Doctor Who_ Psi-Ence Fiction - Chris Boucher [17]
'Chasing me,' she interrupted.
'Chasing you,' the Doctor corrected himself, 'because?'
'I don't know why'
'What does it look like?' Leela asked.
Chloe frowned with concentration and then said, 'I don't really know that either. I didn't see it very well. It was dark and'
'You were afraid,' Leela said matter-of-factly.
'I was terrified,' Chloe agreed.
'Fear will change what you see,' Leela remarked, 'and create what you do not see. That is one of the first things the warrior-trainers taught us.'
'If it isn't there,' Chloe’s eyes filled with tears, 'then I'm losing my mind.'
Since she had not reacted to Leela's references to tribal lore, the Doctor was still not entirely sure whether Chloe was genuinely distraught or was merely playing along with what she thought was an impromptu theatrical performance. 'What does it do, this demon of yours?' he asked as patiently as he could. 'How does it chase you exactly?'
Chloe hesitated. 'It rushes towards me shouting and screaming threats,'
she said. 'It's like it's in my head, like it's in my head Oh God it sounds as though I'm hearing voices doesn't it?'
Leela said, not unkindly, 'It sounds as though you are hearing voices because you are hearing voices.'
The tears were leaking down Chloe's face now. 'I am going mad aren't I?'
she said miserably.
'I don't think that's likely,' the Doctor said, though in fact he thought it was quite possible she might be having a breakdown of some sort. 'I tell you what.' He felt in his coat pocket and pulled out the battered paper bag.
'Why don't you have a jelly baby,' he proffered the bag, 'and show us around this fine old seat of learning?'
Chloe peered at the bag. A jelly baby?'
'I find them a great comfort in moments of stress.'
'Something to do with boosting blood sugar I expect,' she said, taking one.
'So what would you like to see of this fine old seat of learning?'
'We're in your hands,' the Doctor said, setting off immediately towards one of the bigger smoked-glass and steel blocks. 'What's that building there?'
'That's IT,' Chloe said, wiping the tears from her cheeks with the heel of her hand as she hurried to catch up. It's the largest department. At least I think it's the largest. My friend Meg says developmental engineering has more money than you can shake a stick at.'
'What is IT?' asked Leela, who had anticipated the Doctor's abrupt move and was strolling beside him.
'Initial teaching?' the Doctor ventured.
Chloe eased her way between them. Information technology,' she said.
The Doctor was unfazed. 'So that's what it's called now? I haven't been on a tour of a university since Isaac Newton showed me around Cambridge.
That was before he was Sir Isaac, of course. He was a remarkable thinker.
He did have a tendency to paranoia though, and I always felt that fishing book was a mistake.'
Chloe giggled. 'You're trying to convince me I'm losing my mind aren't you.
That was Isaac Walton, wasn't it? The Complete Angler?'
'No, no,' the Doctor said authoritatively. 'Isaac Walton was a composer. I'm sure you'll find I'm right.'
Chloe was enjoying the game now. 'William Walton was the composer.'
'Or am I thinking of Walton Hummer?' the Doctor mused.
'Who's Walton Hummer?' Chloe asked.
'You've never heard of Walton Hummer?'
'Should I have done?'
'You could hardly have avoided Walton Hummer,' the Doctor said.
Charming little fellow. Small, only about three feet tall, but perfectly formed.
He was a giant on the electronic kazoo and his work on the wiffle-synthesiser was earthshaking. If you've never heard of him I must have got the dates confused. This is obviously an earlier period than I imagined.'
And he was about to explain the full significance of Walton Hummer to twenty-first-century popular music when Leela