Doctor Who_ Father Time - Lance Parkin [106]
Debbie giggled. ‘Don’t believe everything you read in the papers,’ she advised.
‘This some sort of stunt?’ the commander asked. ‘A publicity gimmick?’
‘No,’ the Doctor said, deadly serious. He checked his pocket watch. ‘Look at that – even works in zero gravity. Superb craftsmanship.’
Debbie knew what was coming next. She peered out of the window, checked the horizon.
They all saw it at the same time.
‘What is it?’ the pilot asked.
‘A spaceship,’ Debbie told them.
It was. It was hanging just over the horizon.
The Doctor leaned forward in his seat.
‘Houston. This is Atlantis. Code Bluerose.’ The commander was flicking switches on the comms panel.
‘Roger that, Atlantis. Describe the UO, please.’
‘It’s the shape of an hourglass. It’s big... er.’
‘Four kilometres long, I’d say,’ the Doctor estimated.
Everyone in the cabin was looking at him.
The commander took a deep breath then said, ‘It’s not terrestrial, repeat this is not terrestrial.’
The Doctor was shaking his head. ‘It’s what we came here for,’ he told them.
‘You’re UFO nuts?’ the mission specialist asked.
The Doctor jabbed his finger towards the window. ‘There’s a time and a place for scepticism. This is not it.’
The ship was already getting larger. It was metal – not the smooth, shiny metal of the saucers, but a patchwork of copper, gold and bronze.
There were half a dozen saucers attached to its rear section. They gave the thing a sense of scale – Debbie knew that those saucers were the size of a large house but here they looked like barnacles on the side of an ocean liner. All over the big ship were towers, spires and other protuberances that gave the impression that a city had been built on the surface of the original vessel.
‘It’s coming towards us,’ Debbie suggested.
‘It’s not showing up on radar,’ the pilot said.
‘It wouldn’t,’ the Doctor informed them. ‘But no, we’re going towards it. It’s in geostationary orbit above India. Change to an intercept course.’
‘Hell, no. I’m the commander here.’
The argument continued, but Debbie wasn’t listening. It just wasn’t important. Only the alien ship was. Features were becoming more obvious as they got nearer. One end was glowing blue – an engine? The other seemed to be glass – almost like windows in an office block. There was a trench running from bow to stern, full of turrets and what looked like missile tubes. It was like a medieval fortress, Dracula’s castle.
‘Atlantis. This is Houston. Mission objectives changed at three twelve Zulu to Bluerose Protocols. We’re switching mission control to the top floor. Please advise your crew.’
‘Roger that.’ The commander turned to look back. ‘For over twenty years, the United Nations have been aware that extraterrestrial life forms exist.’
He let that one sink in. Even with only five other people in the room, reactions ranged from ‘I knew it’ to ‘Impossible’. Debbie glanced over at the Doctor, who was listening intently.
‘There are established protocols to deal with these situations, first drawn up in the Brookings Report in 1961. I’ll familiarise you with those in a moment. Rest assured, there’s a procedure to follow here.’
The Doctor snorted a laugh.
Fairchild ignored him. ‘Our mission is to investigate the UO. Doctor, Ms Gordon, you clearly have some knowledge of this situation. Bring us up to date.’
* * *
Chapter Twenty-four
Home is Where the Hearts Are
Miranda looked up to find Cate offering her a silk handkerchief.
‘I’m sorry,’ she said. ‘I don’t mean to cry.’
‘You are a long way from home,’ Cate said. ‘Of course you are crying.’
It was the nearest the woman had got to expressing sympathy. Miranda still reckoned the Deputy controlled her emotions, bottled them up like Mr Spock. She wasn’t like Commander Data, who didn’t have them in the first place.
She also strongly suspected that the real universe didn’t work like Star Trek.
Miranda sighed. ‘Am I a long way from home?’ she asked. ‘Or is your