Doctor Who_ The Dying Days - Lance Parkin [120]
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Chapter Fourteen
Look! - Up In The Sky!
The Brigadier's limousine arrived in Trafalgar Square shortly before one o'clock. Behind the UNIT convoy was a column of people a mile long.
The Square had already been filling up. The crowd were safely behind the barriers that had been set up the week before and had never been taken down. As Lethbridge-Stewart drove past, they cheered and waved. It was all very reminiscent of a royal visit. Some people were even waving little plastic Union Flags, others were clutching helium balloons. Most of them were clustered around the Column, sitting alongside the lions like so many millions of tourists and revellers down the years.
A small UNIT squad had arrived twenty minutes before, and had set up a mobile HQ, recovered from the underground garage of the UNIT office. The Brigadier found himself smiling, and then it dawned on him why: the large grey van was parked alongside the TARDIS. Professor Summerfield had told him that it would be there. That wasn't the same as seeing it. After al this was over, he would have the TARDIS taken somewhere safe. He would have Adisham searched for the Doctor's body. An immortal race had no need of funeral customs, but Lethbridge-Stewart would see that his friend was given a proper burial.
'That's odd.' Bambera had seen the police box, too, and she knew what it was, but it didn't hold the same memories for her. She was busy scanning the crowd, assessing the level of danger, looking for the enemy. Al the things he ought to have been doing. 'The crowd are already facing this way, sir,' she informed him.
Lethbridge-Stewart told the driver to park the car alongside the mobile HQ. 'Really?'
He did quick recce. Bambera was right. There must have been a couple of thousand people there, and the vast majority were looking not at the vast Martian spaceship to the East, or towards Westminster to the South. They were staring at the entrance to the Space Museum.
A young Corporal was opening up his door and saluting him. Lethbridge-Stewart went through the formalities, then, 'What's going on?'
'There's a Martian in there, sir. Went in about twenty minutes ago with the Home Secretary, just before we arrived.'
Lethbridge-Stewart did what everyone else was doing, he stared at the door. So far, only a handful of Martians had left the ship, the two that had been killed at the Doctor's house, the scientist and Xznaal himself.
'It's the leader, isn't it?' he asked. The Corporal nodded.
'How do you know?' Bambera asked the Corporal.
'There were a few people already here, ma'am. Not just that, the Home Office chauffeur and aide came over to our side the moment we arrived. They are both still a bit shocked by it all.'
Lethbridge-Stewart nodded towards the mobile HQ. 'Those two are both in Trap One, I take it?'
'Sir,' the Corporal confirmed.
'Is the Square secure?' All around them, the rest of the UNIT vehicles had arrived, much to the delight of the crowd. The soldiers, al of them so young, were jumping down, taking out all the carefully stowed equipment. Their tanks were lining up outside Charing Cross Road station.
'Yes, ma'am. The Provisionals have al pulled back to defend Downing Street and the Tower, we've done a quick sweep of the buildings. There's a column of Government tanks along the Embankment and Thames Street. We have them under close observation from Trap Two, at Tower Hill. We can see over the wal s onto Tower Green from there.'
'Snipers?'
'None of theirs any more. We have men at both positions, sir, with strict orders not to fire unless ordered to.'
Lethbridge-Stewart allowed himself to relax a little. 'Good man,' he concluded.
Bambera pointed over the tops of the buildings to the Martian ship. 'The plan was that the enemy ship would move when the refinery went up,' she reminded him. That had been a