Doctor Who_ The Algebra of Ice - Lloyd Rose [23]
‘I’m here to help you,’ she said weakly.
‘And how exactly,’ he yelled, ‘will you help me by being frozen to a black husk?’
She was too cowed and bewildered to respond. The Doctor hurried around his circle, checking for gaps.
‘Perhaps you ought to tell us what’s going on,’ Ethan said. The Doctor ignored him. ‘Look. . . Doctor, Batgirl here may be used to this kind of thing but I’m way out of my depth. I didn’t ask you people into my life. You brought me the damned photographs, you involved me. So you can bloody well tell me what’s happening.’
The Doctor took off his hat and ran a hand through his hair. He looked at the sky. ‘I don’t know when it will happen,’ he said. ‘When it does, whatever you do, stay inside the circle.’
‘What is “it”?’ said Ethan.
‘I don’t know.’
‘Are you always this gnomic?’
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The Algebra of Ice
‘Please be quiet,’ the Doctor said. He had recovered his temper but sounded horribly tense. ‘I don’t know what is going to happen and I don’t know when and I wish I were by myself. Just stay in the circle.’
‘But what good’s the circle?’ Ace asked, a bit hesitantly. ‘It’s just a shallow ditch. Something could step right over –’
‘Hang on,’ said Ethan. ‘Not a square or a trapezoid or a triangle, but a circle.’
The Doctor nodded. ‘No straight lines.’
‘Very good. Yes. We should be immune.’
Ace sidled up to Ethan. ‘What are you two talking about?’ she whispered.
‘Maths.’
‘Great.’
‘There was a man out here last night,’ said the Doctor. ‘Adrian Molecross.’
‘Molecross?’ said Ace. ‘But that’s the bloke who runs the website that got us here.’
‘You may have noticed he hasn’t posted anything today. He’s in hospital at UNIT HQ.’
‘Why? What happened to him?’
‘He wasn’t protected.’
Ace bit her lip. ‘Is he a black husk?’ she said in a small voice.
‘Just his hand.’
‘So,’ Ethan said carefully, ‘you’re saying that this circle will protect us?’
‘I think so.’
‘Right. Good. Just so I have that clear.’
‘We’ll be all right,’ Ace told him as the Doctor nervously checked his furrow again.
‘What makes you say that?’
‘He’s the Doctor.’
‘He’s just drawn a circle in the dirt and told us that means we aren’t going to die.’
‘It does mean that,’ she said fiercely. ‘You don’t understand.’
‘Obviously not.’
‘I think we should all stand at the centre,’ said the Doctor. ‘That puts us a good 15 feet from the perimeter.’
They huddled together in an uncomfortable little knot. The Doctor, Ethan noticed, was wearing neither coat nor gloves. And his breath didn’t mist in the freezing air. I’ve got myself into something all right, he thought, a little dizzily.
I hope it doesn’t kill me. He looked at the moon, still shining peacefully, and Chapter Six
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the still and brilliant stars. This isn’t going to happen. Whatever it is. We’re just going to stand here, freezing, till dawn and then –
Blackness slammed across the sky. Ethan jerked, knocking into Ace, and fell down.
‘Ethan?’ Ace groped for him. She couldn’t see anything, yet the darkness had an almost shining intensity, as if it were itself some form of light. She touched Ethan’s back, searched for her penlight.
‘No, Ace.’ The Doctor’s hand was on her shoulder.
‘But I think he’s hurt.’
‘It’s only one of his headaches. He’ll be all right. No light.’
‘Why? What’s happening?’
‘Something wants to come through.’
Ace realised that her teeth were clacking together violently. She was freezing.
Or maybe it was terror. The Doctor’s hand remained firmly on her shoulder, anchoring her to the memory of light and warmth. She rubbed inadequately at Ethan’s back and tried to say, ‘We’re with you,’ but nothing came out of her mouth. Around them the silence was violent. ‘Professor,’ she tried to whisper.
His hand suddenly left her shoulder. Immediately she twisted and grabbed at him, catching his left leg. ‘Professor!’ He was still, but she clung to him as if he were being ripped away from her. ‘Answer me! Ethan, help! Help me.’
‘What is it?’ he gasped.