Doctor Who: BBC Eighth Doctor Adventures [024] - Autumn Mist by David A. McIntee

Author:David A. McIntee
Language: eng
Format: mobi
Tags: Science-Fiction - Doctor Who
ISBN: 9780563555834
Publisher: BBC Books
Published: 1999-07-21T22:00:00+00:00

Chapter Six

Commonwealth Games

Wiesniewski had come to find the Doctor after his shift at Lewis’s HQ had finished, and was surprised to discover him now walking through the streets in the direction of the former police station – with a baffled Garcia and Bearclaw exchanging glances as they followed in his wake. ‘Leshy and Kachinas, Leshy and Kachinas, Leshy and Kachinas…’ he was muttering over and over again.

‘Leshy’, he thought. There was a word he hadn’t heard since he was a child, when his grandmother would tell him stories before bedtime. It was a little unnerving to hear it chanted like a mantra by someone like the Doctor. He had no idea what Kachinas were; perhaps the Doctor was confused. ‘Are you feeling OK?’ Wiesniewski asked.

‘I am, yes, but I’m not so sure if the world is.’ Before Garcia could translate his own baffled look into a question, the Doctor continued. ‘You heard what he said. What both of them said. Leshy and Kachinas.’

‘Well, yeah, but what does that have to –’

‘The Leshy are a feature of Polish folklore.’ Wiesniewski nodded confirmation as the Doctor continued. ‘Woodland elementals. Kachinas belong to Hopi myth. It’s an awful coincidence, isn’t it, that two people from such different cultural backgrounds would have folklore-related experiences in the same area at similar times?’

‘Not really,’ countered Garcia. ‘They were both under severe stress, acting on instinct. Their upbringing is bound to get involved in colouring their perceptions under those circumstances.’

‘Yes!’ the Doctor exclaimed. ‘That’s it exactly.’ He was beaming. Garcia didn’t follow at all. The Doctor sighed. ‘Both these men saw something that they could relate to only by their folk history And I’d bet you my shirt that the Germans are having similar experiences.’

‘I think so, too,’ Wiesniewski agreed. The others looked at him. ‘I had a very interesting conversation with Colonel Lewis. He wants to clamp down on people talking about the sort of experiences we’re discussing here. He says that, if anyone is really keen to say something, they should make out an official report to him.’

‘He wants people to talk nonsense to him, but not to each other?’ Bearclaw echoed.

‘Very interesting,’ the Doctor murmured. ‘We were just on our way to see him. I’ll give him nonsense…’

‘I’d be careful if I was you, Doctor,’ Wiesniewski warned. ‘This is going to sound crazy… Oh, what the hell! Lewis was talking to someone this morning. Someone who wasn’t there.’

‘What?’ said Garcia.

‘You mean he’s going nuts?’ Bearclaw suggested.

‘I dunno… Maybe I am. I didn’t see or hear anyone else there, but… I could feel something. Like there was someone or something really there.’ He shook his head, knowing how unbelievable it sounded, but relieved to have said it out loud. Let other people decide if he was crazy or not, he was sick of worrying about it.

‘Did he call his visitor by any name?’ the Doctor asked.

Wiesniewski couldn’t believe he was being taken seriously. ‘Not that I heard.’

‘What were they discussing?’

‘I don’t know. I only heard one side of part of a conversation.

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