by Nick Walters
Aline went to stand beside the stranger, taking the opportunity once more to enjoy the vista of sea and sky.
He didn’t seem to notice her, but he must have known she was there. She followed the line of his gaze. She could just make out the distant dot of a skyboat.
Athon. In an instant Aline grasped what must have happened.
The Doctor ran a hand through his straw-blond hair and gazed out to sea. He started muttering to himself. Why can I never seem to hold on to them? I try to understand them.’
Aline decided reassurance was in order.
‘Don’t worry, your friend’s in safe hands. Athon’s an experienced flier.’ And not only that, she thought, but tactfully decided to keep quiet.
He seemed to notice Aline as if she’d just materialised out of nothing. He looked embarrassed. ‘Is she now?’ His gaze was intense, from his deep-set eyes squinting in the sun to his bared teeth.
Aline was taken aback. ‘Well, yes. I think so.’
His voice and his expression softened. ‘Then she probably is.’ He smiled. ‘Hello, I’m the Doctor.’
‘I know,’ They shook hands. ‘Aline Vehlmann.’
He narrowed his eyes. ‘I’ve heard of you - wait a minute, not the Aline Vehlmann, renowned xenologist and bio-astronomer?’
Aline backed away, feeling herself withdraw from his eager enquiry. ‘Not any more,’ she said in a small voice. He looked puzzled, so she coughed and shook her head. ‘Sorry, actually, yes I am I’ve been in retirement for a while.’
‘Retirement? Surely not! Why?’
His look of concern made her feel queasy, and angry with him. The fast thing she wanted was sympathy - she wasn’t an invalid. ‘I’d rather not talk about it.’
A brief flash of colour out towards sea caught her attention.
Dozens of glittering rhomboids were scooting round the sky, darting and chafing at each other, their vanes rippling and clattering as crowds of Eknuri gathered below waved and cheered. Duelling kites. They looked like alien creatures of the air, battling for territory.
Aline shuddered and looked back towards the Doctor, who was admiring the kite-play with full enthusiasm, hat held against his chest in an oddly reverent stance.
Aline felt resentful that he’d recognised her. Only the Institute knew she was here, and the self-centred Eknuri didn’t care who she was, so who was he to turn up out of the blue - literally - and chum his way into her life? ‘I’m still enough of an expert to know that you’re not human. Your pretty friend, maybe, but not you. What are you?’
He seemed a little taken aback by her direct approach and it gave Aline a small thrill to see how she’d rattled him. ‘I, er, we’re travellers,’ he fudged.
‘That’s no answer,’ Aline persisted, smiling waspishly up at him, fighting down a rising feeling of fear. ‘Come on, you’re a Time Lord and that blue box is your TARDIS, admit it.’
The Doctor flicked a small pebble from the balcony. It sailed in a steep arc, soon lost to view against the blinding whiteness of the beach. ‘Right first time. Your retirement must have been a great loss to your profession.’
Aline didn’t want the conversation to return to herself, but she felt too shook up to even speak. Here before her was a Time Lord! As ancient and alien as - she shook her head, shying away from thoughts of her Encounter. Anyway, the Doctor seemed benign enough. He’d more or less leapt right into her lap, like a friendly cat. Scrap the Eknuri paper - no one had ever published anything on these mysterious Lords of Time. She had to stick by him, at all costs. It was risky, given her state of mind since the Encounter, but it would more than justify her decision to return to the field.
The Doctor broke the silence. ‘I do hope she’s all right.’
‘Peri? She’ll be fine.’ Aline was still trying to work out their relationship. Definitely not teacher-pupil; stronger than that.
‘She’s human, isn’t she? Not a Time Lord like you.’ She felt embarrassed asking but she was a bit out of practice.
The Doctor laughed. ‘Oh yes, she’s human all right.’ He seemed to gather his thoughts. ‘What am I worried about?
She’s quite capable of taking care of herself and no possible harm could come to her.’
He seemed to be trying to convince himself, like an over-protective parent on the eve of his teenage daughter’s first date. ‘You seem very close to Peri.’
The Doctor coughed. ‘Well, I may not be for much longer.
