Doctor How and the Deadly Anemones (29 page)

The Doctor cast Kevin a backward glance. “Emetic. Something that makes you throw up.”

“Lovely.”

“Here we go.” The house-bots moved away, then broke up through the surface. The polyp was expanding, and the tentacles began to move slowly. A little hatch opened on the med-bot and a syringe popped out on an arm. The needle jabbed deep into the body of the polyp and the plunger injected a liquid. The med-bot rose to the surface and exited the water. Kevin noticed that the house-bots were now equipped with a fine gauze net.

Kevin saw something black in his peripheral vision, and started. It was Trinity. She was in her feline form. She looked up with her glowing green eyes, and purred. She rubbed herself against his right leg and then sat in front of him, watching the tank, the tip of her tail flicking.

The polyp’s body contracted from the foot to the head a couple of times. Then it pulsed in a massive spasm which made Kevin wince with the imagined pain of it. Pieces of flesh with purple veins popped out of the creature’s mouth.

“They don’t have an alimentary canal as such. Just a mouth. Anything that they can’t digest – which isn’t much, by the way – they excrete via the mouth. This is its last meal.”

The house-bots dived in and caught the pieces of flesh in the gauze, then broke the surface again. Two other house-bots were waiting with a transparent container.

“The earthly remains of the Rindans,” said the Doctor. “Well, what hasn’t been digested yet.”

The polyp was now doing what Kevin thought of as a ‘dry heave’, and he remembered the pain of trying to vomit on an empty stomach. He shifted uncomfortably on his feet.

“Oh, don’t feel
sorry
for it, lad. You with your moral relativism. This thing would happily eat you for lunch. Aside from that, it can’t really feel pain as you and I understand it. It’s got about as much consciousness as your mobile phone.”

The polyp stopped pulsing. Kevin realised it had grown to around four times the volume it had been when wrapped up by Trinity. It used its tentacles to right itself onto its foot, which rippled as it stuck to the bottom of the tank. The tentacles started waving more vigorously, and he could now see that four were short and four were long, just like the one they’d carried out the autopsy on earlier. There was a scar running down the body, and the four short tentacles were on either side of the scar. The tentacles spread out and pressed the sides of the tank, feeling for any holes. A couple of the longer ones broke the surface.

Then the foot started rippling rapidly and let go of the bottom. Using its tentacles, it climbed the side of the tank and planted its foot so that the body remained just under the surface. The tentacles came out of the water and explored as far as they could around the outside of the tank. Apparently accepting that there was nowhere else for it to go at the moment, the polyp let go of the side of the tank, sank back to the bottom, then planted its foot there, its tentacles floating in the water.

“That thing is well scary, Doc.”

“No, I’ll tell you what’s scary, Kevin. What’s
really
scary is that this one split before we caught it, as I hypothesised. And we have absolutely no idea where the other one is.”

“Couldn’t it have split from one of the other ones we caught today?”

“Trinity said this one is different. She can taste the difference between individuals.”

“Wow, that’s a downer.” Kevin thought for a moment. “Won’t it go straight for the next Rindan it can find?”

“It would if it could smell them in the water. My analysis of the sewer maps shows that it could only be in an area where there are no Rindans. Their consulate is north of the Thames, which it probably can’t get across.”

“Okay. So can I ask what you’re going to do with this one?”

“Give it back to the Rindans, of course. Along with the remains of the consul and her husband. I just want to make a point about the rules and why we have them.”

“What are they going to do with it? Kill it?”

“Probably. And eat it afterwards, is my bet. There’s quite a nice circuity to that. Funny lot with their eating, the Rindans.”

The Doctor staggered forward and leaned against the autopsy table.

Trinity was looking hard at the Doctor and let out a loud and baleful yowl. Kevin rushed to the Doctor’s side and put an arm around his shoulder.

“Doctor, are you alright?”

“Yes and no,” gasped the Doctor. His eyes were screwed up and his face contorted with pain. His breaths were quick and shallow.

“Doc, you’re in shock or something. I’m going to help you lie down, alright?” Kevin was still in his combat suit with its power-assist, and found it easy to lay the Doctor on the floor of the lab.

