Doctor Who_ Drift Part 8

Morgan cleared his tired throat and hoped each answer would be the last required.

'Not command exactly. Just give the occasional nudge. It's no more than Bernard Vonnegut's cloud-seeding experiments back in the 40s. right? Just a h.e.l.l of a lot more precise and effective. We're talking about the potential to end drought in the Third World, all of that. You're not about to tell me that's immoral, are you?'

The Doc looked surprised. Oh. I'm not debating the morality. I'm talking about the danger - to everyone and everything on this planet.' Morgan glanced at Derm to see what he was making of this melodrama. But the Doc hadn't done with his lecture: 'Even based on what you're choosing to tell me. this Operation Afterburn of yours amounts to a great deal more than firing silver iodide into the sky. You're talking about herding clouds around like sheep and I can a.s.sure you. Captain, the weather is a very ornery beast indeed.'

'Listen, Doc,' Morgan levelled with as much patience as he could muster, 'we appreciate the environmental concern, but the boys down at Fort Meade must have thought this through before they handed it down to us.' He settled back and let the vibrations of the Snowcat's engine pummel him a while. He tried to think of it as a rough kind of ma.s.sage after a morning jog. They gave us Kristal. and I'm telling you I've seen her work miracles with that Stormcore: she taps into the Earth's biorhythms, whatever she does, and she never has to do another raindance.'

The disapproval was evident in Derm's impa.s.sive silence.

Grill Flame was old news - and the aims of the project, if not the true results, were public knowledge. Even the limited stuff he had let slip about Afterburn could have Morgan court-martialled and watching his back for NSA hitmen for the rest of a short life. But he tried to view each serving of information as an investment in the Doc's eventual productivity.

'That's all very well and good, Captain, but the gentlemen at Fort Meade appear to have overlooked one vital consideration.' Captain Shaw glanced out the window opposite, hoping to recognise some landmark that would tell him they were nearing journey's end. There was zip. The Doctor held his audience captive and he knew it: 'Whatever miracles your scout is capable of performing with the Stormcore, didn't it ever occur to you there might be someone out there who could play much more impressively?'

Humanity had few examples on offer that hadn't, at one time or another, pa.s.sed through Melvin Village, or even stayed a week or two. And they all wandered into the store.

As much to suck in the old-world atmosphere as to buy anything. And Hal Byers was happy to have them browse and walk out with only a memory in their pocket, if that was all they wanted. Normally they'd pick up something, and stop for a few words besides. For Hal, that was the best part of the trade. The store was the focal point of the village for visitors and townsfolk alike; with the church a close second.

Makenzie had talked to him before about a CCTV system.

Like h.e.l.l, he'd said every time. The mirrors were adequate for a store this size and a camera spying down from every corner wasn't part of the charm folks came looking for.

Of course, there was that biker who'd tried stuffing his jacket with a couple of six-packs, while he'd sent his girl over to keep Hal busy. Makenzie had seen that as meaning something, like, what'd I tell you. what'd I tell you. Hal saw it as just another anecdote for the bar of a Sat.u.r.day night. The way that girl had draped her chest further and further over the counter, giving out her best small talk. And Hal smiling and saying uh-huh a lot, while he looked over her head and watched the idiot biker fumble the cans. Hal saw it as just another anecdote for the bar of a Sat.u.r.day night. The way that girl had draped her chest further and further over the counter, giving out her best small talk. And Hal smiling and saying uh-huh a lot, while he looked over her head and watched the idiot biker fumble the cans.

Before he sent the pair packing he'd told the girl she was pretty, but maybe she should hit on guys more her age.

Makenzie, Hal figured, was Just sore for having missed out on an arrest.

A sc.r.a.pe of boot on the boards made Hal look up from his magazine.

Since this one customer came in, begging for the phone, he'd been doing lots of nothing as an alternative to watching the guy like a hawk. Hal preferred to give folks the benefit of the doubt, but this particular guy looked so wired. And his breath smelled like Sat.u.r.day night. Day like today, anyone might take a swig to warm up their insides, but Jesus.

The mirror opposite showed an empty aisle. His customer had found the blind spot.

By accident? Hal didn't think so.

Hal shook his head. Another sorry son-of-a-b.i.t.c.h, probably thought because everyone in a small town moved slow they thought slow. Hal didn't feel like being so lenient with this one.

He went back to leafing through the magazine, thinking about his poor boat locked in ice down at the marina. d.a.m.n, but he should have seen that freeze coming. She was going to need plenty of TLC before he could take her out again come spring.

Hal caught the movement as a shadow crossing his page.

He sighed and flipped the magazine closed. His customer had just rounded the end of the back aisle. Moving slow, because that's what we do here, because that's what we do here, he wandered to the end of his counter and stepped out as though to hold the door open. he wandered to the end of his counter and stepped out as though to hold the door open.

The man stopped and his eyes twitched.

Hal wanted to laugh. The guy's suit had inherited some bulk all the time he'd been browsing. Amateur didn't even cover It. But this one wasn't some kid like that biker. h.e.l.l yeah, he'd give Makenzie a call on this one.