I’ve been a fool, totally misjudging her. She may leave me already. You know, she hasn’t been with me for any time at all, really.’ He spun around, throwing his arms out wide. ‘I can show her all of time and space but I can’t,’ he slumped, ‘I can’t give her what humans really need. Especially one of her age.’
This was getting interesting. ‘Which is?’
The Doctor looked away. ‘You’re human. You tell me.’
Aline could almost feel his embarrassment - it emanated from him like a wave.
‘But I’m not of her age. I was once. Perhaps you could take me into your TARDIS and turn me into a teenager again.’
The Doctor smiled and put his hat back on. ‘And go through all that angst and acne again?’
‘I could handle it.’ There were so many questions she wanted to ask him, she hardly knew where to start. ‘What brings you here?’
‘Oh, blind chance, as usual.’ He smiled, as if revelling in his seeming lack of control of his own TARDIS. Aline was beginning to feel more relaxed around him. Despite being an immensely old and powerful alien, he seemed very human, more so than the Eknuri.
His face brightened, sunny in an instant. ‘I’m quite pleased to have bumped into the Eknuri. You know they’ve invited me to lecture back on their homeworld?’
‘Well, that is good news.’ And so it was. Looked like Aline wouldn’t have to try too hard to stick with her new subject.
She noticed that the Doctor had a stick of celery pinned to his lapel. No, not pinned - it was just there, clinging on somehow. Maybe it was some sort of symbiont, Aline wondered half-seriously Or maybe he just fancied a nibble every now and then.
He seemed to notice her staring at the celery, and started fiddling with its stem. ‘You haven’t told me what you’re doing here.’
Aline sighed. She was going to have to give something away, it seemed. ‘People back home are very interested in the Eknuri, Doctor. They’re seen as a beacon of hope for humanity. I’m putting together a paper on them for the Hamilton Smith Institute. My thesis is classification. Are the Eknuri still “human” in the strictest sense? Or are they so far removed as to be a separate species?’
‘Good question,’ said the Doctor. ‘They seem all too human to me.’
They began to walk back down the balcony to the central courtyard. It was empty apart from the Doctor’s TARDIS -
the sight of which still sent a thrill of fear through Aline - and two Eknuri: Seryn, draped on a chaise-longue, and Taiana, sending her servitors chasing up and down the spirals of the waterfall for no apparent reason. Most of the others were crowded on the outer balconies and upper ramparts, watching the antics of the duelling kites, or waiting for the coming storm, or were inside having sex. Daeraval’s sparkly refrain filtered up from somewhere below.
The Doctor walked up to the TARDIS and patted its side, looking around himself as if at a loss what to do next.
Aline went up to Seryn. She was certainly the most conventionally attractive Eknuri that Aline had met. Her pale, oval face had a gentle humanity lacking in many of the Eknuri females. Her hair was long and black, hanging with an airy lightness around her bare ivory shoulders, and her eyes were the most striking green Aline had ever seen, like sunlight falling on leaves.
‘Hello, Seryn,’ said Aline, crouching down next to her.
The woman paid her no attention, just lay leaning on her arm, long legs crossed under her shimmering gown.
‘Suit yourself.’ Aline stood up again, fighting down the hot feeling of e
mbarrassment. Not the first time that had happened. Sometimes the Eknuri seemed to retreat inside themselves, as if pondering ultimate questions and naked truths.
But one look at the set of Seryn’s lips told Aline that she was doing neither of these. She was sulking! But over what? Maybe Athon... Aline had noticed the pair talking together earlier, even kissing. Now Seryn was trying not to look bothered that Athon had run off with a human-basic. So even if Eknuri didn’t bond for life, they could still get jealous, still get hurt by relationships.
In which case they were still human, as the Doctor had said. There was hope for them yet.
Something tall and hard bumped into her. Rubbing her shoulder, Aline stepped back to let Taiana pass. The tall Eknuri wandered into the middle of the courtyard, her feet falling over one another as if she was drunk, servitors circling her oil-slick head. Then one of them shot off with a noise like water thrown on a fire.
The Doctor moved to intercept Taiana, his hands reaching up to steady her shoulders. ‘Are you all right?’
Taiana seemed to come to her senses. ‘Yes. Of course I am.’
