Part 10 (2/2)

Eve was on the phone to Lord Greyhaven, chatting to him as if they were old High School pals. The way she was twirling the cord of the phone around her finger only made her look more like an excited schoolgirl. Final y, she put the phone down and hurried over.

'I have to love you and leave you. Lord Greyhaven wants to talk to me about this feature.' She paused for effect.

'Over dinner.'

'Hey, I'l come along, discuss some shots with him,' he joked.

'You'l be OK, won't you?' she asked, with a serious expression on her face.

'Sure - I'm sure I'll survive on my own here, even if there are only five TV channels. I might check out that Thai place round the corner from the hotel, I hear it's real good.'

'Don't wait up!' she called, scooping up her handbag and almost running out the door. She almost b.u.mped into an unkempt young man who sauntered into the suite. He took Alan by the hand.

'American news network, right?'

'Yeah, hi.' Alan stood up.

'My name's Oswald. Have you noticed yet?'

'Noticed what?'

'Run the VT. Look closely this time.'

Alan shrugged and played back the report again. As the astronauts began jumping around the surface, something caught his eye. He paused the picture and stared at the screen.

'It can't be ...'

'Yes it can.'

Alan switched on the printer and ran off a screen grab.

'Alistair, darling, you have a new email message.'

The Brigadier brightened. 'I'll be right there,' he cal ed up the stairs. 'Be back in a moment,' he told Christian.

Lethbridge-Stewart climbed the stairs, a little more stiffly than once he would have, and found Doris sitting in her study, surrounded by her bookcases. The light in here was excel ent, and that was important when she spent so long staring at that computer screen. The sun shone through her hair, and she looked lovely. The mood was broken somewhat by the strains of the Neighbours theme tune coming from the little portable set that Doris kept up here.

He clapped his hands together. 'Where's my message then, Doris?' His wife might get a dozen messages a day from her office, other companies and fellow dwellers on the Internet, but the Brigadier considered himself fortunate if he got one message a week.

Doris got out of her seat for him. 'In your folder, as always.'

'Right you are.' He reached out for the mouse and used it to move the arrow on the screen until it was over the right place. He pressed the little b.u.t.ton on top of the mouse.

'Double-click,' Doris prompted.

'I know,' the Brigadier said irritably, correcting his mistake. It was a little awkward with his hands.

The message came up. Alistair might have gradually been losing his other faculties, but his eyesight was still pin-sharp.

' ”Encrypted File”?' the Brigadier asked, 'Is this from the UN?'

Doris shook her head. 'Not necessarily. Quite a lot of businesses scramble their messages, and virtually everyone has access to the software.'

'Can we decode it?'

43.'The computer's already done that for you, look. Who's ”Bernice Summerfield”, then?' his wife asked, 'An old flame?'

'No skeletons in the cupboard there, Doris. Miss Summerfield is a friend of the Doctor's from a long time ago. This message comes from him.'

'Really? Not an axe-murderer, then?'

The Brigadier felt his stomach churn.

'Alistair, I've just been watching the news. That's Alexander Christian downstairs, for heaven's sake.'

'Lex was in the Scots Guards with me. When I was promoted to Brigadier, he was made Colonel in my place. He's a bril iant pilot, one of the best tacticians I've ever met. I wanted him in UNIT, but the s.p.a.ce Service made a move for him first.'

'You trust him?'

'Yes.'

'Then I trust him. I'm going to hide our axe, though.' Doris put her hand on his shoulder. 'I trust you, darling, I'm sure you've got your reasons for bringing him here, I just wish that you'd told me.'

Lethbridge-Stewart nodded. 'I'm sorry. This message is more bad news. It looks as if the Doctor's got himself into a bit of a sc.r.a.pe and he needs my help.'

'Where is he?'

'London. Lex and I had better meet him there, straight away.'

'So you won't be home for dinner?'

Alistair kissed her on the cheek. 'I'm afraid England needs me.'

44.

Chapter Six.

Close Encounters

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