Doctor Who_ Illegal Alien - Mike Tucker [82]
Yes.
She began scratching into the plaster, gouging out her final message to a world that would never read it, would never understand its meaning. A world gone mad.
Ace stopped. There was a noise coming through the wall. A tapping.
She scratched with her key. The tapping came again.
Scratch. Tap.
At last,
A man's voice, very weak.
'Hhello...' Ace replied, nervously.
'You're new,' the man said. A northern accent.
Yorkshire?
'Yes. I was only brought here last night. Can you tell me where I am?'
'Aye. This used to be the materialstesting area. Now it's '
'No, I mean, I don't even know what country I'm in.'
'You're still in Britain, believe it or not. However many of us the bastards torture and kill, this is still Britain. This is Jersey.' The man laughed lightly. 'Dear old Jersey. We used to come here for holidays when I were a lad. All the way from Huddersfield. It were lovely. I jumped at the chance to move here...'
Jersey. Ace strained to remember her history. That's right. The Channel Islands. The only British soil occupied by the Nazis. 'What is this place?'
'This used to be the Le Mur compound. A research facility. Highly specialised stuff. Electronics. Before the Krauts moved in... I used to work here. We all did. Now they're killing us, one by one. I think I'm the last. You're the first outsider they've brought here as far as I know.'
'But why?'
'Every day they take me out and beat me. I don't feel it no more. The pain... I don't see the uniforms, or hear the questions. All I see is the smiling faces of me dead mates. It feels just like the old days again.
The man's voice seemed somehow light, far away.
'Oh, this were a good company to work for. At first. It brought a lot of jobs to the island. Engineers, scientists. We were a happy bunch. Up until. Dr Peddler left.'
'Peddler? Did you say Peddler?'
'Dr Peddler. Good old boy, Peddler...'
'Dr Peddler was here?'
'Oh, aye. Of course. Dr Peddler set this place up, along with that Wall.'
'Wall?'
'He always used to buy us a present at Christmas, Dr Peddler. Every one of us, a different present for each of us.
Very thoughtful. Aye...'
'Tell me about Wall!' Ace was struggling to stop herself shouting.
'Oh, Wall. I didn't take to Wall much. None of us did. Wall were the businessman. Dr Peddler, he were the scientist. In the end they had some kind of falling out and Dr Peddler left.
It were never so much fun after that. Things started to go downhill. That were a year or two back. He used to cycle here every day, Dr Peddler...'
'Please, this might be important. Tell me what happened here. When Dr Peddler left.'
'Well... they'd always been very secretive about what they were doing here, but it got worse after Dr Peddler left.
Wall sacked loads of us. I lasted longer than most, but in the end I went too, along with the rest of them. Wall put practically everybody out of work. Personally I were glad to see the back of the place. There were something funny going on here. Dr Peddler were very unhappy at the end, I knew.
Then the Jerries came. They had to bomb their way into the place. It took planes, tanks, dynamite, you name it.'
And then what happened?' No reply. 'Please... it might be important. What happened next?'
'Nothing at first. Then they started rounding up everyone who'd worked here. They dragged us all back in and started asking questions about the work. Trouble was, nobody really knew what were going on, except Wall, and he vanished.
They keep talking about battle armour, but I don't know anything. I keep telling them I don't know anything at all. So they beat me, and '
The man's voice faltered.
Ace could here footsteps approaching. She sensed the man tense.
There was something horrific about the approach of footsteps in a place like this.
The man started to laugh quietly to himself.
'I don't know anything... I don't know