Doctor Who_ Island of Death - Barry Letts [63]
„Now, that‟s ridiculous. No way could they have known we were coming,‟ said the Brigadier.
„Oh, but they did. Jeremy told me that too.‟
He looked at her with an infuriating smile. „Of course he did, Miss Smith. And the place is swarming with your mysterious bug-eyed monsters from outer space. Good Lord! Look!
There‟s half a dozen of them over there, swinging through the palm trees!‟ He set off down the stairs, laughing merrily, followed by the two officers, both trying not to grin.
Sarcasm always got under her skin. She opened her mouth, looking for a withering retort - something to the effect that he‟d better be careful not to trip - „the thicker they come the harder they fall‟ - when she noticed that the Doctor had his fingers to his lips, and was shaking his head at her again.
The message was different but just as plain: „Cool it!‟
So she shut up. She felt that there was a fair chance that she might burst, but she took a deep breath and kept quiet; and followed the Doctor as he went after the others.
Hilda thoroughly disliked the term „clairvoyance‟ because of its connotations of self-deceiving mediums giving dodgy demonstrations - „Does the name Eric mean anything to you?‟ - or, even worse, private „readings‟ at an exorbitant cost. „Far-seeing‟ was much to be preferred, with its plain Anglo-Saxon etymology; and it certainly expressed with far more accuracy the faculty she and the others had developed since becoming Skang teachers - or perhaps the word should be adepts‟? (Neither was entirely accurate. There was really no way of expressing a relationship that was unique in human experience.)
Hilda was sitting deep in concentration in her elegantly plain room off the temple, watching - in her mind‟s eye -
Brother Alex climbing the long staircase. Was he coming to see her?
As she relinquished the image, she noticed again the regret, almost irritation, which she had so often felt before. If only far-hearing had developed along with far-seeing! Or even better, some form of simple telepathy. No matter how hard she tried, or what techniques she used, she‟d found that they were limited to seeing - and even that was rudimentary, requiring total absorption for a very simple sighting.
When Will had first picked up the approach of the Royal Navy ship during a routine scan of the surrounding area, he had reported that Alex was on board, apparently ill, and most distressed. But had Alex betrayed them? There was no question that the Doctor and the companion whom he addressed as Brigadier‟ were highly suspicious; why else should they have come? For that matter, the very fact that they had been prepared to mount an armed attack was evidence enough.
Being forewarned, she had managed to deal with the immediate situation. But she still had no idea whether she could now trust Alex. Whether or no, maybe it would be safer to allow him to rejoin, so that she could keep an eye on him during the next critical twenty-four hours.
It was too much for her to decide alone. She would have to refer the matter to the inner council.
„Mother Hilda...‟
She opened her eyes. Alex was standing in the open doorway.
That was it, thought Sarah. They were all stoned out of their skulls on Jeremy‟s thingy juice, or one of its variants.
You‟d have thought they were as squiffy as if they‟d just been turned out of the pub and were on their way to the curry house, if it wasn‟t for the way they climbed into the boats for the trip back. It was starting to get dark, but nobody fell in; nobody even staggered or lost their balance.
Nor was anybody looking for a quarrel. But their laughter, their shouting, their uninhibited behaviour would surely have earned them a reprimand at the very least if the Cox‟n hadn‟t been in much the same state.
Even the Brigadier and the two officers had reverted to party mood, chatting volubly and guffawing like schoolboys.
Telling dirty jokes, probably.
As they approached the mist surrounding the ship, which had thinned considerably by this time, she looked over at the Doctor, who was