Doctor Who_ Peacemaker - James Swallow [65]
159
Jenny Forrest and the recently appointed Sheriff Loomis Teague greeted them a day later, the three of them back in Redwater to a hero’s welcome.
‘I knew you were coming back,’ Jenny explained, as they walked toward the alley where the TARDIS stood. ‘There was this strange summer lightning in the sky, and after it passed. . . ’ She trailed off. ‘I knew you had saved us.’
Teague nodded. ‘Doc, I won’t pretend to know what kinda mumbo-jumbo took place hereabouts, but I’d be a fool if I said we didn’t all owe you our lives.’
The Doctor gave a wan smile. ‘You know, Nathan’s the real hero here.’ He gestured to where the teenager was talking animatedly to Zachariah Hawkes and Joe Pitt. ‘That young man faced a very difficult choice. . . and he made the right one.’
‘I’ll see to him,’ promised Jenny. ‘He has no blood relatives still living, but the townsfolk will treat him like family.’
Martha nodded. ‘That’s good to know. And how about you?’
Jenny gave a sideways glance to Teague that was loaded with subtle signals, and Martha had to bite her lip.
161
‘I have. . . friends,’ said the schoolteacher. ‘For all the horrors of the past days, the experience has brought us all closer together. Redwater is more a community now than it ever was.’
Teague nodded. ‘You were right, Doc. We stood together.’ He extended a hand and the Doctor shook it. ‘You and Miss Jones, you’re welcome in this town anytime the winds blow you back this way.’ He tapped a finger to the brim of his hat and then walked away, his spurs clicking behind him.
The Doctor chuckled. ‘Hard to believe he’s the same guy who was cheating at cards and skimming off the ante a few days ago.’
‘But you saw the potential in him,’ said Jenny. ‘I think you do that with everyone you meet, Doctor.’ Martha saw the teacher watching her, and the other woman looked sad. ‘And now you’re both going to leave us,’ she said.
Martha nodded, trying to keep a light tone to her voice. ‘Places to go, people to see.’
‘Best this way,’ said the Doctor. ‘I hate long goodbyes, don’t you?’
‘Hey, Doc!’ As the three of them approached the police box, Nathan came bounding up to them. ‘Hey, uh, listen. Mr Hawkes tells me my pa left the house to me and all. . . ’ He chewed his lip. ‘I was thinkin’, you and Miss Martha might want to stay a while?’ He nodded at the TARDIS. ‘A lot more room than in there, I’d reckon.’
‘You’d be surprised,’ Martha smiled.
‘That’s a kind offer, but we’ve got to move on.’ The Doctor had the hat that Mr Vogel had given him in his hand, and he flipped it around his wrist and placed it on Nathan’s head. ‘Look after this for me, will you?’
‘Sure,’ said the youth, nodding reluctantly.
As Martha unlocked the TARDIS door, the Doctor gave Jenny a hopeful look. ‘One last thing. Just for the sake of propriety, could you do me a favour and make sure Mr Hawkes back there keeps us out of his newspaper? I think history can roll on just fine without us cropping up where we shouldn’t be.’
‘I’ll do that,’ Jenny promised, ‘but I’d beg to differ. History needs all the help it can get.’
162
The Doctor gave her a final nod and followed Martha into the TARDIS and shut the door behind him, closing off an all-too-brief glimpse of a strange, impossible room ranged inside.
For a long moment, Jenny and Nathan stood watching in silence; then the youth spoke. ‘So, uh, what happens now? Is that shack there gonna sprout wheels and roll away?’
Jenny smiled ruefully. ‘Given what I’ve seen of the Doctor, anything is possible.’
Abruptly the door opened a crack and the Doctor leaned out with a book in his hand. ‘Jenny! Almost forgot, I have something for you.
You liked Jules Verne, right? You’re going to love this guy, then. Bit political at times, but some brilliant stories.’
He pressed the book into her hand and the teacher opened it at the first page. ‘ The Time Machine,’ she read aloud, ‘ An Invention. By H.G.
Wells.’ Jenny saw something in the text and frowned. ‘How odd. That must be a misprint. The publication date is ten years