Doctor Who BBCN08 - The Feast of the Drowned Read online

  ‘I think so.’ Her fingers traced the thin scars that lined her cheeks and neck. ‘These gill things. . . It’s like they’re healing.’

  ‘Mine too,’ Huntley said incredulously. Vida saw tears well in his eyes, and saw also that they were blue. The silvery tinge had left them. ‘Tissue regeneration. But it’s so fast. . . ’ He hugged the nearest sailor, whose face was still grisly, like those of his crewmates. They had been subjected to the creatures’ influence for longer, but the fact they were doing better than Commodore Powers had to be a good sign. The commodore’s body lay in a puddle like a discarded bag of skin and uniform, slowly dissolving. Of the other monsters – the old man, the pirate, the woman in the dress – there was no trace at all beyond a pool of evil-smelling water.

  Mickey stared at Rose, at Huntley, round at the people spewed up by the salty river and walking on water. The bemused smile on his face slowly grew. ‘What happened? What the hell happened?’

  ‘What d’you think happened?’ Rose yelled, a grin breaking open her face. ‘The Doctor happened!’

  ‘Oi. Less of the past tense,’ came a weary but very familiar voice.

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  ‘Doctor!’ Rose led the chorus, just as she led the way over to grab him in a hug.

  ‘Whoa! Steady, steady.’ He gently disengaged himself, and now Vida noticed the dark bruising beneath his eyes. ‘I’ve just been tangling with a dirty great queen in an underground dungeon.’ He clapped Huntley on the back, leaned in conspiratorially. ‘Shame I didn’t think ahead. In this part of town I could have sold tickets.’

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  ‘Comeon,then,’Vidademanded. ‘Howdidyoudoit? Whatdidyou do?’

  ‘It’s not all down to me,’ said the Doctor curtly. Then he offered a crooked smile. ‘Thanks to you lot, I was able to set those little chemical transmitters going. Swamped the hive’s means of communication. Without information, without co-ordination, the group mind was shattered. They went to pieces.’

  ‘But how come I’m healing up already?’ Rose was still stroking her cheeks, and Vida saw that scores more people were doing the same while they wobbled about on the skin of the water. ‘My eyes feel normal again. Do they look normal?’

  ‘Gorgeous,’ he agreed cheerily. ‘The genetic damage was being en-forced by the hive mind – alien proteins and mental power, combining to turn you into a suitable host for growing the eggs.’ The Doctor cupped her cheek. ‘And now the mind’s fallen apart, so the damage will be undone. Even the dead eggs should dissolve to nothing.’

  ‘So what’s happened to those fish creatures?’ Vida asked.

  ‘You’ve been paddling in them,’ he said casually. ‘I told you, they went to pieces. Their DNA has unravelled. And unless I’m very much 191

  mistaken, the proteins they manipulated have been broken down into salts.’ He jumped clumsily on to the surface of the Thames, dipped his finger and licked it. ‘I’m not very much mistaken,’ he announced, grimacing.

  ‘I never doubted it for a second,’ said Vida, relief sweeping over her.

  ‘So it’s over?’

  He paused for a while, swaying, not quite himself. ‘We’re getting there,’ he said at length, and then he nodded. Just the once.

  ‘Where’s Jay?’ asked Rose, looking round anxiously. ‘I lost him when those things were trying to drown us all over again. And Mum and Keish. . . ’ Her face clouded. ‘I tried to turn them back, but what if they fell in?’

  The Doctor gestured round the river. ‘The drowned are bouncing back, as you can see. Human DNA completely regenerates itself every couple of months, though the mental scars might not fade as quickly.

  Vida, perhaps you could call Vice Admiral Kelper at Aldgate and make sure he does something about that once he’s fished everyone out of the water. . . ’

  ‘Will the Thames ever get back to normal?’ Mickey wondered.

  ‘Does it matter? I quite like it this way. Less congestion. Could be a big draw for the tourists too.’ The Doctor frowned. ‘Fish might be less keen, though. So it’s probably just as well these new salts will dissolve over time.’ He nodded thoughtfully. ‘I like fish.’

  ‘With chips in newspaper,’ Rose teased him.

  ‘We’ll be able to monitor the spread of the pollutants,’ said Vida.

  ‘We’ll make sure there’s nothing left, Andrew and I. Can we go and find him?’

  ‘There’ll be a lot of people down there in need of someone to talk to,’ said Huntley thoughtfully.

  Vida frowned. ‘Can’t be many counsellors who specialise in post-alien mutation.’

  ‘ Yellow Pages is full of them,’ the Doctor assured her. ‘You’ll cope.’

  ‘You know, I think I probably will,’ she said casually, enjoying the feel of the afternoon sun on her wet skin.

  As if she dealt with stuff like this every day.

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  ∗ ∗ ∗

  Keisha sat on the wharf, wrapped in a tin-foil blanket and sipping Red Cross tea, hoping that the police had found the little girl’s parents by now. They had cordoned off this part of the bank and no one seemed keen to break that barrier on either side. When the sailors emerged from the river with their shiny eyes and slits in their faces, the authorities tried to hide them from view. But Keisha had caught sight of Jay through the confusion of the crowd and she’d struggled, threatened and beaten her way through to get to him. His eyes were messed up but they were real tears he cried as he held her.