“Med-bots! House-bots!” said Kevin. “I need to take him to the sick bay. Wherever it is you took David Where, I need you to take him there.”

“There’s…” gasped the Doctor, “There’s no need for that. Just… Just get me to my room. Don’t faff around with the bots. Just take me there now, lad.”

“But I ca –”

“Just take me to my
bed
!”

“Okay, okay.”

Kevin picked Doctor How up, thanking his lucky stars for the suit. He supported the Time Keeper’s head as best he could. How’s breaths had become longer and deeper, which he took to be a good sign. Sweat was forming on his forehead, which Kevin thought was bad.

“Mum, Mum,” muttered Kevin as he walked through the corridors of the Spectrel, a house-bot leading the way. Trinity walked by his side, glancing upwards every couple of steps and letting out a strangled
meow
.

“Why the hell are you calling for your mother?” mumbled the Doctor.

“Well she’s a nurse, ain’t she? She’d know exactly what to do. I’m trying to remember all the first aid she taught me.”

“Don’t you dare call her,” said How. “This will pass.”

“Like, is this a medical condition you have? Are you having a fit or something?”

“I’m over-tired, Kevin. The strain of getting David’s Spectrel back in order didn’t help.”

Kevin remembered the allusions the Doctor had made in the previous days, and he silently cursed David Where for his neglect, and Walter When for his apparent cowardice.

The house-bot went through a doorway and into a room with a bed. This was the Doctor’s bedroom. Kevin looked around. He’d never seen this place before. It was Spartan in the extreme – white walls as bare as those in the laboratory. The only furniture was a simple black desk with a black chair, facing a blank white wall. He was reminded of a monk’s cell from the Middle Ages, and a flash of understanding hit him. He felt a pang of sadness for the Doctor’s lifestyle.

He laid the Time Keeper down gently on the bed. It was a simple affair. White sheets. No duvet was necessary, he realised – it would be some kind of smart material. There was no pillow.

“I’m alone, Doc! I dunno what to do. How can I get in touch with Where or When?”

“Don’t bother with them,” said the Doctor. “I’m going to be alright, lad.” His body stiffened and his face contorted in pain. Sweat from his temples hit the sheets and disappeared.

Kevin reached out a hand and touched his forehead. “You’re burning up!”

“Leave me alone, damn you!” The Doctor was panting heavily again.

“Sorry, Doc.”

“I’m sorry…” The Doctor panted heavily for a few seconds. “I don’t mean to be uncivil. But please go.”

“I can’t just leave you like this.”

“I’d rather you did. Please. Although I’d appreciate it if you’d take my shoes off. Leave them by the side of the bed.”

“Sure. Okay, Doc.” Kevin undid the laces on the Doctor’s shoes and set them down. “I’m worried, Doc. That’s all. Are you sure there’s nothing I can do to help?”

“It’s nothing I’ve not been through before.”

“Oh.” Another insight hit Kevin. “This is like your,” he hesitated, knowing the offence an incorrect term taken from the
Doctor Who
television series might cause. “Erm, is this your regeneration?”

The Doctor squinted open half of his right eye and Kevin thought he was going to get a mouthful.

“Aye, lad. Now be a good fellow and give me a little privacy, will you?”

“Is it going to be like…?”

The Doctor pushed himself up on his elbows. “No it’s
not
going to be like on the TV, damn you! There will be no bolts of electricity, or inappropriate and fancy special effects! Nor will I come out wearing a ridiculously overlong scarf or poncey bow tie. But there will be an awful lot of pain and discomfort on my part. And if you know what’s good for you, you’ll leave me to suffer in peace.” He slumped back onto the bed, panting.

“Okay, okay.” Kevin stepped back from the bed. The Doctor’s eyes were closed and his breaths were becoming longer and deeper.

Trinity gave a short and low growl, and nudged his leg. She walked to the door and looked back at him. He understood that he was to follow her out.

She led him back to the control room, where he sat on one of the seats that lined its circumference. The seat felt his mood and transformed into a steamer format. Trinity jumped up next to him and sat staring at him. He reached out a hand and she nuzzled her head against it.

He looked at the control console. None of it meant anything to him. They could be anywhere in space and time and he’d be none the wiser.

“I feel so alone, Trini.”

She yowled back at him.

