Doctor Who_ Relative Dementias - Mark Michalowski [93]
Instead, he tossed them onto the grass and walked away into the night.
The little stone room smelt of damp and cold, the single bulb casting a harsh light over the huddled group. Claire pulled a chair up to the table and settled the Doctor in it as Ace stood in the doorway for a moment, staring out into the sharp night. Where was Michael? He’d been behind them, right up to the moment they’d ducked into the church. She searched the darkness, but there was no sign of movement. She glanced at Eddie, hovering uncertainly beside the door. She knew what was going on in his head – but he looked as confused as she felt about why they wanted him. Reluctantly, she closed and bolted the door. Then, just for good measure, shoved a chair under the handle. She had a brief flash of the TARDIS’s control room, the Doctor looking edgy and evasive, the door wedged shut with a chair.
‘I should just go,’ Eddie said, but his uncertainty showed in his eyes, in the way he held himself.
Ace shook her head firmly. ‘We’re not letting those nutters get hold of you.’
‘But if they have me, they’ll leave the rest of you alone.’
‘I don’t care. You think they just want you so they can give you a special birthday tea or something? Those people aren’t normal, Eddie. They haven’t come down here with guns just ‘cos they’re bored with watching Sale of the Century.’
‘So what do they want?’ Eddie looked close to tears. He sank into a vacant chair at the table and ground the balls of his hands into his eyes, pressing hard. He looked back up at Ace and ran his hands through his silvery hair, eyes burning with tears. ‘I’m scared,’ he said, so quietly that only Ace heard him. She took his hand and felt it clench in hers.
‘We all are. Don’t worry. We’ll be fine.’
Eddie looked back down at the table and began to cry. Ace saw that Claire had heard their exchange and was shaking her head slowly.
‘I’m not particularly dim, but have I missed something?’ she asked quietly.
Ace frowned, puzzled.
‘Like the bit where someone explained what the bloody hell is going on!’ She looked round the little gathering. ‘Am I the only one who feels like they’ve stepped into the next Star Wars film?’
Ace gave a sigh and perched herself on the edge of the battered pine table. She looked at the Doctor, his eyes closed, his head drooping onto his chest. He’d stopped muttering and trembling. She hoped it was a good sign.
‘Sooal up at the house is an alien who’s been doing some sort of experiments on the residents,’ she said, as matter-of-factly as she could. ‘They have a spaceship at the bottom of the sea where they have a dozen residents wired up to some sort of computer.’
‘And...?’
Ace spread her hands wide. ‘And...?’
‘And what’s all this for – and note I’m pretending, just for the sake of argument and sanity, that all this is real and true, and that it’s not you who was due to be booked into Graystairs instead of the Doctor?’
Ace smiled grimly. ‘Yeah, I know. Twilight Zone stuff, eh?
Well, trust me. It’s all real. But that’s all I know.’ Ace held Claire’s eyes, knowing full well that she was lying: she’d seen the future and she couldn’t breathe a word of it.
‘OK,’ Claire said suddenly. ‘Until I can think of a more reasonable explanation for all this, I’ll go with it. So what do we do now?’
‘I wish I knew,’ Ace said. ‘I really wish I knew.’
‘There’s only one thing you can do,’ Eddie said suddenly.
‘Let me go to them.’
Ace sighed. ‘I’ve told you. No.’
Eddie shook his head. ‘I don’t know how I know,’ he began, stumbling over his words, ‘but I know they don’t want to hurt me.’ He looked from Ace to Claire and back to Ace again. ‘They just... ‘ His face scrunched pitifully. ‘They’re just... putting things in here.’ His clenched fists went to his temples.
‘Then that’s a good enough reason not to let them have you, isn’t it?’
‘But if I don’t go, they’ll kill you. I know it.’
‘Ace!’ It was Claire. Ace followed her eyes – the Doctor was sitting perfectly still, hands clasped in front of him, his lips moving. She leaned in closer, and