Doctor Who_ The Algebra of Ice - Lloyd Rose [71]
The Algebra of Ice
knocked out. ‘What did you do?’ Brett was screaming. ‘You little bastard, what did you do!’ He was beating the Doctor’s head against the ice. Very direct chap, the Doctor thought dizzily, not that he hadn’t already gathered that.
‘Too late, Brett,’ he gasped. ‘It’s over.’
‘Who are you!’ Brett grabbed his throat. The Doctor choked. Brett hit him savagely in the face. ‘Do you know what you’ve done?’ His voice was rising hysterically. ‘Do you have any idea –’ He broke off abruptly. ‘Why, of course,’
he continued calmly, as if they’d just been introduced at a party, ‘you must be the Doctor.’
A few yards away, what light there was vanished. There was no sound, but the Doctor thought he felt a ripple of shock. ‘Don’t go over there,’ he advised Brett. Then he realised the shock wave was something else. ‘More to come.’
‘What?’
‘Hold on,’ said the Doctor, and surged towards the disruption.
He wasn’t moving, but Brett felt him go. Astonished, he fell across the Doctor again and gripped his shoulders. He had never had to hold onto anything so tightly in his life. Beneath him, the Doctor was stiff and mute. Brett wrestled with him, with his stillness, with his leaving. They want him, he thought suddenly, why am I holding him, I should let him go. But even as he fell back, he heard the wind, and everything was peaceful.
‘Goodness,’ said the Doctor, ‘that was intense, wasn’t it?’
‘You are the Doctor, I presume. If you’re not, you’re a very weird creature indeed.’
‘I am a very weird creature indeed,’ the Doctor sat up and looked around for his hat, ‘and I am also the Doctor.’ He located the hat, put it on, then raised it politely. Brett hit him and knocked him over.
‘Aren’t you cold?’ The Doctor used his scarf to wipe blood from his lip. ‘We’re both rather wet: I should think you were freezing. Why don’t we get off this glacier? Only a suggestion, of course. Don’t mean to rush you.’
‘What did you do?’ said Brett levelly.
The Doctor sat up again. His hat had stayed on. ‘Soup tin lid.’
‘What?’
‘Soup tin lid,’ the Doctor said patiently. ‘I threw one onto the ice. Homely solution, I know, but pi is pi. Did you ever hear the joke about the American boy who returns from college to his illiterate family, and when they ask what he’s learned he answers, ‘PiR+sp2*sp,’ and his mother says, ‘You idiot. Cornbread are square, pie are ro-’
Brett hit him again. He hit him for a long time.
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
‘Good God.’ Unwin rose unsteadily. ‘Is that Amberglass? Oh,’ he said as Brett dropped his burden on the floor, ‘no. Who is he?’
‘That,’ said Brett dryly, ‘is the Doctor.’
‘Him?’ Unwin gaped at the small figure, Brett had certainly been at him.
Unwin could hardly see his face for blood. ‘That little chap? It can’t be.’
‘Oh it can, believe me.’ Brett went to the stove, rubbing his cold hands. ‘He ruined their entry with a soup tin lid.’
‘A what?’
‘A soup tin lid!’ Brett yelled.
‘But I thought. . . ’ Unwin sat heavily on the sofa. ‘I mean. . . I’d have thought he’d use some extraordinary alien machine.’
‘No.’
‘Are you absolutely –’
‘Feel his pulse,’ Brett said impatiently. ‘Apparently he has two hearts.’
Unwin declined. He continued to stare at the Doctor, who lay unmoving except for the rise and fall of his chest. ‘What are we going to do with him?’
‘They want him dead, but first I’d like to get his advice on a few matters.’
Unwin blanched. ‘Sherry, please. . . ’
‘You can go for a walk,’ Brett said shortly. ‘You can drink yourself into a stupor. I can hit you with the poker and knock you unconscious.’ Unwin flinched.
‘Actually, I don’t believe you have to worry. He seemed quite chatty.’
I HAVE THE DOCTOR
WE HAD HIM NEARLY
NOW I HAVE HIM HE WILL DIE
SOON
YES WHY COULDN’T YOU ENTER
CIRCLE
WAS THAT ALL
NOT CERTAIN OF POWER LEVEL NECESSARY
SO YOU MIGHT NOT HAVE BEEN ABLE TO COME THROUGH ANYWAY
148
The Algebra of Ice
YES
BUT WE CANT BE SURE
FINISH THE COMPUTATIONS
PERHAPS THE DOCTOR WILL HELP
DESTROY HIM HE IS DANGEROUS
Yes indeed,