Doctor Who_ Winner Takes All - Jacqueline Rayner [15]
‘And I suppose no one on Earth would even care,’ said Rose, thinking about it. ‘What a bunch of aliens get up to on their own planet is hardly going to bother anyone.’
On the television, the first puzzle filled the screen. It was different to the mathematical one from last time the Doctor had played the game, but he solved it just as quickly. Once inside, he had to climb through vents, jump across chasms, and negotiate twisting and turning mazes.
‘I can see why those fat porcupines couldn’t manage this,’ commented Rose, as the Doctor pressed a combination of buttons to navigate a series of long jumps on to tiny platforms. ‘These are definitely meant for jumping insects.’
A couple of Mantodeans appeared at the end of a tunnel. The Doctor, leaning forward eagerly, pressed down hard on the controller’s blue button. An icon appeared on the screen, a tiny pistol. ‘Gun selected,’ the graphics read. The Doctor’s finger hovered over the red button.
Rose caught at his arm. ‘You can’t! You can’t shoot them! They’re real! You’d be killing them.’
The Doctor hurriedly pressed another button, and the Mantodeans snapped out of view as he ducked down a side tunnel. He sat back, looked at her. ‘I was getting a bit carried away there.’
She gave him a half‐smile. ‘Yeah, me too. I mean, I wanted you to shoot them, for a second. Kill or be killed, and all that.’
He nodded. ‘Only it isn’t, you’re right. Even if I have to start again, half an hour here or there probably won’t make much difference to Mickey.’
She hadn’t thought of that, and frowned. But although she’d have gunned down a dozen aliens to get to a Mickey being threatened in front of her, this was different. If the Doctor was right, he was just being made to play video games somewhere. Who knew, they might even be providing him with tea and biscuits. ‘Have you got far to go, do you think?’ she said. ‘Before you get to the end of the game, I mean.’
‘I’m not going to get to the end of the game,’ he said, surprising her.
‘What, is it too tricky?’ She couldn’t believe that was the case.
He laughed. ‘As if!’ Then he continued more seriously, ‘We reckon I got further than any other player in a shorter time, right?’
‘Right.’ She nodded.
‘And we reckon that’s why they took Mickey. Probably because they thought he was their great hope, the only person likely to get to the end of the game. If what they’re saying is true, they only need one person to get to the centre of this place, one person to activate their disruptor. Then that’s it, game over. I do that, they’ll have no need to come looking for me, they’ll have achieved their purpose.’ He gave her a meaningful look. ‘And they’ll have no need for Mickey any more, either.’
She understood, and shivered a little. ‘Yeah, I get it.’
‘So I’m just going to beat my previous score, and then I’m going to stop. And then they’ll come and get me. And –’ he broke off for a moment to jab at the controller – ‘that’s probably going to be any minute now.’
The Doctor’s fingers flickered over the buttons, and then stopped. He gave a loud sigh, and placed the controller down on the table. ‘There. One hundred points higher. Should get their attention.’
She felt like a bundle of nerves. Knowing a giant porcupine might appear out of thin air any second wasn’t a relaxing thought. ‘And what do we do when we get there?’ she asked. ‘What’s the plan?’
‘Ah,’ he said. ‘Probably should have checked you were up for it, really. You are up for it, aren’t you? Dangerous, and all that.’
‘Up for what?’ He could be frustrating sometimes. ‘But of course I am. You know I am. Always.’
He grinned. ‘Yeah, I know that. Well, you’d better get behind this chair then.’
She glared at him. ‘If you think I’m hiding while you run off into goodness knows what…’
‘No, no, no,’ he said hastily. ‘Just, if they see both of us, they’ll capture both of us, right? So they have to just see me, then there’s one of us free to let the other out. Grab my ankle, then the teleportation field should take you as well. They won’t