Doctor Who_ The Last Dodo - Jacqueline Rayner [26]
‘I never even took my handkerchief out of the wrapping,’ put in Vanni, helpfully. ‘Silly cheap thing.’
‘Shut up!’ shouted Frank, waving the gun first this way then that. ‘Look, I didn’t want anyone to get hurt.’
‘Except the animals!’ cried Martha, regretting it almost at once as the gun veered decisively towards her.
Frank shrugged. ‘Yeah, right, animals. All I ever hear about is animals, animals, animals. What about people, huh? You can do a lot of good with a few million, but what’s the use of some stupid zebra in a cage? No bloomin’ use at all, that’s what.’
‘So you were planning to use your ill‐gotten gains to do good for humanity?’ asked the Doctor interestedly.
‘Duh, yeah, right. I was planning to spend it on myself, of course,’ Frank admitted. ‘Just making a point. And, bit of a cliché and all that, but now you know too much and I’m gonna have to silence you.’ He raised the gun. It was now aimed straight at the Doctor.
‘Ah,’ said the Doctor. ‘Mind you, talking about making a point…’
Frank’s finger tightened on the trigger.
And the shot blasted into the ceiling, as he went flying backwards over the charging rhino’s nose.
Nadya grabbed the gun. Rix and Tommy grabbed the dazed Frank, Tommy yanking off his pendant to prevent any escape attempts. Celia, one hand on her own pendant, was running after the rhinoceros; a second later, girl and beast both vanished.
The Doctor stood there with a big grin on his face, as a trickle of falling plaster dust began to sprinkle his hair. ‘“Making a point”?’ said Martha critically.
‘Good, wasn’t it?’ The Doctor was still grinning. ‘But it doesn’t work.’
‘Doesn’t work?’
‘The pun doesn’t work! You saw that the rhino was getting up, and you were making a pun about it butting Frank with its horn. Except it doesn’t have a horn any more.’
‘So it doesn’t,’ said the Doctor. ‘That was a bit pointless, then.’
Martha groaned.
We all zapped back to the museum. The first thing I saw was another empty cage, about the right size for a gorilla or something, and I panicked that we’d been too late to save some other poor creature – but Tommy said it was a box that hadn’t been filled yet; obviously some new arrival was expected. By the time we turned up the rhino was already back in its place, and I couldn’t help but think that it deserved a better reward for saving all our lives than being frozen for all eternity. The Doctor’s views were starting to rub off on me.
Celia was sat on the floor outside the rhino’s box with her elbows on her knees. She didn’t seem anywhere near as stuck up now as my first impression of her; I guess finding out your partner is actually a baddie tends to knock you for six a bit.
‘We collected it together, Frank and I,’ she said. ‘It was in a wildlife reserve in Kenya, and we arrived just in time to stop a poacher from shooting it.’
‘What was a poacher doing in a wildlife reserve?’ I asked, shocked.
She laughed humourlessly. ‘Reserves are like sweet shops to poachers. Everything gathered together in one place for them.’ Her eyes glazed over and I guess she was back in time. ‘He nearly shot me too. I was so angry, I went for him instead of attending to the rhinoceros. If Frank hadn’t knocked his gun aside… ‘
It looked like she was about to cry. I hastily suggested a cup of tea, and she nodded gratefully, at which point I realised I had no idea how to procure such a thing.
‘Let’s go to the cafeteria,’ said Vanni, and I smiled at her gratefully.
I wondered if the Doctor would come along too – after all, he had been hankering after a cuppa earlier – but he shook his head. ‘You go,’ he said. ‘I’ll go along with the others, see Eve, sort this all out. See you in a bit.’
So Frank was led off, a little procession,