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DISTRACTIONS
At the same moment that Rusalka was placing her hand on the outer plasmic shell of the TARDIS, the Doctor and Ace walked into the console room, all set to leave the internal dimension of the TARDIS.
The Doctor unhooked his umbrella from the hat stand and placed his hat on his short dark hair. He looked across at Ace, who stood by the double doors. They exchanged a smile. The Doctor walked over to the console and reached for the red lever. As his hand gripped the lever the oddest thing happened.
The lighting began to dim before returning to its normal level of illumination. This continued in an inconsistent manner.
Ace looked around in alarm, reminded of the last time they had had a power failure. She was about to be thankful they had landed this time when a piercing scream echoed around the console room.
It came from the Doctor.
‘Professor!’ she yelled, and rushed over to him.
The Doctor stood rooted to the spot, his hand holding firmly onto the lever. The scream continued to rip out of his throat. Not able to bear the sound anymore, Ace clamped his hands over her ears. She watched, mouth agape, as tendrils of energy danced around the Doctor.
She had no idea what was happening, and she had seen nothing in her life with which she could make a comparison. All she knew was that something had to be done. But, what?
Seeing the look of intense pain on the Doctor’s face convinced her. She reached out, intending to pull him away from the console, but a tendril lashed out and struck her. Ace was flung painfully to the floor.
The tendrils became more violent, physically attacking the Doctor. They lifted him off the floor and threw him against the still closed main doors. He slid to the floor and everything in the control room returned to normal.
Ace got to her feet, glad that she was wearing her rucksack, which has helped to cushion her landing. She was about to go and help the Doctor when something caught her eye. The viewer was on and showed a woman standing out the TARDIS. The blonde haired woman was pulling her arm away sharply, looking both angry and frustrated. Alerted by a groan from behind her, Ace’s attention was torn from the screen to the Doctor.
*
The Doctor’s mind was a jumble of confusion, but a single word bounced around inside his head, pushing away all other thoughts and images. ‘Vrach!’ He groaned at the headache he was developing and looked up. A girl approached, and the Doctor was sure he knew her.
‘Roz, is that you?’
This provoked a blank look from the girl. ‘Eh?’
Obviously she was not Roz. He shook his head, and out of the jumble came another name. ‘Benny?’ he asked hopefully.
The girl just looked annoyed. ‘Professor!’
The Doctor clapped his hands together. He was right! He felt as happy as a Martian in a freezer centre. ‘Yes! That’s it! Professor Bernice Summerfield.’ He smiled and got to his feet. ‘I thought I’d never remember.’ He picked up his umbrella and hat.
‘What are talking about?’ The girl watched the Doctor approach the console. ‘I’m Ace. What’s going on?’
Ace. The Doctor threw the name around in his mind for a few moments, allowing it to caress his memory cells.
The name hit home like a cannonball!
Everything came back into place, and the Doctor smiled at Ace sheepishly.
‘Of course you are. I’m sorry, forgive me. It’s very disconcerting learning something about your future.’ A puzzled look came from Ace. ‘”I count myself in nothing else so happy as in a soul remembering my good friends”, as my old friend Will once wrote. Somehow I got an inkling of my future. It is most unusual, it’s never happened like that before.’ The Doctor looked down at the console. ‘But it’s okay, my mind has cleared up now.’
Ace had a general idea of what the Doctor was saying, but it didn’t much matter. He was okay, and that was the main thing. Ace looked over at the viewer. ‘Who was that woman outside?’
‘That was Rusalka.’
‘Who?’
‘I have no idea.’ The Doctor waved it away. ‘One thing at a time, Ace, for now I need a good cup of tea.’ He straightened his hat and the door lever. With a gentle hum the double doors swung open. ‘Come on.’
Watching him leave, Ace shook her head. Why did she always have to get stuck with weirdos? She rushed out after him. ‘Oi, Professor, wait up.’
