Doctor Who_ The Algebra of Ice - Lloyd Rose [37]
‘Yes, I know,’ said Ethan, ashamed of his quip.
‘You were there too.’
‘Yeah. Only it wasn’t so. . . ’ Ethan trailed off. He thought of the withered hoe handle. ‘How did. . . Why. . . ?’
‘Apparently I fell with my hand actually on one of the lines,’ Molecross said matter-of-factly. ‘Otherwise I was unharmed.’
In spite of himself, Ethan felt bad for Molecross. He didn’t quite know what to do. ‘Tea?’
78
The Algebra of Ice
‘Seriously,’ Molecross said when they were seated, he in the armchair and Ethan at the computer table, ‘how do you find anything in this mess?’
‘I manage.’
Molecross peered around, stopped at the piano. ‘You’re a musician?’
‘Mathematician.’
‘Ah.’ Molecross daintily sipped his tea. ‘So tell me, how do you know the Doctor?’
‘I was in hospital,’ Ethan said, surprised at his own quick thinking.
‘Not that doctor. The Doctor.’
‘Who?’
‘He visited you,’ said Molecross impatiently. ‘I saw him there.’
‘I was drugged out. I don’t recall any visitors.’
Molecross eyed him suspiciously. Ethan finally remembered exactly who he was. ‘You’re the chap with the webzine.’
‘ Molecross’s Miscellany of the Mysterious and Misunderstood. Who,’ Molecross looked even more suspicious, ‘told you I was a journalist?’
‘No one. I remembered your website.’
‘Really?’ Molecross was childishly pleased. ‘You read me?’
‘Yeah, I read about the crop circle, and so I went out to see what it was about.’
‘And did you?’
‘No. It was kind of like something fell on my head.’
‘Hm,’ Molecross mused. ‘Perhaps the Doctor was just checking on everyone who’d been in the circle.’
‘This circle’s a big story then?’ Ethan said casually.
‘The biggest. But I can’t give any details.’
‘No, no, of course not. But was it really worth knocking me up in the middle of the night for?’
‘The press never sleeps,’ Molecross said solemnly. ‘Even as we talk, the mystery might be unfolding further.’
‘The circle mystery?’
‘Strictly speaking, it’s not a circle. There! I’ve said too much! It’s me who should be asking the questions.’
‘Well,’ Ethan said, ‘I didn’t see anything and I didn’t hear anything and I didn’t feel anything.’ Molecross sighed, then frowned, thinking. His presence was beginning to make Ethan jumpy. ‘Well, you’ve got your story. Sorry I wasn’t more help.’
Molecross ignored this, still frowning. ‘Can I confide in you?’
Chapter Nine
79
‘No,’ said Ethan. ‘Everyone keeps thinking I don’t have a life and barging in here to give me one but I do have a life or at least as much of one as I want, so just leave.’
‘I think there’s a government conspiracy and that the Doctor is helping. His involvement with Earth affairs goes back decades, you know.’
‘Yeah?’ Maybe there was some use to be got from this idiot yet. ‘I didn’t know.’
‘Oh yes. He’s not of this Earth, you know.’
‘A spaceman?’
‘I prefer “extraterrestrial”. Also, he travels through time, not just space.’
‘What’s he look like?’
‘Not like the clichés at all. He looks human. Only he changes.’
‘Changes how?’
‘Changes his body. He’s not always the same person.’
‘Mm hm.’ said Ethan. They were definitely playing with the pixies now.
‘He has a reputation for being an intergalactic do-gooder,’ Molecross went on. ‘But I’ve always thought there was something suspicious about his ties to the establishment. What if he’s helping Them deceive Us?’
‘About what?’
‘Everything that suits them. This experiment that mutilated me, for instance.
They don’t want us to know.’
‘But you know.’
Molecross nodded grimly. ‘And they keep constant tabs on me.’
‘Why haven’t they just killed you?’
‘It would arouse suspicion.’
‘Among whom? Nobody else knows anything.’
‘But they would if I were killed.’
‘Not if they hid your body and destroyed your records. I don’t see how it matters whether you’re killed or not.’
‘Well it does,’ said Molecross sullenly.
‘No it doesn’t.’
Molecross’s eyes narrowed. ‘I understand. You must work for the government yourself.’
Ethan had been waiting his whole career for the opportunity to use his cover story,