Doctor Who_ The Nightmare of Black Island - Mike Tucker [42]
‘So you followed me in here?’
Ali nodded. ‘But the monsters are in here too. I saw them, when they took their faces off.’ Ali could feel tears starting to well in her eyes, but she brushed them away angrily. ‘Why are they here? Why did the monsters have to pick on our village?’
‘Hey, it’s OK.’ Rose caught her by the hand, sitting her down on the edge of the bed and putting a comforting arm around her shoulders.
‘You remember that friend of mine, the Doctor?’
Ali nodded.
‘Well, he’s an expert on monsters. Sorts ’em out all the time.’
‘Really?’
‘Really. He gives them nightmares.’
Ali managed a weak smile at the idea.
Rose eased herself cautiously to her feet, steadying herself on Ali’s shoulder. Colour was slowly starting to come back to her face. She looked round the darkened room.
‘Where are we?’
‘They locked you in one of the bedrooms.’ Ali held the key out proudly. ‘But I got the key!’ She looked at Rose quizzically. ‘What were they doing to you? I saw them attach those wires and things to your head, but then they shut the door and I couldn’t see any more.’
‘I’m not sure. At first I thought they just wanted to find out who I was, but now I think maybe they were looking for something.’
‘In your head?’ Ali’s eyes were wide. ‘What did they want from inside your head?’
‘I don’t know.’ Rose shook her head. ‘I just don’t know.’
Morton watched impatiently as Peyne flitted from console to console in the ward, adjusting controls, studying readouts, making notes on 100
a clipboard. ‘Well? Is she any use to us or not?’
Peyne glowered at him, teeth bared from beneath her thin lips. ‘No, Morton. As I thought, she is too old to be of use as an imager. Like most on this miserable planet, her mind is too tainted by the trivia of the real world, her thoughts too consumed with the confusion of life.’
‘But the creatures.’ Morton pointed at the screen. ‘You saw them. Magnificent creations! Those things were not the product of an imagination obsessed with trivia!’
‘Frankly, those creatures were not the product of imagination at all, Morton,’ Peyne snapped. ‘They were real-life experiences. Memories, not fantasy.’
‘What?’ Morton was shocked. ‘How is that possible?’
Peyne smiled at him unpleasantly, greatly enjoying her moment of superiority. ‘The girl is an inter-dimensional traveller. Her body is soaked with energy from the time winds. She appears to have a telepathic link with a machine called the TARDIS, one of the legendary time capsules of the Time Lords.’
‘The Doctor. . . ’
‘Would appear to be one of those Time Lords.’
Peyne adjusted a control, bringing a flickering image of the Doctor to life on one of the dozens of screens.
‘It’s interesting. They are meant to be extinct, casualties of the war they started.’ She ran a hand across the screen. ‘I wonder where this one has been hiding.’
‘Damn.’ Morton wheeled himself angrily across the room. ‘I’m not interested in your extinct Time Lords! Switch the machines back on!
We’ve wasted enough time!’
‘As I recall, it was your decision to turn them off in the first place.’
‘All right, Peyne! It was my fault. I’m sure you will make sure that the Synod knows that you had nothing to do with it!’
Peyne nodded. ‘My report will have to be submitted.’ She crossed to the bank of machines again, flicking at switches. ‘But before you dismiss the Doctor completely, consider this. The Time Lords are recorded as having the gift of complete bodily renewal. A useful attribute, don’t you think?’
101
Morton stared at her silently and, with a smile, Peyne resumed her work at the controls.
Bronwyn’s motorboat bumped hard against the harbour wall, engine roaring as she swung it hard into the side. The Doctor bounded out and swiftly climbed the rusty ladder that clung to the wall. Bronwyn clambered up clumsily after him, skirts held in one hand and the rope coiled untidily over her shoulder.
The Doctor helped her up on to the quay, watching impatiently as she carefully tied the boat to one of the bollards that studded the wall’s edge. The harbour was deserted, the harbour