Doctor Who_ The Green Death - Malcolm Hulke [34]
‘Long hair and wooden beads aren’t quite my scene,’ said the Brigadier. ‘By the way, UNIT will be arriving in force tomorrow.’
‘Whatever for?’
‘Perhaps,’ said the Brigadier with a smile, ‘I feel lonely without Sergeant Benton. Good night, Doctor.’ The Brigadier went into the inn, leaving the Doctor puzzled.
The Doctor returned to the Wholeweal Community house and found almost everyone gone to bed except Jo. She was in the living room, curled up in an armchair reading a huge old book about the peoples of the Amazon.
‘Isn’t it time you went to bed?’ the Doctor asked.
‘I’m going to read on for a bit,’ she said, without looking up.
The Doctor regarded her. ‘Very interesting, is it?’
She nodded, still reading. ‘Cliff gave it to me.’
‘Cliff?’
‘Professor Jones.’
‘You seem to be getting very friendly with him.’
She nodded again, still reading, and this time didn’t answer.
‘The TARDIS came up trumps,’ said the Doctor, trying to get her interested. ‘I got to Metebelis Three, you know.’
‘So you mentioned over dinner.’
‘Did I?’ He drew from his pocket the beautiful blue sapphire. ‘I got this from there. Like to see it?’
She glanced at the precious stone. ‘Great,’ she said, and turned back to the book. ‘Well, goodnight, Doctor.’
The Doctor had never known Jo to be like this before. In their many travels together they had always been very close. No one had come between them. He turned away, to go up to the little room Nancy had allocated to him. As he entered the hall he met Professor Jones who was making for the living room. The young professor seemed slightly embarrassed to see the Doctor.
‘On your way to bed?’ asked Professor Jones.
‘I was ,’ said the Doctor truthfully, ‘but since you’re still up, I wonder if we could talk about this so-called virus.’
The professor hesitated. ‘Well... ‘
Jo’s voice called from the living room. ‘Cliff?’
‘If you’ll excuse me a moment,’ said Professor Jones. He popped his head round the door of the living room. ‘The Doctor wants to have a discussion with me. I’m sorry.’
The Doctor had guessed that Jo was really waiting for Professor Jones in the living room. He felt an almost childish satisfaction at spoiling her date. When Professor Jones came back the Doctor put his arm round the younger man’s shoulder and led him away.
From the living room, Jo heard the Doctor’s voice through the open door as he took Professor Jones—Cliff—away from her.
‘It seems to me that if you postulate an active nucleus,’ the Doctor was saying loudly, and then he was out of earshot.
‘He knows I’ve fallen in love,’ she thought to herself. She felt rather sorry for the Doctor, and wondered why he had never married. Were there, she wondered, lady Time Lords?
Did Time Lords get married and have babies? How old was the Doctor? She realised there were many things she didn’t know about him.
Since the Doctor had ruined her date with Cliff, she felt like going to bed. But first she wanted to finish the chapter of her book. As she started to read again Jo thought she heard something moving on the floor. She looked behind her armchair at the open door. There was nothing. She went back to her book.
The maggot came quietly round the open door. It looked across the floor to the armchair. It could just see the naked flesh of Jo’s leg. The sight of so much delicious food was irresistible. It arched its back and started to wriggle silently across the floor.
Jo turned the final page of the chapter. She suddenly had the feeling that she was not alone and looked up. A man’s face was at the french window. She drew back into the chair, in terror. Then she realised the man wasn’t looking at her. Turning her gaze to follow the direction of the man’s eyes, she looked at the floor. The giant maggot was less than three feet from her legs. She drew up her legs and screamed at the top of her voice.
The french windows burst open and the man, Hinks, blundered into the room. He carried an old blanket