Doctor Who_ The Room With No Doors - Kate Orman [44]
‘Do you reckon the daimyo will have made up his mind?’
‘I hope so,’ said the Doctor. ‘In any case, I want to get back to Hekison as soon as I can. Regardless of what Gufuu decides, I need to find out what that pod is. And get it out of there.’
‘I wonder how Chris is doing.’
The Doctor took out a paperback copy of Kleinzeit. ‘I’m sure he’s coping very well.’
Farmers were pouring in through the village gates. ‘Shut them! Shut them!’
someone was shouting. The great wooden door closed with an earth-shaking thump.
Kame was the last inside. He ran up to Chris, his face deadly serious. ‘Seven of them,’ he said. ‘ Tengu, I think.’
Great. Wonderful. Shit. ‘What weapons?’ said Chris. ‘Has anyone been hurt?’
‘I don’t think so,’ said Kame. ‘They didn’t fire on us.’
‘Everyone stay calm!’ shouted Chris. Villagers with slings and bows were climbing on to roofs, looking down over the fence. ‘They might not want to fight. Don’t shoot unless they do!’
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He climbed up the ladder to the sentry post above the gates. The two men moved aside respectfully, looking at him to see what he wanted them to do.
‘Just wait,’ he said quietly. ‘We’ll see what they want.’
‘Here they come, sir!’ said one of the sentries, pointing.
They were walking along the path through the middle of the rice paddies, out in the open. They were short, maybe a metre and a half tall. As they came closer, Chris saw that their bodies were hard and dark, their faces beaked and large-eyed.
For a moment, he believed that they were demons, tengu, spirits come down from the trees to deal with the meddling mortals.
In the next he saw that they were wearing energy weapons, small pistols hanging from belts around their body armour, and he realized he was grinning all over his face.
OK. All he had to do was stop a fight breaking out. He could handle this.
The demons, aliens – whatever – marched up to the gates and peered up at him. Chris gripped the wooden rail.
The sliding door opened, startling Joel. The Doctor glanced up from his book.
It was Aka-san, in armour, carrying his helmet under his arm.
The samurai spoke. ‘My lord directs that I lead a troop of soldiers back to Hekison village, and that we set up camp there to investigate this kami and its nature and powers.’
Joel was shutting down his laptop. ‘When do we leave?’ he asked.
‘Isha-san,’ said Aka-san, ‘you will accompany us and help us in our investigation. Mintsu-san, you will remain here and enjoy the hospitality of Gufuu-sama.’
The Doctor and Joel glanced at each other. ‘Gee, they must really like me,’
said the redhead.
‘Don’t worry,’ said the Doctor, standing up. ‘I’ll sort this out.’
‘No,’ said Joel. He scrambled to his feet. ‘I mean, don’t worry about me.
They’re not going to suddenly behead me, are they?’
‘Hopefully not,’ said the Doctor. He glanced down. Joel took his hand off the Time Lord’s arm. ‘Are you sure about this? Very sure?’
Joel looked into those old eyes. ‘I’m sure,’ he whispered.
The Doctor put his paperback into his pocket and followed Aka-san out of the room. After a few moments, Joel closed the door.
Chris sat in the dust, surrounded on all sides by black birds the size of large children.
They watched him with deep black eyes, their legs tucked up under them like roosting chickens, their wings folded by their sides.
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Their Talker – Chris hadn’t worked out if she was their leader, exactly, or just the one who, well, did the talking pecked the ground to get his attention.
‘Ke Risht,’ she hissed, taking a stab at his name, ‘Talker will keep this short.
Hei. You have something we want.’
‘All right,’ said Chris. ‘But first, what is it?’
Talker squawked. ‘Seven aliens come looking for something. What do you think it is? Tree no! Hut no! Rice no! Big metal thing fell from sky, you featherless git.’
Chris hoped the TARDIS was enjoying itself translating the Kapteynians’
language. ‘Yes,’ he repeated patiently, ‘but what is it?’
‘Talker not talking about that.’ She waved a wing. ‘None of your business, hair boy. Give it back.