Doctor Who_ Winner Takes All - Jacqueline Rayner [33]
‘I got shot by a porcupine,’ answered Mickey. ‘Bit hurt you don’t remember.’
The Doctor waved a hand dismissively. ‘What about Rose? Is she all right? They didn’t get her as well, did they?’
‘Nah, she’s fine. Thanks for the sympathy.’
The Doctor sighed. ‘Next time, I’ll bring a bunch of grapes. Anyway, where is she?’
Mickey shrugged. ‘Last I knew, she was off out to collect up those games like you asked her.’ He became suddenly serious. ‘Look, there’s something you should see. Might be nothing but… well, it’s worrying.’ He turned back to the computer, clicked the mouse a couple of times, and pushed back the chair so the Doctor could get close enough to see.
On the screen were the words ‘KILL ALIEN’S FOR REAL ONLY £50’.
‘Illiterates,’ muttered the Doctor, taking over the mouse from Mickey and scrolling down.
There was a picture of a Mantodean, seemingly a screengrab from the game, and more text: ‘kill alien’s. this game let’s you shoot alein’s for real. they are giant insect’s and EVIL. you can kill them. this is GARANTEED. Email alienkiller1984@mail.net’.
The Doctor thumped a fist on the desk. ‘Idiots!’ he said. ‘If someone starts sending these games all over the country – all over the world – we’ll have no chance of collecting them all. Still, let’s hope no one realises this is actually the truth. Knowing humans, they’d be flocking up…’
Mickey cleared his throat. ‘I think they do think it’s the truth, though. The people who’ll be reading this, anyway. I was just sort of browsing, you see…’
The Doctor was already hitting the back button. ‘Alien bondage ring?’ he said, incredulously.
‘I didn’t think there’d really be sites about it!’ said Mickey wretchedly. ‘Er… anyone you know?’
The Doctor shut down the site with a decisive click. ‘Ridiculous humans,’ he said. ‘I’m going to find Rose. We’re stopping this now.’
* * *
Dilys’s Martin gave Rose a lift home, but by the time she got back, she was exhausted. She’d been so worried about her mum, thinking that she was on some distant planet, going to be killed by aliens. The adrenalin had been pumping something rotten. Now – well, she was still worried about her mum, hurt and in hospital, and she was still worried about the whole thing, the aliens and the games and the people being killed – but the adrenalin had drained away, leaving her ready for a sit‐down and a cup of tea.
She didn’t notice the Doctor sitting outside her front door until she was nearly on top of him. ‘Hello,’ she said. ‘You got away from the porcupines all right then, did you?’
He gave her a yes, obviously look. ‘D’you do it then?’ he said. ‘D’you get all the games?’
She leaned over him and put her key in the lock. ‘No. I haven’t got any of them.’
‘Why not?’ he said, following her inside.
She gave a big sigh. ‘You’ll never believe it. My mum had one of those holiday tickets.’
He looked concerned at that. ‘Did you stop her going?’
She shook her head. ‘It’s all right. Well, it’s sort of all right. She didn’t go. She got beaten up instead. She’s in hospital.’ And she explained everything she’d been doing.
To her surprise, the Doctor didn’t seem very sympathetic. She hadn’t expected a lot, but a bit of ‘poor Rose, what you must’ve been through’ would have been nice.
‘So you didn’t collect up any of the games,’ he said. ‘You didn’t even try, not even when you knew she was OK.’
Her eyes blazed. ‘My mum was in hospital.’
He shrugged. ‘Hospital’s where they look after people. You knew she was safe. You could’ve stuck with the plan, maybe saved some lives. But you went to the hospital instead.’
She was so mad she could hardly get the words out. How could he not understand? Her mum was in hospital! To carry on worrying about some abstract threat when your own mum was in hospital! But a bit of her, deep inside, realised she was getting so angry because she knew, in a way, that he was right. ‘Sometimes you’re just not human!’ she yelled. And he raised his eyebrows as if to say, ‘D’uh!’
She grabbed her bag. ‘I’m off to collect up these games then.’ she said, her voice