Part 10 (1/2)

Morton watched impatiently as Peyne flitted from console to console in the ward, adjusting controls, studying readouts, making notes on 100 a clipboard. 'Well? Is she any use to us or not?'

Peyne glowered at him, teeth bared from beneath her thin lips. 'No, Morton. As I thought, she is too old to be of use as an imager. Like most on this miserable planet, her mind is too tainted by the trivia of the real world, her thoughts too consumed with the confusion of life.'

'But the creatures.' Morton pointed at the screen. 'You saw them. Magnificent creations! Those things were not the product of an imagination obsessed with trivia!'

'Frankly, those creatures were not the product of imagination at all, Morton,' Peyne snapped. 'They were real-life experiences. Memories, not fantasy.'

'What?' Morton was shocked. 'How is that possible?'

Peyne smiled at him unpleasantly, greatly enjoying her moment of superiority. 'The girl is an inter-dimensional traveller. Her body is soaked with energy from the time winds. She appears to have a telepathic link with a machine called the TARDIS, one of the legendary time capsules of the Time Lords.'

'The Doctor. . . '

'Would appear to be one of those Time Lords.'

Peyne adjusted a control, bringing a flickering image of the Doctor to life on one of the dozens of screens.

'It's interesting. They are meant to be extinct, casualties of the war they started.' She ran a hand across the screen. 'I wonder where this one has been hiding.'

'd.a.m.n.' Morton wheeled himself angrily across the room. 'I'm not interested in your extinct Time Lords! Switch the machines back on!

We've wasted enough time!'

'As I recall, it was your decision to turn them off in the first place.'

'All right, Peyne! It was my fault. I'm sure you will make sure that the Synod knows that you had nothing to do with it!'

Peyne nodded. 'My report will have to be submitted.' She crossed to the bank of machines again, flicking at switches. 'But before you dismiss the Doctor completely, consider this. The Time Lords are recorded as having the gift of complete bodily renewal. A useful attribute, don't you think?'101.

Morton stared at her silently and, with a smile, Peyne resumed her work at the controls.

Bronwyn's motorboat b.u.mped hard against the harbour wall, engine roaring as she swung it hard into the side. The Doctor bounded out and swiftly climbed the rusty ladder that clung to the wall. Bronwyn clambered up clumsily after him, skirts held in one hand and the rope coiled untidily over her shoulder.

The Doctor helped her up on to the quay, watching impatiently as she carefully tied the boat to one of the bollards that studded the wall's edge. The harbour was deserted, the harbour master's office with its picture-postcard displays shuttered and dark. The place was like a ghost town again, the wind sending abandoned newspaper pages fluttering down the street like mad origami seagulls. The windows of the pub were ablaze with light. The locals were no doubt all gathered inside once more, awaiting their nightly siege. Out in the bay, the green light was already starting to glow at the top of the lighthouse again.

The Doctor started off along the quay.

'Come on, Bronwyn! No dawdling! We've got to try and get up to the rectory before the woods start crawling with nasty things again. Chop-chop!'

The old lady shook her head. 'Goin' home.'

'What?' The Doctor hurried back to her. 'We've got to get up to Morton's place. Rose is in trouble.'

Bronwyn shook her head again and there was real fear in her eyes. The Doctor put an arm around her shoulder.

'I can't leave you out here alone. It's not safe.'

Bronwyn shook herself free angrily.

'It should be safe! A woman shouldn't feel frightened in the place she grew up in. We shouldn't have to hide.'

Torn, the Doctor watched her hobble her way along the harbour wall. Every second he delayed gave him less chance of reaching the rectory and helping Rose out of whatever it was she'd got herself into, but he couldn't leave Bronwyn out in the dark on her own. He called 102 after her, but she didn't look back. So, with a sigh, he turned and hurried after her.

She was heading for the strip of beach and her ramshackle house.

'Told him not to come back.' She waved an angry finger at the Doctor.

'Told him that no good would ever come of it and now look where he's led us!'

Bronwyn's voice was getting louder and louder the angrier she got. She was going to wake up all the children if she carried on like this!

The Doctor was about to say something but suddenly he stopped dead in his tracks.

'Of course!' He ran a hand through his tousled hair. 'That's it!'

He dashed forward, catching Bronwyn by the arm and spinning her around. 'Bronwyn Ceredig, you are a genius. A grade-A certified genius!' He planted a kiss on her forehead.

'What has got into you?' She slapped him away. 'Are you mad?'

'Completely! Totally! Mad as a hatter! Come on.' He caught her hand, steering her back towards the pub. 'I'm going to buy you a creme de menthe!'

Beth Hardy wiped tears from her eyes and glanced over at the door for what seemed like the millionth time. The mood in the pub was sombre and oppressive. On the other side of the bar Margo Evans was trying to comfort her two girls, while Jeff Palmer stood with his arm protectively around his son, Billy. Mervyn stood in the window with a face like thunder; he and Jeff had nearly come to blows. It had been nearly two hours since Billy and the two girls had slunk nervously into the kitchen of the pub. They had been wet and splattered with mud, but there was nothing unusual in that. Beth had tutted at them sternly and berated them for trailing muck across her nice clean floor, waiting for Ali's mischievous face to poke around the edge of the doorframe at any moment.

Then Sian Evans had started to cry, and with a sudden cold chill Beth had realised that something was wrong.

They had managed to coax the story out of the three kids Baz Morgan was already safely at home with his parents. Billy had told 103 them about their meeting with Rose in the woods, about how they had shown her the tunnel that led under the wall of the rectory and how Ali had been the one who had set off after her. They had waited as long as they dared, hoping that Ali or Rose would reappear, but as the last remnants of day started to fade and the dark of the woods started to close around them, the children had finally lost their nerve and run.

Mervyn had flown off the handle at Billy. He was the eldest. How dare he just run off and leave a ten-year-old girl out there on her own? Beth had thought he was going to hit Billy, and that's when Jeff had waded into the argument to protect his son, and it had taken Bob Perry and several others in the pub to separate the two men. Mervyn had shaken himself free and pulled on his jacket, prepared to head out into the night and confront Nathaniel Morton then and there. He had barely made it 100 metres across the dark car park at the back of the pub before the first of the night's creatures had driven him back.

That had been two hours ago and Mervyn had stood in the window, staring into the night, ever since. Beth had never seen him angrier or more despairing. She had tried to talk to him but the anguish on his face had frightened her more than she dared show. Now she tried to convince herself that Ali was a sensible girl. That she knew the dangers of the night and would find herself somewhere safe to hide until it was dawn.

Beth looked over at the clock that hung above the bar, watching the second hand making its way inexorably around the face. Dawn was such a long, long way away.

The door of the pub crashed open and Beth swung round in fearful antic.i.p.ation. The Doctor breezed through with Bronwyn in his wake. He crossed to the bar, flas.h.i.+ng a brilliant smile at Beth.

'I know!'

The a.s.sembled villagers watched him in open-mouthed amazement.

'I know how to deal with this. At least I know how to start to deal with this. Bronwyn's idea. Brilliant. But I need your help.'

Mervyn charged across the pub, catching the Doctor by the lapels 104 of his coat and slamming him back against the wall.

'No, Mervyn!' screamed Beth. 'Don't.'

Jeff Palmer stepped forward. 'Don't be foolish, Mervyn.'

'The only foolish thing we've done has been to let this man and his friend anywhere near our daughter.' Mervyn Hardy's voice was shaking with rage.

The Doctor shook himself free from the big man's grip, looking round at the hostile faces in the pub.