  Now she rested her head on his shoulder as they stared out over the unlikely scenes of fear and jubilation on the solid grey stripe of the Thames.

  ‘Mum came down,’ she said. ‘She called me. She was coming to see me and we were gonna go to you. Something must have happened, I guess.’

  He nodded.

  ‘But when all this calms down. . . when you’re feeling better again, Jay. . . ’ She looked at him. ‘Well, we’ll find her.’

  ‘Maybe.’

  ‘She came all that way, Jay. She ain’t forgotten us.’

  ‘She only came ’cause I made her, Keish. Like I made you.’ He snorted softly. ‘Finally, I could make people come back, just by wishing. And like a wish, it wasn’t real.’

  ‘But you don’t know. Maybe when she sees us again –’

  ‘You can’t build a better future by keeping hold of the past.’ He took her hand. ‘Mum ain’t coming back, sis, wherever she is, whatever she said.’

  Keisha didn’t speak for a while. ‘When she called up the flat out of the blue. . . I was going crazy thanks to you, and it was such a shock, it sort of made me snap out of it. I guess that if she’d never gone away. . . ’

  ‘Well, maybe we’ve got something to thank her for after all, then,’

  said Jay.

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  They looked at each other and, after a few seconds, shook their heads. ‘Nah.’

  Jay laughed, held Keisha closer. ‘Things can never be the way they were, ’cause we’re none of us the people we were.’ He smiled ruefully, waved at his eyes. ‘Or did you notice that?’

  A tear teased itself down her cheek. ‘Stop it,’ she said, and found she was talking to herself as much as to Jay. ‘You’ll get better. You’ll get back to how you were.’

  ‘I’m hoping I’ll become more than that, if I try.’ He paused. ‘Like Rose. No matter what happened, or how bad things got. . . she never stopped trying. You know?’

  Keisha nodded. ‘She’s so different to how she was. She’s. . . amazing.’

  ‘What about you?’ Jay prodded her. ‘You probably saved that little girl’s life, sis. You made a difference.’

  ‘I didn’t think. Just blundered in as usual.’

  ‘That’s all life is. Blundering about from one thing to the next.’

  Keisha half-smiled. ‘And hoping for the best, yeah?’

  ‘Gotta keep hoping. ’Cause things keep changing.’ He put his arm round her again. ‘And if we want to, we can change with them.’

  The Doctor was all
for clearing off as soon as possible, as usual. But Rose wasn’t going anywhere till she knew the people she loved were safe. Luckily – for her nerves and his attention span – the news came sooner rather than later.

  They were down in the gigantic labs, helping the baffled, frightened victims of the waterhive out of the drainage pit and the darkness. It had been a bit of a scramble but everyone got out alive, Anne and PC

  Fraser included. Vida had found her boss and the two had enjoyed a tearful reunion that bordered on the indecent.

  ‘Good working relationship,’ Rose observed.

  Mickey looked at her shyly. ‘Proper hug sounds good after all this.’

  ‘Does it?’ She glanced round to check on the Doctor. He was standing alone in the wrecked laboratory, his back to them all. ‘Well. Professor Huntley’s got a good grip. Try him.’

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  ‘Funny.’

  ‘I mean it!’

  Huntley was moving between bedraggled groups of survivors, giving the plainest explanations he could manage and trying to help. ‘I’ve never met so many people in my life,’ he said, all puffed up and proud.

  ‘Plenty more where they came from above ground,’ said Vida, leading Andrew over by the hand. He looked to be in a bit of a daze, but Rose saw his scars were healing even faster than her own. ‘Now I’d better get this one to a hospital and catch up with Kelper. There’s a hell of a mess to clean up.’

  ‘Lucky he’s got that cleaner with him,’ said Mickey.

  ‘You joke, but he’s already roped in her and Jodie. They’ve set up a special emergency clinic at Aldgate station – anyone who’s come into contact with the water needs to register for a special jab. That way the navy can keep a quiet eye on everyone who’s been in the water, just to check there are no long-term effects.’

  Rose nodded. The Doctor didn’t seem to think there would be, but better safe than sorry.

  ‘Will you and the Doctor be sticking around?’ Vida asked her.

  She wrinkled her nose. ‘Not really our style.’

  ‘Uh-huh. Well, I won’t ask where you’ll be going. . . ’

  ‘We don’t even know ourselves!’

  ‘But wherever it is – don’t drink the water.’ She smiled, blew Rose and Mickey a kiss and walked away, Andrew trailing behind her.

  ‘You don’t have to go yet, do you?’ Mickey said.

  Rose didn’t answer.

  Mickey took a step closer. ‘Nothing happened with Keisha,’ he said.

  She looked away. ‘It’s all right. It was all ages ago, anyway.’

  ‘I mean it. Stay and you can ask her!’

  ‘I don’t need to ask her.’

  ‘Nothing went on! I was so cut up about you going that –’

  ‘Good choice of words, cut up,’ she said, touching her scars.

  ‘Like it.’

