Doctor Who_ Father Time - Lance Parkin [84]
‘He’s broken your spirit,’ Ferran snapped. ‘The Doctor is our arch enemy. He has been since the genesis of our race. We knew that. But if we kill his daughter, we will inflict the greatest defeat he has ever suffered. Think about that.’
The Deputy looked chastened. ‘You are right, of course, My Lord.’
Ferran wished he could be so certain.
* * *
The laboratory was three doors down a narrow corridor. Debbie was a little disappointed by it: it was light and airy, not the Frankenstein’s lab she had been expecting.
The Doctor was in his shirtsleeves and bent over the time detector. ‘There,’ he said. ‘That burst there is the equipment in the Tower going up. We’ve trapped Ferran here.’
Debbie wasn’t really listening. She’d picked up a little glass jar full of tiny white nuggets. The label read MILK TEETH.
‘You’ve collected Miranda’s teeth?’
The Doctor nodded. ‘A useful source of data. I’ve got to be careful, of course: I don’t have the proper equipment for analysis here, and the big labs would be more than a little interested in how I got hold of extraterrestrial biological samples.’
Debbie shivered, but decided not to say anything.
The Doctor had lost the signal, and couldn’t find it, however busily he twisted dials and flicked switches.
‘There’s been no more time-travel activity?’ Debbie asked.
‘There was the original source, which must have been Ferran arriving,’ the Doctor said, pointing it out. ‘Then two more trips: the guards and equipment arriving at the Tower, I imagine. Nothing since then, not even radio signals. So Ferran is trapped here with us.’
Debbie took a deep breath. ‘Or vice versa,’ she pointed out. ‘We need to call the police.’
The Doctor shook his head. ‘The last battle was fought on his territory. Now, he’s got to come here. I’m ready for him.’
* * *
Miranda sat in the park. It was the first time she could remember going there on her own. Dinah, Alex and Bob were nowhere to be seen.
She felt like crying. She wasn’t crying, but Dinah and Bob had betrayed her, her father was acting strangely, and having another woman in the house – even someone as lovely as Mrs Castle – was affecting her, changing the subtle territoriality of her home.
There was a line in an Eliot poem, about a man who wouldn’t change his routine because he dare not disturb the universe. That was what had happened to Miranda: her world, which had all seemed so cosy and stable just a couple a days ago, had now lurched into uncomfortable and unfamiliar territory.
She had no feelings for Bob – she never had had, and what relationship they’d had had fizzled out after their kiss. Dinah and Bob were free to do what they wanted, by any of the rules of engagement she’d read about in Dinah’s women’s magazines. Miranda now knew that she would have regretted it if her plan to sleep with Bob had worked out.
But she was still angry.
A shadow fell over her.
She looked up.
‘Ferdy?’
He smiled down at her. ‘I’m glad I’ve caught up with you,’ he said. He had his hands stuffed into the pockets of his leather jacket. ‘You look upset.’
Miranda nodded.
‘How about you come with me?’
‘The bell goes in five minutes – I’ll have to get back.’
The young man smiled. ‘Come on, be a rebel,’ he said, ‘for once in your life.’
* * *
Chapter Nineteen
Date with Death
Debbie had convinced the Doctor that they had to tell the police.
‘We have to be careful what we tell them,’ she said as the Trabant arrived at the police station.
‘We shouldn’t tell them anything at all,’ the Doctor grumbled. Debbie thought he was going to sulk, but instead he considered the situation. ‘We tell them about Sallak, we tell them that we’re worried that he’s got accomplices. That Miranda is at risk.’
‘They will be looking for you,’ the Doctor said.
It hadn’t occurred to Debbie, but of course he was right: Barry was dead, she was missing from her home and job. She shook herself – she’d not even thought about her job. What would her class think about their teacher missing