'You mind showing me what you got there, sir?'

The guy was twitching under the skin now. His only exit was through Hal and Hal was closed for business. 'I got all day,' he added helpfully. 'How about you?'

'I haven't got anything,' the man objected, like a kid caught with his hand in the candy jar. Southern boy too, which figured. 'What? I didn't want anything okay? I didn't see anything I liked in your dead-end store. What, is that a crime in this hole?'

Hal was done with the nice face. 'Shoplifting's a crime anywhere, far as I know. Open your coat and turn out your pockets, sir. I like to think I give service with a smile here, but trust me, I can get real ugly real fast'

'You're making a big mistake.' Real anger was creeping in now. Hal liked him even less.

'Show me what you took and then I'm calling a cop. We have one here, you know. Happens to be a buddy of mine.'

'I don't care about your G.o.dd.a.m.n buddy, jacka.s.s! Now get the h.e.l.l out of my way!'

Hal blinked. Trouble with anger, it was contagious. 'Hey, you're not bullying little kids in the schoolyard now. You're caught for real and it's time to pay. It's time for regrets not excuses, friend. What, you think we're really that stupid, to be taken by the likes of you?'

Hal barked out a laugh and grabbed the guy's arm.

Suddenly the man yanked away and screamed in Hal's face. There were goods falling to the floor, toys and such, and it would have been comic if he hadn't pulled a gun from somewhere in there. A compact little automatic, looked like a .38.

'This is what's real!' the guy blew up. 'And yeah, I think you're really that stupid!'

Hal said nothing. He guessed he ought to raise his hands.

Makenzie gave up trying to raise the dead. He'd been getting undiluted silence on the phone, static on the radio. No chance of backup any time soon. Plenty of the townsfolk would willingly muster for search parties, but in these conditions he'd only risk losing more people. He'd exhausted all of his options and himself in the process.

Then he'd taken a moment to ring Martha and he was getting the dial tone on the other end, but she wasn't home.

Something more to fret about. The worst part though, the office was unbearably empty with no Laurie.

Makenzie was waking up to just how alone he was here.

The edge of the world had come to the outskirts of Melvin Village and everyone was walking or driving right off it. h.e.l.l, he might even join them. No, no good to anyone, thinking like that. He tried ma.s.saging some life into his eyes, hoped it might find a way through to the rest of him.

So where was he? Stuck.

No chance of a solo tour around the cult place. Oh yeah, he'd thought about it plenty, but he knew it was plain stupid - especially a.s.suming they were involved. All he was left with was looking after the folks still here. If he ever found Laurie, he'd have to explain the delay to her then. He'd be happy to see her hate him for it.

Just as long as he saw her.

Standing, he thought he might swing over to Hal's, let him know some of what was going on. He didn't want to tell him about Laurie just yet.

'Mak! Hey, Mak! Get yourself out here!'

That was Phil Downey calling at him through the door. The old boy was padded out with coats and sweaters, but they all looked like they'd been thrown on.

'What is it, Phil? You should be home by the fire.'

'Army's here, Mak. They just rolled up. Take a look.'

Makenzie stepped out beside him and looked along the street: a line of Snowcats and a couple of Hum-Vees, outriders on Ski Doos; all of them parking up outside Janny Meeks' hotel. Armed men, answering Makenzie's prayers.

Janny was going to hit her own roof.

Makenzie strode past Downey. He had to get a closer look, make sure the help wasn't going to disappear on him.

Makenzie broke into something close to a trot, uttering a few prayers of thanks to a G.o.d he'd forgotten existed. Then took them all straight back the moment he recognised the man hopping down from the lead Snowcat to take charge of his town.

The engines wound down as his boots. .h.i.t the snow. Man, was it good to be back home.

Kind of.

Morgan glanced along the side of the hotel. Where a grey shape dissolved hastily into white. A toppled trash can rolled noiselessly in the snow-covered driveway.

The Doctor landed beside him. 'More coyotes. You know. I can't help thinking they must be hopelessly sentimental or desperate to be courting the company of humankind so freely.'

Morgan Shaw cleared his throat. You had to wonder about this Doc. He was on another planet most of the time. 'Hey, listen. Doc, do you think you can count yourself as a member of the human race just long enough to help us out here?'

'I shouldn't think that will be a problem. It's no more than I usually do.'

Again with the solemn, mysterious tones. Where did UNIT ever dig this guy up?

Morgan returned his attention to the town, at least the length of the main street. No, this didn't really look like home at all. Maybe that was why it felt good to be back. He was standing in the town but he was still very much outside of it.

The best way to be.

'When they get the lab set up,' he began absently, 'I'll want you going over every piece of that wreck with Pydych. We need results, the faster the better.'

As he finished the last word, Morgan forgot all about the Doctor. Another grey shape was looming out of the veiled street, and the shape had Morgan's exclusive attention even before the details had property resolved themselves.

Makenzie. No surprise, of course, but later would have done as well as sooner.

Man, was it good to be back home.

