Doctor Who_ Silver Nemesis - Kevin Clarke [10]
Such was the visitors’ interest that the materialization of the TARDIS a few yards away passed unnoticed. The Doctor and Ace stepped out. Ace sniffed the damp air as she looked around.
‘I’ve been here before,’ she announced.
‘Déjà vu?’ enquired the Doctor, interested. He had never been able to decide whether he considered it a phenomenon or an illusion.
‘No,’ said Ace, ‘with the school.’
The Doctor was cheered by this. ‘Oh good,’ he said, ‘I’ve not been since they were building the place. You’ll be able to remember the way round.’
‘Not really.’ Ace looked worried. ‘Windsor Castle is a big place.’
‘Quite right,’ agreed the Doctor. ‘What we need is a guide. Come on.’
The tour guide had by now marshalled the party, and led the way into the castle building, where the last of them were disappearing. The Doctor and Ace joined the back of the group and looked up with interest, as the rest were doing, at the ceiling as they passed into the building.
Their inability to speak Japanese, coupled with the guide’s soft vocal delivery, hindered the pair’s enjoyment of the finer points of the tour. The disappointment, however, was short-lived: within a minute the Doctor was tugging at Ace’s sleeve. ‘This way,’ he muttered. He nodded towards a door marked ‘No Entry’. Before Ace could react he was trying the handle: the door opened. The party began moving towards the next point of interest. Ace followed the Doctor through the door, which he closed softly behind them.
They found themselves in a dark corridor. The Doctor was already hurrying ahead. Catching up with him, Ace decided to voice her misgivings. ‘I really don’t think we should be doing this,’ she tried. It was without effect. They reached a crossroads between three corridors. The Doctor paused and looked about, clearly trying to get his bearings.
‘What do you think,’ he asked at his normal forth-right volume. ‘This way?’
‘I might be able to say if I knew where we were going,’
Ace whispered. But we didn’t actually cover the royal residential areas on the school trip.’
The Doctor, having made a decision, was already marching away in another direction. Ace, following, glimpsed a movement in the distance. She caught up with the Doctor and took his arm, warningly. She whispered loudly in his ear: ‘There’s someone coming.’
The Doctor was undeterred. ‘Look as if you own the place,’ he answered.
‘Do what?’
‘Never fails.’ He sailed on down the corridor, full of confidence. Ace tood a deep breath and followed.
As the figure neared, Ace’s reservations increased massively, turning to a sudden certainty of recognition.
‘Doctor!’ she said, urgently. The Doctor, however, continued. Ace pulled him into a doorway. ‘We own the place,’ he repeated.
Ace pointed silently at the woman approaching. It could now be seen that she was accompanied by a number of small dogs.
‘How annoying,’ said the Doctor. ‘I can’t place her for the life of me.’
Ace put her hand over his mouth to prevent any further sound as the Queen passed within a yard of them, a number of corgis playing around her feet. The Doctor struggled but Ace kept hold of him until the sound of the royal footsteps had faded, when the Doctor struggled free.
‘It’s all right, Ace,’ he said, desperately, keeping well clear of her. ‘I know her from somewhere.’
‘Of course you do,’ said Ace.
A second later the ancient stones of the castle were rent by an anguished cry.
‘Whaaat?’ shouted the Doctor ‘Why didn’t you say something?’
‘You wouldn’t let me,’ replied Ace, reasonably.
‘Her Majesty the Queen’s exactly who we need,’ the Doctor yelled. ‘Quick! After her.’
He bolted down the corridor after the Queen. Ace, naturally, followed.
Within seconds they arrived at a junction of other corridors. The Doctor stopped, lunged in one direction, thought better of it, and stopped again. He lunged in another, and stopped again. The ancient stone walls seemed to reflect his blankness mockingly. As Ace caught up with him, he noticed a third option. Immediately next to him was a door.