Doctor Who_ The Forgotten Army - Brian Minchin [45]
Polly and Sam were both listening attentively.
'People are disappearing from the streets,' the Doctor went on. 'You can see it with your own eyes. You don't have to trust me, but trust yourselves. You know the police should be on the streets, but they've gone too. And that means it's something very scary indeed. And what's worse, it's so hidden, we won't even know what they're planning until it happens.'
'And if we help you?' Polly asked. 'What do you want?'
'The mammoth coming back to life wasn't a miracle. This is an alien invasion, a very clever alien invasion. They're rounding up the biggest and toughest New Yorkers that they can find. So I need a team of people that can become invisible to them. I need your class, Miss Vernon. Everyone gets a chance to be a hero!'
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16
Joe Hudson rubbed his eyes to check he wasn't dreaming. Four people were standing on the fire escape outside his bedroom, high up a New York Brownstone. His teacher, Miss Vernon, the Mammoth-Man from the Museum, a girl with bright red hair, and a man with a cheeky sparkle in his eyes and floppy hair and a funny old jacket.
The man with the hair told him to open the window, and Joe slid the pane up cautiously.
'Joe, I'm the Doctor. How do you fancy saving New York?'
Joe looked at the group appraisingly. 'Are you like Iron Man?' He was 10 years old, and knew a fair bit about superheroes.
'I'm exactly like Iron Man,' the floppy-haired 171
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man called the Doctor agreed. 'Only without the Iron. And I have two hearts. So, actually nothing at all like him, now you mention it, but that's not a problem, I'm better than him.'
'You don't even have a cape,' said Joe scornfully. He looked at the red-haired girl. 'What's your special power?'
The Doctor smiled at him. 'That's Amy. And you really don't want to know.'
Joe looked the Doctor up and down, eyeing him up for telltale signs of a hidden superpower. 'So what have you ever done, then? You're not like the Fantastic Four, are you?'
The Doctor smiled. 'Do you remember when all the clocks went to zero?'
Joe looked interested. 'They said it was a computer fault.'
'No such thing. I was there, Joe. There were aliens on Earth, and they were seconds away from destroying the planet.'
Joe was wide-eyed with astonishment.
'I didn't do it alone,' the Doctor told him. I needed the best people on the planet. That time it was Amy. This time it's you.'
Part of Joe wasn't surprised. With all the things that had happened over the last few years, he'd grown to believe there was something else out there. His dad still talked of the time he froze and started chanting, and nobody felt safe at Christmas now.
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The Doctor put his face very near to Joe's and told him.
'There is far more out there than you could ever imagine. And everything that's happened in New York today is because of aliens. Will you help me?'
'Hell, yes!' said Joe, earning himself a disapproving look from Miss Vernon.
That's my boy!' the Doctor grinned. Then, catching sight of Amy's expression, he decided: 'I'm not saying that again.
Right, Joe, I've travelled through time and space, but right now, the only thing that's going to stop this city falling apart is you. I need someone so brave and so clever they can get around the city without anyone noticing. Do you think you can do that?'
Joe nodded, impressed that the Doctor was treating him like a grown-up. 'What about my parents?'
'They'll be better off indoors. So come on, coat, boots, whatever else you think you need to wear. Then I need you to round up everyone in your class. You're going to be my eyes and ears, Joe.'
As he clambered onto the fire escape, Joe looked at the Doctor with the awe of a private addressing a general. 'Why do you want me? Couldn't any of the others do it?'
The Doctor grinned. 'I asked Miss Vernon who