Doctor Who_ Earthworld - Jacqueline Rayner [9]
‘They’re all terrorists,’ beamed the Doctor.
All three boys wore dull-green jumpsuit outfits, zipped up the front and covered in pockets. Xernic had red hair and was just the tiniest bit chubby, and was blushing slightly as she looked at him. Anji felt drawn to him instantly, and wanted to give him a hug. Zequathon she didn’t want to hug; he was over six foot and looked a bit of a bruiser. He was a blond. And Beezee, the third boy, was dark-haired and skinny, and seemed rather shifty. But none of them looked like terrorists to her. Though, as she’d said to the guards, she didn’t know what terrorists were supposed to look like. She’d seen photos of clean-cut white boys and middle-aged Asian men smiling out of newspapers under headlines about bombings and threats and executions; you couldn’t tell by appearances.
‘Those men kept shouting that I was a terrorist. They wouldn’t listen to me,’
she said. ‘And. . . it was very strange. They took my necklace. Not that it was valuable or anything, but. . . well, it was the last thing Dave gave me before –
you know.’ She was quiet for a moment. The Doctor nodded, showing her he understood.
After a minute, she gave him a half-smile, and brushed away the single tear that had escaped. ‘Sorry,’ she murmured.
He shook his head. ‘No no no. Don’t be. But I think I can explain about the necklace. Beezee –’ he turned to the weasely-looking dark-haired boy – ‘would you show Anji your badge, please.’
The boy called Beezee unzipped the top couple of inches of his jumpsuit, and pulled back his collar. There, on the inside, was a small round badge which read, ANJI. The other two boys followed suit, flashing their collars. They were both wearing identical badges.
‘Meet your fan club!’ the Doctor said, grinning.
This was bloody incredible. Fitz would have said unbelievable, if he hadn’t already learned to believe six impossible things before breakfast (and another twenty before lunch). One second he was running about on alien sand and watching strange bird-dinosaur things wheeling in a strange sky, the next. . .
well, the next he had jumped through a hole to Egypt. Still lots of sand piled around, and the odd strange bird thing too – ibises, were they? – but it was 20
EarthWorld
all yellow and sunny, and there were all these pyramids. So, either he’d just time-travelled without a TARDIS, or. . . or something else that he couldn’t quite think of at the moment.
Like – Fitz yelled in shock – maybe he wasn’t in Egypt at all, but Universal Horror Land. Because there was a huge great mummy walking down the street towards him, bandages dangling, arms stretched out towards Fitz, and maybe he’d be better off with the caveman and dinosaur after all, because at least they were natural, so he should go back with all speed. . . And, in a moment that definitely belonged in a horror film, Fitz turned back and found that the hole through the barrier had vanished. He couldn’t even see where it had been, there seemed to be nothing but yellow sand until the horizon – but he put out a hand and drew it back sharply, as he felt the tingling of energy. No escape from the mummy that way: he was going to have to run but it was almost on top of him, arms out to strangle him as mummies did. . .
. . . but the mummy lumbered straight past without a sideways glance. Not that it had any eyes, but. . .
Oh Christ, there was another one over there. And another. Oh, and there was. . . a cat. That wasn’t quite as scary. And a guy with a – jackal’s head?
Freak-show time! But no people.
How the hell was he going to get back to the Doctor now? And how was the Doctor going to get away from the flying dinosaur and the caveman now his escape route was shut off? But then Fitz decided that the Doctor was perfectly capable of dealing with such things – of course he was – and so Fitz might as well keep all his concern for himself.
Did he say