Doctor Who_ Illegal Alien - Mike Tucker [15]
McBride looked confused 'What?'
'You know a lot of criminal types.'
'Well, yeah.'
'People who would know what was going on. Know about any new faces anyone trying to... "muscle in", I believe you'd say, on their business.'
'Sure.'
The Doctor looked pleased. 'Good. I want you to find out something about Mr Wall and his associates. Also, see if anybody knows where the army are hiding a huge silver sphere.' He pushed Ace out of his light again.
'Take Ace with you.'
'Professor, it's raining.'
'Well, take my umbrella, then. Off you both go.'
He shooed them towards the door. Ace grabbed the Doctor's redhandled umbrella and bounded down the stairs.
McBride jammed his bat on to his head and was about to pull the door shut when the Doctor stopped him
'One more thing...'
McBride turned back. The Doctor was silhouetted against the window 'Peddler's business. Find out if it was all above board. Were they up to anything at all... dubious? You needn't count working for the British government I'll try Inspector Mullen on that one, though I doubt he'll tell me. See what you can do.'
McBride turned to go but the Doctor's voice stopped him in his tracks again. 'Oh, one more thing.' The Doctor was still nothing but a silhouette against the morning sky, but McBride was aware that his eyes had turned to slivers of ice. 'Take care of her, Mr McBride.'
He shut the door and hurried down the stairs to join Ace.
The Doctor may act like a down, but McBride had finally realised that it was all a front, a shield concealing something more dangerous and more alien than he could possibly imagine. All the Germans' bombs and bullets would be as nothing to the wrath of that little man if anything happened to this girl, and McBride didn't want to see that wrath.
He pulled the collar of his coat up against the chill November day. The first spots of greasy rain were beginning to fall, washing the soot from the buildings and forming black pools on the road. He crossed over to where Ace was waiting for him. She was trying to put up the umbrella, but the wind was swirling and she was having trouble hanging on to it.
McBride took it from her, pulled off his hat and thrust it into her hands. She put it on and grinned cheekily at him. He struggled with the umbrella for a moment before it flipped open, and the two of them headed off into the mist.
The Doctor watched them vanish into the fog. He stood for a few moments, watching the raindrops form patterns on the window pane, then turned and contemplated the card on the desk. He took a deep breath and picked up the screwdrivers again.
'And now for you...'
Elsewhere in the drizzly darkness of the East End, something huge and dying lurked in the doorway of a ruined warehouse. Shrouded in tarpaulins, its frame shook, its body consumed with an infection that got worse with every passing day. It didn't know where it was, or what it was. It didn't know anything before waking months ago. All it knew was that this entire place was hostile to it, and that it had to survive.
It had paused in doorways and basements through this and every other night, as the bombs had fallen, bricks and shrapnel tearing into what remained of its body. Now it crawled out of its hideaway, pulling the tarpaulin tight, desperately trying to hold itself together, a huge shambling figure stumbling through the smoke.
The tremors got worse. It needed to feed again. Its desire for survival was allimportant, overwhelming, crushing all other needs. It had to find another victim. It didn't know what the small bipeds were that inhabited this place, but the fluid they contained helped to subdue the fire that raged within it.
It had already killed many times since it had been here.
Sometimes it was lucky and the bombs did the work for it. It had plucked bodies from the ruins, drained them and let the fires consume the husks. The victims were needed more frequently now as its condition worsened. It kept moving, trying to remain out of sight, keeping to the dark places, but the tremors had got worse and the pain had made it bold. It