Doctor Who_ The Stone Rose - Jacqueline Rayner [1]
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ONE
Once Rose had recovered from the initial shock of finding a statue of herself in the British Museum, she got quite excited. ‘That’s brilliant!’ she said., ‘you realise what this means? We must be off to –’ he checked – ‘second‐century Rome. How brilliant is that?’
‘Blimey,’ said a voice from behind. ‘Reminds me of a girl I once knew. Wonder whatever happened to her.’ The Doctor had caught up with them and he gave Rose a smile that could probably melt even a marble statue. She grinned at him.
Jackie was reading the sign under the sculpture. ‘Here, it says it’s a statue of the goddess Fortuna,’ he said. ‘Don’t tell me I’ve given birth to a god. Howard’ll never believe it.’
‘Fortuna, Roman goddess of good luck,’ the Doctor told her. ‘Portrayed with a cornucopia.’
‘Says here it’s a horn of plenty,’ said Jackie.
The Doctor looked amused.
The Rose figure was indeed cradling a cornucopia, overflowing with stone fruit and flowers, in the crook of one arm. The other arm was no longer whole, a wrist stump gesturing redundantly at the group gathered round it. Rose held up her own two hands. ‘I hope that wasn’t done from life,’ she said.
‘Tell you what, though,’ said Jackie, ‘she’s wearing your earrings.’
Rose took off one to compare. It was a flat silver disc with a spiral pattern radiating out from a tiny flower in the centre. She held it up by the statue’s ear. Identical, even down to the flower. ‘That’s incredible,’ she said. ‘It’s so detailed.’
She slipped the real earring into the pocket of her denim jacket and grinned. ‘Looks like I’ve got a future ahead of me as an artist’s model! I’ve always fancied that.’
Mickey frowned. ‘When my mate Vic asked you to pose for him, you said no.’
Rose sighed. ‘Yeah, but lying on a sheepskin rug in my undies while your mate Vic takes photos isn’t quite the same as posing as a goddess for some ancient Roman.’
The Doctor had put on his glasses and was examining the statue’s remaining hand. ‘Hmm,’ he said.
‘What’s up?’ Rose asked.
‘Statue’s wearing your ring too.’
Rose looked down at the ring on her right hand. ‘If he’s wearing my earrings, why not?’
The Doctor frowned. ‘They often made the torsos separately – mass‐produced them, then just stuck on a head. Obviously the sculptor was so enamoured of your figure that you got to be the model for the whole thing.’
‘And is that so hard to understand?’ asked Rose, raising an eyebrow.
The Doctor swung round and gave her a disarming grin. ‘I’m sure it isn’t.’
Rose found it quite hard to tear herself away from her stone double, but as the Doctor pointed out, if she stayed there looking at it for ever, then it would never get made and they’d all be swallowed up in a terrible paradox. So she let herself be led away, past the giant foot – ‘Ah, my fault,’ the Doctor commented. ‘The last remains of the Ogre of Hyfor Three. Silicon‐based life form. I defeated it back in, oh, must be ad two hundred and something. There was me: take that, you evil ogre! And there was it: ha, ha, you’ll never defeat me! And there was me: don’t be so sure about that…’
‘It says it’s from a colossal acrolithic statue,’ Mickey pointed out hurriedly.
‘Well, they would say that,’ said the Doctor – past the sarcophagi, past the rows of stone heads, their gazes now seeming to signify kinship to Rose.
They lost the Doctor in the Egyptian section again, and Jackie went off to see if she could find a postcard of her stone daughter. Rose and Mickey stood together in the entrance, waiting.
‘So, how d’you find out about it?’ asked Rose after a few moments’ silence. ‘Not your usual haunt, this, is it?’
Mickey seemed embarrassed, looking down at the floor.
She opened her eyes wide. ‘What? It can’t be that bad, can it? You’ve not been robbin’ it or something? Or you been seeing one of the girls in the gift shop and you don’t wanna tell me about it?’
He frowned a no, but still looked sheepish. ‘Come on. Tell me!’ she said.
Mickey put back his shoulders, attempting a bit of bravado. ‘Well.. I’ve been doing this volunteer stuff. You know, kids and that.