Doctor Who_ Winner Takes All - Jacqueline Rayner [4]
Mickey didn’t seem to take offence. ‘This games thing that Rose’s mum got me. Thought it was a bit of a rip‐off at first, not a PlayStation or an Xbox or anything and you only get one game, but it’s brilliant. You’d like it. All aliens and stuff.’
The Doctor seemed unconvinced.
‘Come on, I’ll show you,’ Mickey said.
* * *
The Doctor had dragged a second chair up close to the TV, and Rose was perched on its arm. There was a pile of games on the floor: Gran Turismo, Resident Evil, Bad Wolf, TimeSplitters 2, loads of football stuff. She’d picked up the top one and was examining it: an orange cardboard box that had a picture of a cartoon porcupine shooting a cartoon insect‐thing on it. Big black letters gave the game’s name: Death to Mantodeans. The two men were discussing the game itself, passing the control pad between chairs, across Rose. She might have been a cushion for all the notice they were taking of her.
‘Smart graphics,’ said the Doctor.
‘Yeah, first‐person’s cool, innit?’ said Mickey. ‘All Blair Witchy, like your really feel you’re there, yeah? And it’s never the same twice. The amount of variables they must’ve programmed in is amazing.’
‘And it’s got these porcupines in it, has it?’ said Rose, trying to take part in the conversation. It wasn’t as if she couldn’t have been really good at this stuff herself if she’d wanted to be, but she just couldn’t see the point. ‘The ones from the promotion?’
‘Yeah, right at the beginning,’ Mickey said. ‘They’re at war with these other things called Mantodeans, like giant praying mantises sort of thing, and they send you off on a mission to infiltrate the enemy stronghold. That’s what it’s all about. ’Spect they’ll pop up again at the end if you win. No one’s done it yet, though.’
‘How d’you know?’ Rose asked.
‘Cos I have my finger on the pulse, babe.’
She kept looking enquiringly at him till he continued. ‘They’re offering a prize. First person to complete the game gets a load of cash. So everyone round here wants to give it a go. Nag at their mums till they win a game off the shopping. Set up a message board on the net an’ that, talking about it. Hardly anyone’s even got past the training level.’
‘Training level?’ said the Doctor.
‘Yeah, that’s what they call it. It’s all cartoony, not like this stuff.’ He indicated the screen, which currently showed a realistic‐looking view of a tunnel entrance. ‘All tests and that. If it wasn’t for the prize, I reckon a lot of people would’ve given up. But once you’ve done it, you get this intro about the proper game, the mission, and you get to play the good stuff.’
‘And not many people have got that far then?’ asked Rose, pretending interest just for something to say.
‘Nah. Hardly any, I reckon. So just call me da man and get ready to worship at my feet, cos that prize is gonna be mine.’
The Doctor pointed at an indicator in the corner of the screen. The score wasn’t very high. ‘Yeah, looks like you’re on the home stretch, da man.’
Mickey got all defensive. ‘Yeah, well, no one’s got very far yet. Reckon there’s a glitch or something. Half the time it doesn’t save your game and you have to go back to the beginning. And the puzzles you gotta work out, they’re like mega brainy stuff. Maths and that.’
‘Puzzles?’ said the Doctor.
Mickey reached across Rose for the controller, and pressed down on a button. On the TV screen, Rose watched a shaky corridor rush past. At the end was an imposing‐looking door. A panel on the door came into focus, with numbers and letters scrolling across it.
The Doctor sat up. ‘I’m surprised anyone’s got past this at all. Look at the algorithms on that!’
Mickey grinned. ‘Ladies present!’
The Doctor leaned across Rose and took the controller off Mickey.
‘There’s all sorts of different ones,’ Mickey said helpfully. ‘Some are sort of, you know, pictogrammy things. Or odd ones out, that sort of thing.’
The Doctor was already staring at the screen, muttering things like, ‘Convert that section to binary… If d equals 8.9 to the power of y… Ha ha!’ With a triumphant yell he stabbed at