Doctor Who_ Earthworld - Jacqueline Rayner [26]
Couple of tomatoes and a big wedge of fruit cake. Yep, that’d go down a treat right now.
Lost in snack-related dreams, Fitz didn’t realise the robot was dropping him until he was on the floor. Now he had bruised knees and elbows to add to his sore nose. He was really getting fed up. Groaning, he rolled over and sat up.
The Nefertiti girl was standing in front of him, hands on hips. Only she wasn’t dressed Egyptian style any more, or in flapper gear: she wore a sky-blue Roman dress-thingy, with her hair piled high on her head and fastened with tortoiseshell combs.
Fitz shifted his gaze to the right. There was the Nefertiti girl again, dressed Roman-style again, only this time her dress was orange. And to her right, there she was in green, a small crocodile with a pink ribbon around its neck clasped to her chest, as though it were a pet cat or rabbit. Fitz looked to that girl’s right. There didn’t seem to be any more of them, but he swivelled right the way round anyway to check. He reached the one in blue again, and decided that there were just the three of them. None of them were saying anything, although there was a faint ticking noise coming from somewhere. He couldn’t tell where.
Obviously up to him to break the ice. ‘Hi,’ he said. ‘I’m Fitz.’
‘We know,’ said one.
‘Fitz Fortune,’ said the next.
‘You’re our very favourite singer,’ sighed the third.
Fitz blinked, wondering if he really was in a parallel universe after all.
‘We were just going out for a treat,’ said the first – blue – girl. ‘You can come with us,’ said orange to her right.
‘Uhhh?’ said Fitz. ‘Um, you must be the President’s android daughters, right?’
The girl in blue looked scathingly at him. ‘You should choose your words more carefully for greater accuracy,’ she said. ‘How could the human President have android daughters?’
‘I meant,’ Fitz replied, sensing it was going to be a really long day, ‘that you’re the androids of the President’s daughters. The ones they made to look like them. How many of you are there?’
Green-dress giggled. ‘There is only one of us. We just happen to be divided into three parts. I’m Antarctica.’
50
EarthWorld
‘What, where the penguins come from?’ asked Fitz.
‘This is Africa –’ she indicated the girl in the orange dress – ‘and this is Asia.
Asia is the oldest of us.’
‘Weren’t you all built on the same day, then?’ said Fitz, who had already forgotten which girl was which.
‘Don’t be silly,’ said, um, penguin-woman. . . Antarctica. ‘We weren’t built at all.’
‘You’re rather slow, aren’t you?’ said Asia. ‘Don’t you get it?’
The last girl, Africa, walked slowly around Fitz. She ran a finger down his cheek. ‘I could explain it to him,’ she breathed sensually. Fitz struggled to remember that she was only about thirteen years old. ‘I could carve the answer slowly into his flesh, so he feels his stupidity with every drop of spilled blood.’
Fitz’s excitement died as fast as it had arrived.
‘Africa. . . ’ said Asia, warningly. She seemed to be the one in charge.
Antarctica took her sister’s hand and dragged her away from Fitz. ‘You’re not to hurt him!’ she scolded. Fitz breathed a sigh of relief. ‘He’s my pet and I’m going to keep him for ever and if he’s naughty and has to be punished I’ll do it.’ Fitz’s relief left him. What was this? Did they think he was a lapdog or a hamster (or a tame crocodile) or something? Obviously another rule in the Doctor’s little companion contract: if thou art rescued from a mad woman, the ones rescuing you shall be yet more loony still.
‘You know, I’m really grateful to you girls – or whatever you are – for rescuing me from that mad researcher woman, but I really ought to be getting back to my friends now. . . ’
The golden robot moved a step closer. Even without any facial expression, it still appeared suddenly menacing.
Antarctica giggled. ‘Don’t be silly, Fitz Fortune! You don’t need any other friends now you’ve got us. Now, you have to dress up for our treat.’
Fitz looked down at his ripped