Doctor Who_ The Stone Rose - Jacqueline Rayner [43]
The Doctor did so. ‘Helmet, spear, oh‐so‐noble profile – Minerva, unless I’m very much mistaken,’ he said. ‘Tell you what, though, that outfit’d go down great at parties. Or you could be a Minerva‐gram. Any red‐blooded – or blue‐blooded, or green‐blooded – male would love a Minerva‐gram. And the great thing is, if any of them get out of hand, there you are with a weapon handy!’
Rose stopped him. ‘Yeah, but who is Minerva?’
‘Who indeed? Some say –’ The Doctor caught Rose’s stern eye and decided to cut out the more elaborate explanation. ‘Goddess of war and the arts, patron of artisans.’
‘“War and the arts”?’ said Rose. ‘What, like, “Say you like my painting or I’ll invade your country”? Anyway, my point was what happened to all that Fortuna stuff?’
‘Well –’ began the Doctor.
He didn’t get a chance to explain. There was a sudden cry from behind them. Rose made to run, but the Doctor held her back. ‘It’s all right,’ he said. ‘It’s only Vanessa.’
The girl was walking towards them, a look of total shock on her face. She was staring at the Doctor as if he were a ghost.
‘How… how did you get here?’ she said. ‘You can’t possibly have got here before me.’
‘You of all people should know that anything’s possible,’ said the Doctor. ‘Rose,’ he continued, turning to her, ‘let me reintroduce you to Vanessa, who is not an astrologer or a Roman slave, but a girl from the year 2375.’
‘Blimey,’ said Rose. ‘And I thought I was a long way from home.’ She turned to Vanessa. ‘What you doing here, then?’
‘Trying to get home,’ said Vanessa.
‘But how d’you get here in the first place?’ asked Rose.
‘Yes, I’d be interested to know that too,’ said the Doctor. ‘But Vanessa keeps avoiding the question. She seems to have something to hide.’
Vanessa looked as if she was about to burst into tears. ‘I don’t! I just… you just wouldn’t believe me. You really wouldn’t.’
‘Go on, try us,’ said Rose. ‘Can it really be any worse than us going around thinking you’re connected with what’s going on here?’
Vanessa flushed. ‘But… I think I might be.’
Rose took a step back. ‘I’ve been telling everyone you’re one of the good guys!’
‘But I am! It’s just… Oh, all right, I’ll tell you everything!’ cried Vanessa miserably.
She flung herself down by a tree. Rose and the Doctor sat nearby.
‘I am Vanessa Moretti, gamma daughter of Salvatorio Moretti of the Bureau Tygon.’
‘Suddenly it all becomes clear,’ said the Doctor flippantly.
Rose shhed him.
‘The Bureau Tygon is the main scientific research establishment,’ Vanessa continued.
Now the Doctor’s ears really did prick up. ‘And your father was working on time travel?’ he said. ‘Now why have I never heard –’
‘No!’ Vanessa interrupted his interruption. ‘He worked in AI.’
‘What, the film with that boy from The Sixth Sense in?’ said Rose.
‘Artificial intelligence,’ the Doctor told her.
‘Yeah, I know,’ she said, and gestured for Vanessa to continue.
‘He never mentioned anything to do with time travel. I mean, it’s not possible, everyone knows that.’ She smiled sadly, correcting herself. ‘Everyone thought they knew that. My father was working on some project – an AI project. He wasn’t very enthusiastic to start with, said it was just a toy, a money‐maker. But he began to get more excited. I think it was close to completion when I… left.
‘He’d brought something home to work on that day – I don’t know what. But then he got called out. I’d been watching a vidcast on ancient Rome.’ She laughed ruefully. ‘I used to love history. But my caster packed up. I thought something was wrong with the power supply because the lights kept flickering, but I went down to see if the caster in my father’s study was still working and it was. There was a box on the side and I think it must have held whatever it was he was working on, but I didn’t look to see.
‘Anyway, I sat down to watch the cast. It was about the reign of Hadrian. About