Doctor Who_ Full Circle - Andrew Smith [19]
Behind him, unnoticed, the Marshchild scampered timidly from its hiding place among the trees and followed after him.
The closer the Doctor got to the starliner, the more defined became its shape. It was a most impressive vessel - much of its design appeared to be of a decorative rather than functional nature, betraying its purpose as a commercial pleasure-liner. It was not a streamlined craft - it sat on a flat base, with two enormous barrel-like protrusions angled downwards at the front of the ship and two angled downwards at the rear, for controlled directional thrust, and two even longer barrels, which projected horizontally from the rear, for forward thrust. The Doctor also noticed, between these two rear thrusters, a large, ornately fashioned spherical engine outlet. The Doctor assumed - correctly - that this outlet would have less thrust than any of the others, but that it was probably manoeuvrable to any angle and would be used for steering the ship, making it the most important outlet of all, despite being the smallest. The Doctor rather liked that notion.
In time, he found himself at the boarding ramp beneath the staggeringly large nose of the craft. Wiping his feet on a patch of grass and adjusting his scarf in a way that he hoped would make him look presentable, the Doctor then started up the ramp.
Coming to the large metal panel that was the boarding door, he gave it a firm rap and called out, 'Hello?'
He waited, tapping his feet. Nothing happened. He tried twice more, without result, then examined the hull to either side of the door. 'Hmm,' he muttered to himself, 'No doorbell. Pity, pity, pity. Ah.' His eyes fell on a small red panel of metal within the narrow alcove of the doorway, to his left. He pressed it and it popped open to reveal an array of buttons. An attempt at using them confirmed his expectation that they had been deactivated.
The Doctor dipped into his capacious pockets and produced a short, rod-like electronic device with a miniature parabolic dish at one end - his sonic screwdriver. As he set about adjusting the settings, he muttered, 'Doctor, if I didn't know any better, I would say that we are being made to feel very definitely less than welcome. Really? How shocking. I quite agree, it is shocking, Doctor.'
The Doctor lifted the sonic screwdriver, pressed it against the spread of buttons and activated it. It whined. 'I do believe I hear a doorbell,' said the Doctor, and the panel before him slid up to reveal to him the empty expanse of the boarding area. He stepped inside, invigorated by the warmth.
'Anyone at home?' the Doctor called out. 'Anyone?' He waited. 'No one. Hmm.'
His eye fell on the tally man's desk. On it sat the ledger, a few knives and harvest tools, and a couple of riverfruits. The Doctor sidled over to the desk, picked up one of the knives and examined it.
'They seem to have maintained a pretty sound grasp of metallurgy, at least,' he remarked for no one to hear. 'Very encouraging.'
For the want of something better to do, he stabbed the knife into one of the riverfruits. It went in deep and remained there. A viscous juice dribbled from the wound.
The Doctor lifted his head. He thought he heard movement from one of the two passageways that led off from the area. 'Hello?' he called again, and moved into the passageway.
The Marshchild shuffled on board, peering round with frightened awe. Its eyes lighted on the knife in the river fruit...
Moments later, the Doctor returned from his search of the passageway, having found no one. Automatically, he reached out to pull the knife from the riverfruit - but the knife was no longer there. It had disappeared.
The Doctor surveyed the chamber apprehensively. He became aware of the strands of vapour which had drifted in through the open door and now hung on the air around him. He shrugged off his fears, feeling that the superstition of Adric's people was beginning to affect him.
The Doctor moved over to the door, located the button display on this side of the entrance, activated it, and watched the panel slide down