Doctor Who_ Father Time Part 5

The man frowned. 'Odd. I'm reading a life form just '

He spun round, and leapt off his swing, landing just in front of Daz, glaring at him. The man seemed ready to pounce.

'I was just out... walking,' Daz stammered, suddenly afraid. He didn't want to put Julie in any danger by telling them about her.

'Walking? It's a very cold evening. Just walking? What's that in your hand?'

'Just a box of Milk Tray.' Daz held it out for the man to inspect. 'I... you can have them if you want.'

The man shook his head, scowling.

'You're from the UFO, aren't you?' Daz asked.

The man frowned. 'Youeffwhat?'

The woman had joined him. Despite himself, Daz thought she was quite a looker. She had great, long legs, and the top she was wearing was short, so you could see she had a flat stomach. She looked strong stronger than her brother, or whatever he was.

'UFOs,' Daz said. 'Unidentified Flying Objects. Flying saucers. Aliens.'

Realisation dawned. 'Of course,' the man said. He pointed at the newspaper. 'Little green men.' He laughed, and looked up at the sky.

Daz forced himself to laugh with him.

The woman smiled encouragingly. 'Well now we're here, what have you got to say to us?'

'I...' Daz didn't know what to say. He'd been watching Buck Rogers Buck Rogers on Sat.u.r.day night with his brother. There had been alien women in that a whole planet of them, all wanting to go to bed with Buck Rogers. Daz and his brother had laughed about the UFO spotters they'd agreed they wanted to meet aliens, too, if they were all like that. Daz had had a great dream that night about living on the planet Amazotica. Now he'd actually met some aliens, Daz wasn't so sure he liked it. There was something about the woman's eyes. on Sat.u.r.day night with his brother. There had been alien women in that a whole planet of them, all wanting to go to bed with Buck Rogers. Daz and his brother had laughed about the UFO spotters they'd agreed they wanted to meet aliens, too, if they were all like that. Daz had had a great dream that night about living on the planet Amazotica. Now he'd actually met some aliens, Daz wasn't so sure he liked it. There was something about the woman's eyes.

'You don't look like aliens,' he managed.

The man rolled his eyes. 'Please don't tell me I look like one of you you.'

Daz looked at him. He didn't. He was too... elongated. His legs were just a bit too long, his eyes a little too narrow, his hair swept back all wrong. Tiny differences, and he was sure this man could walk down Greyfrith high street without anyone noticing (he would have had to, to get to the park, Daz told himself, unless they'd beamed down like Captain Kirk) but this wasn't a human being.

'I didn't mean to offend you... or your... wife.'

'Wife?' The man looked over his shoulder at the woman. 'She's not my wife, she's... actually, I don't think there is a word for what she is in your primitive language.'

Daz tried to stay calm. 'Where are you from? I mean, what planet? Are you from Mars?'

'Xbike, no. That's even colder than it is here.'

'You could wear warmer clothes,' Daz suggested, looking over at the woman. She didn't seem impressed by his observation. She didn't look that cold, although she should do, dressed as she was.

The alien man bent down, a fluid motion, impossibly graceful. He smelled of... he didn't smell of human being. Some sort of flower. Not-quitelavender. 'I'm from a planet you haven't heard of in the next galaxy over but five.'

'Oh, and we're also from a few million years in the future,' the woman added. Her smell was stronger, like Old Spice.

'Why are you here?' Daz asked, worried about the answer.

The man rolled his eyes. 'As if I'd tell you that.'

The woman frowned. 'Why can't we tell him?' The man couldn't think of a reason, so she continued. 'We're looking for a powerful alien being called the Last One. They've settled on Earth in this time zone, but we want to take them home.'

'You've not met anyone like that?' the man asked hopefully.

'No,' Daz admitted.

'Shame,' the man said. 'That would have made things a bit easier for us.'

The woman looked Daz up and down.

'What are you going to do to me?' he asked.

The woman looked puzzled. 'What would you like me to do?'

Daz considered his answer carefully, but decided not to push his luck. 'Just don't kill me.'

'Kill you?' The man looked almost offended. 'You're not important enough to kill. Just give us your camera and be on your way.'

'My camera?'

The alien woman pointed at the pouch strapped to Daz's belt. 'You did take photographs?'

Daz blinked. It hadn't occurred to him.

The alien man realised, and tutted. 'It speaks volumes about this planet that the dominant species are so ' He waved his hand as he searched for the word 'rubbish.'

Daz handed over his camera. 'How can I be sure you won't kill me?'

'Because you're alive. Now go away.' The alien man looked away to examine the camera. He pointed it at Daz. 'Say cheese.'

The flash went off, which left Daz a little dazzled.

The alien man was already walking off, hand in hand with the woman.

Daz was still blinking when Julie arrived. She smelled of cigarettes, Daz noted, although she didn't smoke.

