Doctor Who_ Warlock - Andrew Cartmel [141]
He picked up the phone to call Maxine back and tell her what he was doing.
Sean heard two things simultaneously. The ringing of Maxine’s phone at the other end and the sound, in the room behind him, of flesh sliding across one of the leather dentist’s chairs.
* * *
‘Don’t think you’re immune,’ said Maxine. ‘You could end up just like me. Easily. If you needed a job and they offered you one. And once you start you discover it isn’t so bad.’
But the woman called Justine ignored her. She went back into the bathroom to check on her husband.
‘I think her mind’s on other things, dear,’ said Mrs Woodcott. She went to the bathroom and peered in, waving with her gun to indicate that Maxine should follow her.
Justine was kneeling over the tub, running more hot water over her husband, who floated there, his skin so pale it was bluish. His eyes rolled around sightlessly in his head.
‘Poor old Vincent doesn’t look his best,’ said Mrs Woodcott, pursing her lips and ushering Maxine back out of the bathroom. ‘Mind you, up until quite recently he was in suspended animation in a life‐support tank, held captive by a bunch of thugs called IDEA at Thanet Airport.’ Mrs Woodcott frowned. ‘Thanet, of all places.’ She turned and looked at the door as the woman called Benny entered. Ah, Bernice,’ said Mrs Woodcott. ‘I was just telling our new friend here about how you rescued that poor chap in the bathtub. You and Creed, that is.’
‘And the Doctor,’ said Benny.
‘And the Doctor, of course.’
‘What you don’t understand,’ said Maxine, addressing the woman who had just entered, ‘is that you’re not immune. None of you. You could have ended up working in an animal research facility yourselves. And if something like that happens you just have to cope with it. What do you think I am?’
‘You tell me,’ said Benny.
‘I’m not a monster. I didn’t like it at first. Of course I didn’t like it. No one does. But gradually you get used to it. And then you start making jokes, to help you cope with it. And then the jokes begin to seem pretty funny. Like the time the thermostat went on the fritz in the guinea pigs’ hutch and we had a little accident. Then Sean started referring to it as “the grand pig roast” and we all laughed and started using the phrase. It was pretty funny.’ She looked up at them, searching their eyes for judgement. ‘People in the emergency services make the same sort of jokes. Policemen, firemen, medics. They make sick jokes too, to help them cope. And the job we were doing here is just as important.’
‘Bullshit,’ said Justine, coming in from the bathroom where her husband was floating silently. ‘The work you do here is worthless. You’re testing drugs on animals that are intended for humans. None of the animal tests have any bearing on human reactions to the drugs. Angel dust was supposed to turn junkies into raging, crazed madmen with the strength of ten. But it was designed as an animal tranquillizer.’
‘Sure,’ said Maxine. ‘And chloroform is a useful anaesthetic for humans but it kills dogs. Morphine calms people and rats but causes crazed stimulation in cats and mice. Aspirin causes birth defects in rats, mice, monkeys, guinea pigs, cats and dogs but it’s harmless to humans.’
Justine unconsciously put a hand on her belly, as if shielding her unborn baby. ‘You know all that and you still work here?’
‘What else can they do to test drugs? All the money is on animal tests. They’re the traditional approach and scientists are nothing if not conservative. It all comes down to money in the end and animal testing is one of the few things you can get funds for. I just had to decide whether I wanted a job or wanted to stay unemployed for the rest of my life.’
‘Well, I hope you’re proud of your decision,’ said a small man who came in through the doorway moving quickly.
‘I’m the Doctor,’ he said to Maxine. ‘And you’re out of business.’
* * *
Dieter was kneeling beside the bath. He had a variety of boxes stacked along the edge of the tub. The boxes carried the logos of some of the large pharmaceutical companies who were among his customers.