Doctor Who - Telos - 01 by Time & Relative

Author:Time & Relative [Time & Relative]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

and windows. Rules were bending, ready to break. It was obvious that it

wasn’t all down to the weather. According to conventional wisdom,

snowstorms don’t kick in locks.

Mr Carker saw Captain Brent, and came over, glowing with relief.

‘Thank Heavens someone’s in charge,’ he said. ‘What on earth has

been going on?’

‘Vandalism and indiscipline,’ said the Captain. ‘Of the worst sort. You

have my permission to give the boy the Cane. It’s what he needs to get

him back on track. I was flogged at my school and it never did me any

harm. It’s all this permissiveness and laxity, you know. Late night so-

called “satire” programmes on the BBC. That’s what causes chaos like

this.’

The Head noticed the dead people.

‘Is that Okehurst?’ he said.

I looked at Gillian and John. These grown-ups weren’t going to help.

The snowman stood over the corpses. In the daylight, he wasn’t

moving. The sun shone through a chink in the clouds. The snowy face

sparkled with innocence, smiling blandly.

There were pink streaks in the ice-white. Blood.

‘Get up, Okehurst,’ shouted Mr Carker. ‘What’s the matter with you,

man?’

John reached into his coat and brought out a pistol. I noticed the holster

on his father’s belt was empty. John had appropriated the gun while

Captain Brent was sleeping.

‘What are you doing with that, Johnno? Give it back at once.’

John clicked the safety catch and worked the slide. He’d obviously

learned something in R.O.T.C., or at least from reading Commando

Library comics.

John pointed at the snowman.

‘It comes alive,’ he said, and fired.

The gun kicked in his hand. The noise got everyone’s attention.

A chunk was blown through the snowman’s torso. The bullet shot

straight out of its back, momentum barely slowed. A bright orange crater

exploded in the wall beyond the snowman. I wondered if John had

considered what would have happened if someone were standing behind

his target.

The snowman didn’t react. It still smiled.

Mr Carker and Captain Brent, both incandescent, stared at John in

gasping fury.

‘It was alive,’ he insisted.

The whole playground was quiet. The shot still rang incredibly loud

inside my skull. A lot of children had clapped mittened hands over their

ears like muffs and were crouched down low, against walls to make

smaller targets. Last autumn, during the missile crisis over Cuba, a craze

for special air raid warning lessons had struck the school. That was

before I came to Coal Hill, but John had said the lessons would be

starting up again soon, to deal with the Emergency.

I stepped close to the Cold Knight, to investigate. I touched the snow-

and-ice chest. It was just a snowman.

Last night, yesterday, it had been different.

‘It’s not cold enough,’ I said, thinking aloud. ‘It has to be below

freezing. Remember, at break yesterday, when it moved for the first

time, there was that chill wind. And after dark, when they all came to

life, it was well below.’

‘What is this nonsense?’ asked the Head.

‘We should have the whole day,’ I said.

‘Unless it gets colder,’ said Gillian.

‘Of course. Unless it gets colder. If it snows, we’ll know.’

‘You’ll all report to my office after Assembly,’ said Mr Carker. ‘To get

the Cane. Six strokes. I don’t care if you are Girls.

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