Part 33 (2/2)

'A good question,' she said quietly.

The Doctor's gaze s.h.i.+fted from his former self to his latest companion. The corners of his mouth twitched slightly in what pa.s.sed for a smile.

'A question,' Bernice said.

'Fire away,' he replied, his voice m.u.f.fled by the umbrella handle.

'I wouldn't say that too loudly when Ace is around.'

This time his mouth curved into a definite grin. Ace snorted, but her eyes were laughing.

'This book...' Bernice continued.

'What about it?'

'Well, a lot of the material about Victorian London is bizarre. Odd.

Grotesque, in fact.'

'That's the way it was.'

'But surely there wasn't really an air-driven underground railway running out of Euston?'

'There was indeed.'

'And strychnine as an additive to beer, and sugar being refined with bull's blood?'

'Without a doubt.'

'And the Fenians building a submarine to attack the Royal Navy with?'

'Indubitably.'

'The more I delve into history, the weirder it gets.'

'My sentiments exactly.,'

'Something I don't get,' Ace said, frowning. The setting sun cast a rose-tinted glow across her face, and she squinted. The Doctor smiled at her.

'Go on,' he said.

'Well, the big worm-thing, Azathoth, was turning its wors.h.i.+ppers into the lobster things - the raksha.s.si.'

'Indeed it was.'

'Why?, 'Ah. A good question. I suspect that Azathoth was still in the larval stage of its race when it developed its powers, and had become trapped there, a mutant imago, if you like. Perhaps, had it been normal, its adult form would have resembled the raksha.s.si.'

'So it made everyone love it and then made them look like mum and dad,'

she said scornfully.

'It's only a theory' the Doctor replied, affronted.

'It's well weird, that's what it is.'

The Doctor gazed across at where the girl sat painting the landscape.

'Families are,' he murmured.

Across the lawn, the old man pulled a gleaming Hunter watch from the fob pocket of his waistcoat and consulted it. Unconsciously, the Doctor mirrored the action. Bernice gazed from one to the other, stunned more by the fact that it was the same watch than the same person.

'It's five past time to leave,' he said.

They rose. The Doctor gestured to his two companions to go first, sighed deeply, then raised his hat to the old man and walked away.

He didn't look back.

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