*
‘”It’ll never work”, that what’s Shelley told me, but as I said to her, “It’s so crazy that it has to work”.’ Ben waited for a reaction from the other man, but none came. He raised a quizzical eyebrow and continued on. ‘So my dear beloved wife says, “When Terry gets back tell him”. That made sense, after all if you best buddy won’t back you up, who will? Wouldn’t you agree, Tegs?’
Ben frowned with concern. His question remained unanswered as Terrance continued to look into space. It was very unusual for him to look so distracted, but he was.
They were sitting at the kitchen table catching up on old times and dreaming about the new. It was the first time that Ben and Terrance had seen each other in months, and it seemed as if Terrance’s mind was on other things. This was not turning out to be the reunion that Ben had hoped for.
‘Hey, Tegs?’ Ben reached across the table and waved his hand in front of Terrance’s eyes.
Terrance blinked and looked over at his best friend. ‘Sorry.’
‘You were really gone, then. What’s the problem, bud?’
Terrance shook his head. ‘Nothing,’ he said.
Ben did not buy that. ‘Sure. I really believe you. How long have I known you?’
‘Since I was seventeen.’
‘Right, and I was twenty-two. That was fourteen years ago.’ Ben raised his left eyebrow and added; ‘That is a long time. Man, we know each other better than anyone else does. As you once said, “We are one”, remember? So don’t give me this “nothing” business.’ He waited for an explanation, but still none came forth. All his life Terrance had been a private man, but after only two years of friendship with Ben, he had leaned to open up. This was the first time since then that Ben had known Terrance to be closed. ‘Well, are you going to tell me, or do I have to guess?’ Again there was no reply. ‘All right, let me take a guess. Either you’re doing bad spiritually or it’s a woman.’
Terrance looked away. ‘Spiritually I’m doing good.’
Ben smiled his usual crafty smile. ‘So tell me, what’s her name?’
‘Rusalka.’ Terrance looked back, smiling broadly. ‘She is really beautiful, mate. There is this connection between us, you know. I’m sure she feels it, too.’ He eyed Ben, wondering what his friend was thinking behind his sly smile. ‘She’s from Russia. I only met her last night and…’
‘Hang on a sec. Last night? You haven’t…’
‘Of course not!’ Terrance was genuinely hurt by Ben’s insinuation. ‘What do you take me for?’
Ben knew all too well about Terrance’s strong convictions about pre-marital sex. Ben admitted his mistake, and Terrance forgave him. Fourteen years, and they have never held a grudge, and neither wished to start now.
‘I must confess, though, there is something strange about her. She won’t really talk about herself.’
‘Sounds like someone I met fourteen years ago,’ Ben said softly.
Terrance had to smile at that. ‘Guess so. But, you know what? It makes her all the more alluring somehow. I can’t stop thinking about her.’
Ben considered that for a moment. It was so unlike Terrance to act like that. Although he did share Terrance’s beliefs, Ben felt obliged to ask, ‘Is this what God wants for you?’
Terrance appreciated the way that Ben always led him back to his beliefs. It demonstrated the bond between them. ‘I don’t know, mate. I mean, I’ve prayed about it and read the Scriptures, but I still don’t know.’ Terrance got up and went over to the kettle. ‘Inside I feel like I’m eighteen again. It’s strange.’
‘I wouldn’t say that, buddy. It’s different for you, but that don’t make it strange.’
‘Suppose so.’ Terrance picked up two tea bags and dropped them in the cups. ‘Anyway, enough about me. I haven’t seen you and Shelley for months. What’s new?’
Ben rolled his eyes. Start again. ‘Well, as I was saying…’
*
Ace looked up from her high fat breakfast, over at the Doctor, who was sitting opposite her enjoying marmalade on toast. Ace took a bite of a sausage but continued studying the Doctor, weighing up whether or not he was telling the truth. If he was, then the possibilities were endless. ‘You’re pulled my leg, right?’
