Doctor Who_ Illegal Alien - Mike Tucker [48]
And dare I ask? what about the Lurker?' 'That's another thing I don't understand. The Lurker, as you call him, is a badly malfunctioning Cyberman. It has been here for months we know from the dates of the killings. But why would a Cyberman be hiding in London?' 'So the other Cybermen and Wall could be... What? Some kind of rescue party?'
'Precisely, Inspector. They will be searching for the Limehouse Lurker every bit as hard as we are.' 'We just have to find him first.' 'Yes,' the Doctor replied. 'Or, rather, no. First, we have to get to Mama's Bar. Can't we go any faster?'
scanning> scanning> scanning> possible hostile life forms
entering close scan zone>
activate>
analyse> bipedal> humanoid>
two distinct organisms> young, mature> one male> one female>
sentient> speech patterns in evidence> analyse and translate>
i shouldn't go near it if i was you> what d'you reckon it is then>
dunno. could be a bit off a german plane a bomber> nah.
it don't look like no bit off no german plane> aw look at its little legs innit cute> anyway, come on. that's not why we're here> gerroff. it looks like a table to me. a little round table> it ain't no table its more like a globe what's been cut in half> bloody funny whatever it is> look its probably some fancy record player these was posh
houses> why weren't it blown up then like everything else> i dunno. cummere> gerroff i said> i thought we come
'ere to you know> i know but I'm not sure> there's no one about they're all in the shelters. come on> i can't not with that thing 'ere. i feel like its lookin' at us> don't be daft its only some kind of gadget> look at them lights on the top and the buttons> right if you don't like it I'm gonna get it shifted> i shouldn't touch it if i was you>
hostile entering zone of absolute exclusion> arm> prepare to detonate>
The explosion knocked Ace to the floor. How close had that one been? It felt like a miniearthquake.
She had been pulled, wet and shivering, from the drain by people in a queue waiting at a mobile soup kitchen.
Tramps and the bombedout homeless, side by side in a line.
They had given her soup and tea and found a passing policeman who had agreed to take her home. He had summoned a car, which had dropped her at McBride's office.
Yes, she assured them, this was where she lived. Even now Ace could never quite get over her mistrust of the rozzers.
She had entered the office to find it empty. Her mind raced. Mama's Bar. Maybe she might find McBride there. She picked herself off the floor and, pausing only to fetch up her rucksack, she thundered back down the stairs and on to the street.
Instinctively, Sharkey leaned back into the shadows. Too much whisky had dulled his terror. He was starting to feel bold, confident... Let Him go to hell. He wasn't that allpowerful. Sharkey was moving up in the world. Dealing with a new class of client.
So the little man had been bluffing after all. Course he had. And he'd sent the girl. Sharkey watched from the shadows as Ace stumbled into the bar.
Outside the first siren was sounding. A momentary hush descended on the bar. Ace heard a low, insistent hissing. Out of the corner of her eye she could see someone trying and failing to signal to her without being seen by the rest of the bar. Sharkey. He might know. She crossed to his shadowy table and sat down. 'Now's the Time' by Charlie Parker kicked in on the jukebox.
'You came, then,' he said.
'Sharkey,' she began, not realising that he'd seemed to be expecting her, 'I need to find Cody. I need to find my friend the Doctor.'
'Have you got the money?'
'What?'
Each paused, looking at the other as if they were mad. It was Ace who broke the silence.
'Do you know where Cody is?' she asked insistently
'You... haven't come to buy this, have you?' His hand reached into his jacket pocket. He could feel the lethal little creature and the power it promised slipping from his grasp.
He could feel the fear returning.
Ace got to her feet.
'Thanks anyway,' she said. 'I've had an idea. I'll go and see George Limb.'