Doctor Who_ The Nightmare of Black Island - Mike Tucker [26]
‘Back in the 1970s. Elwyn Merritt was the last keeper. Got themselves a lightship out on the sandbanks now. Shut this one down, 62
didn’t they? Always the way. Things change. People move on.’
‘And some come back, don’t they? Some like Nathaniel Morton.’
Bronwyn said nothing, but the Doctor could see her jaw clench.
‘Something happened between you and Morton, didn’t it?’ The Doctor kept his voice low and gentle. ‘Something a long time ago, when you were young. He went away, but you stayed.’
‘Shouldn’t have come back.’ There was anger in Bronwyn’s voice. Anger and fear. Told him not to come back!’
‘Why?’ The Doctor was urgent now. ‘What happened?’
Bronwyn’s anger erupted at the Doctor. ‘What’s it to you? What good is it going to do to dig up the past again? Best left buried! It’s best left buried, all of it! They can’t bring him back.’ Tears blurred her eyes, then the anger faded for a moment and she wiped her eyes with her sleeve. They can’t bring him back.’
Sniffing, she turned and hurried away from the Doctor. He called after her but the wind whipped the words away. He rubbed at his chin. He wasn’t going to get anything else from Bronwyn at the moment, but everything here was connected somehow. He just had to find the common link.
He did a slow circuit of the lighthouse, looking for anything unusual, but he saw nothing. To the casual observer, it was nothing more sinister than an abandoned lighthouse on a deserted island. He pulled his sonic screwdriver from his pocket, determined to solve the issue of the glow in the lamp room if nothing else, when Bronwyn suddenly scrambled back into view, pointing down towards the shore.
She struggled to the Doctor’s side, breathless and frightened. He caught her arm, steadying her. ‘What is it? What have you found?’
‘Down there. In Pillbox Hole.’
‘Pillbox Hole?’
‘A cave. By the shore. It wasn’t there before. Been here hundreds of times, I have.’
‘Show me!’
63
He caught hold of the old lady’s hand and the two of them made their way carefully over the wet rocks. They reached the top of a narrow set of crude steps that had been hacked out and Bronwyn pointed down to a narrow crevice at the bottom.
‘In there.’
‘OK. Wait here a moment.’
The Doctor released her hand and scampered down the stairs. At the shoreline they flattened out, leading through a sea-worn gash in the side of the island. He slipped through the gap carefully, emerging on to a narrow ledge in the side of a tall cave where the wind and waves echoed mournfully, eerily.
The Doctor stared into the cave and grinned. ‘Hah! I knew it!’
Floating in the black water in front of him, rising and falling with the swell, was a spacecraft.
Rose had crept through the tunnel for what seemed like an age and was on the verge of giving up and heading back to Ali and her friends when she felt cold air across her face.
She could still see nothing – the light from the entrance had long since gone as the tunnel had curved slightly and Rose had edged her way forward by feel alone. But now the breeze told her that she was nearly through.
She gave a sigh of relief and tried to rub the crick out of her neck. Being unable to stand was starting to get painful and she wished she could be Ali’s height – for the next few minutes at least. She was about to continue when a noise from behind made her freeze. She held her breath, concentrating on listening, trying to convince herself that it was just her imagination. The noise came again. A soft scraping on the brickwork. There was something in the tunnel with her! Rose strained to see through the oppressive blackness, suddenly aware of what a stupid idea it had been to head into the tunnel without any form of light. She could hear something approaching from behind. And there!
Lights flickering. Green and red and blue lights, dancing across the 64
wet brick. Rose pressed herself against the wall, aware of how pointless it was.
‘Rose?’
Ali’s voice was thunderously loud in the confined space. Rose nearly screamed.
‘Rose, is that you?’
Ali emerged from the shadows, a tiny