‘I certainly am not. Really, Ace, I do know William Shakespeare, indeed I can still remember visiting Will and Ann shortly after the birth of their twins back in 1585.’ The Doctor lowered his voice, and leaned across the table. ‘Between you and me, I helped him write “Hamlet”.’
Now she was sure he was joking. Maybe he had once visited Shakespeare but to say he helped write… Ace laughed out loud. ‘Gordon Bennett, Professor, what a lot of old tosh. Suppose it does explain things, eh? After all, nobody really understands all that Shakespeare stuff. “To be or not to be”, hardly needs a genius to write that kind of stuff, does it?’ She paused and put on her serious face. ‘I’d hate to read any of your Time Lord books.’
‘Oh, why?’
‘Well come on, Professor, if that’s the best you lot can do. All that “thee” and “thou” malarkey. None of that for me.’
‘So says the undisputed queen of grammar, mm?’ The Doctor rubbed his nose. ‘I imagine you would prefer words like “oi pal”, or perhaps “brill”, “blimey” or “wicked”.’
‘Ere, come off it.’ Ace did her best to look hurt. ‘What’s wrong with a bit of street cred?’
The Doctor raised his hand in mock surrender. ‘Oh, I understand. Forgive me.’ He dunked his toast into his orange juice and made a face at her.
She shook her head and laughed. The Doctor was all right, really. She looked around the busy dining room. Most people were finishing off their breakfasts. Ace slumped back in her chair and let out a deep sigh. ‘This is a con!’
‘It is?’
‘Well, yeah. I mean… You were supposed to give me a trip around the twelve galaxies, remember? But where are we? Earth. As I said, Professor, this all a con.’
‘That’s not very fair, Ace. We were pulled off course, or have you forgot? Besides, this is 1996. Nine years in your future. It’s not as if we have just popped across the road from Perivale. Think about it. If you hadn’t got caught in that time storm and then joined me in the TARDIS, you would be twenty-five now.’
Ace did indeed think about it. After the trip round the twelve galaxies, if it ever did happen, she figured that she would return to Perivale in her own time. That would mean…
‘Oh wicked. There’s probably a twenty-five year old me living in Perivale now.’
‘Maybe you should give yourself a ring. Maybe the more mature version of you can explain about the insight that Shakespeare had on humanity. If nothing else, she could tell you all about the twelve galaxies and then you would need to have the trip.’
The Doctor was, of course, only joking, since such an action would create all kinds of temporal paradoxes. Ace, however, who was still a novice at time travel, was giving serious consideration to the Doctor’s suggestion. She nodded and smiled.
‘Maybe I will,’ she said and she began to get up from the table. The Doctor reached out with his umbrella and pulled her back down.
‘What about being a spy, Ace? We aren’t here by choice, remember.’
‘So, what can I do?’
‘Well, I would suggest you start by getting a job.’
‘Doing what? Guided tours of time and space in an obsolete police box?’
‘Nothing so extreme.’ The Doctor shook his head. ‘No. This hotel needs a waitress, there is a sign in a window.’
Ace was having none of that. ‘No way, Professor. First off in McDonald’s, and then Iceworld, and now you want me to be a waitress here, too? No chance.’ Even to her own ears it sounded like a childish wine. She folded her arms defiantly.
‘Have you any better suggestions?’ The Doctor waited for an answer, but his companion had none to give. ‘No? Well, then, once you’ve finished eating I would suggest that you go and have a word with Amy.’
So this is the way it’s gong to be, then, Ace thought. Even with the Doctor it’s gonna come down to adult versus child.
‘Meanwhile I shall stick my nose into things and draw attention to myself. That should flush this Rusalka out.’
‘But who is she, Professor?’
The Doctor raised a finger. ‘One thing at a time, Ace.’
*
Terrance turned the corner on the Gratham Road and stopped at the surprising sight. He walked over to the object, hardly able to believe his eyes.
It was blue and faded, battered, woebegone. There was no doubt about it, though, standing on the corner of Gratham Road was an old style police box. But what was it doing here?
