Doctor Who_ Earthworld - Jacqueline Rayner [77]
She’d never dived from such a height before. In fact, it had been a long time since she’d dived at all. But for those few brief downward moments she remembered it all, the thrill of the air rushing past her and the glory of uncon-trollable flight. Then she hit the water with a crash, and was in another world.
Sounds were distorted underwater. She was aware of nothing but the rushing of the moat in her ears, and a dull brown haze in front of her, which showed 140
EarthWorld
nothing but the bubbles escaping from her mouth (no sign of hostile life, thank goodness). She was reluctant to break the surface again, to find herself once more in the noisy, dangerous world waiting up there.
As she surfaced, a streak of black flashed past into the water in front of her.
An air-pocket-filled coat kept the body afloat for a second, while arms and legs thrashed around it in a seemingly random order. Anji swam a couple of strokes across, and managed to persuade Fitz to roll over on to his back. ‘I told you not to panic!’ she said.
‘I know, but it’s a bit hard not to when you’re drowning!’ he spluttered.
‘You’re not drowning,’ she told him. ‘Just keep calm and we’re going to reach the bank.’ She hooked an arm around him, and began to slowly swim forward, dragging Fitz with her. He was thankfully sensible enough to stop thrashing about as she did so.
They’d landed only about four metres from the bank, but it felt like four miles. Anji did – had done – aerobics two lunchtimes a week, so she was not unfit, but she was not exceptionally strong, and Fitz was much bigger than she was. But they made it in the end, and Fitz clung tight to the bank while she scrambled out.
Once on land, Anji took a few moments to get her breath. She glanced up at the drawbridge, scarcely able to believe she’d been up there just a minute before. And that wasn’t the only surprising thing. ‘Oh no!’ she gasped.
‘What?’ asked Fitz, beginning to haul himself up.
‘The knight – it’s reached the end of the drawbridge! It’s going to jump! It can’t – it’s an android!’
‘Well, it doesn’t know that,’ said Fitz. ‘It thinks it’s human. Anyway, what’s the problem? With that amount of armour on it’ll just sink.’
‘Fitz!’ cried Anji, grabbing his arms and desperately trying to help him up,
‘have you ever dropped a toaster in the bath?’
He gave her a puzzled look. ‘No.’
‘Well, that’s one reason why you’re still alive today! Come on!’
The knight was on the edge of the bridge. He was going to jump. He was jumping. . .
And Anji summoned every last drop of her strength, took Fitz’s coat in both hands, and pulled as hard as she could. Fitz rolled on to the bank as the android hit the water. A blue flare danced momentarily across the surface, and Fitz and Anji lay wide-eyed and gasping in each other’s arms.
‘Oh wow,’ he said, after a while. ‘I could have been Kentucky Fried Fitz.
Thank you.’
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She felt a bit embarrassed. ‘That’s OK,’ she said. ‘I think we’re safe now.
The other knights won’t follow after that. So unless they get the drawbridge working again. . . ’
Fitz nodded his agreement. They both began to get to their feet, clothes and hair dripping all over the place. Anji picked up her bag, but couldn’t face looking inside to see the damage. ‘We should try to find Xernic now,’ she said, trying to wring out her blazer without taking it off and showing Fitz her bra.
He shook his head. ‘We have to find the Doctor first. That’s the most important thing.’
Anji sighed. ‘I don’t know if I can walk all the way back like this – soaking wet and no shoes. . . ’
But Fitz wasn’t looking at her. He was gazing over her shoulder as if all his dreams had come true at once. Anji spun round to see what he was looking at.
‘We could walk. . . ’ said Fitz. ‘Or we could just hitch a ride on that bus. . . ’
Anji wanted to cheer. A huge red double-decker bus