The Forgotten Army

by Doctor Who

  209

  DOCTOR WHO

  'Finally!' Amy dusted herself down. 'I told you to let me steer...'

  Sam pointed through the window. They had come to rest in the partially drained Central Park Pond.

  Amy wasted no time. Winding the controls around the pretzel again, she got the mammoth to leap to its feet and stagger out of the park. Early risers walking their dogs in the park saw a soaking wet and mud-splattered mammoth appearing from the pond and fled.

  Amy steered the beast to Fifth Avenue, and soon found it was easier to step over cars and rubble than to walk around.

  Going through the Pulitzer Fountain, she paused by Bergdorf Goodman's and swung the mammoth's head to get a closer look.

  'Oops! Didn't mean to do that.' She'd smashed the department store's window with the mammoth's tusks. She hurriedly put the mammoth back on course.

  Amy pressed forward down the wide Fifth Avenue, and the mammoth started to pick up speed. Past the Bank of America and Tiffany's the mammoth galloped, so fast the buildings became a blur. Clutching the pretzel-wheel, Amy stayed focused on the road ahead. From the left eye she could see security guards turning in her direction, but they moved so slowly that they didn't even see her before the beast had sprinted past.

  210

  THE FORGOTTEN ARNY

  'Remember they can't actually move out of the way.’ the Doctor said. He pointed ahead at a group of people crossing the road so slowly they looked like the cover of the Beatles'

  Abbey Road album.

  'Got it covered, Doctor.’ Amy assured him. She leaned back in her seat, and the mammoth reared up and leapt over the people's heads, spraying them with muddy water.

  Racing past Macy's, Amy had arrived at the junction with Broadway when the Doctor yelled 'Stop!'

  He pointed to the left. Madison Square was filled with NYPD troops, and Strebbins was marching up and down, barking out orders.

  Hundreds of Vykoid soldiers were gathering, setting up for the next stage of the operation. Their tiny jeeps were parked up on the curb, and they seemed to be synchronising their watches. For the first time since the Time Freeze had started, Amy could see the Vykoids moving at normal speed.

  The little aliens started to run over as soon as they saw the mammoth, and she tensed up.

  'It's OK.’ the Doctor reassured her. 'They're no faster than us now.'

  The Vykoids were looking very alarmed, and started making calls on their tiny walkie-talkies.

  'On we go!' the Doctor said, and Amy steered the mammoth away from the Vykoids and down Broadway.

  211

  DOCTOR WHO

  A breathless Sam stuck his head up into the mammoth's neck and asked: 'Shouldn't we have hidden from them?'

  Amy and the Doctor burst out laughing.

  'We're in a mammoth on Broadway.’ Amy pointed out. 'I don't think subtlety and camouflage are among our strengths!'

  As they headed into downtown New York, Amy gazed at the vast city around her. There were NYPD officers at the corner of each block. To a girl from Leadworth, the casual display of guns was shocking. And Amy knew what they were going to use them for. Passing City Hall, she saw a crowd of people waiting on the steps.

  'The Vykoids are sealing all the doors to keep everyone out in the open,' the Doctor said.

  'Talk about mean streets... How long do we have?'

  The Doctor looked around. 'They'll wait until they get it at the busiest time. Everyone in Manhattan will go to work and end up as a mining slave...'

  High above Manhattan, General Erik gazed out of the crown of the Statue of Liberty and saw the city waking up. Pretty soon, he would instruct his men to use the police on the streets to lead everyone in New York onto Broadway.

  General Erik's Vykoid soldiers had worked through the night to lay teleport signal amplifiers 212

  THE FORGOTTEN ARMY

  along its length and, when the tarmac was packed to bursting, he would send the first shipment back. If the NYPD

  did their work as planned, they would slowly empty the city, forcing everyone to march onto Broadway and go to his hometown.

  At moments like this, General Erik wondered if he'd aimed too low. He was already confident in his success, and was seriously considering extending the campaign to round up the entire East Coast of America. He'd get promoted for this operation, he was sure.

