Doctor Who_ The Sleep of Reason - Martin Day [110]
‘You’re, er, very attractive,’ said Fitz with a shrug. ‘I, um. . . I don’t think I’d noticed before.’
‘Well, thanks,’ said Laska, not sure how to take his uncomplicated honesty.
‘I think.’
‘You’re a damn sight better looking than Bruce Willis, anyway,’ observed Joe, on his hands and knees by some sort of junction box.
Laska had forgotten she’d stripped down to her sleeveless vest, her top now tied around her waist like a cricketing jumper. Her pale skin was smudged with soot. Instinctively she twisted her forearms upwards. Even the scars suddenly seemed less visible in the red glow of the emergency lighting.
‘Look, let’s just get on with the job at hand, OK?’ she said quickly.
‘Sorry,’ said Fitz apologetically. ‘I’m a bit of a klutz when it comes to women.’
‘I had noticed.’
‘Still, no harm done, eh?’ said Fitz. ‘Anyway, the Doctor did tell us to think positive thoughts to combat these Sholem-Luz things, right? That is, 204
assuming you think a compliment from me is a good thing. You might find it utterly detestable.’ He paused, but only just long enough to draw breath. ‘I’m sorry. I’m such a twit. I really shouldn’t. . . ’
‘Rule one when you’re in a hole,’ said Laska, cutting through Fitz’s babbling.
‘Stop digging.’
‘Right. Sorry.’
‘And stop saying “Sorry”.’
‘Right. Sor–’
‘You dare!’ Laska wagged her finger at him again, on the verge of helpless hysterics.
It felt good to have a laugh, even in the midst of the evil they faced –
perhaps this was gallows humour at its most profound. Even when facing death and destruction someone like Fitz was honest enough to admit he was still thinking about sex. Perhaps Fitz had noticed how Laska had reacted when she’d been told that James was lost – lost in one of the time tunnels, and to the alien influence. Perhaps this was Fitz’s way of trying to cheer her up, or at least taking her mind off things. Laska smiled. He was quite sweet, really.
For a twit.
Even so, as Joe worked on the junction box, Laska pulled on her top. She didn’t want him copping a look at her bra when they should all be concentrating on something more important, like not dying hideously.
As her head emerged from the material she could hear Fitz babbling away about some time when he’d been particularly twitish and it had almost meant disaster for him and the Doctor.
‘Shut up, Fitz,’ Laska hissed urgently.
‘I was only saying. . . ’
‘Fitz!’
Finally Fitz seemed to sense the fear in her voice. ‘What?’
Laska pointed.
The alien-infected dog had appeared in the corridor behind them. It edged closer, carefully placing one paw in front of the other, its eyes gleaming with an awful inner radiance.
‘I hope he’s all right,’ said Liz as they approached the locked room where they had left Mike Thomson. ‘If he’s not, I’ll never forgive myself.’
‘We were just doing what we thought was right,’ said Trix patiently. ‘We thought he’d be safe.’
They turned the corner and stopped in their tracks. One of the strange tunnels had appeared in the corridor, its far end fading from sight only yards from where they had locked Dr Thomson. Its open end, closer to them, bobbed 205
up and down like some grotesque fairground balloon. It seemed to sense their presence, stretching towards them.
‘What are we going to do?’ whispered Liz. She didn’t fancy just trying to edge past the tunnel.
‘Think positively?’ suggested Trix desperately.
Liz wasn’t convinced that something that seemed so solid – even if it had appeared seemingly out of nowhere – would be affected by their thoughts, positive or otherwise. ‘Given what’s happened today,’ whispered Liz, ‘I’m not sure I can find much to feel positive about.’
Liz and Trix inched closer to the ever-changing portal. Dark figures, dis-torted as if viewed through frosted glass, began to appear at the far end of the tunnel. If anything, the ghostly passageway was becoming more solid with every passing moment.
‘We’ve got to do something,’ said Liz. It might be her imagination, but she was sure that one of the enormous