The Last Dodo by Jacqueline Rayner

Author:Jacqueline Rayner
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Ebury Publishing
Published: 2007-04-18T16:00:00+00:00

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Subtotal 33899

TEN

Celia and Martha materialised in the Earth section, but in an area unfamiliar to Martha. The museum’s arrangements seemed haphazard to her: reptiles mingling with mammals; fish next to birds; creatures from the Cretaceous period side by side with animals that had still been alive in her day. Here, the turtle’s new home was adjacent to a box containing a dragonfly nearly a metre across, with a terrifying-looking bird towering behind, its head the size of a horse and its beak hooked and vicious. According to a small sign it was a phorusrhacos, and Martha made up her mind then and there to look it up in the I-Spyder guide as soon as possible, so she could find out exactly when and where it walked the Earth and ask the Doctor never, ever to take her there.

But she didn’t have time to spare for that sort of thing now. Celia had taken a brief second to check that the turtle was properly in place, and had then flicked the switch on the back of her pendant and called Eve.

Martha wasn’t really worried. After all, she hadn’t exactly committed a crime, and anyway, the Doctor would soon straighten everything out. So she was a bit surprised when, after Celia had explained to Eve that Martha was an impostor, Eve ordered security guards to arrest her and lock her up.

‘Hey! I want to talk to the Doctor!’ Martha called.

But Eve’s voice came back over the tiny, tinny speaker: ‘The Doctor is indisposed.’ Now what did that mean? One thing Martha did know, she wasn’t going to meekly submit to being stuck in prison for however many months.

Time had been passing at the museum while they were gone, and it was now open for business. Martha thought this was a good thing, because Celia probably wouldn’t expect her to make a fuss in front of all the visitors – and she certainly wouldn’t expect her to clobber the newly arrived security guard and make a run for it.

But that’s just what Martha did.

I ran. I’ve always been a good runner, anyway, and I’ve had quite a lot of practice since meeting the Doctor, so, even though Celia and the guards know this place better than me, I still managed to evade them. Hurrah for me! Ducking and dodging and hiding are also things I’ve got better at recently.

Mind you, I didn’t really know what to do after I’d finished the running and the hiding et cetera. Museum big as a planet and all that, it doesn’t really narrow down your options. I still had the pendant, yes, but as I only knew the coordinates for the places I’d already been to, like the doorless warehouse and the Vietnamese market – none of which contained the Doctor – that was very much a last resort. The only thing I could think of was to try to make my way back to the TARDIS, although what I would do when I got

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