Doctor Who_ The Zarbi - Bill Strutton [6]
‘That was quite a fall you took. No aches or pains?’
‘No. My ears still sting a bit — but that’s all.’
‘Try and get some rest. You’re a nervous sleeper. You were tossing and turning all the time during your last sleep period.’
Vicki remembered. ‘I was dreaming,’ she said thoughtfully. ‘Yes — I dreamed about... that sound! Before I ever really heard it.’
‘Well, you can forget about it now. The pill should take care of that.’
Barbara absently pushed a bracelet back up her arm.
The bracelet had slipped to her wrist. It was of heavy gold, with an incised pattern of laurel branches and a worn Latin inscription. It caught Vicki’s eye.
‘How lovely. I haven’t seen you wear it before.’
‘The bracelet? I haven’t had it all that long...’
‘Was it a present?’ Vicki asked. She turned the bracelet on Barbara’s arm to look at the pattern.
‘Yes.’
‘From — Ian?’ Vicki asked, faintly sly.
Barbara smiled at her curiosity. ‘No. As a matter of fact it’s from the Emperor Nero.’
‘Oh, pull the other leg!’
Barbara shrugged. ‘Please yourself.’
‘How? When?’
Barbara got up. ‘Maybe I’ll tell you about it when you wake up. Not before.’
‘Very well,’ Vicki said. ‘I’ll ask Ian.’
‘Then you’ll have to wait. He and the Doctor are...
looking around.’
Vicki started up, staring. ‘You mean — they’ve gone outside? Into that dreadful place?’
‘Now hush! They’ve promised not to go far. They’re just trying to find out what it is that made the motors fail. Do try and get some sleep.’
Vicki sank back, her eyes clouded with doubt. Barbara watched her a moment. The young girl’s eyes began to close, sleepily now, and Barbara pulled her blanket up to her chin.
Then she tiptoed out of the dormitory through the sliding doors into the control room, past the control table, and paused before the inspection window.
Through it she could make out the figures of Doctor Who and Ian as they paused near a crag, then went on slowly, looking all round them, until the gloom of the place swallowed them from the scanner’s sight.
Barbara turned back to the control table, and as she did so, her arm jerked strangely, as if of its own accord, and the gold Roman bracelet on it glittered in the light from the control panel. She halted and gave a startled gasp. She felt her arm and smiled. It was no wonder that she had a nervous twitch, after the strange events of the past hour.
Then her bracelet arm jerked again, strongly — so strongly that she could not resist its pull. A fearful half-scream rose in her throat.
She stifled it and wheeled around nervously, as if expecting to see someone else in the control room. But the control room was silent and empty.
A little panicky now, Barbara backed towards the sliding dormitory doors.
‘Barbara?’
The call came from Vicki, but it startled Barbara and made her turn. Vicki stood in her bare feet at the door, wide-eyed at the sight of her.
‘Oh, I’m sorry. Did I wake you, Vicki?’
‘I thought I heard you call out.’ Vicki said. ‘Did you?’
Barbara hesitated. ‘No, no. You shouldn’t have got out of bed.’
‘Aren’t the others back yet?’ Vicki yawned.
‘Not yet.’
Vicki took another shrewder look at Barbara.
‘Something is wrong — isn’t it?’
‘No! No...’
Barbara forced a smile. She rubbed her arm and sat down. Vicki was still looking at her. The younger girl said accusingly, ‘You’re nervous too. Like a cat on hot bricks!’
Barbara shrugged. ‘It’s just... something about this planet...’
Vicki yawned again. ‘Uhuh... now why can’t we materialize in some really lovely place?... at some truly wonderful time in its life among the stars... with lots of beautiful things to buy... gorgeous clothes to wear...
splendid things to eat... and marvellous people to meet and talk with...’ She paused at the sight of Barbara rubbing her arm. ‘Your arm — is it hurting you?’
Clearly Barbara could not keep up her pretence that nothing strange had happened. She smiled and explained lightly, as though it were nothing...
‘Sounds silly, I know, but it feels as though... my arm doesn’t belong to me. A moment ago — it moved. All on its own, without my intending