Part 11 (1/2)

Benny looked at Chris and Roz, sitting together across the booth.

'I'm worried about the timing,' said Roz. 'We turn up, and almost immediately they're missing an alien.'

No, thought Benny, trying not to smile at the pair of them.

They couldn't be.

The Doctor frowned, looking into his cup as though trying to read the tea leaves. 'I rather think Isaac's worried about the timing as well.'

'Yeah, but what I mean is, have we done or changed anything that might've caused this?'

'We have to find her,' said Chris. 'Show them that we're on their side.'

'I've been thinking.' The Doctor pushed his tea to one side. 'Perhaps I should go away for a little while.'

'What?' said Chris. 'Where?'

'Isaac can't relax while I'm here,' he said. 'Perhaps I should give him and Benny a little time to get to know one another.'

Benny put her arms over his shoulders and hugged him from behind. 'Of course not. We have to help them now that we're here. Besides, I want you two to get along.'

Chris jabbed a finger at Jason in a not very subtle gesture. Benny looked over to where her husband was glumly pouring himself and Albinex another drink. She sighed, and changed tables again.

'I've been part of the operation since the beginning, I'm proud to say.' Albinex was diminutive and fas.h.i.+onable, his hair gel intact despite the rain. 'The Tisiphone Tisiphone caused a few interesting radar blips, but for the most part, their arrival went unnoticed. Except by me. I'd been watching for new arrivals ever since I crashed here in the fifties.' caused a few interesting radar blips, but for the most part, their arrival went unnoticed. Except by me. I'd been watching for new arrivals ever since I crashed here in the fifties.'

Benny sat down and picked up the bottle, pouring some of the whisky into her empty coffee mug. 'They must have been in a state.'

'The Admiral was as cool as ice. The others were in shock. He still does that in an emergency, just switches it all off and gets on with the job.' Albinex took a mouthful of whisky. 'They ended up piling into my van, and I drove them back to my flat in Ammanford. Beilby died two days later, insisting they didn't take him to a hospital.'

'How did Little Caldwell begin?'

'At first it was a library in Llanelli. Then it was a centre for the homeless in London. Those were good years, the late sixties and early seventies. Busy years, too. While UNIT was mopping up the invasions, we were mopping up after UNIT.'

'Albinex,' called Isaac, from across the room.

'Sir.' Albinex got up. 'Excuse me.'

Jason and Benny sat opposite each other for a few moments, Jason toying with his gla.s.s.

'Wish you wouldn't do that,' he said.

'What?'

'You know what I mean. What does my body language tell you, then? That I'm jealous of your father?'

Benny sat back. If anyone had heard, they were politely pretending they hadn't. 'I wasn't trying to read you,' she said.

'Actually, I was just thinking -'

'Can I just talk about it?' said Jason. 'Can I just talk and you listen?'

Benny swallowed hard and said, 'Let's go outside, then.'

Outside it was raining fiercely onto the awning, a wide puddle forming in the gutter. Jason stood with his hands in his pockets, staring into the near-darkness. Benny folded her arms and waited.

'I've been looking into myself. You know?' he said, eventually. 'And I think I've always been jealous of him, right from the start.'

'Jealous of my dad?'

'When you used to talk about him, I could hear this terrible... all your life you'd been walking around like a jigsaw puzzle missing one piece. I wanted to go and find him and bring him back for you, and make everything all right.'

Benny glanced back at the shop. The hologram made it look empty and dark. Jason said, 'It was bad enough having to hear about the Doctor all the time. But at least I could do stuff with you the Doctor couldn't do.' Benny smiled sadly and held Jason's coat lapel in her fingers. 'But how could I compete with this mythical other man? And now we actually find him, and he's doing -' he gestured around him '-- this.

He's a hero.'

Benny looked at him. 'I promised you I'd back you up, no matter what, and I meant it. But how can I compete with that?'

She walked up to him, grabbed hold of his ears, and angrily kissed him. Jason made a surprised noise.

'You get back in there,' she said, 'and you talk to him like a human being. That's all he is, a human being.'

'I thought you'd be furious,' he said.

'This isn't a compet.i.tion.' She kissed him again. 'I want you to like one another. Go on, get in there.'

'What about you?'

Benny sighed. 'I need a bit of fresh air.'

Jacqui didn't like the Friday evenings. Usually she stayed at the peace camp, sitting around the fire with the others, playing her recorder. But this time she thought it would be a good idea to come back to Little Caldwell, help with searching or something. She had spent a little bit of time tidying up in the cottage she shared with Ms Randrianasolo and the Bannerman. The poor alien left things all over the place, not because he meant to, but because he just forgot about them. He was stone deaf, too, so you couldn't ask him where he'd left things. When she was finally finished, she switched off all the lights and locked the front door.

It was raining steadily, making a soothing, drumming noise on her umbrella. She sloshed through the puddles in her wellies, humming to herself. It would be her thirty-fifth birthday in two days.

Someone was standing outside the Pyramid, watching the rain come down. As Jacqui got closer, she could see it was Bernice Summerfield. There was a hologram up, making the shop look empty. She didn't know why they bothered with that. Mr Sullivan the postman went home to Newbury at night, and it wasn't as if anyone was going to come here in weather like this.

Bernice had noticed her. 'h.e.l.lo,' she said.

'You're getting wet,' said Jacqui. She thought her voice always sounded tiny and rusty, like a bit of machinery that hadn't been used for a while.

'I just needed to get outside for a bit,' said Bernice, scooping sodden hair out of her eyes. The shop's rolled-up awning didn't offer much protection.