Doctor Who_ War Games - Malcolm Hulke [16]
‘For goodness’ sake be careful,’ Carstairs warned.
‘There’s amytol in there.’
‘That’s a start!’ The Doctor had managed to remove the pencil-shaped detonator and held it up for the others to see. ‘Now all I have to do is to open the casing.’ He fished in his pockets and brought out his sonic screwdriver.
‘Lieutenant, do you mind looking the other way?’
‘Why?’
‘Because I’ve asked you. I can’t think of any other good reason.’
‘If you insist.’ The lieutenant turned round.
Only a few seconds went by before the Doctor said,
‘Bomb now open. Jamie, will you get me a sheet of paper from the other room. Anything will do.’
Jamie left the bedroom. Carstairs looked at the two sections of bomb casing that the Doctor was holding. ‘How did you open that?’
‘It’s not difficult when you have the knack.’ The Doctor looked up, pleased to see Jamie back with a sheet of paper.
‘Thank you. Now, this is what we do.’
Carefully he scraped the amytol onto the paper. Then he partly folded the paper into a channel so that the amytol could be guided down into the lock of the safe. ‘All we need now is a fuse that will burn long enough to let us get out of this room before the explosion. Jamie, I think I noticed some candles in the other room.’
‘Right, Doctor.’ Jamie was already on his way.
Carstairs said, ‘I would like to know why I had to turn away.’
‘Afterwards,’ said the Doctor. ‘Let’s first see if all this works. And if there is anything in the safe once we have opened it.’
*
‘Shouldn’t we go and see if they’re all right?’ said Lady Jennifer. She was huddled in a corner in the back of the ambulance. It was pitch dark now.
‘The Doctor told us to wait here,’ said Zoe. ‘He knows what he’s doing.’
‘Where did the three of you meet up?’
‘We just met.’
Zoe expected Lady Jennifer to pursue the question. But Jennifer had other things on her mind. ‘I wish this war would end.’
‘By your side killing more of the other side?’ said Zoe.
‘No. I used to think war was rather a lark. Now I’ve seen it, it’s a different matter.’
‘Perhaps if women took over we wouldn’t have wars,’
Zoe suggested.
‘That’s radical talk. A woman’s place is in the home.’
Lady Jennifer realised what she had just said. ‘Except, of course, during a war.’
‘Which men have started,’ said Zoe.
‘You’re not one of these new socialists, are you?’
‘I don’t know,’ Zoe replied honestly. ‘What are they?’
‘They believe in a lot of nonsense—’
Any further discussion was cut short by a violent explosion somewhere inside the château. It was followed immediately by the shouts of guards calling orders to each other. Lady Jennifer crawled to the rear of the ambulance and pushed open the door. She saw flashlights as guards ran about in confusion.
‘Well, that’s that,’ she said flatly. ‘Someone must have thrown a handbomb at them.’
‘A handbomb?’
‘It’s made to fragment. Horrible wounds. I think we had better prepare ourselves for recapture. I shall be sent home in disgrace,’ said Lady Jennifer in des-pair. ‘And you will have to serve your twenty years.’ She pushed the door wide open. ‘I’ll call to the guards and we can give ourselves up.’
‘We’ll do no such thing!’ replied Zoe indignantly.
‘It will be for the best, my dear. I can hear men running towards us now. They must know all about us—’
The running men reached the ambulance. Jamie scrambled into the back clutching a sheaf of maps.
‘It’s me,’ he called in the darkness. ‘We’ve got what we wanted!’
As he spoke the engine started. The Doctor, with Carstairs beside him, drove away from the château at breakneck speed.
It was dawn. After driving much of the night, pausing only a short time to sleep, the group now sat in the back of the ambulance studying the maps found in General Smythe’s safe. The largest map was spread out on the floor.
‘Just as I suspected,’ said the Doctor. ‘The whole area is divided into time zones.’
The map, which showed roads, rivers and hill con-tours, was segmented by straight black lines. In each zone was printed a date in large black numbers—1862, 1951, 1776, 1917. Some zones