Part 12 (1/2)
But the Doctor's voice came clearly through her mind. 'The bigger picture, Ace. Always remember the bigger picture.
Sometimes, you'll find that if you concentrate on that, the smaller details will fell into place, too.'
h.e.l.l, she hoped so. And, if not, she'd deal with Bob Matson before they left. She didn't know how, yet, but she'd happily devote the next couple of days to considering her options.
But, as Matson moved away quickly, she remembered the Doctor, and the school, and she waited for her emotions to calm. They did, moments after Bob Matson disappeared from view.
Ace emerged from the shelter of the tree, and turned into the lane that led to the school. It sat some distance away, a large building darker than the hedgerows it seemed to sprout from, studded with one or two resolute lights.
The wind picked up just as the rain started to fell, and Ace swore under her breath. The leisurely stroll became a dash for shelter as she ran towards the school, past what seemed to be a staff car park and a bedraggled, tacked-on row of workshops and science labs. She crashed into the back door, thankful for the overhanging roof, and pressed the doorbell, no longer interested in subtlety.
At length the door opened, and a ratlike man stood in the doorway. 'Yes?' he asked, suspiciously.
Ace tried peering around him, as if the Doctor would be somewhere within sight, but saw only a wall of lockers and the doors to some toilets. 'I got caught in the rain.'
'Yes.'
The man seemed unconcerned, but Ace ploughed on regardless. 'So, can I come in? Out of the rain, I mean.'
'No.'
Ace opened her mouth to protest, but the man cut her short.
'Rules,' he said, 'are there to be obeyed by one and all.'
'Yeah, but surely I can -'
'And your friend is no longer here.'
If Ace was surprised by the man's sudden burst of intuition, she didn't show it. 'But he was?'
The man nodded. 'Of course. Last night. The reunion. He departed some time before midnight.'
'But I haven't seen him since.'
'Not my problem.' The man peered out into the darkness, as cold as the grey rain that was falling in sheets. 'Now, leave the school premises, or I'll set the dogs on you.'
In a different context, the threat would have been laughable, but Ace had spent long enough in Hexen Bridge to recognise that the man was deadly serious. She turned away, trying to think of something witty and abusive to say, but managed only a brusque 'Well, up yours, then.' The door closed with a m.u.f.fled thump.
She walked down the little driveway back towards the lane, feeling one or more pairs of eyes watching her as she went.
Only when she turned the corner and the school slumped out of sight did she relax. As if on cue, the rain slowed to a pathetic drizzle.
What next? She supposed it was just about feasible that the Doctor had headed back to the TARDIS, and either been injured on his way, or had collapsed inside. 'Professor, I hate this!' she exclaimed out loud.
She recognised the bushy copse close to the field where the TARDIS had landed, and walked in that direction, clambering over a rustred gate and cutting through the ascending pastures.
She slapped her forehead. Perhaps the Doctor had left a note there, and Ace had frittered away her day chatting with Rebecca Baber, waiting for something to happen. Tomorrow, Ace resolved, she would seize the initiative and... do something.
She found a break in the hedge surrounding the field, and strode swiftly towards the area where the TARDIS nestled. A dark shape emerged from the deeper shadows, and Ace let out a sigh of relief. She hadn't realised how frightened she'd been of not finding it at all.
But something was wrong: the shape was all amorphous and rounded, not angular and square. Ace ducked back under the overhanging trees that skirted the edge of the field, approaching more cautiously.
The night-time clouds receded. As Ace walked closer she could see that an unmoving something something had surrounded the TARDIS on all sides. Actually, make that several somethings. had surrounded the TARDIS on all sides. Actually, make that several somethings.
A group of figures appeared to have encircled the TARDIS, their arms touching in an attempt to make a human cordon.
They were motionless, only the wind tugging at them causing an approximation of movement. They were scarecrows, straw-filled faces staring blandly out into the fields and down into the village.
Breathing heavily in relief, Ace strode over towards the TARDIS. Probably some straw-sucker's idea of a joke, she thought. Just s.h.i.+ft these out of the way and open the door and - The faces were terrifying, and Ace stopped dead in her tracks, suddenly remembering the manikin she had spied on the green earlier that morning. Twigs and roots ran over skin-coloured cloth faces in a parody of veins and arteries; bunches of corn ears and brown leaves formed muscles and features. The eyes and mouths were savage slits in the cloth.
Steeling herself, she approached the first scarecrow. It wore a thick checked s.h.i.+rt and scuffed chinos, and when she gripped its shoulder she could feel the strong, straight branches underneath that supported the straw stuffing.
She pulled, expecting the thing to topple over, but it was locked solid. She pulled again, harder, and some dried gra.s.s came away in her hands, but the impa.s.sive figure hadn't budged an inch. She glanced down at the broken boots and stick legs of the scarecrow, but there were no obvious means of keeping it in place. It was as if the entire thing had been cast in bronze, and rooted deep into the ground.
She walked around the sinister group. All were motionless and immovable, resting against the solid walls of the TARDIS as if seeking warmth. There was no gap, no way through.
Ace swallowed down her rising panic, and turned back for the village. As she glanced over her shoulder, the wind tugged at the scarecrows. It was as if they were turning their faces to watch her.
PART TWO.
JACK IN THE BOX.
CHAPTER 5.
THE PROMISED LAND.
The Doctor sat on a mountain top. Below him, a thousand miles away, friends, family and companions were calling to him. He could hear the voices clearly as they echoed up through the clouds and the thin air towards him. He tried to answer, but his tongue was tied. Above him there was nothing but the vast rich blue of the universe. A scattering of stars, as bright as a hundred suns, cascaded their light upon him... And there was Pogar, his guiding star. The light that always brought him home from the furthest reaches of time and s.p.a.ce.
He was dreaming, of course. He had known that for some time. The Yeti who had asked him, in halting Old High Gallifreyan, if he had any cigarettes probably gave the game away.
Get up.
Consciousness overwhelmed the Doctor's mind, and for a moment he lost all sense of where he was. When he finally opened his eyes - focusing on a beautiful woman sitting on a cream leather sofa - he was none the wiser. She was blonde, with high cheekbones. She wore a strapless full-length dress that, the Doctor supposed, probably curved in all the right places. In her hand was a half-smoked cigarette. She glanced at the Doctor and noticed that he was awake. She got to her feet without a word.
'Those are very bad for you,' observed the Doctor, but the woman had already gone.