  ‘Will you just listen?’

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  ‘Honest, Mickey, it’s all right.’

  She half-smiled.

  ‘Today I was

  drowned and turned into a fish. Sort of puts things in perspective a bit.’

  Mickey shook his head sadly. ‘So even the bad stuff that happens when the Doctor’s around wins out over you and me?’

  She put a hand on his chest. ‘I believe you, OK? And I’m sorry for what I put everybody through. How it changed everything so fast.

  You and me, we were different people then. And though we’ll go on changing. . . ’

  He nodded. ‘Maybe some things can stay the same.’

  His arms were just slipping round her for a close hug when her mobile started to trill, despite the total soaking it had received. That was the Doctor’s jiggery-pokery for you. Just as well, since with all that tampering, the warranty must be royally stuffed.

  ‘Some things will always stay the same,’ groaned Mickey. ‘That’ll be your mum!’ And he was right of course.

  She was calling from a box. ‘You all right, sweetheart? I’ve been queuing for this phone for an hour. An hour! We’ve been so worried, Rose, me and Keisha. You’ve been driving us out of our minds, you have. So are you all right?’

  ‘I’m fine,’ Rose insisted, ‘so’s Mickey. So’s himself.’ I think.

  The Doctor was still standing well apart from the others. ‘What about you, Mum, you OK? Where are you?’

  ‘Down the embankment. We’ve got the Red Cross, Sally Army, coppers taking our names. It’s crazy. Oh, and I met this gorgeous man on the river! Most people were in a bit of a daze, but me and him, we were so excited we ended up dancing this fandango, right across the Thames! He’s a lovely mover –’

  ‘Is Keish all right?’ she interrupted. ‘Is she there?’

  ‘She’s with Jay. They’re catching up. But you wouldn’t believe the state of him.’

  Oh, yes, I would. ‘He helped save us, Mum. He was brilliant.’

  ‘Well, the navy doctors will be getting to him soon,’ Jackie went on.

  ‘They’ll look after their own, won’t they? Oh, hang on, I’ve run out of 196

  change. These things eat money! Will I see you, sweetheart? See you soon, I mean?’

  The phone clicked as she was disconnected. ‘Yeah, Mum,’ Rose whispered. ‘See you soon.’

  She switched off her mobile and glanced over at the Doctor.

  He was facing her now. Sneakers wet through, suit dishevelled, hair all over the place.

  Smiling. It was time to go.

  She looked back at Mickey. ‘I’ll be back again. In about ten minutes, probably. Just you wait.’

  And though neither of them really believed it, they smiled and nodded as if it was true. She pressed a kiss against his bruised cheek, waved to Vida, Huntley and the others. Then turned and walked slowly away, texting Keisha as she went.

  Wotever you do b happy. C u soon. Love rxxx She reached the Doctor and he raised his eyebrows at her.

  ‘Finished?’

  ‘Not quite.’

  PS Big hugs to your gorgeous bruv

  She pressed send and then switched off the phone. ‘You know, there was this bloke who used to scare me and Keisha when we were kids.

  Old Scary we called him. He used to go around shouting stuff in this horrible voice, all sorts of things. He even made the nice bits sound frightening. I’d hear him from my room sometimes. I’d hide under the covers and listen to him going on all night.’ She cast back her mind.

  “Many waters cannot quench love.” That was one he came out with a lot. “Neither can the floods drown it.”

  ‘And?’

  Rose shrugged. ‘Maybe he wasn’t really so scary after all.’

  ‘You want scary?’ The Doctor took her hand. ‘I’ll show you scary.

  On the planet Jacdusta in the Dustijek nebula, the chips cost a tenner a portion! And they don’t even come wrapped in newspaper. . . ’

  Together they walked away.

  New adventures were waiting.

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  Acknowledgements

  Special thanks go to all those who helped with the Feast when their plates were already full. To Russell T Davies for his input on the early storylines, and to Helen Raynor for always smiling when she must have felt like tearing her long Welsh hair out. To Denis Dallaire for sage advice on how rear and vice admirals would converse. And to Justin Richards for inviting Jac and me to the party once again; his astute edits have improved this book no end.

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  About the Author

  Stephen Cole used to edit magazines and books, and in the late 1990s looked after the BBC’s range of Doctor Who novels, videos and audio adventures. Now he spends his time writing, chiefly books for children of all ages.

  Recent projects include Thieves Like Us (a spooky action-adventure novel for young adults), the ongoing fantasy series Astrosaurs for younger children, and the surreal school mystery series One Weird Day at Freekham High. He lives in front of a computer in Bucking-hamshire, venturing out of his office now and then to find his wife, Jill, and
young son, Tobey.

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  Document Outline

  Cover

  Contents

  Prologue

  ONE

  TWO

  THREE

  FOUR

  FIVE

  SIX

  SEVEN

  EIGHT

  NINE

  TEN

  ELEVEN

  TWELVE

  THIRTEEN

  FOURTEEN

  FIFTEEN

  SIXTEEN

  SEVENTEEN

  EIGHTEEN

  NINETEEN

  TWENTY

  Acknowledgements

  About the Author