Doctor Who_ The Stone Rose - Jacqueline Rayner [21]
‘Well, yes. And then he accused me of being a runaway slave and said I’d be executed – unless I worked for him. And so I had to. I did my best. I’d read horoscopes in magazines and I’ve studied astronomy. I thought it would keep me safe, until…’
The Doctor looked hard at her. ‘Until what?’
She gave a half‐smile. ‘Until I could get home.’ The smile went. ‘But it was terrible. I don’t know my history well enough. I was warning people to stay away from Pompeii, but apparently that happened years ago. And I worried that if I said a word about future emperors I’d get executed for treason. And then there were people like your friend Gracilis, who desperately needed hope and help, and I was giving them lies, feeding on their misery. All the while Balbus looked on, getting richer and richer from the things I was saying.’
‘The prophet’s profits,’ quipped the Doctor.
She smiled again. ‘And then you and Rose arrived. I knew at once you weren’t ordinary Romans.’
The Doctor gave a modest shrug. ‘Well, I must admit that I make heads turn wherever I go. It’s a burden that I just have to live with.’
‘I was scared again, of who you might be, but I was so desperate to get away from Balbus… And then Rose talked to me, and she seemed so nice, but I couldn’t bring myself to tell her anything, just in case…’ She gazed up at the Doctor with pleading eyes. ‘Can you take me home?’ she said. ‘Please?’
‘Where is home?’ the Doctor asked her. ‘Where – and when?’
Vanessa took a deep breath. ‘I’m from Earth – actually Sardinia, so I’m really quite close – in everything but years. When I left, it was 2375.’
The Doctor darted a look at her. He knew that on Earth, in Sardinia, in 2375, they didn’t have time travel. So that was yet another mystery.
‘And how exactly did you come to be in Rome, ad 120, instead? Something a bit more than a wrong turn on the way home from school, I’m guessing.’
The girl didn’t so much try to evade the question as ignore it altogether. ‘Can you take me home?’ she said again.
The Doctor decided not to pursue the matter for now. He shook his head. ‘Not yet,’ he said. ‘Not until I find Rose.’
‘But she must still be in the studio,’ Vanessa told him. ‘I’ve been watching all morning and she hasn’t left.’
The Doctor knew that wasn’t the case. But he allowed himself to hope, just for a moment. ‘All right,’ he said. ‘Let’s look.’
The workshop door was still open. They searched every room – but there was nothing. No Rose, no Tiro, no statues, no marble dust. The Doctor dived upon a scrap of papyrus that was lying on a table, but all it said, in hard‐to‐read cursive script, was ‘One statue to Rome’, followed by a figure – a receipt from the carter? He flung it down.
‘I don’t understand,’ said Vanessa. ‘Where is she?’
‘I don’t know!’ The Doctor’s worst fears were being confirmed, and he couldn’t hide from the conclusion any longer. The statue Ursus had – did you see it?’
‘Yes,’ she said. ‘It was a statue of Rose.’
‘Which isn’t possible.’ He was almost shaking with shock and anger.
Vanessa held out a nervous hand to comfort him, but the Doctor threw it off. ‘What is it?’ she said, scared.
That wasn’t a statue of Rose. That was Rose herself. That was Rose in the museum.’ The Doctor stood petrified for a moment, as if he’d been turned to stone too. Then he drew himself up to his full height, towering over Vanessa. Wouldn’t give in to the fear; would never give in. ‘We’re going to find her,’ he said.
He told Vanessa to wait while he went back to his room, where there was something he needed. Right at the moment he couldn’t think how the sonic screwdriver would help, but he needed any possible advantage he could get.
The screwdriver was where he’d left it, but there was something else there too, something made of cloth. He picked it up: it was a small drawstring purse, just the right size for a sonic screwdriver. There was a note too:
Dear Doctor
Happy unbirthday! Bet you didn’t know I could sew. Marcia showed me what to do.
Love Rose
The Doctor crumpled the note in his hand, overcome with