Aline went up to the mismatched pair - one (relatively) small and fair, the other like a slice of night come to life. She’d seen Taiana like this before, in communion with her servitors, her mind swamped with too much information.
A situation Aline could sympathise with all too well.
‘What is it, Taiana? News from home?’
Taiana shook her head. ‘Closer than that.’
The Doctor was instantly on the alert. ‘Peri and Athon?’
Taiana waved a languid hand. ‘No. Something else.’ Her voice was flat and emotionless, her eyes inscrutable gold discs. ‘An unanticipated vessel has entered the atmosphere, that’s all.’
Chapter Three
Earth Girls Aren’t Easy
Peri leaned back dazed as the desert rushed below them at insane speed. Hot, dusty air blasted around the windscreen, pulling her hair back from her face. She kept hold of her shades with one hand, the other gripped the dashboard, and her legs were braced against the chassis. It was terrifying. And there were no seatbelts.
She loved it. Every part of felt totally alive. She wanted to scream for the sheer hell of it. So she did.
Athon laughed. ‘Isn’t this wonderful?’ He had to shout over the roar of the wind and the high-pitched whine of the skyboat’s engine.
Peri yelled again. ‘Yee-hah!’
Rushing headlong into the unknown with a complete stranger especially a hunk like Athon - was thrilling in ways time travel could never be. She’d fallen in love with the skyboat as soon as she’d seen it. It looked so Fifties - like a speedboat crossed with a Pontiac, all silver tailfins and chrome finishing.
Athon had said he’d ‘invoked’ it himself, whatever that meant.
Peri resolved to get him to invoke one for her, when she left. If she left...
There was only one glitch. Since they’d taken off, Athon had talked exclusively about himself, showing no interest in her whatsoever. The first disillusionment. Now he was waxing lyrical shout his skyboat. ‘The others don’t know what they’re missing.’ His hair was blown back from his face in a rippling stream. ‘Relying on safe, sterile old warpfields. They’ll never appreciate the joys of antigrav engineering.’
Thrilling though the journey was, there was a point to it, or so she’d thought. They’d been flying for what seemed like ages and there was still no sign of any vegetation. ‘Are we there yet?’
‘Depends on where you want to go.’
Peri looked sideways at Athon. His face was deadly serious and there was an unmistakable gleam in his eyes.
‘What do you mean? I thought we were going to see a rainforest.’
Athon smiled. Peri was uncomfortably aware that he wasn’t looking where they were going.
‘There’s plenty of time for that later.’
No there wasn’t - the Doctor was probably already tired of waiting for her. Then she remembered that she was in the middle of an admittedly rather childish act of rebellion, so she leaned towards Athon. ‘Where else do you suggest?’
Athon grinned. ‘I have a place in the mountains, where I entertain my special friends.’
Peri felt a weight on her bare leg. She looked down to see Athon’s hand cupping her right knee and smoothing upwards towards her inner thigh.
His voice sounded close to her ear - too close. ‘Take those glasses off so I can see your eyes.’
Peri shrank away. ‘Hey!’ she cried, slapping his hand. ‘Get off me!’
He took his hand away and returned it to the steering wheel, his face indifferent.
Peri found herself vainly trying to pull the hems of her denim shorts further down to cover up her legs. She folded her arms and glared at Athon. ‘Well, aren’t you going to apologise?’
He shrugged, his muscled arms flexing. ‘What for?’
Peri’s lips curled in disgust. The second, major, and final disillusionment. Right now Athon looked uglier than anything she’d ever seen. ‘You’re supposed to be the peak of human evolution, but you’re not even half a step up from the dumb jocks I had to put up with in college. All you’re interested in is fast cars, talking about yourself, and getting laid!’
She sat back, feeling flushed and self-righteous. ‘Take me back to the Doctor. At least I know I’m safe with him.’
‘If that is what you wish.’ He seemed unconcerned, which only made Peri more angry.
‘It certainly is, buster.’
‘I think you’re being rather foolish, over nothing.’ He flashed her a smile which made her flesh creep. ‘Perhaps the Doctor neglected to inform you of our customs. I’ve bonded with all the women back at the party - Seryn, Yuasa, Taiana, even the Vehlinann woman. It’s just something we do, for fun.’
