Peacemaker
Page 16
Martha jerked her head in the direction of the doors. ‘Was that a sensible thing to do, giving Jenny a copy of a book that hasn’t even been written yet?’
‘Ah, it’s OK,’ he said airily. ‘I mean, what’s she going to do? It’s not like she can post spoilers on the internet, is it?’
‘Good point,’ she agreed. Martha’s fingers strayed to the hem of her leather jacket and she suddenly realised she was toying with the spot where Tangleleg’s energy blast had hit her. She drew in a sharp breath, and from the corner of her eye she saw the Doctor pause.
‘I’m glad you’re all right,’ he told her, the mirth fading for a moment. ‘I’m only sorry it wasn’t enough. There’s always some who slip away . . . The Sheriff, Walking Crow, Alvin Godlove . . .’
‘Him?’ Martha blinked. ‘But he was a scumbag!’
‘Really?’ The Doctor eyed her. ‘Have you forgotten about all the people that man cured of smallpox, and who knows what other illnesses while he was carrying the Clade? I know he was motivated by greed, but a life saved is still a life saved.’
Martha paused, mulling it over. Perhaps the Doctor was right. Godlove had just been a quack con-artist with loose morals; she shuddered to think what could have happened if someone really dangerous, a true killer, had found the Clade in the woods that night.
‘In his own warped sort of way, Alvin Godlove was trying to do the right thing. He was just . . . too weak to stand up to it.’ She heard him sigh. ‘The Clades have the power to heal or to kill.’ He looked at the holster still belted around his waist and with a frown, he took it off and put it aside. ‘Any kind of technology, it’s always the same. It’s not black or white, good or evil. It’s how you use it, the intention behind it, that’s the important thing.’
‘Peacemakers,’ said Martha, thinking.
‘Yes,’ replied the Doctor. After a moment, he crossed to where he’d dumped his brown coat in a heap on the chair and dipped into a pocket, his hand returning with her cell phone. His expression was troubled. ‘I . . . I thought you might want this back.’ He tossed it and Martha caught it out of the air. ‘Just in case, y’know, if you wanted to call home.’
Martha opened the phone and her finger hovered over the keys. Whenever she had a bad experience in the past, it was Tish that she called, Tish who she moaned to, Tish that listened to her cry when she was dumped or just emotional over something. Martha thought about those moments after she had been injured, thinking of her family and wanting to see them again.
But what could she tell her sister if she called her? I’m just phoning from the Wild West to tell you how I got zapped by a space alien super gun with a mind of its own. She gave a slight shake of her head and snapped the phone shut again.
The Doctor was still watching her. ‘After what happened, I wouldn’t mind if you wanted to, you know . . . call it a day.’
‘Call it a day?’ Martha repeated. ‘You mean, go home?’ She nodded at the door again. ‘Are you throwing me out?’
‘What?’ The Doctor was abashed. ‘No, never. You’re a brilliant house guest. You do your share of the washing up and you don’t leave dirty kilts everywhere, not like some people.’ He paused, taking a breath. ‘It’s not that at all. I meant go home if you want to,’ he said, without weight. ‘It’s not all fun and games, is it? It’s risky, being a wanderer in the fourth dimension. I’d totally understand if you’d had enough, if all that was too much for you.’ He sighed. ‘It’s not every day you stare death in the face. I’m sorry that had to happen to you, Martha, I really am.’
‘It’s not the first time I’ve been there recently. And if I stay, it could happen again, couldn’t it?’
‘Yes,’ he admitted, careful and serious. ‘It could. And the next time you might not be so lucky.’
A slow smile crossed her face, turning into a grin as the Doctor’s expression became one of mild confusion. ‘You know what? I lived through that. Me, Martha Jones, Medical Student. I lived through it and I was never afraid, not even for a second. Do you know why?’
He was starting to smile again. ‘Tell me,’ he said.
‘Because I trust you. You’re the Doctor.’
He shook his head and chuckled. ‘And you’re a rare one, Martha Jones.’
‘I am,’ she agreed, walking across to lean over his shoulder and study the monitor screen. ‘So,’ she asked, ‘where next?’
The Doctor matched her grin. ‘Let’s follow the trails of time, and see where that takes us . . .’
The TARDIS blazed on through the coruscating fires of the temporal vortex, across the depths of space and time, with a million new adventures ranged out before it.
Acknowledgements
My thanks to all these folks in the many domains of Doctor Who for their support and confidence:
Justin Richards and Russell T Davies for giving me the opportunity to tell a Tenth Doctor story.
John Ainsworth, Nick Briggs, Sharon Gosling, Simon Guerrier, Jason Haigh-Ellery, Alan Barnes and everyone else in the Big Finish crew.
