Doctor Who_ Father Time - Lance Parkin [75]
‘That’s how they’ve redecorated,’ Debbie said.
‘More than redecorated,’ the Doctor said. ‘Restructured it all at the molecular – even atomic – level. This is incredible technology. I’m not even sure how it could work.’ He turned to Joel. ‘And it can reproduce anything? Not just raw materials, but complex items?’
‘Watch,’ Joel said, proudly. ‘Sallak showed me how to do a few things.’
He went over to one of the bins, then threw a few bricks on to the platform. Then he crossed to one of the consoles and pressed a combination of buttons.
The console hummed, and the bricks shimmered and vanished. A few seconds later, the humming stopped, and there were half a dozen red roses there instead.
The Doctor went over and picked them up, sniffing them.
‘Incredible. Smell these.’ He passed a handful over to Debbie. ‘These are all identical,’ he noted. ‘It’s like a three-dimensional photocopier.’
‘It’s a big machine, it’s fixed in place. We can’t take it with us.’
The Doctor shook his head. ‘I don’t want to. It’s a very useful machine, but it’s far too advanced for this time zone. Imagine if this fell into the hands of someone who wanted unlimited plutonium, or guns. Even if they only wanted gold or coins, this thing could destroy the world’s economy with just a few days of production.’
‘So what are we going to do?’
‘Stand away from that!’ an electronic voice barked.
One of the guards had entered, he was aiming his rifle at the Doctor. He moved forward warily. His helmet hid his expression, but Debbie doubted that it was anything other than grim determination.
‘Sallak will be angry if you shoot me,’ the Doctor assured the guard. ‘He wants that honour for himself.’ He turned his back on the guard and began examining the machine on the trolley. He picked up the nozzle.
‘Put that down!’ the guard ordered.
The Doctor tapped a control on the console with one hand and jammed the nozzle of the device over the rifle barrel with the other.
The rifle became several dozen identical roses, which fell into a pile on the floor. But it didn’t stop there. The roses spread, carried on up the guard’s arms, over his shoulders and down his back. Debbie glimpsed the man underneath, pale and muscular, then all that skin and muscle began changing, too.
The process was fascinating to watch. Even the guard himself seemed to think so. He didn’t scream, or cry out, or even look worried: he just watched his metamorphosis until he had no eyes left to watch with.
For a moment, the pile of flowers was roughly the shape of the man it had replaced, but there was nothing holding them together, and they just fell away.
The Doctor looked sadly down at the pile.
‘I’ve just had an idea,’ he told them.
* * *
‘Do you like Guns ’N Roses?’ Dinah asked.
It was half an hour after he’d arrived before Dinah had a chance to go up to the blond guy, but that was still the best opening line she could come up with.
He was sitting on his own, seemingly happy to let the party lap up around him, rather than to be any great part of it. He had a bottle of lager in his hand, but had barely touched it. His leather jacket, torn jeans and Adidas trainers looked brand-new.
‘I think Axl Rose is the ultimate rock frontman.’
‘That’s an anagram, you know.’
‘His real name is William Bailey.’ He recited it as if it was French vocab.
‘What’s your name?’
‘Ferdy,’ he replied. Then, ‘Happy birthday.’
‘Sweet sixteen,’ she said. ‘How old are you?’
‘Nineteen,’ he said. That looked about right – he looked mature for his age, but was also quite fresh-faced.
‘N-n‐n-nineteen, eh?’ she joked.
Ferdy looked at her in a very odd way. She decided to stay away from pop music from now on.
‘What do you do?’ she asked instead.
He seemed puzzled by the question.
‘For a living?’ she elaborated.