Part 6 (1/2)

'Gallifrey? Where have I heard that before?'

'It's in Ireland.'

'Rather risky at the moment, surely?'

'Oh, he's in no danger. They're a backward lot, the natives of Gallifrey. Idiots with no dress sense.'

'Yes...' Smith nodded thoughtfully. He glanced at his watch.

'Well, I'd better be getting back to ...'

'Joan?'

'School.'

'Same thing. Try not to learn too much.'

He got up, making that gesture he always did with his hand, a strange flutter that Benny took to be a perplexed search for a non-existent hat. That alone was worth a thesis. She'd have so many questions for him in three weeks. 'See you next Friday.'

'Of course.' Benny saluted him with her remaining sherry, and watched him depart.

He waved as he mounted his bicycle and peddled off down the road, swerving close enough to the local omnibus to scare the horses.

Benny laughed and drained her gla.s.s. 'What the h.e.l.l. Good luck to her.'

She noticed that, from a table a few feet away, somebody was staring at her, apparently amazed.

It was a tall and handsome young man, with fair hair, dressed in blazer and whites.

A boater was perched atop his head. He had halted in the act of eating one of the pub's corned-beef rolls. He broke into a smile as she caught his eye, so she quickly looked away. No thank you. Not wanted on voyage. She put down her gla.s.s and reached for her bag, intending to head off for an afternoon's painting and possibly a little sleep.

But the young man had got up from his seat, and intercepted her as she headed for the steps that led down from the raised area of the tables to the street below.

'Excuse me - but it's Bernice, isn't it? Bernice Summerfield?'

'Yes...' Benny stared at the man, trying to place him. She was sure that she'd never met him before. Perhaps he was one of Alexander's friends. 'I'm sorry, have we met before?'

'Hah! Goodness, Professor, the answer's both yes and no. Let me see, this would be the time when, ah, you've just seen me off on my bicycle, haven't you! Oh dear, I'm afraid I did make you worry.'

Benny stared at him, her mouth open. 'Doctor?'

'Tenth, actually. I pop back here quite often now. I say, you're drinking sherry!

Wouldn't you prefer a... pint of bitter, wasn't it?'

Benny unsteadily sat back down, and the man settled opposite her.

'My G.o.d,' she laughed, 'this is a bit of a shock. I'm surprised that this sort of thing doesn't happen more often, really, with time travel and all that. Well, hey, now that you're here, maybe you could explain why you did this to yourself?'

'Made myself into a human, you mean? It was a long time ago, Benny, I'm not really sure that there was a particular reason. I purchased the equipment off of a lovely old chap called Laylock on the planet Crex, a bodysmith by trade. But you were there, weren't you?'

'Not quite. I just got to see the before and after comparison. What exactly did you do?'

'You'll have seen the red sphere, the biodatapod? Interesting thing. A near-infinite memory capacity in such a small pod. It uses the fractal technology of the Matrix, I suspect. Well, I went to Laylock carrying a memory module, which contained a fictional persona I'd developed using information from the TARDIS databanks.'

'You'd used the telepathic circuits beforehand, I saw that in the console log.

'Did I?' The young man pondered, rubbing his chin. 'Now why was that? Oh yes, of course - the telepathic circuits sop up the memories of pa.s.sengers like a sponge in water. I was using the recollections of previous occupants to create Smith.'

'What, companions like me?'

'Exactly. Including you, actually.'

'Oh dear. I wonder what?'

'Nothing appalling, if I recall rightly.' He reached out and tapped Benny's nose gently. Benny smiled. It hadn't occurred to her, but she rather missed all that hugging that the Doctor went in for. It used to irritate her, but it was typical of him that just when she needed a bit of physical contact, he turned into a chap who felt uncomfortable about shaking her hand.

Well, obviously the tenth Doctor was pretty tactile. Risking the disapproval of the townsfolk, she tapped his nose back.

He grinned. 'Laylock used the character I'd written to program the biodatapod. He stuck it to my forehead, and it sucked all the Doctorish memories and abilities out of me, and replaced them with the fictional ones. It also wooshed thousands of nanites into my bloodstream, and, in about a nanosecond, they transformed my physical being into that of a human, just as I'd wanted. The nanites rushed off with all of the Time Lord cellular information, back into the Pod, leaving me as - '

'Doctor John Smith of Aberdeen, the schoolteacher. I see. And you recovered, just as promised, after three months?'

'Well, Benny, you know that is future information, but...' He glanced conspiratorially upwards, as if to check that the Time Lords weren't watching. 'Of course I did, or I wouldn't be here now, talking to you like this. I put the sphere back to my forehead, or, as I recall, you did it for me, and the process was reversed. I woke up rather shocked, but quite happy.'

Benny nodded, reflecting on her conversation with Smith earlier on. 'I'll bet.' She bit her lip, wondering if she should ask the question that had been nagging at her mind for the last few minutes. She reached out and took the Doctor's hand between hers. 'Listen, you know I've been going through it a bit in the last few weeks. Do I... does everything... turn out all right for me? I'd like to know. Can you tell me?'

The fair-haired man took a deep breath, and the look in his eyes scared her terribly.

'Benny - '

'No! Actually, I don't want to know, I've changed my mind. Don't tell me. Please.'

Benny raised her arms in a pacifying gesture. 'I think I could do with that pint now.'

'Benny, relax, nothing terrible happens to you. The last time I saw you, you had, oh, six husbands and three children, and were enjoying being first lady of the court of Cartufel, at the galactic core.'

Benny laughed in relief. 'Six husbands? Really? Goodness, at least I get Sundays off.'

The man laughed with her. He had a pleasant chuckle. 'Would you like to meet my new companion?'

'Of course. Are they here?'

'She's round the back, in the beer garden, playing on the climbing frame.'

Benny raised an eyebrow. 'I think this is going to make me feel very old.'

Aphasia had indeed been playing on the climbing frame in the otherwise deserted beer garden, her balloon tied to her wrist, but then she'd noticed something: a little wooden table on a pole, with bread laid out on it. A sparrow fluttered down, took a bit of the bread in its beak and flew away.

So Aphasia had taken the bread, put it on the other end of the wooden table where she was sitting, and stared at it, ready. The sparrow had bravely returned for more bread. A few minutes later, Benny came round the comer of the pub, clutching the pint that her new friend had bought her. He walked with her, having refilled his gla.s.s of wine. 'Aphasia, say h.e.l.lo to an old companion of mine, Bernice Summerfield.'