Doctor Who: BBC Eighth Doctor Adventures [044] - Vanishing Point by Stephen Cole

Author:Stephen Cole
Language: eng
Format: mobi
Tags: Science-Fiction - Doctor Who
ISBN: 9780563538295
Publisher: BBC Books
Published: 2001-05-14T22:00:00+00:00

Chapter Twenty

The viewscreen was chiming its alert as Fitz limped back to the farmhouse. He hurried inside, chilly fingers fumbling with his shirt buttons, and found Murph staring up at the blank screen, expectantly, saying ‘Hello?’ over and over. Hadn’t quite got the hang of it.

‘Answer,’ snapped Fitz. Etty’s face fizzed into view. She looked tired and tense, shifting about.

‘Well?’ Fitz asked breathlessly. ‘What’s happened?’

‘Where’s Vettul?’ Etty demanded by way of greeting. ‘Why didn’t she answer?’

‘She’s…’ Fitz was caught hopelessly off guard. ‘Never mind her, what’s happening? What about Braga?’

‘He wasn’t there.’ Etty swallowed, sniffed. ‘Things… happened.’

‘Things?’

‘Murph shouldn’t be hearing this. Where’s Vettul, Fitz?’ she repeated.

‘She…’ Again, Fitz dried up, distracted by Murph gurgling with glee by his side. Murph tugged at Fitz’s trousers, which weren’t properly done up and almost ended up round his ankles. ‘I think Murph would like a word.’

Etty smiled and said hello as patiently as she could. ‘You should be asleep, Murph. Why isn’t Vettul looking after you?’

‘Vettul not here,’ Murph said in his usual sheepish voice, looking coyly away.

‘I don’t know where she can be!’ Fitz said pensively. ‘Why don’t you tell me what’s –’

‘She been outside with you,’ Murph said helpfully.

‘You should be asleep, Murph.’ Fitz sighed. ‘You little sod.’ He felt his toes curling. ‘Something came up, Etty. That is to say…’ Change subject. ‘Etty, you look awful…’ Nice going. ‘That is, I mean…’

‘Fetch Vettul and make her put Murph to bed,’ Etty said, her eyes staring hard. ‘Then we can talk.’

‘I’m here,’ Vettul said casually.

Fitz hadn’t heard her sweep into the living room. He couldn’t quite meet her eye as he passed on Etty’s request.

Vettul looked at the screen and nodded lightly, flicking her amazing auburn hair like a reject from some hairspray commercial. And Etty was looking at Fitz now the way a few girls’ mothers had looked at him in the early hours of a Sunday morning when they’d never laid eyes on him before. He blushed as Vettul wheeled the protesting Murph away.

‘It’s not what you think, Etty,’ he lied.

‘Listen to me,’ Etty said, her top lip curling down. ‘Anji’s been hurt, taken away to somewhere, to heaven knows where –’

‘What?’

‘The Doctor was nearly killed –’

‘What do you mean, nearly killed? Is he OK? Where’s Anji now?’

‘Braga may have been hurt… and… And we’ve spent over an hour stumbling through the dark trying to get away from that wretched meeting place. I’ve learned such terrible things… and all the time, back there in my home, you… You and…’ Etty looked away, unable to carry on.

Fitz felt himself losing his rag. ‘Look, never mind me and Vettul. Would you please tell me what you’re talking about? If my friends are in trouble – Where’s the Doctor?’

‘He’s all right. He’s trying to call the Diviner, Nathaniel. And he wants you down here.’

Fitz felt his heart sink. ‘There? But how can I? I mean, my leg, and there’s no car, and…’

She sniffed. ‘He says he needs you.’

‘He does?’

‘You’ll have to take one of the farm vehicles,’ Etty said.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.