Doctor Who_ Relative Dementias - Mark Michalowski [84]
‘Or back to Graystairs,’ said Ace.
‘Tell you what – you check out the village, and I’ll check Graystairs.’
There was a pause.
‘What about the bloodhounds back there?’
‘I don’t reckon they’ll try anything, as long as they don’t catch me before I get back there – not with all those witnesses around. Besides, I need to find Mum and Gran. Even if I am just a soldier boy, I reckon I can take care of myself.’
Ace nodded, a slightly guilty look on her face: Michael reckoned that she’d only just realised that she wasn’t the only one with friends and family to think about. She looked at her watch. ‘It’s about quarter to four. Meet up at the pub around five and compare notes.’
Michael nodded. ‘Will you be OK?’ he asked, gesturing at her knee, as Ace gave one last look at the hut and set off. She hitched up her rucksack. ‘Yeah,’ she said, unconvincingly.
‘Course I will. I’m Ace, aren’t I?’
Joyce woke with a start in Norma’s room. She’d been dreaming that her mother had been chasing her, screaming, accusing her of desertion in the line of duty. The elderly woman had been dressed in UNIT combat gear, a machine gun in her hand, her hair glowing a harsh white, like burning magnesium. Joyce shook her head and rubbed her eyes, feeling sweaty and grimy.
Reassuringly, Norma was still there, sleeping soundly. She could hear footsteps outside in the hallway – and then the door opened. Michael’s head appeared around it, cautiously. She gave him a bleary, relieved smile. He slipped inside and closed the door behind him.
‘Still here?’ he asked. He looked anxious, edgy. She saw him glance around the room, noticing the broken glass on the dressing table and the stains on the floor where Mum’s toiletries had spilled when she’d swept them aside. ‘What happened?’
Where did she begin? ‘Mum had a funny turn again – no, she’s fine now. Honest.’
Michael stood over his gran, shaking his head slowly. ‘She can’t stay here,’ he said simply. ‘You know that. I told you back at the hotel. I thought we’d agreed...’
‘If we take her away now, what chance does she stand?’ Her own voice had taken on a wheedling tone that she hated. She took a breath. ‘She’s getting better, Michael.’
He didn’t answer.
‘What’s happened to you, anyway? I thought you were just going round to the back door. You’ve been gone –’ she glanced at the silver fobwatch on the bedside table, ‘– hours.’
Michael gave a little laugh. ‘Oh, not much really. Ace and me have been shot at, the Doctor’s gone missing, and I had to climb on the kitchen roof and in through a window to avoid getting caught.’
‘Caught? And what do you mean, the Doctor’s gone missing?’
‘Ace rescued him from that spaceship you told me about, but his head’s all screwed up – never mind that Ace swears he’s changed his appearance. Someone followed us into the woods when we tried to get him away and took a few potshots at us. So we hid him, intending to go back – and when we did, he’d gone.’
Norma stirred in her sleep, pulling the covers up around her.
‘How is she?’ asked Michael.
‘She seems fine. Doctor Menzies stuck his head in earlier to say that her results were looking good.’
‘Well, that’s something. Did you ask him about what’s going on around here?’
Joyce looked over at her mother. She couldn’t hold Michael’s gaze. ‘No.’
‘What? Gran’s in this madhouse and you didn’t even think to
–’ ‘Ssh!’ Joyce stood up and took Michael out into the corridor, dosing the door behind her gently. ‘Your gran’s in this madhouse, as you call it, because she’s ill. And this might be her only chance to get better. D’you want to ruin all that?’
‘I don’t believe this!’ Michael stared at her disbelievingly.
‘Ace and me are getting shot at, Ace says there’s a spaceship where people get their brains wired up to a computer, and you want Gran to stay here?’
Joyce glared at him and grabbed his arms. ‘Family might not count much for you, Michael; but she’s the only grandma you’ve got. You remember what she was like. D’you want to see her go back to that? Do you?’
Michael couldn’t answer. Joyce let go