Doctor Who_ The Bodysnatchers - Mark Morris [92]
Instantly the man shuddered and staggered, almost falling headlong out of the alcove. Sam and the Doctor rushed forward to help him, nearly going down themselves under his considerable weight. The man's eyes opened wide and his arms began to flail.'Get away from me!' he yelled, his voice raw with panic. 'Get away from me, you fiends!'
The Doctor stepped smartly forward. Sam half expected him to slap the hysterical man across the face, but instead he reached out, caught hold of each of the man's flailing arms just above the elbow, and, showing remarkable strength for one so slight, clamped them to his sides.
The man stared at him, boggle-eyed, his face slack, almost stupid, with fear. A string of saliva drooled from his bottom lip before thinning and breaking and falling to the ground.
'Mr Stoker,' the Doctor said quietly, companionabry. 'Mr Stoker, can you hear me?'
The man stared at him a moment longer, then blinked and nodded.
'Good. Now, Mr Stoker, you're among friends. Do you understand?
Friends.You have nothing to fear from us.We're here to help you. But to do that we need you to help us . We need you to remain calm. If we're going to get out of here, we need everyone to remain calm. We all need to help each other. Do you understand that, Mr Stoker? You do want to get out of this place, don't you?'
The big man blinked, then whispered, 'Yes.'
'Good,' said the Doctor, beaming. He let go of Stoker's arms and held out a hand. 'I'm the Doctor and this is Sam.'
'Nice to meet you,' said Sam. She felt slightly grudging of the fact that the Doctor had taken away the task he'd held her responsible for before she had even had the chance to exercise that responsibility. However, she had to admit that part of her resentment came from the knowledge that she would have had neither the strength nor the authority to placate the man as the Doctor had done.
With Stoker quiescent, the Doctor moved on to the next alcove. There were a dozen people to awaken in all, eleven of whom were men.
Progress was slow but steady. All the Zygons' captives awoke disorientated and frightened, though none reacted as violently as Stoker had done. Employing the Doctor's methods as best she could, Sam soothed and cajoled and reassured, and though she couldn't help feeling like an inexperienced sheepdog in charge of a flock of rather nervous sheep, she was secretly pleased at how the men responded to her and were calmed by her.
The Doctor left Emmeline and Nathaniel Seers to the end. He awoke Emmeline first, greeting her with the charming smile and silken voice that Sam had observed him employ often in the past to get them out of awkward situations. She knew, not without a slight sense of superiority, that this kind of treatment would have caused most of her mates at Coal Hill to go weak at the knees. However, Emmeline had rather more to think about than the attentions of a dashing stranger.
'Mama,' she gasped, blinking at the Doctor. 'Where's Mama?'
She staggered forward.The Doctor held out his arms to catch her should she fall.'I don't know,' he said gently.'What's the last thing you remember?'
She looked bewildered, as if her mind was a complete blank, then horror crossed her face. 'My father,' she whispered. 'My father killed her. He had...' She held out her hands and looked at them as if they appalled her.A murmur of disquiet rippled around the group that the Doctor had awoken, most of whom were employees of Nathaniel Seers.
'No,' the Doctor said, raising his voice to be heard above the mounting hubbub. 'It wasn't your father who killed her. Your father is here, as much a prisoner as you are.' He indicated the cubicle beside Emmeline's.
Emmeline turned, saw her father for the first time, gave a shriek and clutched at the Doctor.
'Listen to me, all of you,' said the Doctor,