Doctor Who_ The Gallifrey Chronicles - Lance Parkin [70]
He closed the notebook. Mansfield Park, by Doctor –
This really wasn’t helping.
The Doctor found a scrap of spare paper, and began scribbling.
There was nowhere either of them could run. Nothing either of them could do.
The die had been cast, and now the two of them had to simply wait for oblivion.
It felt like defeat, not a victory. He could hear the energies of the Edifice gathering together for one final, inevitable, release.
Why could he hear footsteps?
He paused.
Someone else was coming towards them. It was a tall man with a lot of hair.
The Doctor thought about this for a moment, then crossed out everything after, and including, ‘a’.
a short, bald woman.
No, this didn’t strike him as very likely either. He crossed it out too.
It didn’t matter what this mystery person looked like. What would he do?
That was the purpose of the exercise.
‘We don’t have much time, and I need your help,’ the Doctor said.
‘Obviously.’
The Doctor read this back to himself. Yes. So. . . picture the scene.
Grandfather Paradox was still in his corner, but by now he was barely the ghost of a ghost. His howl was so faint it was barely audible. The new arrival walked straight past him without even noticing he was there; and then he wasn’t.
144
What would the Doctor ask?
‘Where’s Fitz?’
Concern for his companion, that seemed fair enough. Logically, that meant the new arrival wasn’t Fitz.
‘Safe and sound.’
‘Excellent. Quickly, I need you over here.’
‘In about fifty-five seconds, there won’t be an “over here”.’
‘Good, good. Plenty of time.’
She – he’d decided it was a she – stepped over, sighing theatrically.
‘For what?’
‘I’m not sure yet. Give me a minute to think. No, second thoughts, make it not quite a minute. That’s the trouble with memories. All that déjà vu. All those things you don’t want to be reminded of. It’s excess baggage, you know. I envy you. What possible relevance could it have if I remember Ace’s visit to Paradise Towers?’
‘What are you talking about, Doctor?’
‘Just talking to myself. The important thing to remember is –’
The Doctor had run out of paper. By the time he had found some and got back to his writing desk, he’d forgotten how he was planning to finish the sentence. He sighed.
Rachel woke up, and spent the first few seconds surprised she’d fallen asleep.
She checked her watch. No wonder she felt tired, it was the middle of the night. It was cold in the garage and she was stiff. She’d been woken by shouts and calls from outside. Lots of ‘What the hell?’ kind of things, and police radios squawking.
Marnal was standing, head cocked to one side, like he was trying to assess the situation.
‘Something’s happening out there,’ she concluded.
Marnal looked worried. ‘They’re getting ready to storm the place.’
Rachel moved to find the towel.
‘I don’t think that’s it,’ he said, after another minute.
There was the sound of a car starting, then driving off. A minute later a few other vehicles had gone, including a big one – one of the vans, or the ambulance.
‘Some of them are leaving,’ Rachel said.
‘It could be a trick.’
‘Did you fire that gun at them and make them homesick?’
‘No. Why would a police unit leave the scene of an armed siege?’
‘They wouldn’t. At least not on TV they wouldn’t. We’re in London, there are other policemen to deal with another incident coming up.’
145
Marnal raised his gun and checked it.
‘There could have been a terrorist attack,’ she suggested.
‘At two thirty in the morning?’
‘Why not? Maybe not an attack, but a warning, or a tip-off.’
‘You can feel it too, can’t you?