Doctor Who - Nuclear Time Page 3

  It was a woman, young, early twenties at the most.

  Her face was pale and freckled, framed by a short, sandy bob and over her skinny frame she wore a crumpled Star Wars T-shirt and tatty, pale blue jeans.

  She ignored the pair as they stood at a distance, inspecting her. She was nodding her head gently in time to the tinny music that filtered out from the large pair of headphones that were firmly placed over her ears.

  'Hello?' Amy echoed her call from earlier, and again received no response. She stepped forward and waved her hand in front of the woman's eye 37

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  line. The woman blinked, but otherwise ignored her.

  Rory reached around from behind the chair and grabbed hold of the headphones. 'How about we try talking to her without these?' he suggested.

  'Don't do that!' a rasping voice yelled from the shadows behind the door.

  Rory snapped his hands away in shock. 'What is it with you people and appearing out of nowhere?'

  he shouted.

  Amy raised her hands in surrender, swivelling as the man they had spotted from the street stepped out from the shadows behind the door and into the pool of daylight. Up close, she realised, he wasn't as old as she had first assumed. In fact he was barely 40, but his face was sunken and tired, his skin yellowy and stained - he was a wreck.

  The man stepped forward and looked at her with pale, watery eyes. 'Why are you doing that?' he said, gesturing a limp finger to her raised arms. 'I don't have a gun.'

  'Really?' Amy looked a little crestfallen. 'Sorry, it's just that usually in these situations...' She lowered her hands sheepishly.

  The man tried in vain to smooth the wrinkles in his dirty grey shirt with brown checks that matched his tie and, once he was satisfied with his appearance, gestured to the woman in the chair.

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  NUCLEAR TIME

  'The cassette is playing her specific reset music; it means I can talk to her openly without fear of the military programming kicking in.' He looked sadly out of the window. 'She was always a good listener.'

  'Oh well, that explains everything. Thank you very much, strange man, we'll be on our way now.'

  Rory's voice dripped sarcasm. He was not impressed.

  The man shifted his focus back to the pair as if suddenly remembering they were still there. A spark seemed to rekindle itself in the back of his mind, and he quickly became a lot more animated.

  'Sorry. My name is Albert. This is Isley. Say hello to our guests, Isley.' He raised his voice over the music on the Walkman. Isley turned almost immediately

  and

  cocked

  her

  head

  as

  she

  acknowledged the pair.

  'Hello.' Her soft smile was gentle and warm.

  'Isley

  was

  the

  first,'

  Albert

  whispered

  conspiratorially. 'In her present state, she won't acknowledge

  another

  voice

  unless

  specifically

  instructed to.'

  'What have you done to her?' Amy was starting to get a little riled by the man's incomprehensible exposition. 'Is she brainwashed?'

  Albert looked a little shocked. 'Brainwashed?

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  Good God, no! She's a robot!' He pointed out of the window. 'They all are.' His voice lowered again. 'A town of assassins, special forces - insert one of them into foreign territory and stand back. No dead US

  soldiers at the end, no grieving mothers, nothing for the media to pick up on. The ultimate stealth soldier.'

  There was a pause. 'At least that's what the Pentagon always focus on. No one bothers to mention my personality programs. To be honest, I'm glad they fooled you. I've never been in a situation where people weren't aware what they were; it makes me very proud.

  At least I succeeded in that.' He cracked an insincere smile.

  'You're quite the Frankenstein.' Rory's voice was steel. 'But your story's as bad as that book. If you've managed to create something like that, in whatever time period, let alone 1981, it's a big deal! It's not the kind of thing you can keep under wraps, no matter how classified it starts off.'

  'You'd be surprised. The effort involved in keeping this project a secret is particularly thorough.

  What you're about to witness is the final destruction of the evidence. Tomorrow there'll be no killer robots or any other kind of intelligent machine. My designs have been burned. The breakthroughs are never to be repeated. The world will be none the wiser because they might as well never have existed.' Albert paused.

  'Actually, the

  40

  NUCLEAR TIME

  world would probably be slightly better if they had never existed, but regardless I don't think anyone'll notice.'

