Doctor Who_ Interference_ Book Two - Lawrence Miles [124]
‘You might want to think about changing the name of the place,’ the Doctor added. ‘I don’t think “Dust” is going to be very appropriate, from now on. This is Number Thirteen’s world now. Foreman’s world.’
He turned back to Magdelana, but Magdelana was still just standing there, staring at him. Her eyes were sharp and bright, even though the planet had drained all the colour out of them. She looked alert, he had to give her that.
‘You’re a time traveller,’ she said. ‘Aren’t you?’
The Doctor found himself scratching the back of his neck. ‘Yes. Well. That’s going to be rather hard to explain, I’m afraid.’
‘That’s why you came here. The show people were all time travellers. More time travellers there are in a place, the more turn up. Like you. Like the Remote. Like those two grey things that got nailed up in the desert.’
‘Something of a simplification,’ the Doctor told her. ‘But essentially true, yes.’
Magdelana stopped staring at him then, and swept her eyes across the sky. It didn’t seem quite as yellow as it had done, the Doctor noted, which made him wonder what Number Thirteen was doing to the atmosphere. It was a quick worker, no doubt about it.
‘Remote are gone,’ Magdelana said. ‘The show’s gone.’
‘Yes.’
‘They all dead?’
‘No, no. Not dead. I suppose you could say… they’ve all gone underground.’
Magdelana nodded. ‘Been buried. That’s what you’re saying.’
It wasn’t hard to work out what she meant by that. On Dust, ‘buried’ must have been the word they used to mean ‘gone for good’. ‘Buried’ meant ‘taken away by the dust’. ‘Well, I suppose so, yes,’ the Doctor agreed.
‘I told you, didn’t I?’ said Magdelana. There was a tone in her voice the Doctor couldn’t quite place, something that didn’t sound as tired as everything else on this planet.’Anything tries to hurt this town, I have to take it out. That’s what I said. Remember?’
The Doctor furrowed his brow. ‘I’m sorry, I don’t understand.’
‘You people,’ she said. ‘You time travellers. You bring things here. Bad things. Just you being in this town, that’s putting us in danger.’
The Doctor started shaking his head, then realised he was lying.
All those species that want me dead, he thought. All those enemies who want to bring me down at any cost. The Master would never have thought about going to Earth if I hadn’t been there, and how many people did he murder once he got there? How many people died, just because I happened to be in the vicinity?
The Doctor attracted things. Just like the travelling show had attracted him, back in 1963.
‘Yes,’ he admitted. ‘Yes, I’m afraid you’re right. But I’m leaving now. I’ve just got to make sure the biosphere’s stable, and then we can –’
‘No,’ said Magdelana. ‘Sorry.’
The Doctor felt somewhat taken aback by that. ‘No?’
‘Buried,’ said Magdelana. ‘Got to see you buried. Can’t leave any trace of you here. Or there’ll be more. More like you, or more like the Remote. Can’t take the chance. Like I said. Sorry.’
The Doctor sighed.
‘I really don’t want to cause you people any trouble,’ he said.
‘I know,’ said Magdelana. Then she raised the shotgun, aimed it at the Doctor’s chest, and fired.
* * *
As it happened, the shot wasn’t immediately fatal. The Doctor was fast enough to turn to one side as Magdelana pulled the trigger, so the lead entered his body at an angle rather than going right into his heart, cracking open the front of his ribcage and stopping about an inch under the skin. He didn’t fall straightaway, but stared at Magdelana for a moment or two, not understanding how she’d managed to do this to him.
Even though the shot didn’t connect with any major organs, the wound was obviously a terminal one. This was why Magdelana turned away as soon as she saw the Doctor fall face down into the dust, and headed back towards her home.
She hadn’t enjoyed executing her duty like that. But she felt satisfied that she’d done everything she had to do.
* * *
Coda 2:
Interference Patterns