Doctor Who_ Just War - Lance Parkin [8]
Ten minutes later the bathroom door opened. Celia emerged onto the landing from a cloud of steam, her skin glistening, damp hair draped over her bare shoulder. Gerhard gaped at her.
‘Second thoughts, Private, we go date. Give me ten minutes to dry my hair and you can take me for a walk. Wear your uniform, but bring a coat, there’s a storm coming.’
2 The Start of Something Big
The police box’s survival was little short of miraculous. The night before, a two-thousand-pound German bomb had crashed through the roof of Portland Street library and exploded. No one had been killed, but one wing of the large Victorian building was now a burnt-out shell. As a small group of local people worked at clearing away the rubble and broken glass early the next morning, they noticed that although the windows of the shops opposite had been shattered by the blast, the little frosted glass panels of the police box had remained intact. Cushioned by the sandbags piled up its sides, the blue box had withstood the full force of the blast — indeed it had deflected some of the debris. What was it made of? Wood? Concrete? Whatever it was, it could withstand anything the Hun could throw at it.
Captain Roslyn Forrester made her way through the fallen masonry, a task not made any easier by her high heels.
Usiyazi, the Doctor, was there already, just as he said he would be. It had been a week since she had last seen him.
He was dusting down the police box with his handkerchief.
She dispensed with the pleasantries. ‘The War Office took us in without even checking up, just like you said they would. You’d think that in time of war people would be more security-conscious.’
The little man smiled. ‘They checked your file and found that everything was in order, exemplary, in fact.
“FORRESTER, Roslyn Sarah: Born 1900 in Port Elizabeth (South Africa) to wealthy parents, educated at Fort Hare College, showed remarkable aptitude in applied mathematics and philosophy, joined the army at sixteen, has risen through ranks, despite background, an officer of the highest calibre.
Has LONGBOW clearance.” ’
Roz was unimpressed. ‘You’ve gone back a couple of months and filed away fake documents?’
‘I hardly need to. The SID isn’t that old yet: they’re still on the lookout for bright people from anywhere they can find them. They think that Chris is a Canadian secret agent, of all things. “CWEJ, Christopher —” ’
‘Yeah, okay, I get the point. Look, I don’t want to stand around here all day, it’s so damn cold. Watch this.’ She exhaled, her breath condensing in front of her. ‘Correct me if I’m wrong, Doctor, but you aren’t meant to be able to see what you breathe.’
The Doctor laughed. ‘Are there any other problems?’
‘The uniform itches. I dread to think what sort of chemicals they dye and wash their clothes with here. Cwej, of course, thinks that the “costumes” are wonderful. Apart from that, no problem at all.’ Her face had remained straight, but the Doctor gave one of his secret smiles. He knew. Roz continued. ‘I’m working with Chris, Lieutenant Reed and a civilian scientist called Lynch, analysing German air-raids, of all things. I take it that events are running to schedule?’
‘I’ve just received word from Bernice: everything is falling into place.’
‘But you can’t tell me what’s happening yet?’ Roz had lit herself a cigarette, much to the Doctor’s obvious annoyance.
‘I don’t know precisely what myself. Something big. I’ll need you and Chris here, watching my back.’ He had been watching her cigarette all the time he had been speaking.
‘What do you want us to do?’ Roz asked, businesslike.
‘Find out if anything unusual is going on,’ the Doctor said vaguely.
She looked around. ‘Well, my initial findings suggest that Earth War Two is in progress, the planet is at war and that thousands are dying every day. Does that count?’
‘No.’
‘You won’t tell me where you’re going. That’s fine by me, but are you taking the TARDIS?’ Roz didn’t mind the Doctor wandering