  Amy walked to the window. 'But, why are they living

  in

  a

  town?

  Where

  are

  the

  original

  inhabitants?'

  Albert took a step backwards, as if surprised. 'It was purpose built.' He looked from one to the other.

  'Wait... Don't you know where you are?'

  'No, we just stumbled across it,' Rory explained. 'But this doesn't make sense. Why purpose-build a town if you're planning on destroying them?'

  'Because that's how they work!' Albert seemed to think he was stating the obvious. 'They blend into everyday life - shopkeepers, housewives, mailmen, grocers, butchers, pensioners... until barn!' He slapped a fist into his palm. 'We either trigger them or their disguise is exposed, at which point they immediately terminate all witnesses, including any designated targets we happen to have assigned.

  By building this town, we've managed to convince them all, temporarily, that they're still successfully working undercover, at least long enough to all stand in one place. After that we can...' Here he clasped Isley's hand tightly, and she squeezed back. 'Wipe them out in one go,' he said finally.

  'I think we should leave,' said Rory. 'I'm not 41

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  liking where this is going.'

  Albert pushed a white strand of hair away from his forehead. 'Yes, you must. You must leave right now, there isn't much time. Don't go to the military base. If you survive and they find you, you'll wish you'd stayed here.' He waggled a finger. 'And don't run, whatever you do. You can't run. You have to walk, leisurely and calmly. If the androids suspect, even for a second, that you know what they are, they'll kill you immediately.'

  Amy edged slowly to the door. 'Come with us,' she said. 'We can get you to safety.'

  'And you can help us get out of here alive,' Rory pointed out.

  The man shook his head. 'No, no, I need to stay here, with Isley.' He squeezed her hand again. She squeezed back, even tighter this time. 'We started this together; we're going to end this together.'

  Amy opened her mouth to retort, but was interrupted by a soft click from somewhere on Isley's chair. The group froze and Albert suddenly looked at them in horror. His lips moved to speak but his voice was cracked and broken.

  'The cassette's run out,' he whispered finally. 'I lost track of the time, the tapes should have been swapped by now...'

  Amy suddenly realised that Albert was no longer holding Isley's hand out of affection - she 42

  NUCLEAR TIME

  wouldn't let go. Amy stepped forward to help him, but Albert shooed her away with his free hand. 'Don't you dare,' he said.

  Amy stopped and took a guilty step back, watching in horror as the man in front of her offered no resistance to the vice-like grip that was crushing his hand. He looked at her with sad eyes and acknowledged her sympathy with a curt nod. 'It was time anyway.'

  'Come on, Amy,' Rory muttered, taking her by the shoulders and pulling her back.

  Amy tried to shake him off. 'We can't just leave hi
m!'

  She stumbled onto the landing.

  'Yes, you can,' Albert called. 'Because if you don't, you'll die too. And don't RUN!'

  His last word was stretched and twisted into a cry of anguish as the pain became unbearable and he dropped to his knees. In a second, Amy found herself scrambling down the staircase and sprinting towards the front door, in spite of Albert's warning.

  She couldn't help herself and it was too late to care whether Isley had clocked them as targets.

  Amy felt ashamed.

  'There was nothing we could have done. We have to get to the Doctor!' Rory yelled in her ear as he flung open the door and put his arm up to shield his eyes against the sudden daylight.

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  DOCTOR WHO

  A horrible splintering noise tore through the heavy summer air, and Rory yanked Amy into a nearby bush just in time as a shower of timber and broken glass cascaded onto the path where they had just been standing.

  Amy was the first to recover, pushing herself out of the tangle of twigs and leaves that scratched her face and hair. She turned to look at the pile of wreckage that lay in the middle of the lawn, and her hand instinctively flew to her mouth. In the middle of it all was Albert's body. Twisted and broken, the man's corpse lay flat on its back, his head twisted at an ugly angle to face her, dead eyes staring blankly into hers.

  'I don't care what Albert said,' Rory shouted. 'If we don't get a move on, it'll be us next!'

