Doctor Who_ The Algebra of Ice - Lloyd Rose [81]
‘Perhaps they can’t do it,’ the Doctor breathed, half to himself. ‘Perhaps they haven’t enough power after all, even with the bridge.’
‘How did that happen? The computations being completed?’
‘In a way, it was my fault. Just as this is my fault for being so smug and certain.’ His fingers dug into Ethan’s arm. ‘They’re trying to open a door to annihilation. I was supposed to stop them. Stop them!’
His voice cracked in anguish. Ethan tried to think of something useful to say but couldn’t. He concentrated on keeping his feet as he slipped and stumbled on; the Doctor was as agile as a snowshoe rabbit.
‘Do you see Ace?’ he said agitatedly. ‘I hope she hasn’t gone onto the ice.’
‘She’s not stupid.’
‘Hardly. But she’s extremely impulsive. If she runs into Brett, the least he’ll get is a broken jaw.’
‘Brett?’ said Ethan sickly.
‘Obviously he arranged the new site. He’ll be there to greet them.’
‘But won’t he get fried, or withered, or whatever happens?’
‘I don’t think he cares.’
They had come to the edge of the pond. ‘Perhaps it’s not big enough,’ Ethan said without much conviction.
‘’Tis enough, ’twill serve. Ace!’
‘No need to shout.’ She peeked out from behind the spreading branches of a spruce. ‘You two are well exposed out there.’
A bit shamefacedly, they joined her. A load of snow slid from a branch and landed on the Doctor. He bore it with dignity.
‘They’re no lower,’ Ethan said, eyes on the sky.
The Doctor closed his eyes and let out a long breath. Ethan looked around.
‘Where’s Ace?’
‘Oh no,’ the Doctor whispered. ‘She must have spotted Brett.’
‘Where!’
‘I don’t see him. Do you?’
‘No,’ said Ethan frantically. He pointed. ‘What’s that? That hut.’
Chapter Nineteen
167
‘It’s where the skaters change their shoes.’
They started running.
Brett was, in fact, standing on the other side of the hut, his eyes alert and bright. He had been staring at the ice so long he was beginning to feel as if he weren’t really seeing it, so he glanced away – just as something hurled itself into him and knocked him over.
‘You’re done, you bastard!’ cried a young female voice. ‘You’re past tense!’
and a fist slammed into his face. Brett seized her wrist, bewildered – who was this girl, and why was she attacking him? She jerked back and to her feet, then kicked him in the head. He rolled away and she landed on his back, got a handful of hair and started pounding his face into the snow. He rolled again and grabbed for her as she fell. She was screaming obscenities, and when he caught her wrist she lunged forward, grabbed his ear in her teeth and ripped.
Brett yelled. It was like fighting an animal. He knocked her away and held her down.
‘Who are you, you little bitch!’
‘I’m the frigging angel of frigging death,’ she snarled. ‘Say your prayers, scumbag!’
Brett hit her, but this turned out to be a mistake since he had to let go of one of her wrists and she went right for his throat. He couldn’t believe how strong she was. He grabbed her wrist again and she switched her grip to his collar and pulled him down to her teeth.
‘Ace!’
For just a second, she was distracted, and that second was all Brett needed.
He hit her awkwardly, managed to stand and stumbled away. Choking and spitting, Ace started to get up, but the Doctor and Ethan each caught an arm.
‘Ace, Ace,’ the Doctor’s burr was soft and calming, ‘no more, Ace.’
‘Go after him!’ she screamed, trying to rise, slipping in the snow.
‘How badly are you hurt?’ said Ethan.
‘You’ve let him go, you’ve let him go!’ She began to sob in rage. The Doctor stroked her hair.
‘He’s much bigger than you, Ace. It was only a matter of time till he won.’
‘I’d have killed him! He ought to be dead!’
‘Yes, yes.’ The Doctor pulled her head to his chest and she sobbed against him. Ethan fell back, watching them. ‘It’s all right. They couldn’t get through.
He can’t do any more harm.’
‘He ought to be dead,’ she repeated, and wailed like a child.
Something flashed at the edge of Ethan’s vision. He looked at