Doctor Who_ Nightshade - Mark Gatiss [48]
gauges and monitors shuddered back to their normal, quiet Vijay joined them. ‘But it has to be coming from the same watchfulness.
sector as the nova. We’ve had the telescope trained on the Ace was reminded of the atmosphere in a launderette same area since all this began.’
when all the machines finish their washing cycle. The strip The Doctor drummed his fingers on the console. ‘And lights faltered and then sprang back to life, allowing the where’s your nova located?’
orange emergency lamps to shut down. Everyone looked around as the unaccustomed silence returned.
‘Same as before,’ said Cooper. ‘How long did it last?’
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Hawthorne glanced at the monitor and pushed back a Robin looked up. ‘No, it was Jack Prudhoe. An old bloke strand of greasy hair. ‘Just under three quarters of an hour.’
from the village. His wife found him out there. When the
‘Longer than last night,’ said Vijay.
Doctor touched him he just sort of... melted away.’
The Doctor tossed his duffel coat on to Hawthorne’s chair
‘There, you see. Just like I told you!’ cried Ace and plunged his hands into the reams of paper which had triumphantly.
tumbled to the floor.
‘Massive tissue collapse,’ said the Doctor gravely. ‘I’ve Cooper sighed heavily, thrust her hands into the pockets never seen anything quite like it and I’ve seen a few things of her lab coat and cleared her throat. ‘I’m Christine Cooper.
in my time.’
This is Tom Hawthorne. Vijay Degun. Your friend here tells
‘And the smell...’ Robin sat down heavily.
me you’re a scientist?’
‘Yes. That too.’ The Doctor sat up and placed his hands on The Doctor didn’t look up from his scrutiny of the papers.
the console before him. ‘Whatever happened to Mr Prudhoe
‘Doctor!’ urged Ace.
triggered some sort of instantaneous corruption. Like
‘Hmm? Oh yes. Scientist, explorer, philanthropist, general exposing a sealed coffin to the air.’
do-gooder. That’s me.’
‘Does anyone else know about this?’ said Cooper,
‘Well, as I said, we’d be grateful for any help.’
frowning.
The Doctor gave her an intense look, took off his hat and The Doctor shook his head. ‘No. But your friendly local sat down in a swivel chair. ‘Help? Yes... I’ll help. I always bobby and Robin’s father have gone off to get help for Mrs do.’
Yeadon. If they can sort out the communications problem
‘Doctor. There’s something going on...’ began Ace.
too we might start to get somewhere.’
‘Yes. I know.’
Hawthorne grimaced and started to clean his glasses with
‘What d’you mean?’ said Hawthorne, plucking the the hem of his cardigan. ‘Well, I for one reckon we should Doctor’s coat from his chair with distaste.
think pragmatically and try to make some sense of this data.
The Doctor crossed his legs on the console. ‘Telephones Bodies or no bodies. There’s nothing much else we can do.’
that don’t work. Energy from space. People seeing ghosts.
Vijay shrugged. ‘I agree with Dr Hawthorne.’
That sort of thing. Now young Robin and myself have come It was probably the first time he ever had.
across a body on the moor.’
‘A security guard?’ asked Cooper.
Holly felt as if she’d been drugged. Sleep hung heavily
‘What?’
about her, plucking her back into blissful unconsciousness
‘This young lady claims to have found the body of a whenever she stirred. Until her head hit the downy pillow, security guard. We seem to have lost one.’
she hadn’t realised how totally exhausted she was. There’d
‘That’s very careless of you.’
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in the morning. Sliding between freshly laundered sheets, sharing. Sometimes she felt her love for him like a hot she had fallen almost instantly asleep.
physical weight, pressing through her ribs, and she would At some time during the day, she’d been aware of Vijay smile without quite knowing why.
getting into bed beside her and had