  They ran as fast as they could, away from the house with the hole in the roof, tripping and stumbling on the desert grit beneath their feet, hauling each other along as they careened around the first corner.

  Rory looked around. 'Which house did the Doctor go in?'

  Amy stopped and considered quickly. 'That one.'

  She pointed.

  They tore through the front gate and slammed into the front door. 'It's locked!' Rory shouted. He beat his fist against the whitewashed wood in 44

  NUCLEAR TIME

  exasperation.

  The door clicked lazily and swung slowly open to reveal the Doctor standing in the frame. His jacket sleeves were rolled up to his elbows and his hair was flopped in a ruffled mess over his face. He seemed completely unfazed by the out of breath pair as they stood panting on the threshold, bits of bush still tangled in their hair.

  'Oh, hello,' he said. 'Come in.' He stepped aside and beckoned them into the hall.

  In his right hand he was holding a severed arm.

  Amy and Rory found themselves ushered into a darkened

  lounge,

  the

  curtains

  swiftly

  pulled

  together so the Doctor could work without fear of anyone on the outside looking in. Small cracks of sunlight highlighted the dust that swam in the heavy atmosphere of the room. Amy felt for the light switch.

  'Don't bother,' the Doctor told her. 'None of the electrics have been wired up.'

  He disappeared into the darkness at the centre of the lounge, and after a few seconds Amy heard the familiar whirr of the sonic screwdriver. A moment later and its soft green glow filled the room. Amy started as she saw who, or rather what, was sitting on the couch.

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  DOCTOR WHO

  Mr and Mrs Sanderson had both been almost completely dismantled by the Doctor, their various appendages and the circuit boards beneath carefully laid out on the worn carpet like a life-size Meccano set. Even though he was missing his right arm and most of his lower body, Amy still recognised the now obviously plastic face of Mr Sanderson.

  'But, that's the man from the Coffeehouse!' she exclaimed.

  'A copy,' the Doctor told her. 'By my count, there are about fifty different models in the village - not counting the duplicates.' He tossed the arm he'd been holding over to Rory who caught it clumsily in the crooks of his elbows. His skin crawled at the grotesque accuracy of the plastic flesh that contrasted so completely with the steel ball of the shoulder joint. He squinted closer at a small, inch-square stamp on the chrome finish.

  'This says "Property of the United States Government". Hang on,' he said, looking up. 'By your count? You mean you knew all along they were fakes?'

  'Never underestimate a firm handshake. It can tell you all you need to know about a person, Rory. Also I used these.' The Doctor pointed at his eyes. 'Sometimes the people in the background are the most interesting.'

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  NUCLEAR TIME

  Amy crouched beside the deactivated head of Mrs Sanderson and prodded at the open hatch behind her temple. It sparked savagely and she jerked her finger back. 'Why didn't you warn us, Doctor?' she said quietly.

  'Because these things are programmed to react with deadly force to anyone who finds them suspicious.

  If I'd told you, you'd both have started running around making a fuss before I'd had the chance to sort anything out.' He

  fixed them both with an

  admonishing glare. 'Much like your entrance just now.'

  Amy turned on him so abruptly that the Doctor took a step back. 'Someone's died, Doctor! We could have died!' she shouted.

  The Doctor was aghast. 'What? Who died?'

  'The guy who made them. Isley killed him, we distracted him so he didn't notice she'd been triggered.

  But it's not our fault! We didn't know - you could have warned us, and you didn't because you thought we were too stupid to be told!' She was shaking with emotion. 'How dare you!'

  The Doctor's face went ashen and he ran over to Amy, but he was brushed aside as Rory stepped between the two and wrapped his arms around Amy. He held her tightly, and she buried her head in his shoulder.

  'He was called Albert,' Rory said quietly.

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  DOCTOR WHO

  The Doctor paused, then nodded slowly. He reached out a hand to touch Amy's heaving shoulders but seemed to think better of it and withdrew. 'I'm sorry,' he said simply. 'I should have had more faith in you.'

  'Yes, you should,' Rory agreed. 'Just give us a moment.'