Keith Topping, David McIntee, David Howe, Ben Aaronovitch, Marc Platt, Joe Lidster, Nick Wallace, Steven Savile, David Bishop, Andrew Cartmel, Paul Cornell, Caroline Symcox, Tony and Jane Kenealy, Shaun Lyon, Clay Eichelberger, Tara O’Shea, Jill Sherwin, Kathryn Sullivan, Stewart Vandal and David Gould for counsel and comradeship.
Also available from BBC Books
featuring the Doctor and Martha
as played by David Tennant and Freema Agyeman:
MARTHA IN THE MIRROR
by Justin Richards
SNOWGLOBE 7
by Mike Tucker
THE MANY HANDS
by Dale Smith
Also available from BBC Books
featuring the Doctor and Rose
as played by Christopher Eccleston and Billie Piper:
THE CLOCKWISE MAN
by Justin Richards
THE MONSTERS INSIDE
by Stephen Cole
WINNER TAKES ALL
by Jacqueline Rayner
THE DEVIANT STRAIN
by Justin Richards
ONLY HUMAN
by Gareth Roberts
THE STEALERS OF DREAMS
by Steve Lyons
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featuring the Doctor and Rose
as played by David Tennant and Billie Piper:
THE STONE ROSE
Jacqueline Rayner
THE FEAST OF THE DROWNED
Stephen Cole
THE RESURRECTION CASKET
Justin Richards
THE NIGHTMARE OF BLACK ISLAND
Mike Tucker
THE ART OF DESTRUCTION
Stephen Cole
THE PRICE OF PARADISE
Colin Brake
Also available from BBC Books
featuring the Doctor and Martha
as played by David Tennant and Freema Agyeman:
Sting of the Zygons
by Stephen Cole
The TARDIS lands the Doctor and Martha in the Lake District in 1909, where a small village has been terrorised by a giant, scaly monster. The search is on for the elusive ‘Beast of Westmorland’, and explorers, naturalists and hunters from across the country are descending on the fells. King Edward VII himself is on his way to join the search, with a knighthood for whoever finds the Beast.
But there is a more sinister presence at work in the Lakes than a mere monster on the rampage, and the Doctor is soon embroiled in the plans of an old and terrifying enemy. As the hunters become the hunted, a desperate battle of wits begins – with the future of the entire world at stake …
Also available from BBC Books
featuring the Doctor and Martha
as played by David Tennant and Freema Agyeman:
The Last Dodo
by Jacqueline Rayner
The Doctor and Martha go in search of a real live dodo, and are transported by the TARDIS to the mysterious Museum of the Last Ones. There, in th
e Earth section, they discover every extinct creature up to the present day, all still alive and in suspended animation.
Preservation is the museum’s only job – collecting the last of every endangered species from all over the universe. But exhibits are going missing …
Can the Doctor solve the mystery before the museum’s curator adds the last of the Time Lords to her collection?
Also available from BBC Books
featuring the Doctor and Martha
as played by David Tennant and Freema Agyeman:
Wooden Heart
by Martin Day
A vast starship, seemingly deserted and spinning slowly in the void of deep space. Martha and the Doctor explore this drifting tomb, and discover that they may not be alone after all …
Who survived the disaster that overcame the rest of the crew? What continues to power the vessel? And why has a stretch of wooded countryside suddenly appeared in the middle of the craft?
As the Doctor and Martha journey through the forest, they find a mysterious, fogbound village – a village traumatised by missing children and prophecies of its own destruction.
Also available from BBC Books
featuring the Doctor and Martha
as played by David Tennant and Freema Agyeman:
Forever Autumn
by Mark Morris
It is almost Halloween in the sleepy New England town of Blackwood Falls. Autumn leaves litter lawns and sidewalks, paper skeletons hang in windows, and carved pumpkins leer from stoops and front porches.
The Doctor and Martha soon discover that something long dormant has awoken in the town, and this will be no ordinary Halloween. What is the secret of the ancient tree and the mysterious book discovered tangled in its roots? What rises from the local churchyard in the dead of night, sealing up the lips of the only witness? And why are the harmless trappings of Halloween suddenly taking on a creepy new life of their own?
As nightmarish creatures prowl the streets, the Doctor and Martha must battle to prevent both the townspeople and themselves from suffering a grisly fate …
Also available from BBC Books
featuring the Doctor and Martha
as played by David Tennant and Freema Agyeman:
Sick Building
by Paul Magrs
Tiermann’s World: a planet covered in wintry woods and roamed by sabre-toothed tigers and other savage beasts. The Doctor is here to warn Professor Tiermann, his wife and their son that a terrible danger is on its way.
The Tiermanns live in luxury, in a fantastic, futuristic, fully automated Dreamhome, under an impenetrable force shield. But that won’t protect them from the Voracious Craw. A gigantic and extremely hungry alien creature is heading remorselessly towards their home. When it gets there everything will be devoured.
