Doctor Who_ Father Time - Lance Parkin [43]
‘You’re a good driver.’
‘Thanks.’ There was a straight stretch of road. They were heading out of town. ‘I’m still going the right way?’
Deborah nodded. ‘Keep on this road,’ she told him.
‘Good. Yes.’
The road here wound around the hill. There were a lot of blind bends, a lot of corners where there was nothing but a crash barrier between you and a one-hundred‐foot drop. People who lived in Greyfrith could always tell if they were behind someone who wasn’t from the village – everyone else took them nice and slowly.
But not even Barry would drive as fast around these corners as the Doctor did.
The back window was suddenly full of bright white light.
He looked back. The robot had become a Volkswagen again, and was haring towards them, travelling even faster than the Doctor could get the Cortina to go. It was half a dozen car lengths away now.
The Doctor was biting his lip, one hand slapping against the steering wheel.
‘It’s going to catch us,’ Deborah warned.
He nodded, then slammed the brakes on, just as they reached a bend.
The robot didn’t have time to stop – it carried on, finding itself tearing through the crash barriers. Somehow, it managed to transform to its original form in midair, but was still unable to stop itself falling.
The Doctor drove forward, parking right at the lip of the drop. Together the three of them watched the robot as it crashed down the hillside, tumbling over itself, limbs flailing as they tried to find some purchase. But its weight was just too much, and it crushed everything in its path. Barry saw it grab at a tree, only to pull it out at the roots. It rolled through a stone wall. The noise was like a train crash.
Their car started reversing, and the burning robot disappeared from sight. Barry looked ahead at the Doctor, who was looking over his shoulder, steering the car back as far as it would go.
‘We’ve damaged it,’ the Doctor said. ‘But we haven’t destroyed it.’
He closed his eyes, seemed to be counting under his breath. ‘Get out of the car,’ the Doctor told them.
‘Eh?’
‘Out! Both of you.’
Barry and his wife found themselves getting out. ‘Aren’t you coming?’ Deborah asked as she was about to close the passenger door.
The Doctor shook his head.
Barry stepped forward. ‘Hang on, what are you planning?
The robot began rising over the edge of the hill. First its head, then its torso. One of its eyes was smashed, and it was badly dented and scratched. It looked angry.
Barry stood his ground, waited for the robot to come to him.
The Cortina’s tyres started squealing, then it leapt forwards, heading straight towards the gap in the crash barriers and the robot. Barry was frozen to the spot, and saw it all happen.
The robot raised an arm, but the missile launcher wasn’t there, it must have been broken off in the fall. It hesitated, momentarily surprised by the exposed wires and cables on its wrist.
The Cortina was heading towards it.
The driver’s door suddenly opened, and the Doctor flew from the car, his head and arms tucked close to his body. He hit the ground hard, rolling ten or twenty feet.
The Cortina kept going, clearing the edge of the hill, heading straight into the robot’s torso like a missile.
The robot registered the threat and tried to swipe at the car with its hand.
The Cortina hit it in the midriff, then pivoted up, the roof smashing the robot square in the face.
The robot staggered back, losing its footing.
Then the petrol tank in the Cortina went up. The robot was briefly visible, silhouetted in the fireball before it starting falling backwards.
Barry hurried to the edge. He watched the burning robot fall, following the furrow it had carved on its first descent. There was a trail of thick black smoke marking its progress. This time, there were smaller explosions rocking it, deflecting its course. By the time it had come to rest, there was