  The Doctor turned and walked slowly out into the hallway. Amy could see him leaning against the wall, rubbing his eyes with his sleeve. He looked tired, but then he screwed up his face in concentration. In the silence, Amy thought she could hear the noise of a plane in the distance.

  A second later, the Doctor burst into the lounge once more. 'Wait, wait, wait!' he said.

  Rory glared at him. 'I said give us a—'

  'We haven't got time, Rory! What did you say the name of this town was?'

  Rory shrugged. 'Appletown. But—'

  'That's it! I knew it didn't make sense! What's the point of filling a town solely with robots that are designed to live amongst humans?' The Doctor slammed his fist against the wall. 'And the buildings!

  Flimsy

  wooden

  skeletons,

  barely

  convincing for any length of time. And no trees! It's a stopgap, something to keep the androids pacified, to stop them getting suspicious until...'

  'Until what?' Amy asked.

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  NUCLEAR TIME

  The Doctor looked directly into her eyes, and Amy saw that he was scared, really, really scared. 'An Apple House is the term used by the US Army to describe the prefabricated buildings that were built for the testing of nuclear weapons during the 1960s.'

  Realisation dawned on the pair.

  'The clean-up operation,' Amy gasped.

  'But it's not the 1960s,' Rory countered.

  The Doctor held a finger to his lips and pointed at the ceiling with a long, thin finger. The group held their breath, and eventually the engine drone Amy had heard became more apparent. A heavy, hornet buzzing that was growing inexorably louder with every second.

  'I think,' the Doctor said, 'that we should get back to the TARDIS.'

  They were at the front door in an instant, Rory cannoning into it with such force that the wooden slab flew off its flimsy hinges and crashed onto the path outside. The Doct
or tore ahead, then halted abruptly.

  Amy and Rory stepped out behind him, blinking around his silhouette as they tried desperately to see what he was looking at.

  The front gate clanked softly in a light breeze and the bushes rustled gently, highlighting the terrifying silence that had fallen on the village. Amy's eyes scanned the street, falling across row 49

  DOCTOR WHO

  upon row of impassive plastic faces. The villagers had gathered outside, waiting for them, but this time there wasn't a smile between them. She felt the Doctor's hand grasp hers and squeeze it tightly in an effort to stop her trembling.

  'It's Isley,' she whispered in his ear. 'She found us.'

  The young woman stood, head of the pack, on the other side of the garden gate. Her clunky headphones were snapped in two and each speaker hung limply across her chest from the connecting wire. Her hair was ruffled, but other than that she looked no different to when Amy had first encountered her in the attic. Amy felt her fear replaced with a cold anger as she realised the obvious ease with which the android must have dispatched Albert.

  Isley cocked her head unnaturally and regarded the trio. 'You know,' she stated matter-of-factly.

  The Doctor nodded slowly. 'Yes,' he said. 'We do.'

  There was a pause.

  'Run!' The Doctor yelled at the top of his voice.

  Amy found herself pulled violently sideways towards the neatly trimmed privet hedge, and her hand slipped from the Doctor's as he vaulted into the next-door garden. Rory did the same and she 50

  NUCLEAR TIME

  scrambled to follow. She made the first jump with relative ease, again with the second and third, but on the fourth hedge she caught her boot in a branch and was sent sprawling flat on her face across the thin turf.

  Rory heard her cry out and quickly turned to haul her to her feet. He tried not to look at the advancing crowd as she scrambled to her knees, instead snapping his head this way and that in search of the Doctor.

  'Come on,' he told Amy gently as he heaved her upright. 'It's not that far.'

  But when they turned again, the Doctor had vanished.

  The Doctor had surprised himself with his own athleticism and felt a rush of adrenalin course through his body as hedges and fences swooped past beneath his boots in quick flashes of green and white. He whooped with triumph as he reached the end of the gardens and skidded into an alleyway that ran between the next block of houses and one of the large buildings he had seen when he first entered the village. Its rusty brown wooden cladding towered over him, casting a deep shadow over the houses at its feet and the Doctor could feel the sweat cool on his brow as he paused for breath. Confident that he had shaken 51