Part 10 (1/2)

'Well. I remembered this thing about how porcupines go mad for it,' she'd explained. 'They chew stuff to bits if someone's just touched it with sweaty hands, that's how much they love it. So I figured...'

The Doctor had interrupted her. 'These aren't porcupines! Porcupines don't, contrary to popular belief, shoot their quills at you. They don't walk upright. They don't carry little laser guns. And they don't, whatever David Attenborough might tell you, kidnap human beings and teleport them to an alien planet!'

Rose shrugged. 'Well, I knew it was a long shot...'

He'd grinned then. 'A bloomin' brilliant one!' And he'd given her a great big hug, swinging her off her feet. 'I'll never let anyone call you a dumb human again.'

'What, you mean they '

'Nah,' he'd interrupted again, laughing, and he took her hand and led her off down the street.

'Nah,' he said again now. 'We're going to figure that out when we get there. Easier that way. I hate having to keep rejigging a plan just cos there was something we didn't know about before we arrived.'

'Yeah, right,' said Rose. 'You've just got this seat*of*the*pants thing going. You'd get all bored if you'd got it sorted beforehand.'

He just smiled at that, as he pushed open the blue double doors; didn't confirm or deny.

Rose was sort of used to coming into the TARDIS now, in the same way Alexander Graham Bell's friends must have grown used to the miracle of being called up on the telephone after the first few times, but she still got a rush from it, the casual wandering into a wonderful alien environment, a machine that was, amazingly, bigger on the inside than the outside. That would have been astounding enough in itself, even without the whole 'travel to anywhere and anywhen' thing.

The Doctor held out a hand for the winning scratch*card as they walked up the ramp into the dark control room, and she pulled it out of her jeans pocket again, hoping the slight crease it in wouldn't have harmed whatever strange technology it was concealing.

She pa.s.sed it over, and the Doctor stuck the card into a slot in the console. The TARDIS always seemed to have exactly what was needed. Rose suspected that it somehow adapted itself to the Doctor's requirements, but she'd never managed to catch it out; never managed to spot something that she knew hadn't been there before, or found anything to be absent that had previously been present.

'Won't be long,' said the Doctor.

Rose hoped so, you really didn't want too much time to reflect before plunging into deadly danger. The Doctor flicked a few switches, and the thin column in the middle of the console began to pulse up and down, bathing the room in blue*green light. That meant they were in flight. That they were, as far as she could understand it, more or less nowhere. Travelling in the TARDIS was more like the Quevvils' teleportation than a rocket to the moon: you didn't have to take a detour round Saturn or risk getting stuck in a s.p.a.ces.h.i.+p jam at the edge of the Milky Way, you just... Well, actually, she'd leave the details to the Doctor. Just take it on trust for now.

The Doctor was mooching round the console, his hands in his pockets, occasionally peering down at something. He did not thrive on inactivity. 'Be there any second,' he said.

'Good,' said Rose, 'I ' But she suddenly found herself flying across the room. The TARDIS had lurched violently, like it had given a sudden enormous hiccup. She grabbed at one of the strange sculptures that decorated the room, a sort of Y-shaped thing that looked like a cross between a tree and a statue, and it arrested her flight. Using it for support, she managed to drag herself back to her feet.

'What was that?' she asked, shaken.

The Doctor was examining the console. 'We were repelled by something.'

'The force field around the Mantodean stronghold!' Rose realised. 'No teleporting, no TARDIS.'

The Doctor nodded. 'So that's Plan A out of the window.'

'Well, we were making it up as we went along,' said Rose, to sort of comfort him. 'We've landed somewhere, anyway.'

'Mm,' said the Doctor, getting his sonic screwdriver out of his pocket as if to check he still had it, then putting it back in again. 'I expect it's gone into default mode, taken us to exactly where the winning*card holders materialise. But the best way to find out '

'Is to go out,' completed Rose.

The Doctor opened the TARDIS doors, and Rose followed him outside.

THIRTEEN.

There were about fifteen people in the room. There were fourteen now, fourteen exactly. There were fourteen now, fourteen exactly. There always seemed to be about fifteen, because as fast as they took people away, new ones appeared. When the people materialised out of thin air they were usually upset and confused. If you'd been there for a while, you had to explain what was happening. Not that you really knew. Sometimes people had barely arrived before Percy the Porcupine came in and took them away. Sometimes, like Robert, you could be there for hours. No one knew where they took you, but everyone was scared, no one wanted to be picked. There always seemed to be about fifteen, because as fast as they took people away, new ones appeared. When the people materialised out of thin air they were usually upset and confused. If you'd been there for a while, you had to explain what was happening. Not that you really knew. Sometimes people had barely arrived before Percy the Porcupine came in and took them away. Sometimes, like Robert, you could be there for hours. No one knew where they took you, but everyone was scared, no one wanted to be picked.

