Part 28 (1/2)

She rounded another sharp turn and slammed on the brakes. The Travco was stopped right across the road. There was a car backed up behind it, the driver already out and pulling open the Travco's doors. There was n.o.body inside.

Where was he? Hiding amongst the trees? She looked around, frantically. But the trees were naked, standing like narrow arms with a thousand fingers, nothing but open s.p.a.ce between them. He'd stand out like a crow on snow if he was there.

She had to find him and kill him, right now, right this minute. The question was, what range was safe? And how far could the Doctor's device reach less than fifty yards, but how much less?

'Luis,' she said, 'that man in the green s.h.i.+rt standing beside the campervan. I want him to come here.'

Luis turned his attention to the man, who was pacing up and down beside the open door of the Travco. The man's irritated walk didn't change. He slapped his hand against the wall of the vehicle.

Then this had a very short range indeed. Swan let the car roll forwards until she was within shouting distance of the man. 'Did you see the driver?' she called out.

The man pointed down the road, past the Travco. 'He took off like a rabbit out of a box,' he said. 'The law must be after him, that's all I can say.'

Swan backed up, aimed her car at the trees, and roared around the Travco, her tyres spitting half-frozen mud. She shot past a guard in a little white tollbooth, leaving him gaping.

'Up ahead,' said Luis.

Swan nearly crashed into a tree. She swung the wheel and screeched to a halt in an empty parking lot.

'What did you say?'

Luis's voice was low and gravely, as though he hadn't used it for years. 'Up ahead,' he murmured.

He could could sense the Doctor. Not close enough to kill, or he would have done it instantly. Oh perhaps Luis was sensing the Doctor's lethal device. One piece of technology picking up vibrations from its kin. sense the Doctor. Not close enough to kill, or he would have done it instantly. Oh perhaps Luis was sensing the Doctor's lethal device. One piece of technology picking up vibrations from its kin.

They were in Great Falls Park, and they had run out of road. 'Get out,' she told Luis, shutting off the engine. She grabbed the shotgun out of the back seat. The parking lot was next to a visitor's centre in an old tavern, and a ca.n.a.l that ran parallel to the Potomac River. 'In the house? Luis, is he in the house?'

Luis shook his head. He pointed vaguely across the ca.n.a.l, towards the river.

Swan took Luis by the hand and led him over the wooden bridge to the towpath on the other side. Water roared through the lock beneath their feet. 'He's trying to lead us away from other people,' she muttered. Their boots made a plasticky crunch on snow and red gravel. 'Very heroic. Remember, the moment you can do it, kill him'

Her head swung from side to side, waiting for the Doctor to spring out from somewhere even from the sluggish water of the ca.n.a.l. A pair of geese ran out of their way. UNSAFE ICE, warned a sign. A guy riding a bike glanced at them and sped away in panic.

Now Luis was leading her, his cool fingers still intertwined with hers. She understood now that there was nothing left of her friend; she was being pulled along by an alien, not a human. A machine built out of the ruins of Luis's brain, using his neurons for sc.r.a.p. There were so many things she needed to think about. What the Doctor had told her about the eggs. About whoever had come up with this technology in the first place. About what Luis was doing to her mind, to her brain. But she couldn't think about any of it now They had to get rid of the Doctor. And then they would go somewhere quiet, and she would be able to sort it all out.

A side path split away from the towpath. Luis didn't hesitate, turning onto a wooden bridge that crossed the first gush of the Potomac. He stopped partway across, turning his head slowly, like someone moving the aerial on top of a TV.

Maybe the rocks were getting in the way: everything here was stone, slashed and sliced and shattered by the water. It seethed beneath the bridge in patterns as complex as the static on a screen, forming miniature whirlpools, little channels, swirling backwaters.

Suddenly Luis was moving again. The bridge became a raised walkway across an island of grey rocks and grey trees.

There was no-one here. Swan wanted to stand still for a moment, to sit down and rest. Everything was lit up with winter suns.h.i.+ne, fresh and cold and clear, as though frozen in crystal. A single raptor drifted overhead, black wings spread wide. It folded itself into a tree as they ran by.

There was a second bridge, this time over a rocky gully where only a trickle ran through. 'Stop,' said Swan quietly.

Luis stopped in his tracks, staring intently up ahead.

'Wait here for one minute,' she murmured. 'Then follow me.'

She went forward. How far did the wooden trail lead? She could hear furious white noise ahead, the sound of the Great Falls. The Doctor was running out of dry land.

The trail ran out, suddenly, turning into a wide wooden platform on the edge of a cliff. There was a huge rock in the centre. Swan edged forward in case the Doctor might be crouching behind it, keeping the shotgun at the ready. But there was no-one here. Swan barely glanced at the Falls themselves, a gorge a hundred feet wide, a great flat expanse of rock being demolished by violent water.

He must have left the trail. The only cover was the boardwalk; everything else was raw trees and rocks tumbled like dice. But if he was down there, hidden by the wood, he couldn't see her. Come out, come out, wherever you are.

this was crossing the bridge behind her. She decided to move things along. She pointed the shotgun down at the planks and pulled the trigger.

Wooden, shrapnel and smoke exploded up around her. She dodged back, cursing, blinded for a moment by a rain of splinters. She batted them out of her face with her gloves.

The Doctor appeared from beneath the platform on the far side. He held a ball of plastic in his hand. He held a ball of plastic in his hand. He stared at her: where was Luis? Why weren't they together? In that split-second, Swan knew she had the drop on him. Behind her, Luis stepped up onto the platform. He stared at her: where was Luis? Why weren't they together? In that split-second, Swan knew she had the drop on him. Behind her, Luis stepped up onto the platform.

Look Ma top of the food chain!

' Do it Do it,' screamed Swan, but Luis already was.

It was like sticking your thumb into the torn wires at the back of an electric kettle. It was like jamming your head inside a bell and then striking it as hard as you could. It was like putting on headphones and pressing 'play' without realising the volume is turned all the way up. It was the feeling of the circuitry printed inside your head getting ready to s.h.i.+ft and change.

There was a crucial instant, like the moment of unbalance on a tightrope, when the Doctor was about to fall. Mentally flailing for anything to grab onto, anything anything to focus on, anything to deflect the process that was taking root inside his skull. The more he tried to focus, to remember what he was supposed to do, the more it seemed to feed energy to that process. The roar of the falls and the winter sunlight grew into a blur like gravel in the eyes and ears. to focus on, anything to deflect the process that was taking root inside his skull. The more he tried to focus, to remember what he was supposed to do, the more it seemed to feed energy to that process. The roar of the falls and the winter sunlight grew into a blur like gravel in the eyes and ears.

He had fallen to his knees on the rocks, and in front of him were the contents of his pockets: coins and trinkets, transistors and toys. On a piece of paper there was a design drawn, its lines and curves carefully marked out in a pattern of geometric relations.h.i.+ps and symbols. It was Bob's occult sigil, the diagram he had given the Doctor to protect him from whatever cosmic forces Swan might be able to yield.

And bless you, Bob, bless you, it didn't mean a thing.

In that split-second of distracting nonsense, the Doctor's thumb pressed into the trigger of the device.

120.

We waited for hours. Bob and Peri waited to see what was going to become of their lives. I waited to see how my book was going to end.

And then the door opened. The Doctor came through. His black suit was dusty and damp and one of the knees was torn.

Otherwise, he looked entirely undamaged.

'Doctor!' shouted Bob. The Doctor gave a little bow.

'You could have called!' said Peri, trying hard not to burst into tears.

'How do we know it's him?' I said.