Part 27 (1/2)

Roz read from a printout. 'You're suffering from malnutrition, protein deficiency and what little blood you have left has a low iron content. I gave you a top-up - flooded your system with as many nutrients, vitamins and minerals as the machine would let me. That's after I pumped all the weird hallucinogens, amphetamines and relaxants out. I pumped your stomach. Benny, you were covered in bruises and welts, even a couple of minor burns - I've done what I can.' Roz glanced down to jog her memory. 'That dizziness you're feeling and that metallic taste at the back of your throat, well, you've got twice the recommended dose of painkillers and antibiotics in your bloodstream. I've reset your hand, and regrown your fingernails.' Benny looked down, waving the fingers of her right hand experimentally. They weren't even stiff. Ironic really, because every other part of her body ached.

'Anything permanent?'

Roz shook her head. 'It's too early to say. Some of the scars on your back and shoulder-blades are going to be there for a while. Are you ready to make a sitrep?'

Benny pretended that she was trying to remember.

's.p.a.ce In Time Relative... no, I give up.'

'You know d.a.m.n well what a sitrep is.'

Benny swung her legs over the side of the bed. Her bruises had gone a strange grey colour, presumably some side-effect of the medicine. She could feel a draught coming from somewhere. 'No, sorry, I seem to have forgotten all my inelegant cop jargon. Perhaps if you spoke English? A simple ”What's happening, Professor?” would suffice. ”Please”

would be even better.'

'Bernice, I don't have time, I really do have other things to be doing. Who did this to you?'

'n.a.z.is,' Benny said distractedly. She had just realized that the hospital gown she was wearing was backless. She didn't particularly want Cwej to see her like this. Luckily, he wasn't here. Hadn't Forrester said that? Roz was tapping her foot impatiently.

'Care to be more specific?'

'Standartenfuhrer Joachim Wolff, Luftwaffe zbV. I forget his serial number.' Standing up and speaking at the same time required more concentration than Benny could muster.

'We've got him.' Roz clenched her fist. 'I'll kill him this time.'

'What? Here in London? We are still in London? Where's Chris? What do you mean you've got Wolff? What do you mean this time? Have you seen the Doctor? Why haven't you got time? Hang on. Er... sitrep?'

'The Germans have launched their invasion. We've been warned that they are about to attack a city. Hartung's invisible bomber is in the air, it's sweeping aside everything in its path and I need to know anything you -'

'What do you mean the Germans are invading? How long was I out? No, cancel those questions. The Germans didn't invade. Off the top of my head - and I'll admit I'm still a bit s.p.a.ced out - the Germans never, ever invaded Britain.

Ever.'

'That's an interesting theoretical standpoint to hold. It is rather undermined by the fact that they are about to wipe out a whole city with an exotic new weapon and we can't do anything about it,' Roz said impatiently.

Benny was trying to catch up. 'Hang on, a couple of sentences ago did you say ”Hartung”?'

'Yes.' Roz was clearly getting restless.

'As in ”HARTUNG, E.”?' Benny had found her stolen skirt and blouse in a pile on the floor. She thought about wearing them, then decided not to. She picked up the Doctor's umbrella and was too busy thinking about him to hear what Roz said next 'Emil Hartung, racing driver turned military genius.

What's your point?'

'I need to see the Doctor,' Benny said, grasping the umbrella handle resolutely.

'Bernice, no offence, but if the Doctor was around, do you think that I'd be standing here talking to you?'

'No, this is serious.' Benny began hobbling towards the exit, using the umbrella for support.

'You surprise me.' Roz hurried over to Benny, draping a silk kimono over her patient's shoulders, before opening the door.

Benny was still trying to piece together what was happening as she stepped into the corridor. 'You reek of cigarettes, you know that? Roz, hang on a moment. If the Doctor's not here, where is he?'

Forrester picked up a grey holdall that had been sitting just outside the door, and slung it over her shoulder. 'I don't know. I've not seen him since March the second. The last time I saw him, he told us to keep our eyes out for anything big, then he vanished and didn't say where he was going.

Look, if you're OK now, I really need to get going, the defence of the realm is at stake, and so on.'

They were in the corridor now. They were quite a way from Benny's bedroom, but one of the wardrobe rooms was just two doors down. Benny tried to remember which way.

'Us? Where is is Chris?' Chris?'

'He's gone, too. The army sent him on a suicide mission to northern France.'

'I know the feeling.' They had reached the door to the wardrobe room. Forrester pushed it open for her. Just inside was a wicker chair, and Benny took the opportunity to sit down. Roz was looking around - she almost certainly hadn't been in here before, it wasn't her sort of thing. Rows upon rows of clothes stretched out: maze-like racks of elegant dresses, exotic lingerie, daring ballgowns, frilly blouses, skirts, jackets and hats of every size, shape and colour.

Every form of female attire from the sensible to the downright saucy. Benny had often wondered when this collection had been acquired and why the Doctor had the inclination to collect women's clothing from a thousand worlds. Forrester stood by the door, uninterested. Roz was clearly a woman who wasn't in touch with her feminine side.

'What are you looking for?' Roz asked.

'I thought perhaps something like Ingrid Bergman in Casablanca Casablanca.'

'What's that mean in English?'

Benny didn't attempt to explain, just to describe: 'A tailored wool suit, dusty pink. A jacket with big square pockets and round b.u.t.tons. The skirt has to be cut just beneath the knee. That's going to be the tricky bit: I doubt you've noticed this, but most of the ones in the TARDIS stores are far too short. A white cotton blouse with a' - she indicated her collar bone - 'floppy collar. A matching hat, with a broad brim. Silk stockings and cashmere scarf, both white.'

Roz nodded and set off. She would be a while, but didn't question Benny's orders, or even challenge her authority, despite all that fuss earlier about being in a hurry. Travelling with the Doctor, that sort of blind obedience would probably get her killed. Benny leant over and peeked inside Forrester's holdall.

'So that wasn't Guernsey, it was the Isle of Wight?' Chris said disbelievingly.

'Yes,' the Doctor said, s.h.i.+fting uncomfortably. Munin was shooting over Berks.h.i.+re, now, at a little under the speed of sound.

'I thought you knew the way!'

'Well, obviously I didn't,' the Doctor said irritably.