Doctor Who_ The Stone Rose - Jacqueline Rayner [20]
‘You hit me,’ the Doctor said, coldly and angrily. ‘You stopped me from rescuing Rose.’
‘I didn’t mean to!’ She was almost crying. ‘You moved! I meant to hit Ursus!’
The Doctor narrowed his eyes. ‘Say I believe you – for now. Where is Rose? Where did he take her?’
‘I didn’t see Rose!’ she gasped. ‘Only a statue.’
The Doctor let that pass. ‘Well, where is Ursus now?’ he demanded.
‘I… I don’t know,’ the girl stammered.
‘I think you do,’ said the Doctor. ‘I think you know a lot more than you’re letting on, Vanessa. Like, what’s Hadrian’s Wall, Vanessa?’
She looked at him, wide‐eyed and terrified.
‘Well?’ he said.
She could barely get the words out. ‘It’s a wall. It divides England from Scotland.’
The Doctor raised an eyebrow. ‘A wall that’s not been built yet, dividing two places that won’t be named for a few hundred years?’
Vanessa burst into tears.
‘You know, I was suspicious the instant you were, introduced,’ the Doctor continued. “Vanessa”, Sounds quite Roman, I admit. Marcia, Claudia, Julia, Vanessa… But I happen to know, because I’m extremely clever, that the name was invented in the eighteenth century by a writer chap called Jonathan Swift. And there you were, a girl with a name from years in the future, sitting at a table working out Merik’s Theorem. Oh, I know what astrological calculations look like, and I know what Merik’s Theorem looks like, and that was definitely the latter, not the former. So would you like to tell me what a girl from at least the twenty‐fourth century is doing in the second century ad, and –’ he leaned over and shouted at her – ‘what has happened to Rose!’
Vanessa looked up at him through her tears. Then slowly, shakily, she pulled a small black tube out of a fold in her coarse woollen tunic. Her finger hovered over the red button at one end as she pointed it straight at the Doctor. ‘Let me go – or I’ll shoot!’
* * *
SIX
The Doctor flung his hands up in the air. ‘Don’t shoot! Please don’t shoot! I’m begging you!’
Vanessa looked confused as he threw himself on to his knees in front of her.
‘For pity’s sake, don’t shoot!’ he cried.
Her hand wavered – and the Doctor reached up and plucked the device from her. ‘Thank you,’ he said. ‘Confuse the enemy, that’s the trick. Not that I’m saying you’re necessarily an enemy. I mean, I don’t think you would really have shot me.’ He glanced down at the device in his hand. ‘Especially not with a vid‐caster remote control.’
She gave him a faint, shaky smile. ‘It’s the only thing I’ve got from home. I was holding it when…’ She trailed off and a tear trickled down her cheek.
The Doctor jumped to his feet and Vanessa flinched away from him. He sank down on the hay beside her and put a kindly arm around her shoulder. ‘Y’see, I know for a fact you come from the twenty‐fourth century,’ he said, holding up the remote control. ‘This proves it. So, are you going to tell me about it?’
She shook her head and the Doctor could feel her tensing up. He dropped his arm back to his side. ‘Look, I’m sorry I shouted at you,’ he continued. ‘I’m just upset about Rose. After all, I suspect that whatever has happened to her is what happened to Optatus a week ago, and you didn’t have anything to do with that – well, unless you’re playing a very elaborate game with a lot of accomplices. If this was a detective story I’d probably have to consider that – but it isn’t, and while I may not have a twirly moustache, I can still tell a genuinely scared person when I see one. You were really scared back at that apartment, weren’t you?’
She nodded, but the tension was still evident in her whole body. For what seemed like the first time, she began to speak, really speak – a human being, not a frightened sheep. ‘I’ve been scared for such a long time now. I was so frightened and confused when I arrived here. There was some sort of festival going on, people everywhere. Balbus rescued me, gave me food and drink. But I said something – I don’t even remember what – and I got it wrong. He jumped to the conclusion I could tell the future.’
‘Which you could,’ said the