Part 19 (1/2)

14 Aliens R Us

'What's he like?' said Isaac.

Benny was sitting in the overstuffed chair in the middle of the upstairs guestroom. Myn Jareshth watched them both from the edge of the fold-down bed.

Benny said, 'He's like... he's like an uncle. An uncle who has a job you don't know much about.'

'How do you mean?'

'You know, something a bit nasty, which none of the grown-ups can tell you about because you're too little... so you little bits about it, just things you've overheard or things you've glimpsed.'

'As though he's in the army.'

'I suppose so.'

'Why an uncle?'

'Well, because he takes you on trips. He's kindly and a bit odd.' She smiled as she drifted back through years of memories. 'He likes jazz and the Beatles, and cats, and dipping croissants in coffee. He's a vegetarian who doesn't like pears.'

'But he's not an uncle if you're an alien monster.'

'He once said that he's what monsters have nightmares about,' said Benny. Her smile faded. 'But everybody's a monster sometimes. I've seen him be callous, and dangerous... sometimes he just fails to understand. And then you realise that the friendly uncle is -'

'A facade?'

'No, that's not it. It's more like a mode he can drop into so that he can relate to you.'

'Is he... a good man, Benny?'

'Yes.' She nodded firmly. 'Yes, he is.'

'Even if sometimes he does terrible things?'

Benny considered. 'He never does anything because he's lazy or greedy, or for revenge.'

'Does motive make a difference if it's your planet that gets blown up?'

'Maybe not,' said Benny. 'But he really does the best he can.'

Downstairs, ten minutes later.

The Doctor was surrounded by empty coffee cups, his face a grimace of concentration. He held up the device he had built, close to one blue eye, and twiddled with the components.

Isaac watched from behind the counter. He wondered if it looked as though he was hiding there. Determinedly he put down the gla.s.ses he was polis.h.i.+ng and walked up to the Time Lord.

The Doctor glanced up at him in mid-twiddle.

'I didn't take your TARDIS,' said Isaac.

'And I didn't take your Lacaillan,' said the Doctor wryly.

'We have a problem,' said Isaac.

'Yes. Sit down.'

Isaac sat down. 'What are you making?'

'It's a ghost-detector,' said the Time Lord.

Isaac nodded. 'The aliens who a.s.saulted you were taken by the military,' he said. 'So far as we can tell. I've made a few enquiries, but they've vanished into thin air.'

'They were after information about nuclear warfare,' said the Doctor, 'though I don't know exactly what information, or why they thought I'd have it. It can't be a coincidence, though, that your base of operations is a neutron's throw from a major nuclear facility.'

'We've been here a lot longer than the USAF,' said Isaac. 'We did consider moving when it was first announced they'd be storing Cruise down the road from us.'

'It must have been a bit of a shock.'

'You could put it that way,' said Isaac. 'But in the end we discovered the base drew attention away from us. And up until now, there haven't actually been any missiles.' He started gathering up the empty cups.

'Ah,' said the Doctor.

'Ah, what?' said Isaac, putting the used cups on the counter.

'That's why they were so interested.' He breathed out a sigh. 'They had very specific information about me. A government source, perhaps. I'm starting to wonder how much they're involved in all of this.'

'You're nothing like the way you're described,' said Isaac.

The Doctor snapped the last component into place on his ghost-detector. 'That's because I'm not your mortal enemy.'

The doorbell jingled. Joel and Tony both tried to get in through the door at once, got jammed, and shot into the shop like corks out of a bottle.

'Doctor!'

'Chris!'

'Admiral!'

'The car is a write-off!'

'They took Chris! We can't track him by his communicator, he tossed it -'