Doctor Who_ War Games - Malcolm Hulke [35]
‘There’s nothing to tell us which time zone we’re in,’
said Lieutenant Carstairs.
Zoe looked at the gentle green scenery. ‘You couldn’t even tell if there’s a war on.’
They had walked at least three miles since leaving the sidrat and now sat in a circle on lush grass by the track.
The Doctor shrugged off his general’s topcoat, revealing his own clothes beneath.
‘It doesn’t really matter which zone we’re in,’ he said.
‘The important thing is we have Zoe, and she now knows what all the resistance leaders look like.’
‘That’s going to be wonderful,’ said Sergeant Russell.
‘We could never really trust anyone who said they were in the resistance. Now we can all get together and form one big army.’
‘Exactly,’ said the Doctor. ‘The other important thing is that we have this.’ He reached into his knapsack and brought out a small silver-coloured box with controls and terminal points.
‘What is it?’ asked Jamie.
‘Before we rescued you we helped ourselves to this from the processing room. It’s the head from their machine.
With this we can de-process other soldiers.’ As he talked the Doctor scrutinised the little box. ‘It’s a remarkable machine, almost as good as I could have made myself.’
Lieutenant Carstairs stood up. ‘Shall we press on?’
‘Might as well.’ Sergeant Russell started to rise. He stopped half-way. ‘Don’t look now,’ he said, ‘but there’s someone hiding over there.’
He sank back onto the grass, assuming a lazing position and described exactly where he meant. ‘Where this track goes between those two rising bits of land, half-way up on the left—there are some men in those bushes.’
Carstairs made a pretence of rubbing cramp out of his left knee, as though that was the reason he had stood up.
Then he too sank back onto the grass, seemingly as unconcerned as a man at a picnic. ‘That’s an obvious place for an ambush,’ he said quietly. ‘Do we have to go that way, Doctor?’
‘This track must lead somewhere,’ said the Doctor.
‘You, Jamie and I shall keep to the track. The rest of you could go up that rise of land and come down behind whoever is hiding there.’
‘You vill act as decoy?’ said the German soldier.
‘That’s right.’ The Doctor got to his feet. ‘I suggest we start moving now.’
‘But Doctor,’ said Zoe, ‘why can’t we all go up round the top behind them?’
‘Because if it is an ambush, my dear, someone has to draw their fire.’ The Doctor hoisted over his shoulder the knapsack containing the processing head. ‘Now you lot get moving. You must be in position up there to pounce when they make their move.’
He strode off down the track. Carstairs and Jamie scrambled to their feet to follow.
‘You heard what he said.’ Sergeant Russell got to his feet. ‘Off we go, at the double.’
The outflanking party ran towards the rising land, making a wide detour so as not to be seen by whoever was lurking on the little wooded hill. Sergeant Russell acted as pacemaker, urging them on and signalling them to keep very quiet. Soon they were at the top of the rise looking down onto the track. The sergeant pointed downwards into the thicket. Zoe caught glimpses of men in British steel helmets of the 1917 period.
‘ Englander,’ murmured the German.
‘ Anglais,’ said the French soldier.
They all held themselves ready to crash down onto the British soldiers at the sergeant’s order.
The Doctor, Jamie and Lieutenant Carstairs came into sight, casually walking along the track.
Zoe whispered, ‘Perhaps they’re resistance fighters like you.’
‘We’ll soon see,’ said the sergeant.
He had no sooner spoken than the chatter of a heavy machine-gun broke out immediately below them. Earth spurted up all around the trio on the track below. Without waiting for the sergeant’s command, all the soldiers broke cover and battled their way downhill through the trees and thicket to get at the concealed machine-gun nest. Zoe held back, knowing she could contribute little to the fight taking place on the slope below. She waited to see the Doctor, Jamie and Lieutenant Carstairs