Doctor Who: Borrowed Time by Alderman Naomi A

Author:Alderman, Naomi A. [Alderman, Naomi A.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781446416921
Publisher: Ebury Publishing
Published: 2011-06-22T22:00:00+00:00

Chapter

12

There was a horrible whooshing sensation. Amy noticed the feeling – and how nauseatingly awful it was – before she realised what was happening, which was that the gantry they were standing on was falling, very fast, towards the centre of the basin.

She tried not to scream but didn’t quite manage it.

The Doctor was holding on to the rail, the wind blowing through his hair, grinning. ‘Nothing to worry about!’ he shouted. ‘Perfectly safe! Controlled freefall with inertial compensators, look!’

He pointed behind them. And she saw that the gantry hadn’t actually broken off, leaving them falling into the miles of empty air. They were still attached to the outer edge of the basin, it was just that they were being swept down past the two hundred storeys of stacked storage containers, each with its own individual door. They started to slow as she watched. The flat bottom of the basin was still rushing towards them but it felt less like a terrifying fall and more like a ride now she knew they were safe. The gantry lurched suddenly to the side and zoomed them around the outside of the basin.

It stopped abruptly, facing a bank of forty or fifty doors. Above the whole bank of doors was the long number from the invoice. On each door was a metal plate with a space for a hand print, as well as several spaces for tentacle, pseudopod, leaf, paw and various unidentifiable appendage-prints.

‘But which one is it?’ said Andrew.

‘Perhaps you’re just supposed to know which one’s yours,’ said Rory. ‘Like added security?’

‘Right!’ said the Doctor. ‘Shall we take a look in a few?’

‘Can we do that, Doctor?’ said Rory. ‘I mean, isn’t it a bit… immoral? Looking at people’s stuff?’

‘Oh, I don’t know, Rory, you’d be surprised what useful, not to say universe-saving things you can find out by taking a quick rummage through people’s possessions. Don’t worry, we’ll put everything back where we found it.’ He pulled the little silver fish-key out of his pocket and walked over to the first door. ‘Better let me go first. You never know, there might be some kind of defence system.’

Ignoring the handprint space, he placed the master key close to the door. It wriggled and flowed outward, filling one of the handprints with its silvery liquid self.

The door clicked and unlocked. As the Doctor began to gingerly open it, a flurry of snow blew outwards and landed at his feet. Amy saw another cockroach scuttling through the snow.

‘Hmm,’ said the Doctor. He poked his head round the door. A snowball came sailing above his head and crashed into the gantry’s safety rail. There was a sound of hoof beats and a hunting horn. He hurriedly closed the door and peeled the key off the lock.

‘Definitely not that one,’ he said, striding over to the next door.

‘Was that…?’ began Rory.

‘No, Rory. That was absolutely not Narnia. Where do you get these ridiculous ideas from? Next!’

Nadia tried pulling the glass bomb off the door, but it wouldn’t budge.

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