Doctor Who_ Lungbarrow - Marc Platt [37]
The Doctor was standing in an archway halfway along the gallery, staring down over the balustrade into the gloom.
Whee-whoo.
He was whistling into the dark. Over and over, he repeated the same two notes.
Chris wanted to join him, but he held back. He had to watch. Beneath him, a floorboard creaked. The Doctor tensed and looked up.
Chris pul ed himself back. Rather than be caught, he headed back up the stairs to the kitchen. He needed to get a handle on the place, before the Doctor began imposing all the hyperactive catalytic effects that the Doctor always imposed on every situation he walked into.
He was moving cautiously across the kitchen for fear of setting off the ladles again, when he heard footsteps. He ducked down some steps into a recess with a heavily barred door.
It was cool here, but there was also a smell like rancid cheese. Two thick metal struts had been slotted across the entrance. Chris pressed himself flat against the door for cover. The surface was surprisingly cold to his touch. His breath was turning to steam against it.
Something scrabbled on the other side of the door. There was a thump as the something hit itself against the barrier.
The cheese stench got stronger. Chris pulled up the cover on a spyhole in the door.
There was a hiss in the dark on the other side. A grey-veined eyebal with an oblique black slit suddenly stared back out of the hole at him.
Chris flinched. He heard movement in the kitchen. There was nowhere else to hide.
He felt the door strain against its bars as the something inside pushed outward. Inches from him, the eyebal was starting to squirm out through the spyhole. It swivelled in its new socket to stare, unblinking, at him.
A hand slammed the cover down on the eye.
There was a hissing squeal of rage and the pressure on the door relented.
The Doctor wiped his hand on his trousers and studied Chris. His expression gave nothing away.
'What was that?' Chris choked.
'How should I know?' he said smoothly. 'Something way past its sell-by date from the smell of it.'
'Sorry,' said Chris.
'Never mind.' The Doctor glanced back into the kitchen. 'You just saw something nasty in the pantry, that's all.'
Chris shuddered involuntarily. 'I think it saw me too.' He held out the Doctor's jumper. 'I brought you this.'
The Doctor took the garment, wiped his hands on it like a towel and deposited it on a work bench. 'We have to find the TARDIS. It fell through the floor.'
'I guessed that,' said Chris. 'How far down did it go?'
'Too far.'
There was a slurping noise from the main part of the kitchen. The Doctor looked round nervously. 'Just the stew,'
he said.
Chris pushed past him out of the recess. 'We'd better go and find the TARDIS then. This kitchen gives me the creeps.'
'Fee fi fo fum,' said the Doctor. He lingered by the doorway.
'Do you know this place or something?' said Chris.
The Doctor shook his head. 'Not at al .'
'Or what planet we're on?'
'Haven't a clue. The TARDIS must have drifted off course.'
51
'I thought you said someone had tampered with the Time Vector Generation Unit.'
'Ah, you remember that.' The Doctor assumed a completely unconvincing air of bonhomie. 'Why don't you just pop down into the House and have a scout round?'
'Just me.'
'Yes. It seems like a big place and there's something I have to. . . sort out. Just a quick look, Chris. Go and see if you can find the TARDIS.'
'Suppose I run into somebody?'
'Big Adjudicator like you?' said the Doctor. 'It's dark. Stay out of sight.'
'OK,' said Chris. 'And if I do get spotted, at least they won't recognize me.'
Anger suddenly flamed in the Doctor's eyes. 'Why? Who have you been talking to?'
'No one,' said Chris blithely. Ouch, he thought. Hit a raw nerve there.
***
Cousin Arkhew clung to the side of the Loom. The two dim tallow lamps that stood by the carved stone bier did nothing to dispel the shadows of the Great Hall.