Doctor Who_ Wetworld - Mark Michalowski [24]
Pallister scratched at the stubble on his pointed chin and wondered for the third time that morning whether he shouldn’t take an hour off to go home and have a shave and a shower. It didn’t do for the Chief Councillor to look so scruffy, not when there was an adjudicator around. He chewed his lip, thoughtfully. Maybe looking a bit worn and frazzled had its advantages, though – it would look like he cared more about his duty than his appearance.
Besides, he couldn’t really spare the time. The arrival of this Doctor was a pain in more ways than one. Pallister peered out of his office window as he saw the Doctor cross from the hospital back to the zoo lab. A few of the settlers out in the square watched him go and began talking amongst themselves. Word was spreading already: Earth had sent an adjudicator! The Chinese whispers had started. His assistant, Eton, had come tapping at his door not ten minutes ago, claiming people were saying a recovery mission was on its way to Sunday, and that they were all to be evacuated.
‘Rubbish!’ Pallister snapped. ‘Go back out there and stop these stupid rumours before we have everyone out in the square with their suitcases packed.’
‘Pardon me for asking, sir – what’s he here for?’
‘That’s something between him and me – and the Council,’ Pallister added quickly. ‘There’s a meeting this evening and you’ll all be told in the fullness of time.’ Eton just stared at him. ‘At the appropriate juncture,’ Pallister added more firmly.
‘Yes, sir. Very good, sir.’
‘Now go and stop those rumours, Eton – and if I hear any more of them, I’ll know who to blame, won’t I?’
Eton could only stammer an apology as he ducked out of the room.
As the door closed, a sudden sense of cold dread swept through Pallister, What if the Doctor were here to investigate him? No, that was impossible. There was nothing to investigate, was there? His election had been. . . well, it had seemed open and above-board. He’d kept the promises he’d made to the key families that had voted him in: better houses, higher priority on work rotas, that sort of thing. It was hardly an adjudication matter, surely. Everything he was doing here was for the good of the colony – no adjudicator could argue with that. Solid leadership. A single hand taking charge.
So why was the Doctor spending so much time with Benson? Why wasn’t he in the office that Pallister had so kindly provided for him?
Too many questions, he thought, picking up a pencil and bending it in his fingers. Too many questions and so far not a single answer.
He swore as the pencil snapped – and there was another knock at the door.
Ty had packed a thermos of coffee and some sandwiches for their hike to the original Sunday City. Orlo looked a bit reluctant to trudge back there – especially after racing back to the zoo lab at full tilt. But with a bit of chivvying from the Doctor, he soon went along with it.
‘Should have brought Candy,’ Orlo said as they made their way through the forest. ‘She’s a good swimmer – she could have gone down there and taken a look.’
The last thing we want,’ said the Doctor – who’d taken off his jacket and slung it over his shoulder, ‘is anyone diving into those waters.’
‘You think there might be more of those things that attacked Martha?’ asked Ty, struggling to keep up with the Doctor’s pace.
The reports that had returned along with the recovered skeletons suggested that quite a few of the nests might have had creatures living in their water pools. Eleven skeletons had been found, all in the same state, in five different nests. And in four of those there had been signs of something thrashing about in the water.
‘I wouldn’t be surprised,’ he answered. He seemed distracted – no doubt worried about his friend. Ty watched him carefully, trying to work him and Martha out. Were they a couple? Just friends? Work colleagues? If they were a couple, Ty thought wryly, then Martha was one lucky woman.
She was pleased that their earlier spat seemed to have been forgotten. She was sure that the Doctor