Doctor Who_ Winner Takes All - Jacqueline Rayner [30]
The Quevvil didn’t seem to know what to say to that. So it raised its gun again, and pointed it straight at the Doctor.
* * *
Rose arrived in town, but she still didn’t have a plan. Get into the Quevvils’ base, find the Doctor, hope he’d know what to do, how to save her mum? She hurried to the newsagent’s shop. It was closed. She glanced at her watch: 5.40. The whole day had gone by without her noticing. She started to examine the lock, hastily pretending to be tying up her shoelace as a couple of uniformed policemen walked past, hoping they didn’t notice that her shoes didn’t have laces. But it was no good, she didn’t have the faintest idea how to pick the lock, and the shop had a prominent alarm system. She’d be arrested before she got halfway to the cellar.
She turned her attention to the Quevvils’ prize booth, a few metres away. Still didn’t have a proper plan, but she couldn’t just do nothing. Let’s hope they’re the sort of aliens who think all humans look alike. They barely saw me, she thought, trying to convince herself; just if they looked out when I was trying to get in with the Doctor, and there was only one of them when I was scattering salt all over the place, and they would have seen me only for a split second before we teleported away…
She’d have to risk it. She knew this wasn’t the right plan, wasn’t the one that would work, didn’t have a hope, but it was all she could think of just now, and she’d have to risk them recognising her.
Rose went up to the booth, acting casual, nothing to indicate she knew these were aliens, nothing to say you might have killed my mother.
She got one of the winning cards out of her pocket, stuck it in the reader, waited to be allowed through the door. There was a Quevvil behind the counter. So much for her hope that the Quevvils couldn’t tell humans apart – pot calling kettle, she had no idea if this was the one she’d encountered before or not.
The Quevvil produced a boxed games console and tried to hand it to her.
‘I’ve already got one of those,’ Rose said. ‘I just wanted to ask a question. My mum’s won one of your holidays and I need to get in touch with her urgently. Could you tell me if she’s left yet?’
‘I am sorry, that is not possible,’ said the Quevvil, pushing forward the box.
‘Is there a depot or something?’ said Rose, her eyes darting all around the booth, hoping to discover some sort of clue.
‘I am afraid I cannot give out that information,’ said the Quevvil, still being insistent with the boxed game.
Rose lost it. ‘Tell me what you’ve done with my mother!’ she screamed. She grabbed the box, and threw it across the counter. It hit a pile of games, which collapsed with an almighty crash. The Quevvil’s quills began to stand on end, and it suddenly hit Rose that this was an alien, an alien who didn’t mind killing humans – it wasn’t going to give her any information on Jackie, this was totally the wrong plan, and the door had closed behind her…
* * *
The Quevvil was holding the gun on the Doctor when a great noise came from above, as if something heavy had been dropped to the floor. The Quevvil glanced upwards, and the Doctor pounced. Pouncing on something covered in pointed quills possibly wasn’t the most sensible move in the world, but the Quevvil was distracted as the Doctor managed to wrench its gun away, and in an instant he was out through the door. A barrage of spines soared through the air after him as he sprinted down the corridor, past the three Quevvils by the ladder to the trapdoor, presumably going to investigate the noise. He reached the far end of the corridor, and slammed the door behind him. A drumming noise told him that more quills were thudding into the heavy