  More than anything, General Erik loved that he'd been able to do all this, with none of the humans suspecting anything was happening until the very last minute. With any luck, he would take Manhattan without a single loss of life.

  A nervous private interrupted General Erik's thoughts.

  'Sir, the mammoth is on the move. And Sector 9 is reporting the non-human we encountered called the Doctor was not part of the Puppet Programming Operation.'

  General Erik dismissed the private, and turned back to the window. He felt unshakeable. There was nothing one man and a mammoth could do now.

  With the children safe at Polly Vernon's, Oscar stepped back into his squad car. Ever since he'd seen Amy stride off into the Subway, he'd been determined to prove himself. He couldn't bear to

  213

  DOCTOR WHO

  watch his fellow officers turned into Vykoid slaves.

  Hardening his heart to the task ahead, he told himself that his only option was to find Commander Strebbins and take the alien controller from her head. Taking out his mobile, he dialled the private number Strebbins had given him.

  On the other side of the city, walking stiffly out of the TV

  Studio, Commander Strebbins picked up her phone.

  'I am ready to report on the Doctor,' Oscar told her.

  Sitting in the command chair on top of her head, the Vykoid Lars grinned and waggled his levers to make Strebbins answer. 'Of course, I'll be at Madison Square. Meet me there.'

  Sitting in his car, Oscar's hands shook with nerves. He'd never thought being a police officer would lead him to this.

  He drew out his gun and loaded it. He wasn't going to let New York go down without a fight.

  214

  Chapter

  20

  Their mad dash across Manhattan had worked, and Amy stopped the mammoth in the shadow of the World Financial Center. The waters of the Hudson lapped at the quayside in front of them. The dock was thronging with boats, and New York ferries. Amy was eager to get out of the mammoth and leap aboard.

  'Hang on a minute, Amy.’ said the Doctor, then yelled back to Sam: 'Is this thing waterproof?'

  Sam appeared, ruffled and shiny from being cooped up in the back end of the mammoth. 'It should be, yeah. I mean, it kept the ice out for all that time.'

  The Doctor knocked on the walls, 'Built of rare Vykoid alloys. I reckon it'll float, even with us inside.

  215

  DOCTOR WHO

  Oh don't look at me like that, Amy, that's the slowest ferry you'll ever see. It'll be like the open bus tour of Leadworth.

  This way, we get to find out one of the lost secrets of prehistory... Can a mammoth swim?'

  Amy turned the mammoth away from the ferry, and headed south into Battery Park. In front of her they could see Ellis island, where twelve million immigrants had once arrived for a new life in America and, standing proudly in the bay, the Statue of Liberty itself.

  Joe and the other children had been right. Even in the morning sun, Amy could see the pulse of alien light on the Statue. Sparks of green energy arced between the spikes of the crown, and the top of the statue crackled like a circuit waiting to discharge.

  'OK, I'm ready.’ Amy said. 'Though I'd like to point out you never said it was going to be "Goodbye Leadworth, hello drowning inside a hairy elephant".'

  The Doctor smiled. 'Being trapped inside friendly monsters is all part of the fun.'

  The mammoth picked up pace, going faster and faster until it reached the water's edge. Amy pulled back on the pretzel-wheel, and the giant creature soared forward.

  Barely a metre away f
rom the quay, they landed in the water with a massive splash and, for a disconcerting moment, the entire mammoth sank down, down into the murky waters of the Hudson.

  216

  THE FORGOTTEN ARMY

  As water rose up past the eyes of the mammoth, Amy saw an astonished school of fish blinking in wonder at the hairy beast.

  Amy looked around her nervously. 'Er, how exactly do you know Vykoid metal floats?'

  'The skin is holding tight.’ the Doctor reassured her. 'Look, no water's leaking in. So come on - teach this thing to swim!'

  Amy kicked out with the mammoth's feet, and it sprang off the silty riverbed and bobbed back up to the surface, its massive tusks jutting out of the water.

  As the head broke the surface of the water, a slow-moving seagull flapped its wings lazily and took to the air. The Doctor grabbed the pretzel-wheel and yanked the controls to one side.

