Doctor Who_ The Last Dodo - Jacqueline Rayner [3]
‘You couldn’t live on only apples and Milky Ways,’ she said, slowly. ‘You might not starve, but it’d still be cruel.’
The Doctor raised an eyebrow. ‘Hungry? I can offer you a thirty‐course banquet in Imperial Japan, a kronkburger on Reblais Beta, dehydrated protein tablets on a shuttle to Mars – or there’s always chips, nice little chippie in south London…’
He reached forwards, angling for a feather lying on top of the huge central console, but his fingers only skimmed it. She jumped up to get it for him. It was just a feather, grey and white, nothing to look at twice.
‘Seagull?’ she asked.
‘Bookmark,’ he replied, slipping it in place and slamming his book shut with a ringing thud. ‘Oh, right, see what you mean. No, dodo.’
Martha stared at him for a second. Sometimes the ‘anywhere in time and space’ bit took her by surprise in the most unexpected ways. Reblais Beta in the 150th century, fine, animal extinct for three hundred‐odd years, her time, unbelievable.
‘That’s where I choose!’ she said, suddenly excited. ‘Please? To see a dodo! In its natural habitat,’ she added hurriedly.
The Doctor seemed happy enough with her choice. ‘Okey dokey, all aboard the good ship TARDIS for a trip to the island of Mauritius – let’s say sometime in the sixteenth century, before human discovery, back when the dodo was as alive as… as a dodo.’ He was at the controls now, twiddling dials – then suddenly he nipped back over to his chair, picked up the book and opened it again, extracting the dodo feather. He looked hard at his place, said, ‘Oh, I expect I’ll remember where I was. Can’t bear it when people turn over the page corners, just can’t bear it,’ shut the book again, and then was back at the console, inserting the feather into a little hole Martha could have sworn hadn’t been there before. The feather stuck out at a jaunty angle like it was on a Robin Hood hat, anomalous but still somehow completely at home among the alien technology.
‘That,’ said the Doctor, ‘will tune us in. Land us right at their big scaly feet. Sort of automatic dodo detector.’ He paused. ‘Automatic dodo detector. I ought to patent that, next time we go somewhere with a… what d’you call it? Place where you patent things.’
‘Patent office?’ Martha offered.
‘Good name, like it. You should trademark it. Next time we go somewhere with a… what d’you call it? Place where you trademark things.’
‘I don’t think there is an actual place –’ Martha began, but the Doctor wasn’t paying attention.
‘Here we go!’ he cried. With a final flick of a switch, the TARDIS sprang to life, as excited as its owner to get going once more. Martha fell back into the Doctor’s chair as the room began to vibrate. Good job she didn’t get seasick.
The Doctor, as usual, seemed oblivious to his ship’s eccentricities. He picked up the book once again and swayed over to an inner door, calling, ‘Going to put this back in the library. Can’t bear books lying around all over the place, just can’t bear it.’
‘But you haven’t finished it yet,’ Martha called after him.
He didn’t seem to hear. She wondered how many books he’d never got to finish. She wondered how many books he’d read, full stop. Probably more than existed in the biggest library on Earth.
By the time the Doctor returned, the TARDIS had settled down a bit, although the rising and falling of the column in the centre of the console showed that they were still in flight. The Doctor had swapped his thick paper‐paged book for a slim plastic slab, a bit like a large iPod. He held it out to Martha.
She took it, and looked at the screen. ‘The ISpyder Book of Earth Creatures,’ she read. ‘What’s this, then?’
The Doctor grinned. ‘Lists every Earth animal there’s ever been. You get points for each one you spot. When you’ve got enough points, you send the book in to the Big Chief ISpyder, and he sends you