“Yeah, well you can’t talk back, can you? And if you can, please don’t – it would freak me out right now. I just dunno what to do.”

Trinity offered her head for him to stroke again. He realised how exhausted he was, and how comfortable the steamer chair was. Accepting there was nothing he could do, he fell asleep.

“Am I the only one,” asked Commander Bunce a little awkwardly, “who needs to use the loo?” Her two British colleagues shifted in their seats, out of discomfort that was more social than physical. They had been shepherded into a corner of Schlutz’s office after being frisked by the security goons.

Colonel Schlutz looked over at them. His men were now searching every nook and cranny for the second time. There was no trace of the jar or its contents so far.

“Very well,” said Schlutz after a long pause. “But you’ll have to do your business under supervision from a female officer.”

“Oh, really, Colonel. I must protest in the strongest –”

Schlutz cut her off with a wave of his hand. He pressed a button on his desk. “Send in a female officer to escort Commander Bunce to the john. After that, let her go. We got her contact details.”

Commander Bunce was red with silent fury when a female officer arrived to escort her out. Schlutz hesitated for a moment and then dismissed the two agents who’d been conducting the search of his office.

“But we haven’t found it yet, Colonel,” said the more senior of the two.

He waved them out, closed the door behind them, then sat back down in his seat. He motioned for his two British colleagues to sit down again. He stared at Doctor Peterson in silence for an uncomfortable length of time. Seeing that she wasn’t unnerved by this, he finally spoke. “Doctor Peterson. Camilla, if I may. As far as I understand it, you’re kinda the
X-Files
lady of the British Secret Service.”

Peterson shrugged modestly. “MI16 was set up to exploit the technology that emerged from Nazi Germany after the Second World War. The remit then was to debrief their scientists, get the blueprints of inventions to the right experts. That sort of thing. The remit now is to scour the globe for other technologies we might adopt.”

“Sure.” He hunched forwards towards her. “I’ve been watching you. In a freezer full of snowmen you’d be the coolest customer in the room. Nothing about this surprises you.” He paused for a couple of seconds. “I’ve read your
résumé
, if you’ll pardon my French. I’ve also read the reports you filed about last week’s events.”

Sir Adrian spluttered. “Those are MI6 internal only. How did you –”

“Come on, Sir Adrian. A mouse can’t fart in MI6 without us knowing about it. Sorry, but that’s the truth.” He turned back to Peterson. “You saw some pretty amazing stuff last week. I bet you can take a good guess at what happened today. And I bet you can take a good and highly educated guess at what happened to that jar. Am I right?”

Doctor Peterson smiled. “If you’re looking for an educated guess, then I suppose I’m your best bet, yes.”

“Tell me. Is it possible for a jar like that to just disappear? You know, in ways science can explain right now?”

“Of course it is. Quantum theory would give you odds of – let me see – about a sextillion to one on that happening in any one year for all the matter to suddenly decide it wanted to be somewhere else. Multiply that by the number of seconds in a year and divide that by the number of seconds we weren’t looking at it, and there’s your answer. Rounding it up, about fifty-three quintillion to one. The lifetime of the universe isn’t even going to be long enough for that to have happened of its own accord. Rather unlikely. Quite literally utterly improbable, in fact.”

“Nice. Very smart.” Schlutz leaned back in his chair. “So you’ve just told me – in your own sweet little way – that it didn’t happen by chance.”

“Correct.”

“So that means it had to have happened deliberately.”

“That would be the logical conclusion, yes.”

“Good. Now we’re getting somewhere. So, tell me. Who took the damned jar? Was it you?”

“Given that you apparently have access to all of our secrets, you know we haven’t got the technology to produce that kind of camouflaged suit, nor do we have some kind of – let’s call it a magic wand – with which to ‘biff’ monsters.”

“So who does?”

“Search me. Oh,” she laughed. “You already did.”

Schlutz let out a chuckle against his better judgement. He found Peterson’s charm irresistible. If he wasn’t married he liked to think he’d be asking her these questions over a candlelit dinner for two and not caring much about the answers.

“Or maybe the jar was a construct of our collective imagination?”

“Nah,” said Schlutz. “I don’t buy mass hysteria amongst security personnel. These guys are professionals. They literally have been through wars and not been affected.”

