Doctor Who_ The Dying Days - Lance Parkin [106]
He walked into Smiths, checking the dozen or so shoppers. He paused at an empty newspaper rack.
'Excuse me,' he asked the nearest assistant, 'but - '
'Oh there aren't any,' she said in a sing-song voice.
'The government have banned them?'
'S'pose.'
'You don't seem terribly interested,' he informed her.
'Don't take much interest in it. Politics,' she explained. 'You know "beef's safe to eat", '"no it isn't". It's all made up.
Everyone eats beef again now, don't they?'
'I never stopped,' Lethbridge-Stewart informed her.
'Even though it might turn your brain into a sponge? A load of people stopped eating it for a couple of weeks, but only when it was in the news. It'll be the same with the Martians. Already is. I'm used to them now, and they ain't that bad.'
Lethbridge-Stewart continued on to the 'local interest' section. There was a shelf there full of Ordnance Survey maps. He picked up a couple for north of here. If they wanted to prevent being captured, they needed the best knowledge of the terrain available. With the right intel igence, they could evade the Martians and the Provisional Government forces for months. The resistance would be able to collect intelligence data and keep one step ahead of the enemy.
Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart frowned. And then what would they do? Wait for the Americans or the United Nations to bail them out? It wasn't going to happen. With every passing day, the international situation was more stable -
the governments of the world were finding it easy to accommodate the Martian presence. The resistance needed to strike, to hit right at the centre of the Provisional Government. But with London under martial law, how could they? And how could they do that without provoking Martian retaliation? Britain wasn't just at war with itself, it was at war with another planet. No wonder no other countries were going to get involved.
The Doctor had been right: the Martians wouldn't stop at Britain. They had to be beaten back. But he was just one old man, standing in a newsagents worrying that someone would recognise him. He didn't even have enough money to buy all the maps he wanted to. What could he do on his own?
He could fight.
The Brigadier realised that he wasn't on his own. He had UNIT, he had half the British army and, despite what that girl had just said, he was sure he had virtually al the British people.
He could lead.
***
Oswald and Dave had been staring at the packet for almost the whole hour since the postman had delivered it.
There was a rather odd instruction on the back: DO NOT OPEN - WAIT ONE HOUR. The mystery had intrigued Oswald, and fifty nine minutes later the padded envelope was still sealed. Early on, they’d established that it contained a videotape.
96
'It’s probably from a charity for menks traumatised by having their entire video collection wiped by a giant Martian UFO.’
Oswald was weighing the packet in his hands. 'The ship clearly generates an intense magnetic field.’
'Clearly.’
They turned. A tall man in a neat blue suit had just come through the doorway. He looked like a pilot or a soldier, but he was old - fifty-five at least. He had a peculiar angular face. Dave was sure that he recognised the man from somewhere.
The man took his pipe from his mouth. 'Good morning, lads. I believe that you have a package for me.’
***
Extract from the memoirs of Professor Bernice Summerfield
'We have to stop them.'
Lethbridge-Stewart was shouting so loud we could hear him from outside the mess. The soldiers on the door were a little more hesitant with their salutes, and they were clearly embarrassed by the noise.
We stepped into the old barn. Bambera and Ford were glaring at Alistair.
'There's nothing I would like more than to "stop them",' Bambera said curtly. 'But I will not send my men on a suicide mission. If you've assembled the command staff