Doctor Who: The Stealers of Dreams by Steve Lyons

Author:Steve Lyons
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Tags: Science-Fiction:Doctor Who
ISBN: 9780563486381
Publisher: BBC Books
Published: 2006-01-11T08:32:17.205296+00:00

* * *

TEN

The journey to the Big White House passed in heavy silence.

Jack sat wedged between two cops on a wooden bench in the back of a police transport vehicle. The tramp who had called himself Hal Gryden sat opposite, sobbing to himself, avoiding Jack’s eye. Jack had been angry with him at first, but as time passed he found himself becoming more sympathetic. When finally he opened his mouth to say something, however – to break the ice – one of the cops jabbed him in the ribs with an elbow and snapped, ‘No lying in here!’

The whine of the hoverjets died down and they settled to the ground. An expression of deathly fear came over the tramp’s face and he looked as if he might throw up. He had to be carried out like a statue, his whole body frozen.

In contrast, Jack was determined to maintain his dignity. His hands still bound, he needed some help to stand – but as he hopped out of the vehicle, he made an attempt to gain some distance on his escorts, to show that he could walk on his own two feet.

He was surprised to be greeted by a media circus.

The air was thick with steel ball cameras, which whizzed around his head with lenses trained on him, bristling with microphones. Automated lighting units jostled for position, shifting their reflectors to angle bright beams into his face. Almost blinded, Jack could just make out the shapes of reporters and photographers straining against an inadequate cordon of police officers. And then his ears came under assault too, from a babble of raised voices.

‘– reporting live from the Big –’

‘– Home for the Cognitively –’

‘– the police have just brought in the notorious “Armoured Shark Liar” –’

‘– charged with twenty‐three counts of Fiction in the First –’

‘– his lethal charisma –’

‘– didn’t care who he hurt in the –’

‘– ever to see the light of day again –’

He was almost flattered.

There was an athletic‐looking woman in his path, chattering to a camera over her shoulder. ‘I’m going to try to snatch a few words with this desperate criminal, to find out what motivated Sector Two‐Nine‐Phi’s most appalling storytelling spree on record.’ A blonde head whipped around to face Jack. ‘Excuse me, sir, do you have anything to say to 8 News? How does it feel to be getting treatment for your disgusting problem?’

‘I don’t have a problem. Everything I said was the –’

She completely blanked him, turning back to her camera. ‘Well, as you could hear there, our sound man was forced to bleep out the detainee’s lies. Justice may have caught up with the Armoured Shark Liar, but it seems he is still trying to cause as much mayhem as he can. Ronda Mirthwaite, 8 News, from the Big White House.’

And then Jack was in the hands of the cops again, making no attempt to shrug them off as they guided him firmly through the madness.

Into the asylum.

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