Part 15 (1/2)

Cosgrove turned to the screen. There were three cameras on them one long shot, showing almost a quarter of the city, one following the land Rover ploughing through the water, the third aimed square through the windscreen. The Doctor was driving, Chang was in the pa.s.senger seat.

'So they are.'

Like the rhinoceroses of Earth, the Onihrs had poor eyesight, but more than made up for that with a highly developed sense of smell.

The Onihr leader could hardly bear to look at the Doctor at the moment. The alien was burning leaves, blowing the smoke through his mouth.

'That is your fifth burning leaf tube in almost as many minutes,' the deputy leader growled.

'Sorry,' the Doctor said. 'I'm trying to get off nicotine pills.'

'You were going to tell us about the Time Vortex.'

'I will, I will. Can I just get the circulation back to my wrists?'

The deputy leader grunted his impatience. The leader concurred.

'You will tell us... now now.'

'Er... right. Time travel. Well, there's my TARDIS, of course '

'We know of Chronodev from the fifty*first century. We know the ident.i.ties of the four surviving elementals.'

'Right*oh. Good for you. Then who else is there? Time travel is pretty common these days. The fabric of s.p.a.ce*time just seems a bit more malleable, don't you find? Oh yes in the thirties we met Kala. She was a Time Agent, a human from the forty*ninth century. Noel Coward had some big shears that cut through the Very Fabric of... don't look at me like that, it's true. There was that experiment at Station Forty. Then in the eighteenth century we met Sabbath '

'What do you know about Sabbath?' they both growled. 'We must know more about Sabbath,' the deputy leader added.

Fitz pointed at his own chest. 'Hey, hang on you've got the Doctor here, right in front of you. Concentrate on what's important.'

The Onihrs looked at each other.

'This room has a lovely view,' the Doctor added.

The Onihr leader turned to follow the sound and smell of the Doctor it wasn't difficult keeping up with him.

'Wow. Is that the Earth?'

The blue*green disc was obvious against the blackness of s.p.a.ce.

'We do not know the local name for the planet. We were on routine patrol in this galaxy and detected disturbances in the fabric of s.p.a.ce*time.'

'But you were down there, chasing that Chinese bird and hanging around that theme park.'

'We were monitoring you, Doctor. The human female was also monitoring you. Our disguises were necessary for covert operations on the planet.'

'So you're not interested in the Earth?'

'It's a primitive planet.'

'It's one of the Doct of my my favourite places in the universe.' favourite places in the universe.'

'It is?' the deputy leader asked. 'Why?'

'Well, to be honest with you, I'm not sure. Let's have a think. It's beautiful to look at. As you can see. It's big '

'Onihros, our home planet, is four times the size.'

' but not too big. Er... the shopping's good. There are some nice people there.'

The Doctor paused to light his sixth leaf stick. The deputy leader was studying his snouttop computer. The rich smell of data pervaded the air.

'You are hiding something from us, Doctor. Something about the Earth.'

'Nah.'

'You have a special affinity with the planet. You have visited it on many occasions. It has acted as a magnet to time travellers and other fourth*dimensional beings. Why?'

The Doctor shrugged. 'I honestly can't say.'

'He is hiding something from us, leader.'

'I agree, deputy leader. There is only one thing for it.'

The Doctor's shoulders slumped. 'Don't tell me... the pain inducer, only this time you'll start on level five.'

The Onihr leader paused. That hadn't occurred to him. 'No,' he grunted finally. 'The only course of action is to conquer the Earth. Deputy leader, prepare the invasion fleet.'

Chapter Ten.

The Secrets of Time The Doctor parked the Land Rover right outside Baskerville's office block. Here, closer to the sea, the city was in ruins. Across the road, another office block had collapsed completely, its top floors concertinaed into the ground level. The water was knee high, filthy, full of concrete rubble and sodden paper debris.

Malady followed the Doctor out of the car, wading through all this.

'We'll need shots after this,' she called over to him.

'And a towel,' the Doctor agreed.

It took both of them to push open the revolving door of the office block, against the water.

There was a creaking sound, like a s.h.i.+p's timbers.

'The building's unstable,' Malady told the Doctor.

He didn't acknowledge her.