Upon reaching the police box he reached out and placed a hand on the peeling blue paint. A slight vibration worked its way up his arm. He withdrew it hastily.
Maybe it was a memorial to the late chief constable, Dick Melville? He had once worked the beat in London, back in the ‘60s. To Terrance’s thinking that would give a certain logic to choosing a police box as a memorial for Melville. After all, was there not a police box back in Earl’s Court as some kind of memorial?
Terrance raised his eyebrows, curiously. He would ask his sister. Removing his look from the police box, he looked over at the building on the other side of the road. Standing there, among other similar looking buildings, was the Antioch Hotel. It still looked the same as ever, with the big white out-lined Fish sign over the door. Terrance smiled. It would be good to see Amy again.
Terrance crossed the roads and climbed the steps into the hotel, passing a short man as he did so. The man in the hat did not notice the smile Terrance had flashed him, he looked far too engrossed in other matters.
When Terrance entered he saw his sister by the reception desk, in conversation with a girl wearing a bomber jacket and Doc Martens. Terrance was quite sure that were out of fashion, at least according the fashion editor at his magazine they were. He could see that the girl was trying her best to look interested in the conversation, which he found hard to believe since his sister could never bore anyone. Terrance moved closer to hear what could be so boring.
‘I really am sorry, dear,’ Amy was saying, ‘but like I said, if you had asked earlier then you might have got the job. But as it is… If it’s a waitressing job you want, then you could try at the café down Stoker Lane.’
The girl smiled and said thanks, and Terrance could see that she was really relieved that the job had been taken all ready. The girl had probably been forced into asking by over eager parents. She walked passed Terrance and smiled. He returned the smile and looked back at Amy.
She watched the girl leave, a look of regret on her face. Amy looked away from the girl, and their eyes locked. A big smile spread across her face, matching the one worn by Terrance.
They embraced each other is a long anticipated hug. Finally the twins separated and looked at each other.
‘You’re looking good, girl.’
Amy looked around, glad there was no one else in the lobby. She knew how much Terrance liked to embarrass her. She looked at her brother. He seemed really happy, although there was something else in his eyes. ‘You’re looking good, too, Tel. Happy, tired and preoccupied.’ Terrance looked away, a sign to Amy to let her know that he was not yet ready to talk about it.
‘I met your Russian friend,’ she said, changing the subject.
‘Good. Did you give her the job?’
‘Well, she is a friend of yours.’ Amy scratched her ear. ‘Her papers are being sent to her.’
Terrance knew what Amy was implying. There was something odd about Rusalka, but Amy would not say anything. He had to agree with his sister, there was indeed something odd about Rusalka, but how could her papers be in transit? She did not even know she was coming to Maiden Port until he had picked her up last night.
Amy did not like the frown that was creasing her brother’s brow. Something was amiss. She had to ask. ‘What’s on your mind?’
Terrance did not like to lie to Amy, he had never done so before, but he could not share his concerns about Rusalka yet, not until he had thought through them all first and allowed Rusalka the chance to explain. But he had to tell Amy something, or else she would worry until she learned the truth.
‘I was just thinking…’ He walked over to the window and pointed out. Amy joined him. ‘Where did that come from?’
Amy looked at the police box in surprise. ‘I don’t know. It wasn’t there last night.’
‘Not there last night?’
‘What is it anyway?’
‘A police box.’
‘Ah, so that’s what you were always talking about.’ Terrance looked at Amy, and she continued. ‘Don’t you remember? Back in ’83 when you used to talk about the “Police Box Incident”.’
Terrance shook his head. ‘Oh no, I was talking about a top secret…’ His voice trailed off and he looked back through the window. He had not thought about that for years. The “Police Box Incident” was something that he had been investigating when he was working for the Metropolitan. Could it finally be time for answers?
‘Can I use your phone?’ Terrance turned to his sister. ‘I have an important call to make to Croydon.’
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