Doctor Who BBCN17 - Sick Building

by Doctor Who

  She still felt sick with worry. She still felt disturbed at having to leave her valley and flee.

  Now the mutterings and the whisperings in the wintry forest were telling her that all was safe. The danger had passed. And when she cocked her ear and stared into the skies she could sense that it was true. The ultimate, terrible danger had gone. They had been saved.

  Death had been dismissed from their world at the very last moment.

  But how? And why? And what was it anyway? That colossal, alien behemoth that came bearing down on them. That had sucked up so much of the forest’s life elsewhere. What had it been? And would it ever come again?

  She didn’t know. None of them knew.

  She watched her cubs scatter into the frozen undergrowth. They padded and scampered ahead of her, Now they were onto the scent of their home. They knew they were nearly there. She shared their excitement and their relief at the sense of home.

  She was exhausted, though. Bone weary. And the shock of this whole nightmare had shaken her very deeply. She knew she would never take her place in this world for granted any more. Not in the same way. Not now that she knew that something – some inexplicable thing – could come along out of the blue one day and simply force her 163

  to move. Something bigger and more powerful, forcing its will onto her familiar landscape.

  She would never take things for granted again. And she would warn her cubs to be careful, too.

  Because the world could change overnight.

  And here on Tiermann’s World, that’s exactly what had happened.

  Here in the valley, in the densely packed snowy woods, there was a smell of destruction in the air. Charred remains. Devastation. The human beings were gone, Those who had been here, so many years, thinking this world was theirs. Now they were gone. Hopefully for ever.

  The mother realised this and felt a great wave of happiness wash through her. This place was hers again. Theirs.

  The world had changed overnight, and she was glad.

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  Acknowledgements

  With thanks to Justin, Gary, Russell, Jac, Claire, Steve, Sherry, Tiff, Alicia, Mark, Mark, Mark, Ann, Louise, Mam, Panda and Jeremy.

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  Document Outline

  Front Cover

  Contents

  Prologue

  One

  Two

  Three

  Four

  Five

  Six

  Seven

  Eight

  Nine

  Ten

  Eleven

  Twelve

  Thirteen

  Fourteen

  Fifteen

  Sixteen

  Seventeen

  Eighteen

  Nineteen

  Acknowledgements

  Back Cover