Doctor Who - The Greatest Show in the Galaxy by Stephen Wyatt

Author:Stephen Wyatt [Wyatt, Stephen]
Language: eng
Format: epub, pdf
Published: 2011-02-05T06:48:40.592435+00:00

7

The Well

‘Mags...’

‘What?’

Captain Cook had been watching their preparations with unruffled indifference. The Doctor sensed Mags’

growing irritation with the Captain’s defeatist attitude. ‘It’s not going to work,’ the Captain insisted, sipping his tea. ‘I remember when I was in the Baleful Plains of Groton, I...’

‘I don’t care!’ The vehemence of Mags’ retort pleased the Doctor as much as it surprised him. The Captain, however, merely shrugged philosophically.

‘Are you ready?’ the Doctor enquired. Mags nodded.

They stood by the cage door, Indian clubs in hand, and started to argue about who was going next into the ring.

Each claimed the honour and, though the whole thing was prearranged, both of them gave very creditable impressions of angry performers clamouring to get into the ring. It certainly seemed to impress the robotic clowns on guard. If they could keep up their quarrel just a little longer...

The two robotic clowns eventually decided that they had to do something about this unseemly uproar. Orders, after all, were orders. They raised the door and entered the cage, which is exactly what Mags and the Doctor hoped they would do. Indian clubs became handy weapons and, before they could do anything about it, the two robot clowns were stretched on the cage floor with their robotic brains temporarily immobilized by two sharp knocks on the head. And the door lay open.

‘Are you coming, Captain?’ the Doctor asked as he moved towards the way out.

‘No, thanks, old man,’ Captain Cook replied lazily. ‘I’ll sit this one out.’ The Doctor was surprised but he did not have any time to argue – or to be as suspicious of the Captain’s reasons as perhaps he should have been.

Mags, however, took it much harder. This, after all, was her mentor and guide and it was painful to acknowledge their ways were parting. ‘Goodbye, Mags,’ he said calmly.

‘Goodbye. Captain,’ she replied with a dismay that was all too obvious to the Doctor. But they could not linger to argue. Someone else would come backstage and discover what had happened soon enough. They had to get far away from the cage as fast as they could.

Ace let herself out of Bellboy’s former prison cautiously and looked round: the coast was clear. She chose her way at random; there was no other course she could take. In this maze of corridors it was hopeless to believe she could retrace her steps with any certainty.

She had no idea how long she wandered. Her feet ached and each corridor looked very much like the last. And then coming down one of the indistinguishable, shadow-filled tunnels, she saw in the distance a brightly painted caravan lodged incongruously in the corner. It was beautifully decorated and, by the standards of the rest of the circus, well preserved. It reminded her of gypsy caravans back home. What it was doing there, however, was a mystery.

The door of the caravan opened. Ace fell back against the canvas wall and watched. Two clowns emerged carrying a stretcher, on it a covered body. Ace crept nearer.

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