Doctor Who_ Island of Death - Barry Letts [45]
It was quite a while since he‟d stopped trying to jolly her along. He put his arm around her. To comfort her or to hold her up? Was she shivering or was she shaking with fear?
„I know. We‟re in grave danger. It would be foolish to pretend that we‟re not. But you know the old saying, “Never say die until you‟re dead”? That‟s saved my life many times.
You never can tell what the future might bring. I promise I...‟
He stopped in mid-sentence. „Fool!‟ he cried. „Fool, fool, fool!
Double-dyed unadulterated fool!‟
He opened his mouth wide, and howled; a long, long howl.
„Doctor! Are you all right?‟
That was all she needed - for the Doctor to go doolally. He didn‟t answer, but howled again in the same way.
Sarah‟s Aunt Norah used to have a poodle, Fudge, who would join in whenever anybody started singing, with a plaintive „Woooo-oooo...‟ It was the polite Wirral equivalent of an Alaskan wolf baying at the moon. The Doctor‟s howl sounded very like Fudge‟s, only more musical, and more on one note, and it went on and on. When he stopped at last, he was panting, just as Fudge used to.
He shook his head in disbelief. „Here was I desperately trying to think of an answer, and it‟s staring me in the face!‟
Again he howled, but with a slightly different tune. And again, but with even more variation.
She couldn‟t bear it any more. „Doctor! What are you doing?‟
He laughed a manic laugh. „I‟m calling for a taxi!‟
Once more... But this time, it sounded almost like a strange wordless song, which subtly changed in pitch, with variations almost too fine to make out.
Of course! When the Doctor had been peering over the bow of the Hallaton... Like that picture on a Greek vase in the British Museum - a boy riding on the back of a dolphin.
„You‟re singing the dolphin song!‟
The Doctor took a deep breath. „There don‟t seem to be any around,‟ he said. „So I‟m trying to find out if any of their cousins are nearby. Inter-species communication. I knew it would come in useful.‟
Even as he spoke, there came a distant reply, eerily echoing the Doctor‟s last call.
„Aha!‟ he said, „Orcas. Just what we need.‟
Answering them, with slight variations that even Sarah could recognise, he went on for quite a long time, and then listened for a response.
When it came, it was nearly as long as the Doctor‟s song, and more to the point, it was much closer.
This time when the Doctor laughed, it was a laugh of pure joy. „They‟re on their way. I told them what a pickle we‟re in.
And they‟re going to help us!‟
It felt as if the sun had come out. As the relief swept through Sarah‟s body, she felt the strength flooding back into her muscles.
„Orcas? I‟ve never heard of them.‟
„Orcas? Killer whales.‟
„Killer whales!‟
„Yes. A pod - that‟s a family - on a trip up from the Southern Ocean. Having a bit of a holiday. Transients, I shouldn‟t wonder.‟
As if it mattered! „Transients?‟
„Mm. An adventurous lot. Their stay-at-home cousins like to be near to where the fish congregate. The transients don‟t particularly like fish. They‟d rather eat mammals.‟
There was quite a long pause before Sarah spoke again, in a very small voice.
„I‟m a mammal,‟ she said.
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
The difficulty, of course, was controlling the sweep of the three hastily rigged searchlights, one facing for‟d and the others on each side, so that in theory the whole arc was covered from the port beam, via straight ahead, right through to the starboard beam. But since the ship was now travelling with the waves once more, the Cox‟n was again forced to weave a looping course, and the lights swung erratically to and fro, and up and down, despite the struggles of the seamen in charge of them.
Hour after hour the Hallaton risked taking one roll too far; hour after hour, Petty Officer Hardy caught her just in time.
The Brigadier felt sure that he could have managed the lights better himself. But when he asked Bob Simkins, who was in charge of the