Doctor Who: The Awakening by Eric Pringle

Author:Eric Pringle
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Tags: Science-Fiction:Doctor Who
ISBN: 9780426201588
Publisher: Target Books
Published: 1985-06-01T10:00:00+00:00

The Doctor did not answer immediately. Instead, he went back to look again at the pulpit and the cracked wall.

He bent to examine the carving, and then told her, in an urgent voice which forbade argument.

‘I mean precisely what I say,’ he said. ‘The Terileptils mine Tinclavic for more or less exclusive use by the people of Hakol ...’ Quite suddenly he softened and turned to Jane with an amused smile, knowing well the effect his words would be having on her. ‘That’s in the star system Rifler, you know.’

Jane’s eyes were wide with disbelief. ‘Oh, no,’ she cried out in despair, ‘I’ve escaped from one mad man only to find another. Do you expect me to believe what you’re saying?’

The Doctor sat down in the front pew and regarded her steadily. ‘You take that sample to any metallurgist,’ he suggested. ‘They’ll confirm it isn’t of this planet.’

Now it was Jane’s turn to study the Doctor in silence.

Will, too, was quiet; he rubbed his chin in bafflement and wonder, for this was a conversation stuffed with words he’d never heard of.

Finally, responding to the Doctor’s serious and unshaking gaze, Jane ventured to speak. ‘You’re serious, aren’t you?’ she said.

‘Never more so.’

She was still confused, however. ‘Very well, then,’ she conceded, ‘for the sake of argument I’ll accept what you say. But how did it come to Little Hodcombe?’

The Doctor hesitated. He looked at Jane’s cynical expression and wondered how much apparently irrational argument this schoolteacher would be prepared to accept in one session. Then he shrugged. It had to he said, after all.

‘On a space vehicle.’

That was the last straw. Cynicism changed gear and accelerated towards hysteria. A broad, pull-the-other-one grin stole across Janes face and she had to force herself not to laugh out loud. ‘A space ship from Hakol landed here?

Is that what you’re trying to say?’

‘More likely a computer controlled reconnaissance probe,’ the Doctor said earnestly.

‘How silly of me not to know.’ Jane’s voice was heavy with sarcasm.

Suddenly another piece of the jigsaw slipped into place in the Doctor’s mind. He jumped to his feet and asked,

‘Tell me, was Andrew Verney engaged in any research concerning the Malus?’

‘I believe he was.’ Jane’s smile faded as she recalled her old friend and his enthusiasm for digging up the past.

The Doctor gave a satisfied sigh. ‘That’s what must have led him to the tunnel, and the remains of the Hakol probe.’

Will nodded enthusiastically and pressed Jane’s arm.

‘See? I seed the Malus!’ he told her eagerly.

The Doctor laid an arm around Will’s shoulder and looked closely into his eyes. ‘I believe you Will,’ he said. ‘My sincerest apologies for ever doubting you.’ Will glowed with pride.

Jane desperately wanted to restore some everyday reality to this conversation, and haul it back to a basis she could relate to. If she allowed herself to believe even a quarter of what she had heard, she would soon be as mad as everybody else. ‘Doctor,’ she pleaded, ‘the Malus is a myth, a legend!

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.