Doctor Who_ The Algebra of Ice - Lloyd Rose [21]
‘It’s winter out there,’ he pointed out. ‘Besides, we don’t know where it is.’
Ace jumped up. ‘But we can find out. Use your computer.’
Chapter Five
45
‘I don’t see how listings for crop circles in general can help us find this particular one,’ he objected, but he called up a search engine, entered ‘crop circle sightings’, and started going through the list. After eleven screens of sightings and dates, none of which was current, and a lot of rubbish, Ace began to think this wasn’t going to work after all. Then she spotted a listing whose description included the phrase ‘Updated Daily’.
‘That one,’ she pointed, and Ethan accessed the site for Molecross’s Miscellany of the Mysterious and Misunderstood.
There was some difficulty about getting a car. Ethan, not at all to Ace’s surprise, couldn’t drive. And when they got to the Marble Arch rental office, Ace discovered that she’d mislaid the licence the Doctor had provided for her. Furious argument on her part while Ethan stood as far away as possible looking at the wall, resulted in nothing. She stormed out with him in tow.
‘There’s no problem,’ she said. ‘We’ll take the train.’
‘The train?’ He sounded as if she had suggested swimming down the river to Greenwich.
‘Don’t tell me you’ve got train phobia?’
‘That would be agoraphobia, and no I don’t. Only I don’t like being in crowds.’
‘How d’you get to work then?’
‘I walk. It’s only two miles. And if I work late, the buses are emptier and I can take one home.’
Ace gritted her teeth and pulled him along the pavement.
‘I sit upstairs,’ he explained.
‘I just bet you do,’ she muttered, trying to remember which station they needed. ‘Well, you’ll just have to hold it together because – Here!’ She stopped and stared at him. ‘You’ve never been on a train have you?’
‘I’m telling you,’ he said earnestly, ‘this is not a good idea.’
He turned out to be right, although Ace would rather have sat through a Barry Manilow concert than admit it. The train broke down, and after waiting for an hour they were put on a bus. She took the aisle seat while Ethan pressed himself against the window as if he’d like to ooze through it. The bus took them to another bus stop, where they sat in a dirty café and drank weak tea and took turns going outside to see whether the second bus was coming. They did this for two hours.
When the bus finally arrived, she sat on the aisle and Ethan did his thing with the window again. The driver somehow got lost and took them into a village 46
The Algebra of Ice
with a roundabout too small for the bus to get round. Finally they reached the town nearest the crop-pattern site. Ace called a taxi.
By this time it was well after dark, and the taxi took its time. Ethan hadn’t spoken for the last couple of hours; now he stood on the pavement with his arms crossed tight, head down, shivering. As the trip had progressed, she had begun to appreciate how hard it was on him. He never complained, just become more and more still. She had to give him credit.
He finally spoke, ‘Are we going out to look at this crop circle in the dark?’
‘There’s a moon coming up. Look.’ He didn’t. ‘Listen,’ she said, ‘I’m sorry. I really am. It’s been an awful trip, I know. But honestly, now that we’re here, don’t you think we may as well go see the thing?’
He sighed. She waited. After a moment, he shrugged his shoulders. Ace grinned. ‘It’ll be fun, you’ll see.’
He didn’t respond.
The negotiations with the taxi driver were protracted. He couldn’t understand why they wanted to go to an out-of-the-way field in the cold, and when Ace explained it was a star-gazing exploit he wondered where her telescope was. He complained that he was unlikely to pick up a return fare. Ace offered to pay him a double rate. This cheered him, and in a short while they were standing by the side of the road watching his tail-lights disappear.
‘Well,’ Ethan said. ‘Here we are.’
‘Not yet.’ She took out a penlight and the map she’d printed out.
‘You might have brought a torch.’
‘I didn’t know it was going to be dark when