Doctor Who_ Earthworld - Jacqueline Rayner [15]
The woman gave him an even bigger smirk. ‘Incorrect. As early as the 1960s Earthmen were working, resting and playing on Mars.’ Fitz began to splutter his objections, but she continued. ‘Question two. Which English politician was well-known for his seaside boxing matches?’
‘You’re a loony,’ said Fitz.
‘Incorrect,’ the woman told him. ‘The answer is Winston Churchill. Question three, who murdered Roger Ack-’
‘Shut up!’ said Fitz. ‘You just don’t know what you’re talking about! I don’t know if you’re really thick or trying to catch me out or something, but you’re talking serious bollocks. Winston Churchill was the British Prime Minister during most of the war, and when he said “we shall fight on the beaches” he was talking about how if the Nazis invaded we’d never surrender, not running on about a scrap over the buckets and spades. I lived through that, you know, and 30
EarthWorld
it wasn’t very nice. That was the Second World War, 1939 to 1945. The First World War, also known as the Great War – meaning it was very big, not that it was really good – had been fought 1914 to 1918, and it was supposed to be the war to end all wars, only it wasn’t. That man –’ he pointed at another of the many Elvis posters – ‘had blue suede shoes, not green rubber wellies or whatever stupid thing you’ve got him down for. And he was a singer – a fantastic one – not a teddy bear or a hotelkeeper or a hound dog. And I don’t know who killed Roger Ackroyd – see, I knew what you were going to say – because it wasn’t real: it was a book, and I’ve never read it. I do know who did the murder on the Orient Express, though. And I can tell you about Middle Earth, and the Day of the Triffids, and James Bond. Only none of them were real, either.
And I don’t know what weird version of twentieth-century England you’re talking about, but I reckon it’s some stupid fake you’ve come up with after getting a few details off the back of cigarette cards and chocolate-bar wrappers and scraps from a local library, and then filling in the gaps to suit yourself.’
He paused for a long deep breath, and couldn’t quite bring himself to start up again.
The woman was frowning. ‘Come with me,’ she said. ‘We’re going to go through this zone together, you and I, and you are going to tell me about everything we see.’
‘So you’re not going to unscrew my head?’ asked Fitz.
‘Not yet,’ she said – as he knew, from so many movies, that she would.
To: cybertron@xprof.net
From: anji kapoor@MWFutures.co.uk
Date: 14/2/01 13:05
Subject: Fun
Hey babes,
You’ll never guess what! Not only are there: (a) dinosaurs and (b) terrorists on this planet, there are also (c) lots of unexplained deaths! Exciting, huh?
Oh well, at least there aren’t rats in the cells. At least, not yet. . .
Love
Anji xxx
PS I miss you.
History’s What You Make It
31
Send now/send later: send later
The Doctor was talking. He had a lovely voice, soft and smooth and just deep enough, with that hint of accent that made you think of humour and secret smiles. A stick-on-a-talking-book-in-the-car-and-fall-asleep-at-the-wheel kind of voice. ‘Dreamy’, even. Funny, she could acknowledge how sexy his voice was – how sexy he was, full stop – without actually fancying him herself in the slightest. Just like she could, say, look at photos of Marilyn Monroe or Michelle Pfeiffer and know they were utterly gorgeous, but not be at all that way inclined herself. Not her type. That was it. But what was her type? Oh, yes. Dead. That’s what he was.
Focus on the now.
Lots of other people were dead, too, it seemed.
‘So how many visitors have died?’ the Doctor had asked the boys.
‘Don’t know,’ said Xernic. ‘They just said that people had been found dead in the centre. Killed. Wouldn’t tell us any more.’
‘Because they thought we knew,’ added Zequathon, ‘’cos they thought it was us what did it. So they didn’t bother to give us the details.’
Xernic looked thoughtful. ‘Can’t have been that many people, though. The centre’s not open yet. Grand ceremony thing’s not happened. The only people