Doctor Who_ Sleepy - Kate Orman [35]
It was a few minutes before she heard someone else crying.
She looked around. It was Kylie SmithSmith. The little eight-year-old was sitting at the back of the room, crying almost soundlessly, just drawing a ragged breath from time to time.
Byerley was on his feet in an instant, wiping frantically at his face. ‘What is it, honey?’ he said, striding back to her.
Her voice was a tiny squeak. ‘I got the bug,’ she said. ‘I got it, Doctor St John.’
He took her hand, kneeling beside her. ‘It’s going to be all right. Let’s get you to the infirmary. Do your parents know you’re here?’
She shook her head. ‘Am I going to go to hell, Doctor St John?’
Byerley looked up at Cinnabar. ‘Not if I can help it,’ he said.
They’d managed to drum up a dozen people for the search party. Byerley had spent half an hour on the communicator calling everyone who’d reported telepathic ability.
‘I wasn’t too sure about this,’ said Chinoi. ‘When Byerley called, I thought, I don’t want everyone else knowing... But then I thought, all the other telepaths must know anyway, so... Sorry, I’m babbling.’
Benny patted the young man on the arm. ‘You’re doing fine. No, you’re doing brilliantly, all things considered.’ She swept her torch beam from side to side, between the fat tree-trunks, wishing for infrared goggles. Nearby, the torches carried by the other searchers made a pattern of stabbing lights.
‘You’re so tense,’ said the tall man.
‘I’m sure the Doctor’s just got caught up in doing something or other,’ she said, chewing her thumbnail. ‘He tends to get a bit carried away when he’s interested in something.’ The young man’s gaze was a bit much. She imagined those eyes peering into her head. ‘I’m worried as hell,’ she admitted. ‘But I suppose you know that.’
‘I’m trying not to peek,’ he said, looking embarrassed.
‘You’re sort of — broadcasting.’
‘I’ll bet I am,’ she muttered. ‘Can you sense anything?’
Chinoi didn’t answer. She waved her torch at him.
‘Hello?’
‘Sorry? No, nothing yet. Did you hear someone calling?’
She shook her head. He stopped, looking around. ‘I’m sure I... no, it’s the same as before.’ He turned to her, and she squinted as his torch beam crossed her face. ‘I keep hearing someone call my name.’
‘How long has that been going on for?’
‘A couple of days,’ he said. ‘What do you think it is? No, You don’t know. We have to find the Doctor.’ He turned and walked off into the darkness.
Benny made a face at his back. She was pleased when he didn’t notice.
They had three telepaths in the party, sniffing the night air with their minds. But she was the one who found the Doctor.
He was sitting on a mossy fallen tree, reading a book.
She almost shouted when he was suddenly illuminated by her torch beam, as though he’d come out of nowhere. He looked up at her, didn’t squint in the brilliant light. ‘What took you so long?’ he said.
Benny took a whistle from her pocket and blew three shrill blasts. ‘Are you all right?’ she asked.
The Doctor tucked his copy of Only Words into his pocket. ‘Yes. Did you bring Byerley?’
‘No, but I borrowed a couple of his nurses. Are you hurt?
What happened to you?’
She stopped short as her torch beam found Dot SmithSmith.
She was still standing there when the rest of the search team started to filter into the clearing. The Doctor watched impassively as Byerley’s assistants went to the woman on the ground, tried to get her to calm down enough so that they could get her onto the stretcher.
Benny dragged her eyes away, back to the Doctor.
‘I’m just a little tired of it,’ he said.
‘What happened?’ she whispered.
He got up from the fallen log. ‘She forced me here at gunpoint,’ he said, loudly enough for everyone in the clearing to hear him. ‘She wanted to read my mind.’
‘And what happened to her?’
‘Well,’ said the Doctor, ‘I’m rather afraid I let her.’
Zaniwe looked up as the Doctor’s American friend came into Dot’s office. ‘Hey,’ she said, trying to remember his name.
‘It’s Chris,’ he said absently. He