Doctor Who_ Silver Nemesis - Kevin Clarke [21]
The music swung out into the sky, into the ether, into space. It bounced, a tiniest fraction of a second later, off the moon, and travelled billions of miles from star to star, across the universe.
‘Monstrous,’ said Ace in delight as the cassette turned silently in her ghetto blaster. ‘That should keep them busy.’
The Doctor chuckled in agreement. ‘I love a jam session,’ he said. ‘Come on.’ They hurried forward, Ace carrying the tape player. Suddenly they were stopped short by the astonishing sight which met their eyes. Two skinheads with very red faces and wearing only their underpants, were hanging upside down, bound and gagged, from the tree in front of them. Overcoming their surprise, the Doctor and Ace approached them. The Doctor produced his penknife and cut the gag from the mouth of the nearest one. ‘Who on earth did this to you?’ asked the Doctor in amazement.
‘Social workers,’ came the terrified reply.
Only a few hundred yards away, the social workers themselves were creeping slowly and with extreme care through the woods towards the crypt, when they came upon a gleaming silver structure. It looked to Richard the size of a palace. Although neither he nor Lady Peinforte had any way of identifying it as the Cyber spacecraft, their instincts connected it with the tall silver creatures without need for even so much as a glance passing between them.
Thus they had begun to make their way slowly and silently through the trees and bushes which surrounded it before even seeing the two large identical men wearing silver ornaments on their heads – neither Lady Peinforte nor Richard possessed the information to be able to identify these as headphones – who were evidently guarding it.
They continued skirting through the undergrowth and were almost past the spacecraft when they were frozen by the nearby roar of a lion. It was a casual, rather than a belligerent, roar, but to two people who had never heard one before it was extremely disturbing. Richard immediately fell to his knees. Even Lady Peinforte was rattled. She kicked him and, as ever torn between his obeisances to God and herself, he took the line of least resistance and rose reluctantly to his feet, looking about him in terror.
‘My lady...’ he began in a whisper.
‘Of course I heard it,’ Lady Peinforte interrupted tersely. ‘Am I deaf?’
‘It sounds like a bear,’ whimpered Richard. ‘But worse.’
Lady Peinforte unwrapped the arrow and examined it.
It was buzzing and now almost transluscent, pulsating with an ever brighter light.
‘See,’ she said urgently. ‘We are near the Nemesis.’ She wrapped the arrow in its cloth again, although even this could not now conceal the extraordinary quality of light radiating from it. ‘Come,’ she said with her usual firmness.
Richard hesitated. Lady Peinforte raised an eyebrow threateningly. ‘The bear will not pursue us. Such things happen only in the theatre.’ She marched forward. As usual, Richard followed reluctantly. Emerging from the forest, they stopped, stunned.
Ahead of them, a small herd of giraffes grazed peacefully.
Richard found his voice. ‘What creatures are these?’ he asked in horror.
This time Lady Peinforte was noticeably shaken. ‘I know not,’ she admitted.
‘They will eat us.’ Richard gave way at last to complete panic. He fell to his knees, this time in front of Lady Peinforte. ‘I beg you my lady, return us to our own time.
England now is full of terrors.’
Lady Peinforte immediately regained control of herself at the suggestion. ‘You are mad,’ she replied coldly.
‘Return without the Nemesis? Never. And without my knowledge,’ she added, seeing the desperate look in his eyes, ‘you cannot return at all. I tell thee Richard, either you’ll assist me and we gain it or I will leave you here for ever. Now come. I think they are peaceful.’
Richard