Doctor Who_ Interference_ Book Two - Lawrence Miles [108]
Then the Doctor moved off, towards the gap in the ring that formed the entrance and exit of the travelling show. He had his arm around his girlfriend’s shoulders, and Magdelana saw the look of shock on her face when the freaks started to follow them. One great twisted carnival procession, still not making a sound. I.M. Foreman brought up the rear, falling behind the little grey lump that had to drag itself through the dust with its stumpy tentacles. One of the doors hadn’t opened up, Magdelana realised, so there was probably still one freak locked up in his wagon, but it was hardly the first thing on her mind right now.
She let the shotgun dangle by her side. Obviously, the time to use it still hadn’t arrived.
* * *
The Doctor was the first one to step into the town square. Father Kreiner was already waiting for him there, and his troops had drawn their weapons as soon as they’d seen the Time Lord heading towards to the gate, with the army of freaks at his back and his girl companion by his side. The Father found himself thinking of the Doctor’s other companion, the one he’d had back in the days before Kreiner had joined the Faction. He couldn’t quite remember what the girl’s name had been, although he was pretty sure there’d been an ‘s’ in it somewhere.
Night had fallen over Dust, but at this time of year there was light even at midnight, so the sky was a dirty greyish brown instead of pitch black. Which meant that Father Kreiner could make out the square in detail, even without using the infrared components in his mask. There were a dozen or so Remote troops in the area, arranged in a wide semicircle opposite the gate. None of the townspeople were anywhere to be seen, although Kreiner could smell burning wood nearby, which suggested that one or two of them had actually bothered putting up a fight.
The Doctor came to a stop in the centre of the square, with every single Remote weapon trained on his skull. The showman in the blindfold – I.M. Foreman himself, Kreiner guessed – was the last one through the gate, but he moved forward as soon as the freaks had gathered behind the Doctor, to stand at the Time Lord’s side. The Doctor’s companion stayed as close to her mentor as she could, somehow managing to look anxious and dopey at the same time. Father Kreiner tried to remember what it felt like to be in her position, but found he couldn’t. His implants had jettisoned that memory a long, long time ago.
He suddenly realised that the freaks were lining themselves up in front of the gate, almost forming a mirror image of the Remote’s semicircle. They looked as if they were getting ready for the firing squad, and the Father briefly wondered how many of them might be bulletproof. I.M. Foreman glanced back over his shoulder, blindfold or no blindfold, making sure that all his comrades were standing in line. Or squatting in line, in the case of the man with the enormous cranium. Or just being in line, in the case of the little grey lumpy monstrosity that didn’t seem to have any proper legs.
‘Well,’ said the Doctor, turning his attention to Father Kreiner at last. ‘What happens now?’
He still sounded defiant, the old sod. The girl companion was positively clinging to the Time Lord by now, and Fi‐… and Kreiner wondered if he’d ever looked that ridiculous.
He could do it. He could really do it. He could actually kill the Doctor, even if it did set up some kind of historical paradox. The Doctor was going to die here, the Father could smell it in the air.
The responsibility of it was almost crippling.
‘The show’s ours now,’ he said, motioning towards his troops with one big black hand. ‘Also, we can take the TARDIS once we’ve killed you. I’m not sure which one we’ll use to get us out of here. Probably the TARDIS. It’ll be easier to steer.’
‘Oh, I don’t think the TARDIS will like that,’ said the Doctor, smiling annoyingly ‘She’s quite choosy about her crew, you know.’
‘We know how to use the technology,’ growled Kreiner. Especially me,