  'We're going a bit faster than them, too - they can't move out of the way.’ he explained.

  The seagull narrowly avoided being impaled on the fast-moving tusk and splashed back down in the water, perturbed by the hairy beast wallowing in the Hudson.

  'Full steam ahead!' the Doctor yelled.

  Battling through the waves and currents the mammoth was swimming directly towards Liberty Island. It lurched side to side with the swell and was beginning to gather all the rubbish from the water in its long coat.

  'This is fun, isn't it?' the Doctor said to Amy.

  217

  DOCTOR WHO

  'Maybe we could keep this in the TARDIS when we're done?'

  Amy was too busy keeping the mammoth afloat to pay him much attention. 'I so should have made Rory take me to New York. I go with you, and end up inside a giant moose.'

  Oscar walked into Madison Square Park with a sense of trepidation. He'd come here to pull off the greatest act of marksmanship since William Tell. He was going to shoot the Vykoids off the top of the heads of every NYPD Officer in the city. It was the only way he could think of to free them from their controllers.

  But something felt wrong. Madison Square had emptied of troops, and Commander Strebbins was standing alone in the middle of the park. Oscar sensed a trap but, committed to the task ahead, marched solemnly forward.

  He stopped ten metres away from his boss. 'Commander, I need to know if you've been compromised.'

  As he spoke, his eyes scanned the ground around her feet.

  He could see blurs of movement and hear quiet, high-pitched chattering. She was surrounded by the Vykoids.

  This time, Oscar addressed his words to them: 'I know who you are. And I will not let this happen to our great city.'

  218

  THE FORGOTTEN ARMY

  Strebbins looked interested.

  Oscar continued. 'The situation has changed. This time you've given me a target. And I'm not afraid to take her down.'

  He took his pistol out and aimed at Strebbins. 'If I shoot her, then this whole thing falls apart...' He felt a tap on his shoes and kicked four Vykoids away. 'I feel one more of you on me, and she dies.'

  For a moment Oscar sensed the silence of the park. He felt immune from the sirens and noisy chatter of the city streets. This was just him and Strebbins.

  Tut the gun down, officer. You will do as I say.'

  Up until that point, Oscar had felt sure he could go through with this. But that was the voice of Jackie Strebbins, a sound he'd come to respect and fear. He told himself there was an alien under her hat, and steeled his resolve.

  'This isn't you, Commander, and I am ordering you to stop.'

  Commander Strebbins's face went blank for a second.

  Oscar guessed that the Vykoid under her hat was radioing back for advice. Oscar could see the Vykoids were moving to circle him. If he did shoot Commander Strebbins, he knew he would quickly be made into one of their puppets.

  Commander Strebbins's features abruptly twisted into a contemptuous sneer. 'Go ahead and shoot,' she said.

  219

  DOCTOR WHO

  Strebbins spread her arms out in front of her. Totally defenceless. The easiest target Oscar had ever been given.

  Oscar didn't know what to do. The sight of surrender stunned him. He would need the stab of self-belief to be able to pull the trigger, and it was deserting him.

  Then Strebbins took her hat off, revealing the Vykoid beneath. 'Shoot me, shoot her, take your pick,' the tiny creature shouted.

  Oscar was appalled to see the tiny troll lording it over Commander Strebbins. He felt the rage building back up inside him. The Vykoid was apparently finding it so easy.

  'There are hundreds of us.’ the little figure taunted. 'What difference does it make if one of us dies. We'll still take your people.'

  This was the extra push he needed, and Oscar began to squeeze the trigger. Then stopped. In training, Oscar had shot dozens of silhouettes and dummies. He was well practised in raising his gun to threaten or to silence. It was a way of establishing power, not doling out justice. In his time as a police officer he'd never fired a furious bullet. The anger inside him felt wrong. He was part of law enforcement. Not the law itself.

  Commander Strebbins lifted her head, and looked Oscar in the eye. 'We took your city, without a life being lost. Now I see why!' She began to laugh.

