Doctor Who_ Illegal Alien - Mike Tucker [22]
McBride sighed noisily, but Limb carried on as if not noticing.
'But, you know, the birds knew before. Thee day before the night the bombs fell, they didn't come. All day, they didn't come, nor any day since. It's as if they know something else.
It's as if they know of some further violence to be visited upon our little hamlet. I've put bread out every day, but to no avail.
It's strange how they seem to know...'
'Why weren't you evacuated?' asked Ace.
'Oh, they tried. I refused to go. Been here too long, you know. Too old. Too old...' For a moment the old man seemed far away, in a place of infinite, longago beauty. He shook himself slightly. 'I'm sorry I'm neglecting my guests. Tea?'
They were sitting in a small back parlour of the rambling house. A fire roared in the little grate; a teapot steamed on a painted tray on an embroidered tablecloth on a carved and fluted occasional table.
'Nah,' McBride spat, after a few moments deliberation. 'I don't buy it. These are rich houses. They'd have been looted, for sure. The gangs would have a field day round here.'
'Yes.' the old man agreed, 'we do by some stroke of good fortune seem to have been spared the attentions of the looters. Perhaps they, too, believe there is an unexploded bomb here.' He smiled. 'Like the birds.'
He poured hot, weak tea into delicate porcelain cups.
'I must admit.' he continued, 'I rather like the peace and quiet now that everybody's gone. But I do miss the birds.'
His high, soft, lilting voice, his gentle eyes and faded tweed jacket, patched at the elbows, reminded Ace of kindly, dotty old vicars and headmasters in 1970s English sitcoms, images she mused on as the old man continued his ramblings.
'It baffles me, how they do it. How en masse they seem to sense danger. Have you ever watched a shoal of fish acting like a single organism, usually in response to a threat?
I really believe that it isn't a question of how quickly each reacts to the signals transmitted by its neighbours. I think there's something more... fundamental going on. I wonder what that might teach us about the fabric of the universe...'
'Hey... ' McBride's gruff interjection made Ace start with a sudden flash of anger. 'Are you the guy we're looking for or not?'
'Oh, I'm sorry I didn't introduce myself. My name is Limb.'
'George Limb. And yes, some of my... less salubrious acquaintances do call me the Professor. Although quite what field they think I might as it were profess in, I couldn't tell you.'
'You sell information to crooks, yeah?' McBride dashed his tea down in one loud mouthful. Ace winced. McBride took out his Lucky Strikes.
'I... must confess I am less scrupulous about the company I keep nowadays than I ought to be. It all began as rather an accident. I trained as a scientist a physicist but made my career as a civil servant, working close to government. As a favour to a friend in politics naturally, I cannot divulge his identity I allowed certain documents to be made available to the press. This caused a certain chain of political events which both my august friend and myself considered germane to the longterm good of the country. As I am sure you know, the government quite properly relies upon absolute discretion from its civil service. Security, one might say, needs to be watertight. I as it were sprang a leak in the system. A leak... yes, I rather like that...'
He sipped slowly at his tea. To his left McBride struck a match and took his first gasp.
'Parliament was not happy. The resulting furore began to look as if it might lead the baying hounds of the back benches to my friend's door. And so, like a loyal civil servant, I stepped in and, as it were, took the fall.'
Again the old man's eyes seemed unfocused, gazing past Ace to the back wall of the room, and its one door.
'I resigned, but for a while that did not seem to be enough. There was talk of prosecution. I was