‘Yeah, well, where I come from we have customs as well.
Not treating women like lumps of meat is one of them.’
‘Well, I’m sorry you don’t understand.’
He sounded totally insincere but at least he was doing what she’d asked. They were banking in a wide arc. Suddenly there was a low beeping sound from the dashboard.
Athon frowned. ‘We seem to have visitors.’
Wary in case this was a ploy to give him another chance to feel her up, Peri craned round.
Above the silver tailfin of the skyboat the pink-white sky rippled in an exhaust haze through which Peri could make out the omnipresent peaks of the mountains. And something else. A dark shape, about level with them, approaching fast.
Its angular outline reminded her of the spy-planes she’d seen on TV. Those things had always given her the creeps. Ships of silent death.
She turned back to Athon. Maybe there was a simple explanation. ‘More party guests?’
‘Maybe. Don’t recognise the vessel. Could be Orchios, he loves big ships and things.’ Athon frowned. ‘Thought he was away strato-surfing on Voriakaan, though.’
Peri turned round again. The thing was nearer now, its central mass spanning the tailfin, its presence accompanied by a low rumble of powerful engines. ‘Shouldn’t you try hailing them, or something?’
Athon shrugged. ‘Already tried. Whoever they are, they want to play.’ To Peri’s alarm he turned round, taking both hands off the wheel, waving his arms at their pursuers. ‘So you want to race, friend?’
Peri leaned over and steadied the steering wheel. Not that they could bump into anything several hundred feet above ground, but It made her feel more secure. As Athon clambered back into position her hand accidentally brushed his buttocks.
He grinned. ‘Seems like they’re not the only ones who want to play.’
Peri shrank away from him. Hadn’t he got the message?
‘Hell will freeze over first.’
Athon hunched over the wheel. ‘Let’s give them a run for their money.’
If Peri had thought they were going fast before, now they were practically supersonic. She yelled as the small skyboa
t leapt forwards in a crushing blast of acceleration which seemed to leave her guts way behind.
It had stopped being fun. Something told her they were rushing headlong into danger. Athon, slow down!’
Athon’s wild laughter merged with the shrieking whine of the engine. The view ahead was a streak of white and pink.
The wind screamed in her face. Suddenly Peri’s shades were snatched from her head, gone for ever.
‘Great,’ she muttered, squinting in the suddenly-bright desert light.
And then they were in shadow.
Peri looked up and saw a scarred rustred underbelly so near she thought she could touch it.
‘Come on!’ cried Athon, though whether he was urging on his skyboat or taunting the dark shape which bore down on them Peri couldn’t tell.
This was no game, she knew it. ‘Get us out of here!’ she screamed, not caring any more how fast they were going, her voice subsumed in the shrieking of engines and buffeting roar of the wind.
Suddenly there was a crack like a gunshot and the skyboat began to plummet like an out-of-control lift. Peri gripped on to the sides of her seat as she felt herself being yanked bodily upwards. Her stomach turned over again and she retched, bringing a sour taste of bile into her mouth.
Athon was wrestling with the steering wheel, his eyes at last showing some trace of fear, though his mouth was twisted in a grimace of concentration. The engines were cutting in and out, there one second, gone the next. Ahead, an endless white sheet of sand rushed up to meet them.
Peri wiped her mouth and filled her lungs, ready to scream again. An image of the eyeless teddy bear popped into her mind, then the Doctor’s face, then her room in the TARDIS.
Certain she was going to die, she struggled to think of something profound, make peace with the universe, but they were going too damn fast Maul the air was tearing at her clothes and oh God she was gonna barf again and -
They hit the ground with a bump that jolted all the breath out of Peri and made her bite her tongue. The taste of blood mingled with bile and made her feel even more sick. They bounced into the air a few times. Hot stinging sand dashed into Peri’s face and she covered her eyes with her hands. Now everything was a red blur. She felt herself thrown violently from side to side as the skyboat skidded and swerved over the rippling sand. She could hear Athon laughing - did the guy have no concept of danger? -and the swish and bump of the desert beneath them. Blinking rapidly, she cleared the gritty sand out of her eyes at the same time that Athon let out a full-throated yell.