  220

  THE FORGOTTEN ARNY

  'You're a coward. Just like the rest of your stinking, lumbering race.'

  At this, Oscar tightened his grip on his gun. 'Don't say that. Stop laughing!'

  But Strebbins's scorn increased. 'Look at you, all uniform and protocol and swagger. But you can't execute me. You need to see someone's back before you shoot. That's the problem with you big clumsy beasts. Too occupied with the small picture.'

  Oscar met Strebbins's mocking gaze. The blood throbbed in his head, and his ears were ringing with adrenalin. He wanted to do the right thing. But what was it? What should he do? Whatever was on her head, Strebbins was a person and she'd done nothing wrong. She'd be an innocent casualty.

  He lowered the gun, and shut his eyes, waiting for the Vykoids to come and take him.

  Not content to stay at home when all the action was out on the streets, Polly had taken her class and broken in through the basement entrance of Trump Tower. They'd climbed up the service stairs, and smashed their way onto the roof. Now, lying on her belly on the roof, Polly could see the madness of the city below.

  On every cross street, a line of police officers marched forwards, herding confused and scared New Yorkers in front of them. Riding on top of an armoured vehicle, Commander Strebbins broadcast

  221

  DOCTOR WHO

  to the crowds with a loudhailer, her words becoming clearer as she drew closer.

  '... terrorists on the streets ... bombs in the Subway ... need to stay out in the open ... Every building is sealed until we can be sure that the threat has passed. Until then, we ask that you remain in the open. Please give law enforcement officers your full cooperation, we will keep you informed of any developments. There are terrorists on the streets of New York...'

  Polly was struck dumb by the magnitude of what was happening. How had her fellow New Yorkers become so scared of the unseen that they followed the most bizarre commands without protest? Did everyone think deep down that they deserved to be scared?

  From so high above, the city looked like a colony of ants was being steamed out into the open. Black dots converged on Broadway from every street in New York. People seemed only too eager to follow the commands of Strebbins and her men - too focused on the unknown horror to realise what they were being asked to do.

  Polly prayed for a miracle. The people she loved were being rounded up, and she couldn't do a thing to stop it. She watched as the crowds, only too happy to accept an unnamed threat, shuffled and gossiped as they marched into the Vykoid trap.

  *

  222

  THE FORGOTTEN ARMY

  And across New York, every radio station, every television program
me, every possible means of communication broadcast the same message:

  'Follow the police to safety. The invisible menace will not defeat us! New York will not surrender! Broadway is the nominated muster station until further notice. I repeat, Broadway is the only street to have been cleared of terrorist devices.'

  223

  Chapter

  21

  The mammoth clambered out of the Hudson onto Liberty Island and stood dripping beside the base of the Statue of Liberty.

  Sam squeezed back into the head of the mammoth. 'What now?'

  'We go up, close down the Time Freeze and stop them teleporting most of Manhattan into slavery.’ the Doctor replied.

  'How do we do that?'

  'Oh, just wait and see.'

  'No, go on, tell me,' Sam asked. 'I've just swum the Hudson in an extinct animal. I think I can handle it.'

  'He probably doesn't know yet,' Amy confided. 'Best not to ask.'

  225

  DOCTOR WHO

  'Winston Churchill.’ the Doctor said, to Amy's surprise.

  'Winston always said he didn't want there to be a statue of him, because the pigeons would, you know, cover it in their mess. When he died, they built one anyway, and they did something extraordinary. They electrified it, so no bird would come near it.'

  'Yeah? So what? We've got a city to save, don't start going all Simon Schama on me.'

  'Look at this statue.' The Doctor tilted the mammoth's head back so they were staring right to the top of the Statue of Liberty. 'There's not a bird in sight. I don't think they cut the power. I think they've been using it.'

  As soon as the Doctor had pointed it out, it seemed horribly obvious. Flocks of seagulls circled around the bay and turned away in the sky above Liberty Island as if they'd been shocked.

  'What's it made of, Sam?' the Doctor asked.