Doctor Who_ Storm Harvest - Mike Tucker [17]
Holding the lighter high she tried to see what it was that she had tripped over. She frowned. Someone had set up a desk. The floor was littered with textbooks, maps. She had just reached down to pick up one of the books when something moved at the back of the auditorium.
‘Who’s that?’
The flickering light made it impossible to make anything out. Brenda began to move up the stairs.
‘This is a restricted area. What the hell are you doing in here?’
She could hear something now. Breathing. Rasping and heavy. One of the shadows seemed too solid. She thrust the lighter forward and something darted through the edge of her vision. She got the impression of a rough hide. There was a smell; oily, musky.
Goose bumps suddenly ran up Brenda’s spine as she recalled the description the engineer had given of the monster she’d encountered in the service tunnels. She had mentioned a smell.
Suddenly frightened, Brenda began to back slowly down the stairs, her eyes raking through the dark. The breathing seemed louder now, it seemed to be all around her.
Brenda screamed as the video wall burst into life, the InterOceanic anthem blaring from the speakers. Eyes streaming, she tried to see 31
through the blaze of sudden light. There was a shape moving across the room, silhouetted against the screens. Brenda, turned to run, but something huge and powerful slammed into her.
The Doctor stepped into the restaurant and looked quickly around for Ace. She wasn’t there. Good. He hadn’t wanted her to wait for him.
Smoothing down his waistcoat and brushing fluff from the lapel of his burgundy jacket, he crossed to the bar and hoisted himself on to one of the stools. Catching the eye of the robot waiter he ordered himself a glass of wine and swivelled to watch the rest of the clientele.
As with all colony worlds, the bar was full of representatives of dozens of different species. Most of the humanoids were indeed human, but there was a fair percentage of Dreekans, Chimerons, Metalunans and Martians. A large pool bordered the bar, dolphins bobbing in the cool water. Elsewhere in the bar he could see a scattering of familiar alien shapes and one or two arachnid life forms that he couldn’t place; and judging by the noise coming from the table tennis room there was a party of Alpha Centaurians in the hotel.
‘Marvellous, isn’t it?’
The Doctor turned at the sound of a plummy voice behind him.
‘I’m sorry?’
A rotund man in a casual suit was lounging at a table near the bar, a bottle of wine in front of him. He waved expansively around the restaurant.
‘I said it’s marvellous, all this peace and harmony, all these species working together in the common pursuit of a single goal. Leisure.’
He raised his glass in a toast, took a good swig of his wine, and beckoned the Doctor over.
Plucking his own glass from the bar, the Doctor hopped off his stool and slid into a chair on the other side of the table. He held out his hand.
‘How do you do. I’m the Doctor and this...’ He gestured to his left and suddenly realised that Ace wasn’t with him. ‘This is where my young friend Ace will be joining us.’
The man shook his hand vigorously. ‘Edwin Bryce. Delighted to meet you.’
He pulled his chair in closer and refilled his glass. ‘Couldn’t help noticing you. So few people take the time to sit and look these days.’
‘Look?’ The Doctor smiled apologetically. ‘Look at what?’
‘Anything! Everything!’ Bryce tapped him on the knee. ‘I took one look at you and thought, Edwin, there’s a man of the world. There’s a man who knows a thing or two.’
The Doctor took a sip of wine. ‘You’re very perceptive Mr Bryce. It 32
wouldn’t surprise me if you’d seen a few things in your time.’
Bryce waved his hand airily and took a huge