Doctor Who_ The Forgotten Army - Brian Minchin [44]
Amy grinned. 'You totally have to get together, you look so sweet!'
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Sam blushed and shuffled slightly nervously.
Amy looked at the Doctor impishly. 'Can I?'
The Doctor nodded, and Amy ran up to Sam and knocked gently on his belly. 'No secret hatches here! And nice work on the abs may I say, you've got a keeper here, Polly.'
Amy winked at Polly, who exclaimed: 'You are both quite mad.'
The Doctor swept back into the room. 'Thank you Amy, we'll be off now, have a nice evening. I'd stay in, if I were you.
But Sam, stop me if I'm barking up the wrong tree here, but I couldn't help noticing that secret map of the Dinosaur Oasis...
You didn't find anything else there, did you?'
Sam shook his head.
'And it wasn't buried that far down, really, was it?'
Again, Sam shook his head. 'I knew it looked wrong, but every other detail was perfect. I thought maybe we'd made a mistake in dating the age of the ice sheet.'
'Someone put the mammoth there to be found, Sam, and now I know it wasn't you. We need your help. Next stage of the investigation into the incident is going to be pretty tricky.'
Sam seemed to brighten at this. 'What, like me using m y skills as a palaeontologist to analyse the beast and work out what's happened - like they do in CSIT
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'CSZ: Prehistory.’ said Amy drily. 'The spin-off that's just been waiting to happen since 65 million BC.'
There's something else at work here.’ the Doctor continued, 'and you are going to be absolutely integral to our success.'
Sam nodded, biting his lower lip nervously. 'Of course, anything I can do to help. Polly, you better go straight home, this could get dangerous.'
The Doctor looked disappointed. 'What? It's Polly that we really need. Right now, Polly is the most important part of the whole plan.'
Polly was stunned. 'Why me?'
The Doctor moved in close to her. 'You've got the one thing that's going to help us stop whatever's doing this.
Children!'
The Doctor led them to the roof of the Museum. Sam and Polly both gasped as they saw that New York had been plunged into absolute darkness. The streets below them were deserted.
'I've never seen the city so quiet.’ Polly said.
The Doctor pointed to the skies. I bet you've never seen anything like that, either.'
Without the light from the buildings, the New York sky was filled with hundreds of twinkling lights. The skyscrapers seemed small in comparison to the vast size of the universe above them.
Polly shook her head in disbelief. 'I've grown so 167
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used to seeing the night sky as an orange glow, I'd forgotten how beautiful the stars are.'
'There's the Saucepan.’ Amy pointed out helpfully.
'I think it's called the Plough.’ the Doctor corrected her.
'Looks more like a saucepan to me.’ insisted Amy. 'Or an axe. Do aliens live there as well?'
'They're almost entirely made of water, and so obsessed with the weather. Very dull species. But that's not the point!
There are so many worlds and solar systems, out there, Polly and Sam, things you wouldn't believe. And something very bad and very frightening has come out of that mammoth.'
Polly stared at him. 'You're both mad. Whatever has done this, the army or someone will stop them. I'm cold, it's late, and I'm going inside.'
'Not this time, Polly.’ the Doctor told her gently. 'This time, it's going to be us. The army didn't last five minutes against them. Look down below, do you see anyone on the streets? Anyone at all?'
Down on the streets below, not a single soul was moving.
'They've closed down the city.’ Sam said. 'It's best to wait indoors.'
'Just look at New York.’ the Doctor said. 'Look. It's been driven to despair by a force that no one can see and, instead of fighting it, we're hiding. Last time I was in New York, I met men who'd been
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beaten down and abandoned and ruined, but they were some of the best and the bravest I've met. They had nothing left, but they were prepared to give it all. They were brilliant. Anyone who thinks they can win just because they're