Doctor Who_ Last of the Gaderene - Mark Gatiss [60]
Jo nodded. ‘It attacked you?’
Noah turned to look at her. ‘It was going to kill me. I thought I’d had it. But it seemed to... to hesitate. I ran. God, I ran so fast.’
He put a hand to his chest as though feeling the pain of exertion all over again. ‘I don’t know how I got out of there.’
Jo ruffled his blond hair. ‘Well, thank goodness you did.
We were all very worried.’
Noah sighed. ‘Who’s the geezer with the white hair?’
‘That’s the Doctor,’ stated Jo.
‘Your boss?’
Jo laughed. ‘Not exactly.’
She thought of how she’d felt so recently, of how she’d grown under the Doctor’s tutelage. How it seemed he’d come to respect her.
‘We’re more like... well... colleagues,’ she said at last.
The Doctor was standing with one foot on the wheel-hub of a UNIT jeep, frowning in exasperation, the receiver of a field telephone pressed to his face. The Brigadier sat next to him, leafing through a sheaf of papers and dissuading children, who assumed the vehicle to be part of the summer fête, from clambering inside it.
Jo ambled across the green, smiling broadly at the happy scene. Several floats drove slowly by, crammed with waving villagers, all dressed in a variety of colourful, home-made costumes. Two sets of Laurel and Hardys were having a heated argument by the old water pump and something had made Little Bo Peep cry.
‘Perhaps she’s lost her sheep,’ thought Jo to herself.
She approached the jeep with trepidation. The Doctor didn’t look to be in the best of tempers.
‘Of course I appreciate that,’ he baited into the phone. ‘I know you’re new to the department but I would have thought after all this time... In the files, yes. All right. Yes... I’ll wait.’
He tucked the receiver under his chin.
‘Man’s an imbecile,’ he announced to no one in particular.
‘Who?’ asked the Brigadier. ‘The Minister?’
‘Yes, the Minister. Some doe-eyed boy hardly out of short trousers, by the sound of it.’
The Brigadier smiled. ‘He’s a rising star, so my government sources tell me.’
The Doctor harrumphed. ‘Well, I have some experience of stars. They can burn out very fast if they’re not careful.’
He turned and spotted Jo. ‘Hello Jo. Any candyfloss on the go?’
Jo shook her head. ‘Not that I can see. But the three-legged race was quite a gas.’
The Doctor nodded absently. ‘I knew a man on Taganis Six who would have won that by a mile,’ he said with all seriousness.
There was a crackle on the receiver. ‘Hello?’ he barked.
‘Are we going up to the aerodrome again?’ asked Jo.
The Doctor put his hand over the receiver. ‘If I can get rid of this idiot, yes. But I want you to stay with Mrs Toovey.
Keep an eye on things here.’
‘I’ve just been talking to Noah again,’ said Jo confidently.
‘I think I could pinpoint exactly where on the marsh he saw that thing. We should get on to it right away.’
The Doctor returned to the phone. ‘Hold on.’
He flicked his gaze towards Jo. ‘We will. But you’ll be far more use to me here. Now off you go. There’s a good girl.’
Jo felt her face flush.
‘OK, colleague,’ she said under her breath and stumped away sullenly towards the green.
Max Bishop and Constable Trickett were sitting on a raised platform on opposite sides of an empty chair as the Reverend Darnell approached. He glanced at them, his pale eyelashes batting in the hard sunlight, and was pleased to see how happy they were looking.
‘Where’s Helen, John?’ he asked, trotting up the wooden steps. Trickett didn’t answer at first.
‘And I didn’t see Nichola in the band. Aren’t they well?’
Trickett’s head turned but Darnell couldn’t see his eyes through the policeman’s thick sunglasses.
‘No,’ said Trickett softly. ‘They’ve come down with something.’
Darnell tutted and turned to face the green. ‘Shame.’ The green was covered completely now, a sea of colours and faces.
‘Going very well,’ he cried. ‘Thanks to you, Max.’
Max Bishop inclined his head slightly. The sun was obviously too bright for him too, judging by the thick black glasses he was wearing.
Darnell patted the pockets of his linen suit, looking for the clip-on green frames