Tales of Trenzalore - Justin Richards & Mark Morris & George Mann & Paul Finch by Doctor Who

Author:Doctor Who
Language: eng
Format: mobi
ISBN: 9781448142606
Publisher: BBC Digital
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter 2

‘Strangers in the Outland?’ the Doctor said as he slowly descended the Clock Tower stair, his artificial limb creaking and clumping. ‘What exactly does she mean by that?’

‘It’s been difficult getting anything coherent out of her,’ Caleb replied from below. He was a rangy young fellow with a lean face and a mop of reddish straw-like hair, only its fringes visible around the edges of his woolly hat. ‘Becca says she’s in deep shock… The trouble is she muttered a few things that didn’t make much sense, and then stopped talking. Be good if you can speak to her.’

‘Who is she?’

‘Her name’s Yalala Gluck. We don’t know her very well, to be honest. Her father’s Tiberius Gluck. A bit of a recluse – he moved to the Outland after his wife died. Always searching for gold and silver. We occasionally see him. Tends to bring us furs, amber and the like, which he exchanges for food and clothing.’

‘A trapper?’ the Doctor said, looking boyishly pleased. ‘How quaint.’

‘You have met him before.’

‘Have I?’ The Doctor wound a scarf around his neck. ‘Raccoon cap? Dead shot with a musket? No, wait… That was Davy Crockett. Or was it Daniel Boone? Sorry…’ He shrugged. ‘No memory of it. You live all these centuries, and start forgetting things that happened a matter of heartbeats ago.’

‘It was more like five or six years.’

‘That’s what I said.’ The Doctor turned to his workbench. ‘What do you think, Handles? Strangers in the Outland. What’s your take on that?’

The battered old cybernetic head sparked to life. ‘There is insufficient data to make a proper analysis of these so-called Strangers. The Outland is a subarctic environment, able to support only the hardiest forms of boreal plant-life, which consequently—’

‘Yes, yes,’ the Doctor snapped. ‘We know all that!’

‘No inferior native bipedal life forms of any description are registered in the Trenzalore fauna catalogue. However, the catalogue may be expanded if additional discoveries are —’

‘No, thank you!’ The Doctor shrugged into his overlarge fur coat. ‘We’re not in the business of exploring Trenzalore. We can leave that to the Tiberius Glucks of this world. What are you standing around for, Caleb? There’s no time for dawdling.’

‘Sorry, Doctor.’

‘My stick, if you please.’

Caleb handed over the Doctor’s elaborately carved cane.

‘How many strangers did this mysterious child see?’

Caleb pondered. ‘She thinks four or five.’

‘And how many did her father see?’

‘That’s just it. He didn’t return with her.’

‘Ah-ha…’ The Doctor’s face screwed into a frown as he headed outside, his fur coat so large that it trailed behind him. ‘Now that’s something I can get my teeth into. Takes a flippant attitude to his child-rearing responsibilities, does he? I shall certainly be having a word in his ear, tough old coot of an Indian fighter or not.’

He stopped short outside the Clock Tower, where a row of five husky young men awaited him; all bearded and weather-beaten, their colourful village garb only accentuating their burly physiques.

‘And what’s this?’ The Doctor paraded past them sergeant-major style. ‘Yoshua… Rubin… Josef… Jerema… Luca…?’ He raised a querying eyebrow at Caleb.

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