Doctor Who_ Earthworld - Jacqueline Rayner [36]
If this was what Fitz had seen earlier, Anji could understand his enthusiastic reaction. Golden sun shone down on to fantastically sculpted sand dunes, filling some tiny inner part of Anji with a desperate longing for a bucket and spade. There was a massive pyramid just over there – just how much of the planet did this theme park take up, anyway? Or could they possibly have bigger-inside-than-out technology, like the Doctor’s TARDIS? The boys were looking less stunned – they’d probably been here before on one of their sabotage missions.
‘This is incredible,’ Anji said. ‘Just incredible.’
‘It’s the Eggy-put Zone,’ Xernic informed her.
Anji gave him a look. ‘ Ee-jipt. It’s pronounced Ee-jipt. And don’t stop running!’
A cat streaked across their path, followed by another, and another. That was either lots of good luck or lots of bad luck, but Anji couldn’t remember which. Maybe it didn’t count if they weren’t black cats. And she didn’t believe in superstitious rubbish. And anyway, surely her luck couldn’t get any worse so it must mean good luck. In which case, she decided she would believe in it after all.
The dinosaurs, recovering from whatever confusion they may have suffered, were starting to chance their luck in this new environment. Would it be too much to hope they’d get distracted by the cats? Probably. And once they started the chase again. . .
‘Head for the pyramid!’ Anji yelled. ‘We can’t outrun them, we have to get somewhere they can’t reach us!’
The three boys followed her lead obediently. ‘Won’t the dinosaurs just follow us in?’ Xernic gasped, running beside her as fast as he could. Anji half reached out a hand to help him along, but remembered at the last second that these were teenage boys and Xernic would probably prefer to be eaten by a dinosaur than endure teasing from his mates.
‘Big pyramid, small door,’ Anji said. ‘I hope. Built strong enough to withstand dinosaur attacks. Also “I hope”. And if they’re going for the full mythical experience, we can also expect riddles and traps. And when was the last time you saw a dinosaur solve a logic problem?’
‘They’re catching us up!’ cried Zequathon. ‘Hurry!’
The pyramid was close now. As they approached, Anji could see a large –
A Man is the Sum of His [False] Memories 67
almost dinosaur-large – creature guarding the entrance. It had the body of a (very large) lion, the wings of a (huge) eagle, and the head of a (giant-sized) woman. Its nose was missing.
The dinosaurs were gaining on them as they reached the sphinx. The creature opened its enormous mouth and began to speak. ‘Wha-’
‘It’s a man!’ yelled Anji, without slowing down. ‘The answer’s “a man”! Let us in!’
The sphinx, slightly confused, lumbered to one side. A stone door slid open in the pyramid, and the four tumbled through, just as a velociraptor gained the path.
They sank gratefully to the cold stone floor, catching their breath. Through the wall, they could distantly hear a booming female voice asking: ‘What walks on four legs in the morning, two legs in the afternoon, and three legs by night-fall?’ and some faint answering growls. (So obviously android dinosaurs could get confused after all.) ‘I said, what walks on four legs – ow! There’s no need to bite just because you don’t know the answer! You could just ask for a clue!
Right, you’ve asked for it! These claws aren’t just for decoration, you know.’
Anji looked at the boys. ‘I’m on another planet in the far distant future, trapped inside an ancient Egyptian pyramid with three young terrorists while a sphinx fights it out with a load of dinosaurs outside.’
They looked back at her enquiringly. ‘Um. . . ’ said Xernic.
‘It’s all right, you don’t have to say anything,’ Anji reassured him. ‘I just had to say it out loud, see how it sounded.’
‘What was all that guff about “a man”?’ Beezee asked. ‘Do you neeeeed a man?’ Zequathon laughed.
‘I had one,’ Anji said. ‘He was killed yesterday.’
Silence.
‘Come on,’ she said after