Doctor Who_ Dinosaur Invasion - Malcolm Hulke [24]
‘Oh well, I suppose we can manage.’ The Doctor seemed to forget the troublesome black knob. He started tapping one of the dials to see if the finger inside would flicker. ‘You were talking about Time travel, Sarah.’
‘I thought you hadn’t listened.’ Then she continued quickly: ‘One or two people have dabbled.’
‘Fascinating,’ said the Doctor. ‘The main difficulty is the Blinovitch Limitation Effect. Do you know about Blinovitch? A great bear of a man from Russia. At least he was until he dabbled. He put Time into reverse for himself. The last I heard of him he was reaching babyhood. Rather a waste, I think. He was a brilliant man—when he was a man.’
Sarah persisted. ‘I think someone may have overcome that limitation.’
The Doctor turned. ‘On this planet?’
‘It’s the only planet I’ve been able to check.’
‘Yes, of course. How foolish of me.’ The Doctor rubbed his nose thoughtfully. ‘I remember there was a Chinese scientist called Chun Sen... But he hasn’t been born yet. And then there was a South American, but his name escapes me.’
‘There’s a man called Whitaker,’ Sarah cut in. ‘He claimed to have developed a workable theory on Time travel.’
The Brigadier snapped his fingers. ‘I remember! He applied for a big Government grant. It was refused.’
‘Why?’ asked the Doctor. ‘Has the Government no interest in science?’
Sarah supplied the answer. ‘It was Whitaker himself who put them off. He was always quarrelling with other scientists—so no one thought his theory would work.’
‘What a petty-minded lot! ‘ exclaimed the Doctor.
‘If I remember rightly,’ added the Brigadier, ‘the Government took advice on the theory. But all their scientific advisers said this fellow Whitaker was a crank.’
‘That is what people always say about anyone with a new idea,’ complained the Doctor.
‘Quite so,’ agreed the Brigadier. He turned to Sarah. ‘Anyway, what about him?’
‘He disappeared,’ she said flatly.
The Doctor now scratched his nose. This was becoming interesting. ‘Are you sure of that?’
‘About six months ago. Professor Whitaker completely vanished. I’ve checked with everybody—the newspapers, the police, his friends. He hasn’t been heard of for six whole months.’
The Brigadier cleared his throat. ‘Not that I doubt a word a minute, Miss Smith, but since all the newspapers, and the police and everyone else has fled London, how did you make your enquiries?’
She smiled disarmingly. ‘I spent rather a long time using the telephone in your office. STD is still working.’
‘Sarah, do you seriously think this man Whitaker could be behind it all?’ The Doctor looked thoughtful.
‘It’s something I once read on how the police work,’ she explained. ‘If there’s a murder or a robbery, they always look for any odd thing that happened at around that time. The man, for example, who always drives himself to work but on the day of the murder travelled by bus. Now here we’ve got someone playing around with Time, and six months ago the one man who claimed he could control Time vanished. And it’s a fact that never before in his life did he go off without telling everyone of his whereabouts—you know, holidays, attending international conferences, and so on.’
The Brigadier was clearly impressed. ‘This is a most extraordinary coincidence, don’t you agree, Doctor?’
Before the Doctor could answer, Sarah concluded her argument. ‘You see, Doctor, he must have been bitterly disappointed when the Government refused to help him develop his theories. So what if he found other people who would put up the money and provide all the facilities he’d need?’
The Doctor was pensive for some moments. Then he began to speak rapidly. ‘I’d like to see this chap’s working papers, Brigadier. Is that possible?’
‘I suppose they must be somewhere, perhaps at his home, or filed by the Government when he made his application for help.’
‘Another thing,’ said the Doctor, ‘ask your UNIT chaps to transport the TARDIS to your temporary Headquarters. There are special instruments inside that I shall need.’
‘The order was given some hours ago. The TARDIS should be there by now.’