Can they get away in time? With the force shield cracking up, and the Dreamhome itself deciding who should or should not leave, things are looking desperate …
Also available from BBC Books
featuring the Doctor and Martha
as played by David Tennant and Freema Agyeman:
Wetworld
by Mark Michalowski
When the TARDIS makes a disastrous landing in the swamps of the planet Sunday, the Doctor has no choice but to abandon Martha and try to find help. But the tranquillity of Sunday’s swamps is deceptive, and even the TARDIS can’t protect Martha forever.
The human pioneers of Sunday have their own dangers to face: homeless and alone, they’re only just starting to realise that Sunday’s wildlife isn’t as harmless as it first seems. Why are the native otters behaving so strangely, and what is the creature in the swamps that is so interested in the humans, and the new arrivals?
The Doctor and Martha must fight to ensure that human intelligence doesn’t become the greatest danger of all.
Also available from BBC Books
featuring the Doctor and Martha
as played by David Tennant and Freema Agyeman:
Wishing Well
by Trevor Baxendale
The old village well is just a curiosity – something to attract tourists intrigued by stories of lost treasure, or visitors just making a wish. Unless something alien and terrifying could be lurking inside the well? Something utterly monstrous that causes nothing but death and destruction?
But who knows the real truth about the well? Who wishes to unleash the hideous force it contains? What terrible consequences will follow the search for a legendary treasure hidden at the bottom?
No one wants to believe the Doctor’s warnings about the deadly horror lying in wait – but soon they’ll wish they had …
Also available from BBC Books
featuring the Doctor and Martha
as played by David Tennant and Freema Agyeman:
The Pirate Loop
by Simon Guerrier
The Doctor’s been everywhere and everywhen in the whole of the universe and seems to know all the answers. But ask him what happened to the Starship Brilliant and he hasn’t the first idea. Did it fall into a sun or black hole? Was it shot down in the first moments of the galactic war? And what’s this about a secret experimental drive?
The Doctor is skittish. But if Martha is so keen to find out he’ll land the TARDIS on the Brilliant, a few days before it vanishes. Then they can see for themselves …
Soon the Doctor learns the awful truth. And Martha learns that you need to be careful what you wish for. She certainly wasn’t hoping for mayhem, death, and badger-faced space pirates.
Also available from BBC Books:
The Inside Story
by Gary Russell
In March 2005, a 900-year-old alien in a police public call box made a triumphant return to our television screens. The Inside Story takes us behind the scenes to find out how the series was commissioned, made and brought into the twenty-first century. Gary Russell has talked extensively to everyone involved in the show, from the Tenth Doctor himself, David Tennant, and executive producer Russell T Davies, to the people normally hidden inside monster suits or behind cameras. Everyone has an interesting story to tell.
The result is the definitive account of how the new Doctor Who was created. With exclusive access to design drawings, backstage photographs, costume designs and other previously unpublished pictures, The Inside Story covers the making of all twenty-six episodes of Series One and Two, plus the Christmas specials, as well as an exclusive look ahead to the third series.
Also available from BBC Books:
The Encyclopedia
by Gary Russell
Do you know what was playing on Cassandra’s iPod?
What was the name of Shakespeare’s lost play?
Where were the Slitheen planning to hide a tribophysical waveform macro-kinetic extrapolator?
There’s no need to search time and space – it’s all right here. From Autons to Anne Droid, from Cat Nuns to Canary Wharf, from Plasmavores to Pig Slaves … everything you need to know about everything you didn’t know you needed to know about Doctor Who.
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Creatures and Demons
by Justin Richards
Throughout his many adventures in time and space, the Doctor has encountered aliens, monsters, creatures and demons from right across the universe. In this third volume of alien monstrosities and dastardly villains, Doctor Who expert and acclaimed author Justin Richards describes some of the evils the Doctor has fought in over forty years of time travel.
From the grotesque Abzorbaloff to the monstrous Empress of the Racnoss, from giant maggots to the Daleks of the secret Cult of Skaro, from the Destroyer of Worlds to the ancient Beast itself … This book brings together more of the terrifying enemies the Doctor has battled against.
Illustrated throughout with stunning photographs and design drawings from the current series of Doctor Who and his previous ‘classic’ incarnations, this book is a treat for friends of the Doctor whatever their age, and whatever planet t
hey come from …
Also available from BBC Books:
Starships and Spacestations
by Justin Richards
The Doctor has his TARDIS to get him from place to place and time to time, but the rest of the Universe relies on more conventional transport … From the British Space Programme of the late twentieth century to Earth’s Empire in the far future, from the terrifying Dalek Fleet to deadly Cyber Ships, this book documents the many starships and spacestations that the Doctor and his companions have encountered on their travels.
He has been held prisoner in space, escaped from the moon, witnessed the arrival of the Sycorax and the crash landing of a space pig … More than anyone else, the Doctor has seen the development of space travel between countless worlds.
This stunningly illustrated book tells the amazing story of Earth’s ventures into space, examines the many alien fleets who have paid Earth a visit, and explores the other starships and spacestations that the Doctor has encountered on his many travels …
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