Doctor Who_ The Also People - Ben Aaronovitch [12]
Bernice was thinking about that as she sat, cosy under the rag-quilt, secure between the Doctor and Roz, eating popcorn that tasted almost but not quite like fried banana. She was thinking that the Doctor was a master psychologist to design this scenario, to create this sense of warm conviviality. All of them together inside, terrible, violent forces outside.
She glanced to her left where Chris loomed at the end of the sofa. He was leaning forward slightly, his large face changing expression with every lightning flash. Roz looked relaxed and comfortable, smiling indulgently each time Chris yelled his appreciation of a particularly spectacular flash.
Bernice looked over at the Doctor, scrutinizing him in profile.
'You're not the Doctor I knew.' Mel this time, hesitating in the TARDIS doorway. 'You're a liar and a user and quite possibly a murderer too. I don't wish to know you.'
Bernice had learnt to accept the Doctor on his own terms: the lying, the using and, yes, the occasional bit of justifiable genocide. He was, after all, The Doctor; you accepted him on his own terms or not at all. Meeting Mel had been a shock, a window on the Doctor's past. Through this window Bernice had glimpsed a different person, as different to 'her' Doctor as her Doctor was from the ersatz Doctor Who created by Jason's adolescent imagination. A simpler character, thought Bernice, less terrifying and more 'human'. One that could enjoy a fishing trip, a bacon salad sandwich or the sound of rain against a window pane.
The Doctor seemed to sense her scrutiny and turned to look at her. For a moment Bernice was staring straight into his strange eyes.
She looked away quickly, uncertain of what she'd seen in them.
'How much of this storm is real?' asked Roz.
'That's a good question,' said the Doctor, 'given that this is a wholly artificial environment.'
'Who cares,' said Chris through a mouthful of popcorn.
'What do you think, Benny?' asked the Doctor. 'How much of this is real and how much of it manipulation?'
'God knows,' said Bernice quietly, thinking of a different question.
'Perhaps we'd better ask him then,' said the Doctor. 'House. Get God on the phone, will you.'
'God here,' said a voice.
'Goddess,' hissed Roz.
'If you prefer,' said the voice. 'Although around here God is generally considered to be a non-gender specific noun.'
Considering it was the voice of God it wasn't very impressive. Just a normal, fairly pleasant male voice that just happened to issue from every corner of the room simultaneously. It was an expressive voice though, managing to cram nuances of surprise, annoyance and world-weary cynicism into a single word – 'Doctor.'
'Hello, God,' said the Doctor.
'You're supposed to inform me when you arrive.'
'Am I?' said the Doctor in tones of clearly feigned innocence. 'There's nothing in the treaty about that.'
'As a courtesy?'
'Well, I didn't want to bother you,' said the Doctor. 'I know how busy you are. Running the world and everything. Let me just say how dazzling tonight's storm is. We're all enjoying it immensely.'
'I'm so glad you think so,' said God. 'By the way, who are your friends?'
'Silly me, forgetting my manners,' said the Doctor. 'God, this is Professor Bernice Summerfield, Adjudicator Secular Roslyn Inyathi Forrester and her Squire Christopher Cwej.'
Roz twitched so hard at the word 'Inyathi' that Bernice felt it. The small woman glanced quickly at the Doctor, who raised his eyebrow in reply.
'Pleased to meet you,' said God pleasantly. 'Any friend of the Doctor is hopefully a friend of mine.'
We're on good terms with a deity, thought Bernice; that makes a nice change.
'Do you control the sphere?' asked Chris.
'Yep,' said God. 'Although "manage" is probably a better word.'
'Where do you live?'
'Quite a lot of me is on Whynot but I'm pretty well diffused. I've got nodes all over the place.'
'So you're a computer?'
'Are you a mollusc?' asked God.
'Er, no,' said Chris.
'Then I'm not a computer,' said God, with a discernible amount of smugness.
Chris looked confused,