Doctor Who_ Halflife - Mark Michalowski [0]
To lose two smacks of carelessness.’
The Terran colony world of Espero seems the unlikely source of a sophisticated distress call. And the Doctor, Fitz and Trix are not the only ones responding to it.
While Fitz consorts with royalty, the Doctor’s on the run with a 16-year-old girl, and Trix meets a small boy with a dark secret.
In a race for the minds and souls of an entire planet, the Doctor and Trix are offered temptations that may change them forever.
At least one of them will be unable to resist.
This is another in the series of adventures for the Eighth Doctor.
HALFLIFE
MARK MICHALOWSKI
DOCTOR WHO: HALFLIFE
Commissioning Editor: Ben Dunn
Editor & Creative Consultant: Justin Richards Project Editor: Jacqueline Rayner
Published by BBC Worldwide Ltd
Woodlands, 80 Wood Lane
London W12 0TT
First published 2004
Copyright © Mark Michalowski 2004
The moral right of the author has been asserted Original series broadcast on the BBC
Format © BBC 1963
Doctor Who and TARDIS are trademarks of the BBC
ISBN 0 563 48613 9
Cover imaging by Black Sheep, copyright © BBC 2004
Printed and bound in Great Britain by
Mackays of Chatham
Cover printed by Belmont Press Ltd, Northampton For my mother,
Margaret Iris Michalowski,
who bought me my first typewriter
and got me started on this whole writing thing.
Contents
Chapter 1
‘It’s an alien, Joshua.’
1
Chapter 2
‘D’you think you could keep your monkey under control?’
11
Chapter 3
‘Sticks, Trix?’
19
Chapter 4
‘I bet you even put knickers on her.’
27
Chapter 5
‘How can we know where we’re going, when we don’t know
where we’ve come from?’
37
Chapter 6
‘What do you know about our mystery woman?’
45
Chapter 7
‘To lose one set of memories may be regarded as a misfortune.’
49
Chapter 8
‘With a zed.’
65
Chapter 9
‘Bugger its body language – look at the size of it.’
73
Chapter 10
‘Should you be out on your own at this time of night?’
85
Chapter 11
‘You’re not planning on killing me too, are you?’
91
Chapter 12
‘Space yacht? Intelligent rocks?’
101
Chapter 13
‘Not that you don’t have a very nice bottom, but. . . you know.’
107
Chapter 14
‘A spaceship powered by technobabble.’
125
Chapter 15
‘The foot-stomping Tantrum Fairy was back.’
133
Chapter 16
‘Not die exactly. Not really.’
139
Chapter 17
‘I don’t suppose you have access to a thermic lance, do you?’
149
Chapter 18
‘You wanted to see my toys, did you?’
157
Chapter 19
‘Think of a number.’
165
Chapter 20
‘A simple “Come in, have a cup of tea” would have been
more than adequate.’
173
Chapter 21
‘Are you thinking what I’m thinking?’
183
Chapter 22
‘Imagine having your whole life to live over again.’
193
Chapter 23
‘Sorry I’m late.’
201
Chapter 24
‘There are always choices!’
207
Chapter 25
‘You can’t just repair people, you know.’
213
Chapter 26
‘Memories.’
219
Chapter 27
‘Now you’re just showing off.’
223
Chapter 28
‘We used to be happy with a walnut and a tangerine.’
229
Chapter 29
‘The past is never gonna catch up with me.’
237
Acknowledgments
241
About the author
243
Chapter 1
‘It’s an alien, Joshua.’
Joshua lay silently in bed and listened to his parents arguing outside. His mother didn’t like him leaving the window open in the heat of summer, even though his sheets were damp and clingy with sweat: the sweet potato harvest had been poor last year, money was tight, and they couldn’t afford to get the fly screens fixed. And Espero’s insects could find their way through the smallest gap.
He heard the tones in his parents’ voices, even if he couldn’t make out their words, and he knew what they were arguing about. Ma, fierce and angry, was doing most of the shouting; Pa, by nature a quiet and awkward man, was doing all of the listening. Every now and again he’d hear Pa start to interject, but Ma would verbally slap him down again, thundering on. Joshua wanted to run to the window and shout down for her to leave him alone. But he knew this was adult stuff,