Doctor Who_ Ghost Light - Marc Platt [59]
‘Hate world!’ snivelled Control. ‘Hate freeness! It bites!
Ran away into big empty nothing. Sky flew away to nothing! No freeness. No changing. Crawl back. Want to hide from big open emptiness world!’
Ace shook her head in agreement. ‘It’s this house. When you’re a kid, you smash things you hate. But what do I do if it keeps coming back?’
They were united in misery. ‘World only changing for him,’ whined Control. ‘Now he’s Josiah. Big man now!
Leaving Control behind! No ladylike!’ She erupted into a wail of such anguish that Ace couldn’t stand it any more.
‘Cut the whingeing, Control!’ she ordered and the cry stopped as quickly as a baby discovering a new toy. ‘You want to fight back? You’ll have to beat Josiah at his own game!’
Control’s head emerged, wide-eyed and alert from the eiderdown. For the first time, Ace comprehended the extent of her frantic evolution; she looked almost human.
As Ace went and hunted through a stack of books by the squirrel’s doll’s house, Control discarded her eiderdown and watched in fascination. Ace came back with Etiquette for the Modern Lady by S A Mayhew-Archer. ‘I dunno how long we’ve got, but we can make a start.’
‘Hey!’ she protested, as Control snatched the book out of her hands. The creature sniffed the binding and opened the first pages.
‘Other way up,’ advised Ace, realizing this was going to be a long job.
‘This make Control ladylike?’ asked the pupil.
‘How many years have you got?’
‘Not long.’ Control held the book up against her forehead. For a few seconds, she hummed a continuous rising note to herself and shuddered. Then she lowered the book, breathed a sigh of relief, smiled and threw the book away. ‘Done, done,’ she said proudly.
‘Oh, what! No one absorbs a whole book of information just like that,’ thought Ace.
‘Not just no one,’ said Control and winked. She sat in front of the mirror and started to tidy her hair. Ace was still incredulous. It was a pity there was no chapter on elocution.
‘Go on. Say after me. "The rain in Spain falls mainly down the drain".’
‘The rain... in Spain... ,’ Control began in less than perfect tones, but stopped as she saw a movement behind her in the mirror.
‘There you are at last, Ace my dear!’ sneered Gwendoline.
She lunged forward with her pad, but Ace caught her arm and forced her sideways. Snatching out, she tore Gwendoline’s locket from her neck and threw it down.
As the two grappled again, toppling headlong onto the bed, Control called excitedly from the ringside, ‘New gameplay? Control go next!’
‘It can be arranged!’ shouted Gwendoline, overpowering Ace and bringing the chloroform pad down on her face.
There was a scramble of activity as Redvers burst into the room. He dragged the screaming Gwendoline away from Ace and held her struggling. The natives arc restless tonight, Doctor!’ he commented.
Shaking off the effects of the vapour, Ace saw the Doctor scoop the locket off the floor and open it up. ‘Look at this, Gwendoline,’ he said, showing her the contents.
‘Who does it remind you of?’
The girl gasped and stopped struggling. She stared at the twin portraits in their gold frames: one of a proud and beautiful woman in her mid-forties; the other, a doe-eyed young girl untouched by thoughts of the world’s wicked ways. The pictures were of Lady Margaret Pritchard and her daughter, Gwendoline.
The Doctor gently sat the blank-faced girl on the bed.
‘Severe trauma,’ he diagnosed. ‘I might forgive her arranging trips to Java...’
‘She was hypnotized, Doctor,’ advised Redvers.
‘...if she didn’t enjoy it so much.’
Gwendoline sat motionless like a discarded doll. The Doctor snapped the locket shut and pocketed it. ‘Ace? I see you’ve made a friend.’
‘Don’t ask,’ muttered Ace. ‘Control has a few things to show Josiah.’
Control stepped forward proudly. ‘No longer hiding!’
she announced.
The Doctor smiled. He knew he was right to have let Ace deal with this problem. From the depths