Doctor Who_ Trading Futures - Lance Parkin [40]
‘Something else,’ Cosgrove told them. ‘She asked for “the operator”. Do any of you youngsters even know what that means?’
They shook their heads.
‘No, you wouldn’t. So, we have an anomaly. Another one.’ He rubbed his chin. ‘Stevens, Inform London –’
‘London, sir, not Brussels?’
‘I said London, lieutenant.’
‘Sir.’
‘Inform them that the President of the United States is going to be in Istanbul this time tomorrow.’
He nodded and set about his work.
Brooks turned to Cosgrove. ‘We need to increase security to the ULTRA computer.’
Cosgrove smiled. ‘No. Let’s give them access, see how they get in, and what they really want to use it for.’
‘Sir.’
To the next man along. ‘We also need to locate the man from Neverland and get an ID on this Anglo‐Indian woman.’
Finally, to Brooks. ‘And we’ve still not found “the Doctor”. I want him located. See if you can hack the CIA database to see where Malady Chang is posted at the moment.’
Cosgrove turned away.
‘Sir,’ Brooks said.
‘Don’t you understand your orders, Brooks?’
‘Sir… I’ve found them. The Doctor and Malady Chang. They’re in a Land Rover, heading towards the business district. Here in Athens.’
Cosgrove turned to the screen. There were three cameras on them – one long shot, showing almost a quarter of the city, one following the land Rover ploughing through the water, the third aimed square through the windscreen. The Doctor was driving, Chang was in the passenger seat.
‘So they are.’
* * *
Like the rhinoceroses of Earth, the Onihrs had poor eyesight, but more than made up for that with a highly developed sense of smell.
The Onihr leader could hardly bear to look at the Doctor at the moment. The alien was burning leaves, blowing the smoke through his mouth.
‘That is your fifth burning leaf tube in almost as many minutes,’ the deputy leader growled.
‘Sorry,’ the Doctor said. ‘I’m trying to get off nicotine pills.’
‘You were going to tell us about the Time Vortex.’
‘I will, I will. Can I just get the circulation back to my wrists?’
The deputy leader grunted his impatience. The leader concurred.
‘You will tell us… now.’
‘Er… right. Time travel. Well, there’s my TARDIS, of course –’
‘We know of Chronodev from the fifty‐first century. We know the identities of the four surviving elementals.’
‘Right‐oh. Good for you. Then who else is there? Time travel is pretty common these days. The fabric of space‐time just seems a bit more malleable, don’t you find? Oh yes – in the thirties we met Kala. She was a Time Agent, a human from the forty‐ninth century. Noel Coward had some big shears that cut through the Very Fabric of… don’t look at me like that, it’s true. There was that experiment at Station Forty. Then in the eighteenth century we met Sabbath –’
‘What do you know about Sabbath?’ they both growled. ‘We must know more about Sabbath,’ the deputy leader added.
Fitz pointed at his own chest. ‘Hey, hang on – you’ve got the Doctor here, right in front of you. Concentrate on what’s important.’
The Onihrs looked at each other.
‘This room has a lovely view,’ the Doctor added.
The Onihr leader turned to follow the sound and smell of the Doctor – it wasn’t difficult keeping up with him.
‘Wow. Is that the Earth?’
The blue‐green disc was obvious against the blackness of space.
‘We do not know the local name for the planet. We were on routine patrol in this galaxy and detected disturbances in the fabric of space‐time.’
‘But you were down there, chasing that Chinese bird and hanging around that theme park.’
‘We were monitoring you, Doctor. The human female was also monitoring you. Our disguises were necessary for covert operations on the planet.’
‘So you’re not interested in the Earth?’
‘It’s a primitive planet.’
‘It’s one of the Doct– of my favourite places in the universe.’
‘It is?’ the deputy leader asked. ‘Why?’
‘Well, to be honest with you, I’m not sure. Let’s have a think. It’s beautiful to look at. As you can see. It’s big –’
‘Onihros, our home planet, is four times the size.’
‘– but not too big. Er…