Doctor Who_ Return of the Living Dad - Kate Orman [11]
The Doctor put his hand on the door control. ‘Are you ready?’
he said.
Benny gave him a quick nod. He tugged on the door control, and the big double doors swung open.
Benny stepped out onto the Tisiphone, and nearly walked right into her father.
4 From Here to Paternity
Aboard the Tisiphone, 2543
Stay calm.
The TARDIS had parked itself in a narrow corridor, an access tunnel curving through the inside of the big ship. Dark walls were covered in stencilled lettering. The floor shook.
The air stank of burning electrics and smoke.
Benny steadied herself against the TARDIS, staring at her father.
He looked just like he did in the photo. Except for the battle fatigues. And the soot and the blood. And the blob of grease over one of his cheekbones. And the faintly puzzled expression.
He looked her up and down with those startling grey eyes, raised an eyebrow at her, and walked quickly away down the corridor.
Benny jumped as someone put their hand on her shoulder. She was light-headed, unable to call out after her father, unable to move. Stay calm, she told herself, stay calm.
‘He just pretended we weren’t here!’ she whispered, blinking back tears in the smoky air. ‘That’s insane. Why?’
The Doctor shut the TARDIS door. ‘We still have three and a half minutes to find out.’
They followed Isaac through the ship, which tossed and rolled like a sailing boat in a storm. There were tremendous clanging noises, missiles or energy bolts striking the outside hull. If there was a breach, they might be trapped in a sealed section as the air whooshed out into space.
He glanced back at them, once. Benny opened her mouth to call out to him through the noise, but he had already turned around, fighting his way along the corridor.
The ship rolled almost onto its side as they reached the entrance to the brilliantly lit cockpit. Seen through the front screen, the battle was a video game, all blips and lines of coloured light. Playing out the hologram Benny had watched.
‘Reeve and Lawrie aren’t answering their intercoms because they’re dead,’ her father was telling his bridge crew.
‘Engine containment looks stable, but the lateral stabilizers are a mess.’ He struggled back to the captain’s chair.
‘We’re good for another ten minutes at the most,’ said the African woman at what Benny guessed was the engineering panel. ‘After that, the emergency stabilizer system’s going to lose power, and — what the hell!’
She’d seen them. Benny almost took a step backwards into the shadows, but the Doctor’s hand kept her in place.
‘No,’ said Isaac. The African was nearly out of her seat.
‘The Daleks’ hallucinatory weaponry. Don’t let them distract you, lieutenant.’
The other members of the crew swung around, glanced at them, turned back to their controls. Only the pilot, a plump redheaded woman, was still staring. ‘Admiral,’ she said, ‘how do you know they’re hallucinations?’
‘Because,’ said Isaac, without looking around, ‘that’s my wife.’
The Doctor and Benny glanced at one another. ‘Just pretend you’re not really here,’ said the Time Lord.
‘Why not?’ said Benny, more hysterically than she would have ideally liked. ‘That’s what they’re doing.’
The pilot yelled as the controls caught fire. She snatched an extinguisher from a hidden panel.
‘Options,’ shouted Isaac.
‘We can make another attack run,’ said the lieutenant.
‘But it’ll leave us helpless. We can pull out of the battle — we might be able to limp back home.’
‘Right,’ said Isaac. ‘I have a better idea.’
The Doctor raised his head suddenly, frowning, as though listening to something.
‘The Daleks will expect us to retreat. So we’ll give them a surprise.’ He was moving his hands over the controls, inputting a course. ‘What do you think, helm?’
The redhead grinned, fanning away the smoke from her controls. ‘Worth a shot, sir.’
The ship lurched once more as they moved onto their new course. And suddenly Benny saw what it was that had been outside the picture.
There was a fat purple moon