Doctor Who_ Wetworld - Mark Michalowski [45]
‘Where were you? We were worried. The otters –’ she began, but Candy was already nodding.
‘I know,’ she said simply. ‘I saw them.’
‘You saw them?’
Candy nodded, fixing Ty with her eyes.
And then, shakily, she began to tell Ty all about her trip to the One Small Step.
‘After Col. . . after he died,’ said Candy, ‘I tried to drag his body out of the ship. I don’t know why. He was dead. There was nothing I could have done. The thing, the tentacle or whatever it was, that had been in his head. It pulled out of the ship. I could hear it slithering and banging down the outside of the ship. When I realised it was pointless, I gave up and started to leave the ship. But there were otters, outside. They looked sort of weird, doped. But I didn’t want to risk it, so I made my way back down the ship and managed to get out through one of the rear emergency exits. I hung around though, just to see what they were up to.’
‘You should have come straight back,’ Ty said.
Candy nodded guiltily.
‘I know. But after what had happened to Col, after what I saw. . .
I thought I might be able to find something out.’ She gave a half-hearted shrug. ‘But I didn’t. I watched them moving around the ship for a bit but it was too dark to be able to see much, so I thought I should come back.
‘But as I was heading back through the forest, I heard the otters behind me so I hid in a tree and watched them. There were dozens of them – dozens! I let them go past and then started following them.
They were heading for the city, for here. I knew I’d never catch them up. By the time I got here. . . ’ She broke off again, and Ty felt her squeeze her fingers tightly. ‘It was too late – they were herding the Councillors back through the forest. Like sheep. Nipping at their legs and feet. Dory Chan was swearing at them like a trooper,’ she grinned.
‘But they just kept going, forcing them back out into the forest. I hid up a tree. Again.’ The poor girl looked as miserable as Ty had ever seen her look. She almost didn’t want to ask her next question, but she knew she had to.
‘Did you see Martha? We found the Doctor’s sonic thing. Martha had taken it with her. No one’s seen her since.’
Candy shook her head. ‘It was dark, so I might have missed her. But I don’t think so.’
Ty didn’t know whether this was more or less worrying. If Martha hadn’t been taken by the otters, then where was she?
∗ ∗ ∗ Had Ty but known it, Martha had been almost as confused as her.
She’d stood in the darkness, sonic screwdriver in hand, and watched as a confused and shifting mass of darkness moved across the other side of the square. It took her a few moments to realise what it was: people. A crowd of people. Their movements were odd and jerky, and only when Martha saw the shadows skipping and jumping along the ground did she work out that the crowd of people was being herded by otters.
Martha gritted her teeth and made sure she had a firm grip on the screwdriver. This’d see ’em off.
Only Martha had never got as far as seeing ’em off. Barely had she taken two steps in the direction of the rapidly departing crowd than her feet managed to catch on something. With a loud ooof! she went sprawling, full length. Reflexively, her arms shot out to stop herself, and she felt warm fur, slipping and sliding under her hands. Hands that no longer held the Doctor’s beloved sonic. In panic, she reached for the ground beneath her, hoping against hope that it would still be there, that she’d feel the comforting solidity of the little device. But all she felt were more otters.
Abandoning her search, fearful of being torn to shreds by their teeth and claws, Martha rolled over onto her side, away from the furry bodies that bounced and jiggled against her. She couldn’t tell how many there were – half a dozen? Ten? In seconds she was back on her feet. She raised her hands, defensively – and, to her amazement,