'Hi. Sorry I'm late. I stopped to buy a new blouse, then the Mini wouldn't start. Who were those people?'

Daz tried to smile, but he wanted to get as far away from here as possible. 'No one. Er... do you want to drive to Stockport and go to the pictures?'

Miranda put on her blue coat, wrapped herself up in a red scarf and gloves and went outside. All the other children had gone home now, but Miranda had to wait for her mum to pick her up. There were still a few lights on in the main building, and Miranda could see the caretaker gritting the steps. There was no sign of her mum yet, but Miranda was a few minutes early because chess club had finished sooner than usual.

The Doctor was standing in the middle of the playground, right in the football circle, staring up at the sky. He was wearing a black velvet coat, but he hadn't b.u.t.toned it up and it flapped around his knees. He didn't seem at all cold. It was a very clear night, which made it even colder.

'h.e.l.lo,' he said, grinning, but not looking at Miranda.

'You can see his breath,' she said, pointing over to the caretaker. 'It's very cold.'

'Like a kettle,' the Doctor said.

'He's not a kettle,' said Miranda, because the caretaker wasn't.

'I mean it's the same principle. He's got water in his breath when the air he breathes out is a lot hotter than the air around it, the water condenses out. Like steam from a kettle. You do it,' he suggested.

Miranda agreed, and tried, but no breath came out. Puzzled, she tried again.

'You do it,' she said, frustrated.

The Doctor took a deep breath, then expelled it.

Miranda laughed at the Doctor's efforts. 'You can't do it either,' she chuckled.

'Why's that, do you think?' he asked.

Miranda thought about her answer, then said, 'Our breath must be colder than his.'

The Doctor nodded. 'Yes. Which is interesting.'

Miranda rubbed her hands together. 'This is the coldest place in the world. Why are you out here?'

'There are far colder places.'

Miranda found that hard to believe. 'Like out on the hills?'

'There, yes. This school is in a valley, and it's very cold, but up on a mountain it will be even colder, and exposed to the wind. The higher you go, the colder the air is.'

Miranda looked up. 'It must be very cold in outer s.p.a.ce.'

'It is in most of s.p.a.ce, it's almost as cold as cold can be.'

'That's a silly expression.'

'Yes, yes, it is, but there really is a temperature that's as cold as cold can be. Scientists call it absolute zero.'

'So cold all the water is frozen, even the boiling water?'

The Doctor smiled. 'So cold that the air itself becomes as hard as metal.'

'Is that why the UFOs are coming here? Because the s.p.a.ce creatures want to get warm?'

'Possibly,' he said, and the way he said it made it impossible for Miranda to tell if he was being serious or not.

'My daddy and Mrs Castle told me that there's no such thing as s.p.a.ce creatures.'

'Did they indeed? I wonder how they know.'

'Well,' Miranda said impatiently, stamping her feet a little to stay warm, 'are there or aren't there?'

The Doctor looked out into the night sky, lost in the stars and planets and constellations. He stood there for what seemed like several minutes, then squeezed his eyes shut.

'Doctor?'

'I don't know,' the Doctor said, his eyes still shut fast. 'I don't know, and I should, and '

Miranda offered him her handkerchief, because he had started to cry. She didn't know why.

'Do you know the planets?' she asked him.

'Yes. There's Mercury, and Venus, and Earth, and the moon, and ' The Doctor counted them off on his fingers.

'The moon isn't a planet, it's a moon,' Miranda said primly. 'It's Earth's moon. Jupiter has twelve moons.'

'Thirteen, including Neophobus,' the Doctor said absently.

'They are discovering new moons all the time,' Miranda said. 'They sent a probe called Voyager Voyager and it took photographs.' and it took photographs.'

'Why don't you carry on with the list?' the Doctor suggested. 'After Earth and the moon...'

'Mars. Then the asteroid belt.'

'Which is?'

'Lumps of rock.'

'That's right, the remains of a planet that was pulled apart.'

Miranda shook her head. 'I've got a book at home that says that's wrong: it says some people used to think that, but the asteroid belt is really just what was left over when the planets had been made.'

The Doctor smiled benignly. 'I stand corrected. Then Jupiter.'

'Let me! Jupiter, then Saturn, then Ura.n.u.s and Neptune and Pluto.'

'Very good. Now, point to Mars.'

Miranda looked up, then pointed.

'Don't guess,' the Doctor chided her. He held her wrist, moved it down until she was nearly pointing at the horizon.

'Which one's Mars?' she said. 'They all look like stars.'

'On a clear night like this, you can just about tell because it's red. If we stayed out here long enough, you'd be able to see it move across the sky. That's how people first saw there were planets out there. Stars stay fixed in place; the planets move.'

'I see Mars now.'

'Are you sure?'