“Joe,” said Sir Adrian, showing his fatigue. “Can’t you just accept that you were bested today? Sometimes a prize fighter gets bested by an opponent with a lucky punch. And it happens in asymmetric warfare. Think of Afghanistan and Iraq. We had to accept that we were bested last week. Granted, we Brits are a bit more used to being bested than you are. But, really, once you get used to it, it’s not that bad. You shrug your shoulders and get on with doing the things you can do well.”

“Damn it, Sir Adrian! I suspect my guys were bested by some guy from the ’hood in London today. How d’ya think
that
feels? And then he sneaks in here in the middle of a meeting and helps himself to evidence. How the hell am I gonna explain that?”

“Aliens,” said Peterson, simply.

“
Aliens
?” said Schlutz.

“Of course,” she said. “Why not?”

“Aliens,” said Schlutz to himself. “Aliens. Sure, why not the freakin’ Tooth Fairy while we’re at it?”

“Okay,” said Peterson. “
Parties unknown
.”

“Parties unknown,” repeated Schlutz. “
Parties unknown
. Yeah, I can live with that. I guess I’ll have to learn to.” He got to his feet and stretched his powerful frame. “Come on, guys. It’s been a long day. I’m takin’ you out for a drink and a bite to eat. I owe you that much, at least.”

Schlutz guided them back through the security section, then out into the main body of the embassy. He signed them out at the staff entrance, returning a salute from a uniformed marine. “You wanna pick your French back up?” he joked to Peterson.

Schlutz declined a car and an escort, and they strolled out into the dusk of Vauxhall. As they waited at some pedestrian lights, they watched as the rush hour traffic flowed over the manhole which had been at the centre of the day’s events. There was nothing to show that anything of any significance had taken place.

They reached a bar and grill, where Schlutz appeared to be well-known by the staff, who seated them quickly.

“You know, maybe you shouldn’t think that you were in any way bested today, Joe,” said Doctor Peterson.

“Oh, yeah?”

“These parties unknown did us a favour, didn’t they?”

“What do you mean?”

“Well, by all accounts they knew exactly how to deal with these deadly anemones, didn’t they? We even saw one of them being ‘taken down’, as you would put it.”

“Yeah, I guess you can look at it like that.”

“I think it just hurts that they knew what to do and, well,
none
of us did. Not us, not the Met Police, and not your guys.”

“I guess it also hurts that one of their guys got the better of a whole bunch of our best guys.”

Sir Adrian spoke up. “But what counts is that the threat has been eliminated. Am I right, Joe? Both of us can go back to our respective superiors and tell them that everyone’s safe. The big stink is over.”

Schlutz thought for a few moments. “I guess so. But it kinda irks me that there are… I dunno… people –
parties unknown
– out there who are better than we are. And also that they
know
they’re better than we are. Who ain’t even afraid of us.”

“Steady on,” said Sir Adrian. “We’ll have to get you British citizenship if you carry on like that.”

The three of them laughed. A waiter arrived and placed their drinks on the table.

“A toast,” said Colonel Schlutz, picking up his glass. “To parties unknown.”

“To parties unknown,” repeated the other two.

Peterson smiled to herself.
To Doctor How
, she thought, and drank her cranberry juice.

Several miles away, in the boating lake of a South London park, a polyp caught another perch. During daylight hours it was aware of larger creatures moving across the surface. They propelled themselves by way of two large limbs which they splashed in the water.

It had stalked one into the shallows and tried stinging the body, but to no effect. An exploration had found it to be made of dead plant matter covered by a synthetic film. And yet it had detected other vibrations coming from deep within the body. The same sorts of noise it associated with the animals whose flesh it had enjoyed in a previous incarnation.

Under cover of darkness it had discovered a large group of them. They were completely silent, and they made none of the noises they made during the day. It had spent a couple of hours exploring a couple of the creatures, extending its tentacles into the crevices within, finding the bodies to be completely hollow. But there was a strong smell of those tasty soft-fleshed animals it had enjoyed.

For now the polyp was satisfied enough catching fish, but if supplies dwindled, its instinct would be to explore one of those hollow-bodied creatures when it was making animal noises.