Doctor Who_ Enlightenment - Barbara Clegg [6]
‘Fascinating,’ he said, with every appearance of sincerity. ‘Who are you?’
‘He’s going to take me for a stowaway,’ Tegan thought in despair. And sure enough, those were the young man’s very next words.
‘Yes. You’re a stowaway. And I should put you in irons.’
But as his hands moved to grab her, Tegan ducked under his arm, dodged round to the other side of the crates and switched off her torch.
‘Where are you?’ came his voice.
Tegan did not reply. Slowly, hardly daring to breathe, she crept along the line of crates, peering every now and then through the spaces between them. She could see the ladder in the dim light from the companionway above. The hatch had been left open! She looked at it longingly.
Should she make a dash for it, or should she try and get back to the TARDIS? ‘The ladder,’ Tegan thought. She dare not risk giving away the TARDIS’s presence.
Gingerly she rounded the end of the piled boxes and bumped straight into another immobile figure. Even as she recoiled, it turned its head, and, in the light from the companionway, she saw that it was another officer. It blinked into life and stretched its hands out towards her.
But Tegan was ready. She side-stepped, swung the torch against the back of the man’s head, and ran. When she reached the ladder, sobbing for breath, and looked back, there was no sign of the pursuit. The hold was dark and silent once more. Cautiously Tegan began to climb. Hardly daring to raise her head above the hatchway, she peered round. A dimly lit alleyway stretched to the left. Empty, she saw with relief. Carefully, she turned to see what lay to the right. Immediately her eyes fell on a familiar pair of polished boots. Looking up, desparingly, she saw the young man from the scanner screen gazing down at her.
He was still smiling. She was about to retreat, but a quick glance over her shoulder revealed the second officer now standing at the bottom of the ladder.
‘Allow me,’ said the smiling young man above, stretching out a hand to help her up. Tegan was terrified.
‘It isn’t possible!’ she stuttered. ‘How did you get up here? You were down there... I don’t understand...’
He took not the slighest notice of what she was saying, but went on looking into her eyes with great concentration.
‘Why are you afraid?’ he asked in an interested voice.
‘I’m not going to hurt you.’
Tegan was not at all sure about that, but as he had a firm grip of her arm, there was little she could do.
‘I want to please you,’ he said, with such convincing charm that Tegan almost relaxed. But not for long. ‘Would you like me to find your friends for you?’
‘What friends?’ she stalled.
‘The two you’re looking for.’
Tegan struggled and kicked, now thoroughly alarmed.
‘What have you done with them?’ she wanted to know.
‘Nothing. I haven’t met them yet,’ the young man replied, holding her in a firm but gentle grasp. ‘I’ll take you to them, if that’s what you’d like.’
Tegan stopped fighting and looked at him.
‘Yes. That’s what I’d like,’ she said.
At once he released her, and started to walk away down the companionway. Tegan stood looking after him, quite unable to make him out. He turned to make sure she was following.
‘Please,’ he smiled. And she found herself walking along at his side, almost companionably, while the soft voice went gently on. ‘You won’t try to run away again, will you?
You see –’ He broke off and stopped to look at her. ‘I find you fascinating. Quite fascinating.’ The remark was not intended as a compliment, she was sure, it was a simple statement of fact. As Tegan stared into his eyes she discovered that they were dark and deep. ‘Like space,’ she thought to herself, vaguely. And like space, they seemed limitless and empty.
A threatening shadow loomed over the newspaper, and the Doctor lowered it, to see one of the card-players standing in front of them. He was a big burly man, but his expression was good-humoured.
‘The name’s Jackson,’ he said. ‘Got your gear stowed?’
‘Yes thanks.’ The Doctor smiled