Doctor Who_ Ghost Light - Marc Platt [56]
Without looking up from his picture, Redvers observed,
‘The handsomest woman Redvers ever saw was daughter to an N’tamba chief. But she had a bone through her nose and ate her cousin for breakfast.’
Control threw down the hat and selected another with stiff gauze and a stuffed swallow on the brim. The Doctor considered whether her filthy rags had evolved into the charming mauve dress she now wore, or whether she and Redvers had chosen it between them.
‘Will Control be a ladylike?’ she pleaded, gazing at her new reflection. ‘Want so much!’
She discarded the hat again, but Redvers, having put down his painting, approached and stood behind her.
Picking up the necklace he had given her, he gently draped it around her neck and fastened the clasp.
‘Once the hunt is over, I’ll make you the finest ladylike in the Empire,’ he said in admiration.
He sat back on the bed and returned to his picture, offering the Doctor the ideal opportunity to make an entrance.
‘Hallo, Control. Having fun?’ he said genially, swanning through the door.
Control spun round in alarm, hissing venomously at the intruder. ‘You!’ she cried. ‘You come taking away Control’s freeness!’
‘No, Control,’ he said as she backed off. ‘I want to help you. And I need your help too!’
‘No help!’ she snarled and thrust him away. ‘Freeness is mine! You won’t take it!’ She had had enough of this world. She turned and hurled herself through the glass of the window.
The Doctor dashed after her, yelling through the cascade of splinters for her to come back; she couldn’t get far. But he only glimpsed her down below, dashing off into the darkness, away from the house and the Light.
Redvers looked up from his picture and said, ‘Of course, if she were a real lady, I wouldn’t be in her boudoir.’
‘Things are getting out of hand,’ despaired the Doctor.
‘Even I can’t play this many games at once.’
‘Then help me. You can join my hunt,’ suggested the explorer.
‘I don’t have time, Redvers.’ The Doctor had an uncomfortable feeling that lost overnight in the dark, Control might evolve into a nocturnal creature and never come back inside again.
‘But I’m hunting the rarest creature in the world. The Crowned Saxe-Coburg!’ Redvers handed his picture to the Doctor, who looked in astonishment but wasn’t a bit surprised. He was holding a picture of Queen Victoria with a set of target rings and bullet punctures across her regal brow.
‘Oh, really? And who’s sponsoring this expedition?
Josiah Samuel Smith?’ He might have known that this was where Josiah would set his sights. He was programmed to evolve into one of the planet’s dominant lifeforms, but why stop there when he might have the throne as well. Crowned Saxe-Coburg indeed! Of course, Josiah would block the truth from Redvers’ bewildered mind, but to adapt Mrs Saxe-Coburg — a nickname from the lowest reaches of society — into a totem within Redvers’ domain, questioned not only Josiah’s sick humour but also the company he kept. Perhaps he already had contacts in London.
With Control beyond reach, the Doctor decided his attention was best employed here and in finding Ace. And the biggest problem was going to be dealing with Light, whatever it was up to.
Redvers took back the picture of Victoria Regina and said, ‘When I find it, I shall shoot it!’
Nimrod knew he had found Light when he saw a steady stream of golden haze emanating beneath the door of the Trophy room. He had so many questions, and if the wise men spoke with the voice of the god when questioned, then surely the god himself was wiser still. For all that Josiah had taught Nimrod, it was Light, the Burning One, who had brought him to this tamed, unwild place. Would he not also take him home? But Light had questions and apprehensions of his own.
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