Doctor Who_ The Last Dodo - Jacqueline Rayner [42]
‘They’re not built for speed over long distances,’ he reassured me, strewing bacon on the path as he ran to try to distract the creature. ‘Bummer for them when their habitat turned to desert, no trees to lurk behind for an ambush…’ And I could almost hear ideas stirring inside his head as we turned into the high street. ‘Martha! Do you know why people of your time knew so much about an extinct animal from the Ice Age?’
‘No,’ I panted, fighting to keep the trolley on a straight path as its wheels wanted to go all over the place.
‘The reason is, thousands of’em were preserved in the La Brea tar pits in what became Los Angeles. Bison wanders in, gets stuck, tiger thinks “aha! Easy prey”, goes in after it and gets stuck too. Sinks into the goo and dies.’
‘Hurrah,’ I said, as sarcastically as I could manage through the shortness of breath. ‘Lucky there’re some good old English tar pits just down the road.’
‘Yes!’ he said. ‘Well spotted! Down on the road…’
He stopped dead. Which I thought was about to become literally true, because the tiger, not to be sidetracked by some slices of dead pig, was gaining on us. We had seconds.
The Doctor stood in the middle of the road, sonic screwdriver raised. But we knew that only worked for a few moments!
‘Doctor!’ I screamed as the sabre‐tooth bounded towards us, closer, closer…
As I watched in panic, though, I saw that he was doing something different this time. Where the screwdriver was pointing at the road, the top layer was beginning to bubble. The tarmac surface was melting…
The sabre‐tooth leapt – and landed on the sticky tar. Its paws started to sink – and the Doctor twiddled the screwdriver’s controls; the surface stopped bubbling, started solidifying again. Seconds later, the tiger was trapped, up to its furry ankles in what the Mafia would probably call tarmac overshoes. It roared furiously.
Now what? ‘We’re not taking that back to the TARDIS too, are we?’ I asked the Doctor, as we stood watching the angry animal. I still felt a bit shivery.
‘Don’t think it would fit through the cat flap,’ he replied. ‘And I bet it’s not house tr–’
Then a familiar voice came from behind us, interrupting the Doctor. ‘You beat me to it!’
I turned. There was a figure in MOTLO green overalls, a pendant in his hands and a relieved expression on his bearded face. Tommy.
THE ISPYDER BOOK OF EARTH CREATURES
SABRE‐TOOTHED TIGER
Smilodon fatalis
Location: North America
The most distinctive feature of the sabre‐toothed tiger is its two upper canine teeth. These sabre‐like blades are about 17 centimetres long, tapering to a serrated point. It has a heavy, muscular body with a thick chest. Its tail is short and it has retractile claws. It preys on large herbivores such as bison.
Addendum:
Last reported sighting: c. 9000 BC.
Probable cause of extinction: loss of prey due to climate change.
ISpyder points value: 500
THE ISPYDER BOOK OF EARTH CREATURES
Creature Points
Subtotal 35999
Dodo 800
Megatherium 500
Paradise parrot 500
Velociraptor 250
Mountain gorilla 500
Aye‐aye 900
Siberian tiger 600
Kakapo 900
Indefatigable Galapagos mouse 1500
Stegosaurus 500
Triceratops 550
Diplodocus 600
Ankylosaurus 650
Dimetrodon 600
Passenger pigeon 100
Thylacine 250
Black rhinoceros 300
Mervin the missing link 23500
Tau duck 5
Dong tao chicken 4
Red‐eared slider 40
Chinese three‐striped box turtle 350
Forest dragonfly 150
Phorusrhacos 450
Steller’s sea cow 1000
Sabre‐toothed tiger 500
TWELVE
Tommy jogged towards the Doctor and Martha, darting glances at the static sabre‐tooth. ‘Well done!’ he said. ‘Everything’s gone mad, the signals are cutting out as soon as they’re received. I’d given up hope of tracking anything at all –’ He broke off, staring at Martha’s shopping trolley, and a frown spread across his face. The Earther held up his pendant, shaking it like a stopped watch. ‘Damn, I thought that meant things were working properly again, but it must