Doctor Who_ The Room With No Doors - Kate Orman [36]
‘Certainly not.’
‘Oh yeah, that’s the century before, right? Us neither, anyway. Maybe, after all this is over, we should go there. To the thirtieth century. You can meet my folks. I haven’t visited for. . . it must be more than a year now.’
‘Do you miss them?’
‘Yeah,’ said Chris, and suddenly discovered an overwhelming pang of home-sickness he hadn’t been aware of before. ‘Oh, yeah. What about you?’
‘Not at all,’ said Penelope. ‘I feel certain my husband misses me. He will have difficulty working out the household expenses. He cannot add for toffee.’
‘What about – do you have any children?’
‘Our son died when he was less than a year old,’ said Penelope distantly.
‘I’m sorry,’ said Chris, which always sounded so stupid, but everyone always said it anyway.
‘That was three years ago. I have been very busy since then.’ Penelope shook herself. ‘It would be a great pleasure to visit your century. But would the Doctor approve?’
Chris hadn’t thought of that. ‘I guess so,’ he said. ‘Why wouldn’t he?’
‘What if I returned to 1883 and published a paper about my future journey?’
she said. ‘I don’t dare to meddle in past history, but what about the affairs of my own time?’
‘I don’t know,’ said Chris. ‘These things are hard to predict, if you’re not a Time Lord. But would anybody take you seriously?’
‘Of course they wouldn’t,’ she said. ‘I doubt I will be able to convince anyone I have made this journey, let alone its extraordinary details. But I feel I am ready to believe anything. Even turning back time to bring the dead back to life.’
∗ ∗ ∗
73
The samurai had moved at a gallop for most of the morning. Around noon they’d stopped by a stream to rest and eat. Joel fell off his horse, found a patch of grass and collapsed on to it.
The Doctor dismounted and stood over him, eclipsing the sunlight. ‘Bury me here,’ groaned Joel. ‘Just dig up the earth and pile it over me.’
‘You’ll be fine,’ said the Doctor. ‘A little saddle-soreness never killed anyone.’
‘I haven’t ridden this much since the Voltranons invaded and set up their internal combustion dampening field,’ murmured Joel. He flung his arms over his eyes. ‘Lord take me now.’
The Doctor smiled and sat down beside him, on his knees, Japanese style.
Joel peeked at him from beneath his arm. It was surprisingly hard to get his head around the fact that the Doctor and Chris were not any older. Especially Chris. Understanding it in your mind was one thing, but getting your hindbrain to accept it, after all those eons of life in linear time. . .
Maybe the Doctor did look a little olden Not so much in human ways, new wrinkles and grey hairs. But when his eyes caught yours, you got that dizzying sense of age, of just how big the gap of years was. Joel thought of the Doctor he’d met in 1987, and wondered how much longer this incarnation had to go.
Did Time Lords feel their biological clocks ticking?
As for the human race. . . Joel rolled his head to look at the three samurai, watching them from a little distance. The kid met his eyes for a moment, and looked away.
‘Was it really a good idea to bring your laptop computer?’
‘It’s been treated worse than this,’ Joel told the Doctor.
‘No, I meant, back to the sixteenth century.’
‘Come on,’ said Joel. ‘None of these guys are going to learn the secrets of the silicon chip from it.’
‘Hmm,’ said the Doctor. The samurai were making a fire. ‘What other anachronisms have you brought along?’
Joel lowered his arms. ‘Nothing. The ol’ anachronometer,’ he said, indicating his watch. ‘And my glasses. I guess you could count my clothes. Why?’
‘I was just wondering. How’s your Japanese etiquette?’
‘Non-existent,’ said Joel, watching the Doctor, who was rummaging in his pockets. ‘Maybe you’d better leave me outside when you talk to the Emperor.’
‘Daimyo. Perhaps,’ said the Doctor. He produced a chocolate bar from his jacket pocket. ‘Though if we don’t teach you how to eat a Japanese meal properly, you’re