Doctor Who_ The Algebra of Ice - Lloyd Rose [39]
‘Not very well? It was like something out of Wodehouse, only not funny.’
Ethan gloomily flopped into the armchair. ‘What am I supposed to do when he publishes my address for all and sundry to visit?’
‘Oh,’ the Doctor said casually, ‘I’ll just have to sabotage his publication. Send in a worm so he can’t send anything out. Erase his mailing list. Delete certain files.’
Ethan was impressed. ‘How long will that take?’
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‘If I use the TARDIS computers, about ten minutes.’ The Doctor raised his hat and was gone.
‘Hang on –’ Ethan called, but the only response was the sound of the downstairs door closing.
‘Ah,’ said Ace. ‘Well.’
‘When will he be back?’
She shut the door. ‘Hard to say, really.’
‘Look. He told me he was an alien. All right? You don’t have to pretend any longer.’
‘I wasn’t pretending!’ she said defensively. ‘I only left some things out.’
‘That’s a pretty big leave-out, someone being extraterrestrial.’
‘I knew he’d tell you when he felt like it.’
‘Oh he did. He happened to feel like it during the interval of a concert, in the bar.’
‘Kind of odd, that, since he doesn’t drink.’
‘Well, what does he do? Skip about the universe performing good deeds like some boy scout?’
‘Yeah. And he’s been more use than you’ll ever be, so you can shut up.’
‘What about harm? Does he ever do harm? Or is he some sort of angel?’
‘Only by accident,’ she said sullenly. ‘Everyone does some harm. Except maybe,’ she added nastily, ‘people who hide in their flats all the time.’
‘Right. Let’s go back to the circle tonight. Maybe this time I’ll get to lose a hand.’
‘You’re a snotty little loser, aren’t you?’
He was on his feet. ‘If this Doctor of yours is such a genius, why does he travel with a stupid girl like you?’
‘Get stuffed!!’
‘Screw you!’
‘Creep!’
‘Idiot!!’
‘Wanker!’
‘Bitch!’
And then they were in each other’s arms, rolling on the floor, jerking at their clothes. For a few minutes things were clumsy and bumpy, then, all at once, they became deliciously slow. Well, Ace thought in happy surprise, who’d have guessed?
CHAPTER TEN
When, forty minutes later, the Doctor trotted up the stairs and knocked on the door, there was a scrambling inside. ‘Hang on a minute,’ Ace called. Humming quietly to himself, the Doctor hung on considerably more than a minute until Ethan opened the door. He was flushed and damp and his shirt was buttoned crookedly. ‘Dear me,’ the Doctor thought. He considered a number of remarks
– ‘Am I interrupting?’ ‘Your shirt isn’t buttoned properly.’ ‘How’s Ace?’ – but none of them seemed quite appropriate.
‘All done,’ he said cheerfully, then realised that wasn’t exactly appropriate either. ‘Mr Molecross has been hobbled,’ he went on quickly. ‘Nothing will be revealed. About you. That is, about your address.’
‘Oh. Thanks.’
There was a pause.
‘Ace still here?’
‘Oh. Yeah. Of course. Come in.’
The Doctor did, pretending not to notice the overturned coffee cups and other evidence of energetic activity. Ace came into the room, smiling awkwardly, her face red from a quick scrubbing. ‘Hello, Professor.’
‘Hello, Ace.’
Another pause.
‘Erm,’ Ace felt around in her pocket, ‘I’ve got this for you.’ She gave him the paper with the copied numbers and letters on it. ‘You weren’t around last night, and you were in such a hurry this morning, and then what with the Molecross stuff –’
‘Yes, yes,’ said the Doctor, glancing at the paper. ‘Hm. Definitely a number plate. I don’t see how it connects with anything in which we’re interested, but it’s worth investigating. Later, however.’ He handed it back to her. ‘I’d like to get you started first, Mr Amberglass.’
‘Right,’ said Ethan brightly.
Musing over the last few hours as he drove along the A20, Molecross wasn’t best pleased with his behaviour. Research, not human interaction, was his 84
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strong point. He’d been far too impulsive when he ought to have thought things through. That he had actually seen the Doctor – the Doctor! – three times and got nothing from it was unforgivable. He should