McKim called out from the map room. Joanna heaved the cellar hatch closed and hopped off the steps, satisfied that she'd shut out the wind and the snow, if not the cold. This bas.e.m.e.nt room had turned up only more shelves of chemicals, canned goods, spare parts and gas cans.

Hoping Ben had struck gold, she turned from the plank steps and switched her flashlight back on. Her small endeavour had also shut out the daylight, of course.

'Ben,' she called, her voice like an intrusion as she pa.s.sed into the other room, 'don't you get a feeling there might be something still in here with us?'

Ben McKim was over by the sink. Solid old porcelain, the cracks of age in its surface, he had pulled it some way free of its nesting place and was reaching into the gap behind.

Cold feet danced over the base of Joanna's neck. She glanced over her shoulder: nothing.

'Something we can't see,' she prompted, wanting the conversation.

'You mean the Invisible Man?' Ben tugged a plastic folder from the niche and gave it a once-over before pa.s.sing it to her. He clapped his hands clean and stooped to retrieve his H&K. 'Come on, Joanna, there'd have to be a whole bunch of them to take out this many And all these guns going off, none of these invisible aliens get hit? Not to mention where are the bodies? Normally, you loot a battlefield, the corpses are the thing you leave.'

'Ben. I don't understand any of this but I know we've missed something. More than paperwork.' She drew a deep breath to flush out the tightness. She teased a few of the doc.u.ments from the folder, focused on those with a lengthy frown. 'Although these are definitely interesting.'

There was a clatter and bang from the next room. She and McKim looked to the doorway.

Wind, snow and daylight had all broken in again.

Paul Falvi was up and bolting out of that attic room in a little under a second, slinging his rifle in favour of the Beretta. It wasn't a hundred per cent definite he'd seen anything, but he was going to check it the h.e.l.l out right now. Lieutenant McKim was not appreciative of false alarms. Probably even less appreciative of alarms that didn't get raised.

Down a flight, across the hall, he poked his head into Barnes' room. 'Hey, you got any activity out front, Barnes?'

'All quiet on the eastern,' she told him, her eye squeezed up on the sight like his had been until a moment ago.

Falvi raced to the head of the main stairwell, leaving a shout trailing: 'Maybe I got something. Movement between those two trucks.'

'Maybe you got something?' her call chased after him. you got something?' her call chased after him.

Pistol locked in a firm grip, Falvi descended the stairs two at a time. Urgency or no, he couldn't help a wry shake of the head. Didn't she ever let up, Barnes? One time she'd said they were like Legolas and Gimli at the battle of Helm's Deep.

Falvi hadn't even read Lord of the Rings, Lord of the Rings, but after she'd explained the comparison he'd given it a shot. Twelve pages in and he's skipping ahead to Helm's Deep, where the two warriors are in hot compet.i.tion for the most bad guys notched up. Mostly, Barnes and him were just a practice target's worst nightmare and they never counted their live ones out loud. but after she'd explained the comparison he'd given it a shot. Twelve pages in and he's skipping ahead to Helm's Deep, where the two warriors are in hot compet.i.tion for the most bad guys notched up. Mostly, Barnes and him were just a practice target's worst nightmare and they never counted their live ones out loud.

Now she was having a dig because he wasn't a hundred per cent. He's been watching the snow smother the woods for so long he's starting to see in monochrome. And she's covering the front, while the best view out back is out of bounds because there's no floor in the G.o.dd.a.m.n room!

Falvi hit the downstairs hall at a run, making for the back of the house. If he wasn't mistaken, then it wasn't just points at stake.

Joanna stuffed the folder inside her parka and backed swiftly against the left side of the doorway. McKim moved quietly and efficiently to the opposite side.

In the next room, light from the reopened hatch was projecting a shadow onto the dark boards. An expanding silhouette, it looked to be brandis.h.i.+ng a rifle or a shotgun.

Joanna studied McKim's eyes, trying to gauge if he could see any more than her.

Ben had his SMG aimed high and she could almost read his mind, running through every possible play. Joanna was pretty sure she'd covered them already.

In one respect, she had reason to be relaxed: the shadow was all bulk, but human. Safety was off. She hooked McKim's gaze on hers and signalled for him to cover her.

One long slow breath and she swung around the doorframe.

Steel struck her flat in the side of the face. There was a loud slam that carried on into her head, a liquid slos.h.i.+ng underneath it. Her world was on the move and she reasoned she was falling. By the time she hit the deck she worked it out: someone else in here. someone else in here.

Amid the ringing pain and the underwater vision she could make out the man. He was huge, magnified, at the foot of the bas.e.m.e.nt steps. Frigid light was barging its way in from above, filling the dingy s.p.a.ce and crisping the edges of the shadows. The shotgun had a silver lining as it came up and blew a great crater in the air over her head.

Splinters blew back from the doorway. Ben! Ben!

Joanna's fingers closed around her weapon's pistol-grip and she wondered: is this how it begins? In this house, people - human beings - shooting at each other, only to be swallowed into some otherworld oblivion? Fresh meat for a bloodthirsty void.

Near-blinded by the ache in her face, she brought her gun up anyway.

Chapter Seven.