His mum had done this really embarra.s.sing thing, crying and screaming for them to take her instead of him, trying to throw herself in front of him and stop the monsters from getting near him.

Some people said they probably ate you.

And they had picked her and that was real.

Robert didn't believe what the people said. He didn't believe that was what was happening.

'You won't hurt him! I won't let you take him!'

Robert didn't think the porcupines could really tell the humans apart, either; they weren't picking or leaving behind anyone in particular; it was just chance. Some people obviously thought they picked whoever was nearest to hand, and they tried hiding behind everyone else. Robert despised people like that, the cowards. But then other people pushed him to the back, tried to protect him because he was the youngest there, and although he told them not to he didn't push them out of the way, didn't yell, 'No, take me instead!' Not like his mum had.

He was desperate to be brave, desperate to be a hero, but it was his mum who'd been the real hero.

And heroes always came back. They always beat the odds against them.

At the moment, there was Robert, and there was the blonde girl and her mum. The girl's name was Sarah, not that she spoke to him, because girls didn't even in life*or*death situations, but he'd heard her mum call her that. Sarah's face swapped between the most perfect sneer and the most gorgeous pout Robert had ever seen. She'd cried a bit, at first, but now just looked bored. There were four couples at various degrees of agedness: the Nkomos (old: probably in their thirties), the Catesbys (very old: probably forties), the Snows (ancient: fifty or so) and the Atallas (in their sixties: practically dead). They were all new arrivals. Everyone kept out of the way of the Snows, who didn't seem to realise what was happening and kept trying to insist that they must talk to someone in charge.

There was a man called Daniel Goldberg, whose wife had been taken away, and who now just sat in a corner crying, and another man, probably aged twenty or so, who was wearing a suit and tie and had been virtually in hysterics since he arrived. He'd said his name was George, as far as he could be understood through all the whimpering and screaming, and Robert thought he was pathetic. He hoped he'd be taken next. Then there was an old granny called Mrs Pobjoy, who said it was just like the war and kept trying to organise sing*songs. At the moment, she was giving everyone a rousing chorus of 'Pack up your troubles in your old kit bag', but Robert really couldn't see that they had anything to smile, smile, smile about, although they might do if she stopped.

Suddenly a loud grating, rasping noise began echoing around the room. It sounded like some great engine grinding into life, and everyone started in terror. 'It's the mincing machine!' shouted George. 'They're going to eat us all!' He tried to grab Mrs Nkomo to pull her in front of him. Mr Nkomo pushed him back and looked as if he was about to punch George. Robert didn't blame him.

But then the thing appeared, and grabbed everyone's attention. If it was a mincing machine, it was stranger although less scary than any Robert could imagine. The thing arrived out of nowhere: a blue box, taller than a man, with a flas.h.i.+ng light on top and little windows high up on the sides sort of like a small blue shed, only it had the words 'Police Public Call Box' written on it.

Everyone stood staring at it for what seemed like a very long time, but was really only seconds. Mrs Atalla said to her husband, 'It's a police box. Like they used to have,' and her husband said, 'I remember.' They stared at it, standing hand in hand, which was pretty disgusting for people of their age.

Then the doors of the police box opened, and a man stepped out.

He was a tall man who looked a bit like some of the trendier teachers at school he had really short hair, and was wearing a really cool battered leather jacket that Robert coveted immediately. If Robert's dad ever did turn up, he'd like him to be a man who looked like that. And, actually, he'd quite like him to be a man who appeared out of nowhere in a blue box as well.

And then the second person came out of the box, and Robert forgot all about the man, and all about Sarah the blonde sneering girl, and about his mum, and even all about Suzie Price, because this was the girl he was going to love for ever. She was totally beautiful and utterly cool and just, well, perfect. She was probably about eighteen or nineteen, but that wouldn't matter because he was really mature for his age, and she had dark blonde hair past her shoulders and a wide, smiling mouth that was even more desirable than Sarah the blonde sneering girl's, and as she left the blue box her eyes met his and she smiled, and he knew that she felt it too, the connection between them.

The girl pushed past her companion and headed straight for Robert. She had eyes for no one else. And she held out her hands towards him, and he took them in his, and she said just the one word, 'h.e.l.lo,' and then she grinned at him.

He said breathlessly, 'I'm Robert.'

She said, 'I know. We've come here for you, Robert. I've come here for you. Because you're special. I've been wanting to meet you for so long.'

He said. 'I've been wanting to meet you too, although I hardly dared to believe that there was someone so beautiful in the world.'

She leaned towards him, she was going to take him in her arms, and he stood strong and tall and closed his eyes, and said, 'I don't even know your name...'