Doctor Who_ Lungbarrow - Marc Platt [123]
'You're on the mend,' said Chris.
The Doctor gripped the young man's sleeve. 'I had a bit of a clearout.' His legs flailed over the drop.
The exhausted group had been silent as they were marched through the House. When they were forced into single file over the lagoon bridge, the Doctor staged such a corny routine of nearly falling off that Dorothée wanted to laugh.
'I've jettisoned my subconscious,' he mumbled as they struggled to pul him up.
'Was that wise?' said Romana. 'All energy, even artron energy, must go somewhere.'
'It was worth it if it helped Chris.' He kicked his legs and said, 'Oh dear, I'm stuck!' loudly for the benefit of the Agency guards.
Chris nodded. 'Thanks. My head's a lot clearer.'
'Good. The rest of you can look after the memories for me.' In the water below, something white was circling.
'Get him up,' shouted Ferain from behind. The agent commander tried to scramble past.
'I'll do it,' said Dorothée, pushing in precariously. She leant up to his ear. 'How deep is the House buried?'
'Why?'
'God, you're a weight!' she announced. But she muttered, 'Remember that nitro-nine you were always confiscating from me?'
'Couple of cans,' he said. 'Left outside pocket.' She rummaged as she grappled with him. 'Doctor, I know you never clear your pockets out, but this stuff is lethal.'
The cans were sweaty and rusting.
She looked directly into his eyes. 'Are you all right, now?'
His bottomless eyes, like Gallifrey, had their own time.
'It was a lot to take in. But I'm glad you were there to share it.'
He suddenly vaulted up of his own accord. 'Come along, get frogmarching,' he said to the agent commander. 'I want to find my Cousins, before they get up to any mischief.'
***
The House had never seen an Otherstide like it.
Glospin, newly returned from a sojourn of his own, smiled disdainful y as yet another squabble broke out. The floor of the Hall was already strewn with piles of books, clothes and other ephemera. Captain Redred had been trying to keep a tally, but the newly returned and emaciated Cousins were sifting through the booty from the Doctor's ship like a plague of sweeper weevils.
Beside the Loom, the two Drudges still stood immobile, staring down at the revealed corpse of Quences.
199
A shout came from the far end of the Hall, just as Rynde and Owis emerged from the TARDIS with fresh armfuls of clothes.
Uniformed intruders were approaching, but through them, unstoppable in his fury, came the Doctor.
'Mine!' he yel ed, snatching items away from astonished Cousins. 'Get away from my TARDIS! Get away!'
His eyes blazed as he bunged the stuff back inside the door and turned to scoop up more. 'This is my ship! How dare you all?'
Redred grabbed at his arm and was knocked senseless by a sharp and surprising left hook.
The Doctor dodged a pursuing agent and darted smartly into the TARDIS, slamming the door.
The agents surrounded the door, trying to force it.
'That's that,' called Glospin. 'You'll never see him again.'
The light crowning the blue box flashed. There were cries of dismay from the companions.
Then the light died. The ship gave a death rattle.
After a moment, the door opened. The Doctor emerged and slowly raised his hands. 'I have disabled my ship.
Shut and folded it down completely. There is now nothing in there for you.'
Several Cousins muttered angrily.
'Goodness knows what that'll do to the inner configurations,' he muttered to Romana, Chris and Innocet, as they moved up beside him.
'I hope there was no one still in there,' said Glospin.
Owis shuffled up and peered at Innocet in her grubby undergarments. 'Is that you, Cousin? You're a bit underdressed. I don't like the new hair.'
'Idiot,' she muttered.
Glospin bowed formally to acknowledge the arrival of an elderly man in black. 'Welcome, My Lord. You and your staff are my honoured guests in the House of Lungbarrow.'
'This House is now under my jurisdiction,' he announced. 'I am Lord Ferain of the Directory of Al egiance at the Capitol.' He surveyed the gathering before turning to his agents. 'Where