Doctor Who_ The Stone Rose - Jacqueline Rayner [52]
‘Well, it is Rome,’ said Rose, pretending to think about it. ‘We could set up a fake arena and let Jim the GENIE here disguise itself as a lion.’ She shook her head. ‘No, what we need is an alternative source of energy. You know, like wind farms, or solar panels or something.’
‘And how are we going to live in the meantime?’ asked Vanessa. ‘Stay here and wish for chips?’
Rose shrugged. ‘Well, you’ve managed to survive so far,’ she said. ‘I vote we go back to Gracilis’s. The Doctor said he was going to bring everyone back to life in a couple of days, but if he’s no longer here –’ she held up the phial – ‘well, we’d better be the heroes of the hour.’
‘The Doctor being the guy who came here with you, until you wished he hadn’t?’ said Vanessa.
‘That’s the one,’ said Rose.
Vanessa nodded. ‘But if we go, what about…?’ She indicated the GENIE.
‘Well, I’m not leaving it here,’ said Rose decisively. ‘Look, GENIE, you know all that pretending‐to‐be‐Minerva stuff?’
‘Merely obeying the desires of my then‐controller,’ the GENIE said.
‘Yeah, whatever – well, if we take you with us, you’re going to have to look like something else. A dog or something.’ She turned to Vanessa. ‘Do the Romans have dogs?’
‘I think so,’ said Vanessa, not sounding sure at all. ‘Well, do you know any pets they definitely have? Preferably ones kept on a lead.’
Vanessa thought. ‘I’ve seen a couple of people with monkeys,’ she said at last.
‘Brilliant,’ said Rose. ‘Perfect. GENIE, become a monkey.’
The GENIE tutted. ‘You have to wish for it…’
‘Fine. Right. Whatever. GENIE, I w– Hang on!’ Rose slapped a hand over her own mouth this time. ‘If I’d w-worded you to become a monkey, you’d have become a monkey, wouldn’t you? Little furry monkey, banana fixation’ and no wish‐granting ability.’
‘Oh, you’re starting to think,’ said the GENIE. ‘Spoil my fun, why don’t you?’
Rose glared at it, then said very carefully, ‘I wish that you would adopt the appearance of a monkey when there are any Romans around to see you, while retaining all the abilities of a GENIE.’
Thunder rumbled. ‘Your wish was my command,’ said the GENIE.
‘But you still look the same,’ said Vanessa.
The GENIE sighed condescendingly. ‘There are no Romans around to see me. I have adhered to the very letter of the wish.’
‘We’re just gonna have to take it on trust,’ said Rose, picking up the cardboard box.
Near to, the GENIE smelled faintly metallic, and its scales shone bronze in a ray of light from outside. She could suddenly believe it was a made thing, a construct, rather than a bizarre alien, and she felt a stab of pity for it. It wasn’t really responsible for this whole awful mess, it was just doing what it had been made for – or perhaps what it thought it had been made for. She’d never really got the hang of the idea of artificial intelligence, wasn’t sure if she totally accepted the whole idea of a computer thinking for itself, having hopes and dreams (even though she’d watched that Spielberg film twice ’cause it had Jude Law in it)… But perhaps she could accept that the AI thought it thought for itself, even if it didn’t. Or… no, she’d leave it at that.
* * *
Rose was a bit worried that they’d never find their way out of the wood, but luckily their journey there had created enough of a path through the undergrowth for them to follow with only a few false turns. To her relief, when they finally came to Ursus’s cart, the donkey was still placidly standing there, totally unconcerned with any dramas of death, time travel or being marooned in a place 2,000 years before you were born that might be going on nearby. Rose dumped the GENIE in the back of the cart with Vanessa and climbed up on the front to attempt to steer the donkey back towards Gracilis’s villa.
* * *
Marcia saw them arrive and hurried out to greet them. ‘Rose, you are all right! Thank the gods! We were so worried about you. Oh, and what a sweet little monkey that is.’
Rose put aside her hastily conceived tales about children’s toys or animals imported from strange parts and breathed a sigh