Doctor Who: BBC Past Doctor Adventures [066] - The Eleventh Tiger by David A. McIntee

Author:David A. McIntee
Language: eng
Format: mobi
Tags: Science-Fiction - Doctor Who
ISBN: 9780563486145
Publisher: BBC Books
Published: 2004-05-01T22:00:00+00:00

5

Sunrise brought morning exercise for Wong Fei-Hung and his students. Vicki watched from a cosy corner of the courtyard, trying her best to copy their movements. It was difficult, but something about doing this made her feel just a little stronger, a little healthier and a little better.

It never ceased to amaze her that people could do the most astonishing things, and achieve near miracles of balance and movement. She had seen people practise their kata in zero gravity, and beings with more than two arms or legs competing in judo tournaments broadcast on the ship-wide sports channel, but the ability of an ordinary human to do some of these things on Earth was magical to behold.

After a while Fei-Hung told the students to go and get breakfast, and approached Vicki. ‘I saw you joining in. Not many Europeans would do that.’

‘I’m not European,’ she pointed out.

He looked surprised. ‘Where are you from, then? America?’

‘Earth,’ Vicki said. ‘To start with anyway.’

He looked at her as if he was trying to spot a flaw in her reply, and she realised what she had just said.

‘The British Empire may be the most powerful in the world right now,’ Fei-Hung said darkly, ‘but that doesn’t make it the whole of the Earth.’

‘I didn’t mean it that way.’

Vicki stopped talking, as the strangest sensation she had ever experienced buzzed inside her head. It wasn’t so much deja vu as a sort of jamais vu, or even roman vu. Everything seemed unreal, and she half expected to see stagehands behind the walls, or the sun being taken off a wire that suspended it from the ceiling.

‘Are you all right?’ Fei-Hung asked, taking her arm. ‘Let’s go back into the surgery and brew a –’

‘No.’ Vicki shook her head and forced a smile, which she could feel was more goofy than intended. ‘It’s just the first time I’ve spoken to a fictional character.’

‘Fictional?’

‘Oh, I don’t mean to be rude. It’s just that where I come from there are stories about you, and I didn’t think you were real until now.’

Fei-Hung looked down at himself and patted himself on the chest and stomach. ‘I feel real.’ He paused. ‘You did well this morning. No worse than any newcomer. Do you know gungfu?’

Vicki shook her head. She knew a few basics of self-defence, like aiming a kick at the groin if someone tried to grab her, but that was about the limit of her martial skills.

Nobody had needed to know more than this in a world where fighting was done with the push of a button, if at all. ‘Only what I’ve seen you do –,’ she bit off, ‘in movies’.

‘Ah. Our styles of boxing are family matters. There are basic moves and styles which are common to everyone, but the more advanced elements are handed down from father to son, or to selected students who are close friends and allies of the family.’ Feng-Hui laughed. ‘My father didn’t want me to learn gungfu! he admitted. ‘Think of

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