Doctor Who_ The Devil Goblins From Neptune - Keith Topping [4]
Surely the potential for a zero-option situation there is stronger?'
'Paraguay will be kicking-off big time, but not for another year. The Chinese and the Russians are still not ready for war, either with each other, or with anyone else.
'Do we get involved?'
'Is Uncle Sam an American?' Control's eyes were grey and hard. 'We'll show no hesitation when the situation can be used to our advantage. Let Styles and that Texan jerk Alcott organise their conferences. We know where it'll all end.' Control flicked through the file. 'British UNIT worries us. They're the most experienced on the planet, and we need to get somebody in there.'
'Meaning me?'
Control didn't answer. He pulled three photographs from the manila folder. The first was of a woman with red hair and bright, lively eyes. 'Dr Elizabeth Shaw, born Stoke-on-Trent, 1943.
Research scientist at Cambridge, seconded to UNIT last summer.
Meteor expert, medical doctor, quantum physicist...'
'Pretty girl,' said Bruce, reaching for the photograph.
'...with an IQ of over two hundred. Dangerous.' Control released the photograph to Bruce, then tapped the second, a man in uniform. 'Brigadier Alistair Gordon Lethbridge-Stewart.
Head of British UNIT. Don't let the reputation fool you. Brilliant career in Africa and Aden, a great leader. His encounters with extraterrestrials will make him an extremely dangerous opponent. If we're to stand any chance of cracking them, we need to dispose of Lethbridge-Stewart.
With terminal force.'
'And the other one?' asked Bruce.
'Ah.' The meaningless interjection and the length of the ensuing pause were enough to pique Bruce's interest.
'Scientific Adviser, said Control at last, standing and walking towards the window 'As you'll see, we've not got much on him'
Bruce stared at a typewritten sheet of six lines, attached to four reports with observations by agents in the field. 'This is ridiculous,' he said at length. 'There's nothing in this but speculation. "There are strong rumours at UNIT HQ that the Doctor is an extraterrestrial"...' Bruce looked up, and saw a dark shadow flicker across Control's face as he turned away from the New York skyline. Bruce shook his head. 'We don't even know his name,' he said.
Control gave a short, harsh laugh. 'We know much more than that.'
PART 1:
ANY FRONTIER
CHAPTER 1
With a dark, ominous drone of rotor blades, the helicopters buzzed over the festival site. To those inside, Viscount Rose's estate was a sea change of colour: bright, gaudy, Day-Glo shades of purple, yellow, and red, splashes of paint that ebbed and flowed to an organic rhythm.
The helicopters worried Nick Blair. There was something sinister and almost Wagnerian about the way they had appeared in convoy from out of the clouds, and scudded across the sky, swooping close to the stage.
Stoned Weekend, who had been entertaining the crowd with their interpretation of southern boogie, had stopped mid-song. 'Look, man,' the singer had said dismissively. 'I can't handle dive-bombing fascists. This isn't Vietnam. There weren't these distractions at Tanglewood...'
Half the crowd - those whose brains hadn't been numbed by the sun, the loud music, and the drugs - had coughed up a reaction that could have been a fists-in-the-air cheer of anti-establishment solidarity or a bemused murmur of 'Where the hell's Tanglewood, man?'
The entire festival was in danger of becoming a farce.
Nick Blair blamed himself. Well, no, he blamed the expectations of an audience who'd seen Woodstock - The Movie and thought that was what Redborough '70 was going to be all about. But, unfortunately, these things cost money.
The bands who sang about peace, love, and freedom needed to support their country estates and heroin habits; the guys who'd built the stage were on union rates and the local council wanted a piece of the action just for allowing the thing to go ahead.
Nick, a veteran of two Isle of Wight’s, had been employed to bring Viscount Rose's vision to life. But even Rose's pockets had a bottom, and that had been reached