General. ‘You must mean you disappeared when it got too close!’
‘What reason had I to be frightened? It was a herbivore.’
‘A what?’
‘A vegetarian, sir,’ explained the Brigadier. Sarah, Captain Yates and Sergeant Benton were watching the clash between the General and the Doctor with mounting interest.
The General swung round to face the Brigadier. ‘I should like to know what role you played in this fiasco. How did you lose it?’
‘I’ve no idea, sir. One moment we were getting towing ropes to capture it, and the next it was gone. Vanished into thin air.’
The General’s eyes narrowed. ‘You saw it vanish?’
The Brigadier, who couldn’t remember exactly what he had seen, hesitated. The Doctor stepped forward. ‘The Brigadier and his men didn’t see what happened. They were temporarily affected by a time eddy. You see, General, these creatures are being moved back and forth through Time.’
The General’s face grew redder. ‘Ridiculous!’
The Doctor continued calmly. ‘Whenever a creature appears or disappears, the temporal displacement produces a localised distortion in Time. As far as people immediately in the areas are concerned, Time literally flows backwards. In fact, one of the UNIT corporals started to run backwards. Naturally, they have no memory of what has occurred.’
The Brigadier smiled and tried to soothe the bad-tempered General. ‘Suppose, sir, that we accept the Doctor’s theory for the sake of discussion.’ He turned to the Doctor. ‘What’s the next step?’
‘We must capture one of these creatures.’
‘What good will that do?’ asked the General.
‘I shall explain.’ The Doctor crossed to the map of London on the blackboard. ‘Someone must be causing these apparitions, General. I intend to track them down.’ He pointed to the map. ‘Why are reptiles only appearing in this one small area?’
‘I would hardly call the whole of Central London a small area 1 ‘ retorted the General.
‘But the giant reptiles flourished everywhere on this planet. So why aren’t they popping up everywhere?’
‘I say,’ said the Brigadier, ‘that’s a jolly good point!’
‘Could I ask something, Doctor?’ chipped in Sarah.
‘Yes, my dear. What is it?’
‘What about the man we saw in the garage?’
‘I think he was an accident—or an early experiment.’ The Doctor pointed to the ringed area on the map. He spoke with mounting conviction. ‘Somebody is deliberately causing these phenomena—and they’re operating from the middle of London! ‘
For a moment no one spoke. Captain Yates broke the silence. ‘You’re overlooking one important point, Doctor. The whole of Central London has been evacuated. The military, and a few stray looters, are the only people living in the entire area.’
‘The only ones we know about,’ replied the Doctor. ‘I can assure you that somebody is causing this to happen, and if my theories are correct, they must be using massive amounts of electricity.’
The General smirked. ‘By that idiotic remark alone, you defeat your own argument. All electricity supplies have been cut off in Central London.’
‘Thank you, General. In that case, they must be making their own! ‘
*See ‘Doctor Who and the Cave-Monsters