Doctor Who_ Father Time Part 6

'No,' Miranda admitted. 'Do you think the flying saucers come from Mars? What do you think Martians look like?'

The Doctor was rubbing his fingers together, trying to remember.

'Do you think they are green?' Miranda asked.

He glared at her, making her take a step back.

'I'm sorry,' she said, but she didn't understand what she had done to upset him.

'I thought I had it, then,' the Doctor said, not really talking to her at all. 'I'm sure I could remember. Da.s.s hunnar, ssli hoossurr. Da.s.s hunnar, ssli hoossurr.' It was a strange, hissing sound, like gurgling pipes.

'Have you met a Martian?' Miranda asked. The Doctor was the only person she knew who might have done.

'Yes, yes, I feel sure of it. I've met lots of them.'

'What were their names?' said Miranda, giggling.

'I... can't really remember their names. I'm not very good with names. I can't even remember my own. Miranda means "to be wondered about", I know that. It was a Latin name originally.'

'There's a play by Shakespeare with a girl called Miranda,' she told him.

'Oh yes. The Tempest The Tempest. She was the daughter of a powerful magician.'

'My dad's not a magician. He's an electrician.'

'Is he?'

'Here's my mum!' Miranda exclaimed. Her mother was walking over the ice towards them, desperately trying not to fall over.

The Doctor caught her just as she was about to slip. Miranda laughed out loud.

'Thank you,' her mum said and asked Miranda to introduce them.

'This is the Doctor,' Miranda said. 'He visited the chess club. He played us all, and he beat us. Even Mrs Castle.'

Her mum looked at the Doctor, and shared a smile with him. 'Did you really? He sounds like a clever man.'

'Oh, he is. He knows all about the stars and planets.'

'Your daughter is also very knowledgeable,' the Doctor said.

'Thank you. We do our best. Buy her books, encourage her.' Miranda wasn't sure she liked being talked about as if she wasn't there, but decided she didn't mind as long as they were nice about her. Besides, she was looking at the steam coming from her mother's mouth.

The Doctor nodded. 'Have you considered extra tuition?'

'We've not really thought about it, to be honest.'

'I really think Miranda would benefit. I'd be happy to volunteer some of my time.'

Miranda frowned. She didn't want to have extra lessons, but being with the Doctor wasn't at all like being at school.

'I'm not sure,' Miranda heard her mum saying.

'Muuuummm,' Miranda said, tugging her mum's sleeve. 'You've not asked me.'

Her mum smiled at the Doctor. 'It looks like I'll have to talk to my husband.'

The Doctor and Miranda grinned.

Chapter Five.

Contact There was music in the background. David Bowie.

'The Northwest has always been a nexus.'

'Sixty-seven.'

'Sixty-seven,' a number of the other UFO spotters echoed.

'Sixty-seven what?' George the barman asked, barely hiding a smirk.

'Nineteen sixty-seven,' one of them corrected, keen to have found an audience. 'There were sightings: Wilmslow, Glossop, St Helen's. Pilots and policemen saw them. Trained observers.'

'A policeman said he saw a cigar-shaped object, glowing at one end.'

'Is he sure it wasn't just a cigar?' the barman said, straight-faced. A few of the regulars laughed.

The spotters glared at him.

'The last few years, it's all s.h.i.+fted to the Southeast,' another piped up sagely, as if he was discussing regional investment. 'Have you seen the photos from Brentford?'

He rummaged in his bag and the others huddled together to look at photographs of an angular, blurry shape which the owner told them was a UFO that had been tracked on radar and landed in Brentford.

Mrs Castle gave the barman a knowing look.

'If I drank as much as they do, I'm sure I'd start seeing stuff,' he whispered.

'Not complaining, are you?'

'Not at all, not at all. Business is booming. These ones are on the house.'

Mrs Castle was puzzled. 'Why?'

'For running that bloke over. There were a fair few of 'em here before, but since the weekend you can't move for them.'

Mrs Castle knew the barman meant well. 'A gin and tonic and a water.'

The barman frowned. 'Water?'

'Mineral water, you know?'

'We've got some somewhere your friend's a southerner, is he?' This was in the days before people drank water from bottles. Mrs Castle had read about 'mineral water', but had never bought any.

Mrs Castle glanced over at the Doctor. 'I'm not sure what the Doctor is, to be honest.'

George looked thoughtful. 'Still, if someone wants to pay me for something that comes out a tap, I'll take their money. The customer is always right.'

'Perhaps there's money in it.' Mrs Castle chuckled. 'Charge five quid a pint and see what happens. After you've served me, of course. And if you make your fortune, then thank the Doctor.'

The Doctor had found a s.p.a.ce in the corner, and was looking around as if this was the first time he'd ever been in a pub. He was watching the group of UFO spotters, fascinated by them.

'Does Barry know about him? Or does he spend too much time down the Co-op?'

'What?' Mrs Castle blushed. 'No. He's just a colleague.'

'Only teasing,' the barman told her.

'The Co-op?' Mrs Castle echoed as George went off to serve another UFO spotter. She remembered that she'd never really understood the barman's sense of humour, and went over to the Doctor. She squashed up in the seat next to him, then pulled away a little, in case anyone watching got the wrong idea.

'Are you sure you're all right with water?' Mrs Castle asked.

The Doctor held the water up, inspecting it. 'This should be fine,' he a.s.sured her.

'I'll stick to my gin and tonic,' she told him. 'Cigarette?'

The Doctor shook his head. Mrs Castle lit her cigarette and puffed on it.

'And it's not the regular army,' one of the UFO spotters said.

'I've got a friend in the army, and he says the United Nations have a unit operating in this country which covers up alien activity. The MOD know nothing about it, even though they recruit men from the regular army.'

Mrs Castle was surprised to see the Doctor spellbound.

'You're not listening to them, are you?'

The Doctor looked at her. 'Shouldn't I?'

'You don't believe in UFOs and little green men, do you?'

'Do you?'

'I asked first.'

The Doctor hesitated. 'I think it's good to have an open mind.'

'You can't always tell the difference between an open mind and an empty head.'

'No,' the Doctor agreed, 'no you can't.'

He stared into his mineral water, clearly disappointed with the world.

'Did I see you with Miranda?'

The Doctor nodded. 'I met her mother. A nice woman.'

'Happily married,' Mrs Castle said, perhaps a little too quickly.

'Good,' the Doctor said. 'I've offered to give Miranda some extra tuition.'

Mrs Castle raised an eyebrow. 'It's normal to talk to the school if you're going to do that.'

'Oh.' The Doctor didn't seemed unduly concerned about that. 'You were going to tell me about Mr Knight.'

Mrs Castle could almost hear the sound of three dozen UFO spotters' ears p.r.i.c.king up.

'We'd better go outside,' she suggested.

Mrs Castle had forgotten how cold it would be.

The burble of conversation drifted over from the pub, bringing some of its warmth with it. Mrs Castle tried to suck as much of the heat as she could from her cigarette.

The Doctor was sitting on the other side of the pub bench, looking at her expectantly.

'There's not much to tell,' she confessed. 'He said he was being chased.'

'By a monster?'

'That's what he said.'

'Did he describe it?'

'Describe it? Well...' She struggled to remember. 'He said it was metal. "A big metal alien".'

'And what did you do?'

'I didn't believe him!' She laughed. 'I'd just run him over he must have hit his head.'

'Perhaps,' the Doctor said sadly.

She looked at the Doctor, sitting there, oblivious to the cold. She looked into his sad, blue eyes. 'Have you been crying?' she asked.