Doctor Who_ Earthworld - Jacqueline Rayner [56]
Not ours?’
The Doctor shrugged. ‘Rather a hasty assumption. That woman – she was human once. She may have borne children.’
The President was rocking back and forth in his seat, eyes still fixed on the Doctor. ‘I don’t understand. I don’t understand. What are you telling me?’
‘She’s been – well, cybertised, that might be one way of putting it. Parts replaced by android components. Electronics making her appear to breathe.
Mechanics keeping the blood pumping round her body – keeping the body alive. An expert job – and fascinating, absolutely fascinating. I don’t know how long she’s been like that, of course. I can’t tell if there are any brain components without opening her up – things that may have made her seem human when she wasn’t. That’s why she appeared to die now, obviously – the blocking waves I sent out interfered with her workings. The question now is, was she really murdered? Are you justified in having had those girls locked up for all these years? Or did your wife merely break down?’
The President began to cry again. Racking, heartbreaking sobs of loss and pain.
The Doctor sat there, and watched.
Chapter Seven
Several Singalongs
This was really creepy. Anji had never been keen on waxworks – long-dead people stuck in one position, staring forward for ever. . .
This was worse. Half an hour ago, these people had been walking around, talking, to all appearances living. And suddenly, they were as good as dead.
Had they felt anything as the magnetic waves had flooded through them? Was there a second of realisation, of horror, or did things just stop? Was it just like switching off a computer? (A computer didn’t feel anything as you switched it off – did it?)
But the quiet was the worst thing of all. The only sound was her and Xernic’s footsteps. Anji was trying to walk as softly as possible, which was quite ridiculous if you thought about it, but it somehow made her feel more comfortable.
They were talking in whispers, too.
‘How are we going to find your friend?’ Xernic asked her. ‘He might not even be here still.’
‘I’m sure he is,’ Anji whispered back. ‘He’s not clever enough to have got out on his own. Wherever those girls are, that’s where Fitz will be. And there’s nothing else living in this whole place except them and us. We’ll find them.
We’ll start back at that theatre, and – Oh!’ She gasped and came to a sudden halt.
‘What is it?’ Xernic hissed worriedly.
Anji let out her breath. ‘Nothing.’ She gestured at a frozen policeman. ‘I thought it moved. That’s all. Just my imagination. All these androids – it’s getting to me a bit. We don’t have things like that where I come from.’
Xernic looked at her, frowning. ‘You’re nothing like how I imagined Earth people would be. I mean – I hate Earth people. I really do. It’s not just some teenage bandwagon: they’re really taking advantage of this planet.’
‘People take what they can get. I think it’s human nature. Not that I’m defending that, you know, but. . . ’
102
Several Singalongs
103
‘Oh, you’re right. But being told we ought to be grateful to them – that we should worship them for it. . . ’ His voice was getting louder.
Anji shot him a smile, and answered at a normal volume. ‘I know.’
He smiled back, sheepishly. ‘I know you do. Sorry. I won’t start. But. . . I really don’t understand how you don’t know about androids. Earth’s where the technology was developed.’
‘Yes, but. . . ’ She thought he already knew this. ‘But it’s long after my time.
We’re time travellers. The closest there was to interactive androids in my time were toys that had a dozen prerecorded phrases that they’d trot out in a random order. Or baby dolls that you’d feed at one end and they’d wee on you from the other. Quite why children are meant to find this amusing I never found out, but. . . ’
Xernic was staring at her. ‘Really? I thought – well, I don’t know what I thought. That you were joking, or something. Pretending you weren’t from this Earth ’cos of us. Something