Doctor Who_ Nightshade - Mark Gatiss [7]
something Vijay hadn’t quite pulled off.
‘Come on, Vij. If Hawthorne finds you asleep...’
‘Missed me?’ he asked.
Vijay opened one eye and winked at Holly. She smiled Holly shrugged. ‘Suppose so.’
back at him and pushed a mug of steaming coffee into his Vijay smiled but couldn’t quite suppress the little twinge hand. Vijay sat up and shuddered, rubbing his shoulders of panic which rose up in him. What if she meant it? What if and back in an effort to wake himself up. ‘Happy now?’ he she really were indifferent to him?
said, stifling a protracted yawn.
Vijay looked at his reflection in the darkened windows Around them, the great grey room twittered and buzzed and sighed. He’d tried to swing, he really had, growing his with energy. Banks of monitors, scopes and readouts thick black hair to shoulder length and sporting a long, covered every available surface, rising high towards the drooping Lennon moustache. But he felt uncomfortable domed ceiling where a forest of gantries also hummed with with this image. It wasn’t Vijay Degun expressing himself, it life.
was Vijay pretending to be something he wasn’t in order to Holly was checking one of the smaller screens, a green, impress Holly. Perhaps all those childhood stories about old luminous display speckled with figures and oscillating Imperial England had made him yearn for security and curves. She glanced idly over her shoulder as Vijay stood up normality. Certainly, he’d loved his adopted country with and loosened his tie.
the zeal of a convert, ever since he and his father had
‘If you’re going to snooze, don’t volunteer for night shift.
stepped off the boat in 1951. Now he’d fallen in love with a You know how crucial this stage is.’
wonderful woman who might just regard him as a little Vijay laughed bitterly. ‘Volunteering didn’t really come diversion to help pass the time during the yearlong slog at into it, Holly. When Cooper or Hawthorne say “jump men”
the station. There was so much to discuss. So many hurdles we...’
to be scaled. How could he tell his father he wanted to
‘Drop off to sleep?’
marry a white girl?
‘Very funny.’
Holly turned and gently stroked his cheek.
Vijay sneaked up behind Holly and put his arms around
‘Get some sleep, Vij. I’m not tired. Besides, I’ve got some her waist. Holly craned her neck and gave him a light kiss stuff to work on.’
on the cheek. Vijay grinned.
He almost refused for the sake of chivalry but then They’d been colleagues at the Space Tracking Station for remembered that chivalry wasn’t hip; he nodded, grinned eight months and lovers for four. Vijay had unfashionable and found himself yawning again.
hopes that one day Holly would cease to be Miss Kidd and
‘OK. What time am I on in the morning?’
become Mrs Degun. But, like saying ‘man’ at the end of his He never checked the roster. Holly, who used to find that sentences or admitting that he preferred Peter Noone to Jim infuriating, now thought it rather endearing. She looked at 22
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DOCTOR WHO: NIGHTSHADE
DOCTOR WHO: NIGHTSHADE
the clipboard which hung on the wall by the main display Vijay, something about staying where nature intended or screens and rubbed the sleep out of her large green eyes.
about parts of London resembling Calcutta.
‘Er... eleven... eleven to nine. Yeah. Same as last Thursday.
Hawthorne’s resentment was firm, clear and diamond Cooper’s on too. Then Hawthorne at four.’
hard. If Mr Wilson had any sense, he used to mutter, he’d
‘Oh, Christ.’
deport the lot of them.
Holly smiled sympathetically. ‘Think yourself lucky. I’ve Holly sighed and looked at the clock. It was two in the got Hawthorne right through Saturday while you’re off morning. She drank a little more coffee and glanced at the enjoying yourself.’
ink tracers which measured the radio waves from the stars Vijay pulled her towards him and kissed her. Around they monitored. The thin line of green ink was straight and them, the instruments whirred and ticked soothingly. Holly unperturbed. They