Doctor Who (28 page)

‘There's nothing we can do to make him normal again, is there?'

‘It might be possible for the Eridani, but I doubt it. What is now inside Luis's head may not be human in any real sense.'

‘Doctor, that's gross,' said Peri, in the background.

‘Gross?' he said. ‘Grotesque. But this is the Savant's whole purpose – find a network and copy itself throughout it. Was that the Eridani's real intent all along? Or is this just an unexpected branching of the program?'

‘Are you saying it could happen again?' I said.

‘If anything should happen to Luis,' said the Doctor, ‘there's no reason the Savant couldn't repeat its little trick. Copy itself into a fresh brain.'

‘Doctor,' I said. ‘Could it happen even if something
didn't
happen to Luis?'

The Doctor froze. ‘Yes,' he said. ‘Yes, I think it could. If Swan realises that . . .' He wasn't talking to any of us, his eyes focussed on an awful vision: Swan and an army of Savants, increasing geometrically.

‘Jesus!' I hissed. ‘They're coming out of the diner!'

I started to scrunch down in the booth, then realised how much more conspicuous that would make me look, then realised that if I was scrunched down Swan wouldn't be able to see me through the traffic. The phone cord pulled tight as I crumpled into a hunched heap on the floor of the booth.

‘Chick!' the Doctor yelled in my ear. ‘What's going on!'

I caught a glimpse of Swan and Luis. Instead of going to Swan's car, they were heading across the parking lot.

‘You'll love this,' I told the Doctor. ‘Guess what's next door to the diner.'

And what could be simpler than walking into the bank together, filling out a withdrawal slip, walking together to the cashier's window, waiting while she fills a suitcase for you with hundred dollar bills, walking out of the bank, and driving off into the sunset? Why drive home, when you can go anywhere, have anything, do anything – if only you can think of it?

I DIDN'T DARE
go back to my car in the diner's parking lot, not now. I didn't want to be there when Swan came out of that bank. She might have noticed that my car was still there – that would have made her suspicious for sure. Even if she hadn't she might just decide to do something to me, just because she could.

I called a taxi – not an easy thing to do when you're hunched down in a phone booth, trying to look inconspicuous (and failing mightily, judging by the stares of passers-by). I lurked in a shop doorway until my ride arrived. I hadn't seen Swan again, which hopefully meant she hadn't seen me.

Happily, the taxi driver wasn't a talkative one. I sat in the back with my eyes closed, leaning on the window, my face cupped in my hand. I felt as though I had run a marathon. It wasn't the cumulative sleeplessness and stress of the last few days; that was nothing new. It wasn't the abrupt end to my career in Washington. All of that fell away in comparison with that single encounter with Swan. I could not get the texture of the plastic tablecloth out of my mind. Its glossy red and white checks loomed in my vision for the whole journey back to my flat.

I had hoped for an undisturbed half an hour so I could pack my essentials. But the kids were there, fretting on the couch.

‘You look terrible,' said Peri.

‘Thanks,' I said. ‘Where's the Doctor?'

‘He's gone to stop her,' said Bob. ‘He ordered us to stay here.
He said he could resist the Savant's effects on the brain, at least for a few moments. Long enough to use the Eridani device to switch Luis off. He said he could.'

I couldn't see why the Doctor would think his brain was any less vulnerable than any other human being's. It was probably just a bit of bullshit to keep his young friends out of harm's way.

‘I had kind of hoped he had hooked up with you,' said Peri. Her arms were folded tight. ‘He shouldn't be out there by himself.'

‘He can handle himself,' I said.

‘He does stupid things!' Peri almost shouted. ‘He gets into the most terrible trouble. He always acts like he's invulnerable. He thinks he can shout his way out of anything.' She was miserable, scalp and stomach tight as nooses, looking like she was waiting for a loved one to come out of surgery. She paced the room, straightening up bits of my mess. ‘When he said I should stay, this time I didn't even try and argue with him. I just sat down and let him go. Why am I here? I ought to be with him.'

Bob said, ‘He knew what he was doing when he told us to stay.'

Peri didn't hear him. ‘I want to be here. No, that's not right.' Something was dawning in her face. ‘I don't want to be here. This is all wrong. I want to be wherever the Doctor is. Wherever he goes.'

‘You know something?' said Bob. ‘I
don't
want to be wherever he is right now.' He hunched his shoulders in shame. ‘That sounds terrible.'

‘Be fair on yourself,' said Peri. ‘There are some things the Doctor can do that we just can't.' Bob gave her a pointed look.

Peri flopped down on the sofa. ‘He still needs somebody to look after him. He doesn't have
anybody.
No family. Sometimes we visit friends of his, but we never stay long. But I
like
him.
And he likes me, and . . . I don't know. I just ought to be there.'

‘I don't get it,' said Bob. ‘You two fight all the time. Why do you even want to stay together?'

Peri's voice grew small. ‘There was a time when he got really, really sick, and I had no idea what to do. I should have made him get help, but I just panicked. I guess in a way I'm still making that up to him.'

Bob said, ‘Look at it this way. Look at it this way. If something does happen, you're safe here. You can stay. We'll call your folks.'

Peri gave him the look of death. Bob wilted, not sure what he'd said wrong. But he was right: she had not found herself stranded on a mountainside in a blizzard, or moneyless in a many-tongued city. If the Doctor didn't come back, the decision about whether or not to leave him had been taken away from her.

I sat in my bedroom next to two full suitcases, smoking and waiting. Waiting and smoking. There was half a sock hanging out of one of the cases. I flipped open the lid, stuffed it back inside, and slammed it shut again.

There was a bunch of stuff in the apartment. I'd give Trina a call, ask her to ship a few things to me wherever I ended up. She could have the rest, or give it to charity, or just let the landlord throw it all out, I didn't care. I had everything I needed in those two suitcases.

Hmm. Maybe Trina wasn't a good idea. I'd call Sally instead.

Peri, pacing the apartment, came in to see what I was doing. I snuck a peek at myself in the full-length mirror behind the door and combed my fingers through my hair. Now I looked dashing instead of just rumpled. Not that it mattered any more. ‘I'm sorry you lost your job,' she said.

‘Oh, I haven't lost it, exactly,' I said. ‘If I talk to my editor, I can
work this out. He's not real broadminded, but we get on well and he likes my work.'

‘Well, that's good.'

‘Except that he'll tell everyone in the whole office.' I stabbed the cigarette out viciously in the ashtray. ‘He doesn't like secrets. He doesn't think it's fair to keep secrets. When he found out some guy in the mail room was a faggot, he made sure everyone from the janitor to the publisher knew about it.'

‘That's really mean,' Peri said.

‘I guess it saves him the trouble of having to fire people.' I said. ‘I can't stand the thought of a lot of self-appointed experts trying to tell me I'm just a frustrated lesbian. Don't you worry about me, young miss. I'm going to write a book about all of this. It's about time I got my Pulitzer.'

‘We were really worried about you,' Peri said. ‘After you called from the diner. The Doctor said he wasn't sure if you'd be coming back.'

‘That's sweet,' I said. (What she was actually saying was she still thought I was OK.) ‘It was bloody creepy. Even as I was walking out of there, I was wondering if Swan had somehow given me a
command
to walk out. You know, I gave the waitress back the hundred bucks on my way out the door.' Peri gave me a pleased smile. ‘Yeah, but was it really my idea? Or did Swan make Luis make me?' I took a long drag on a fresh cigarette and offered it to her, but she shook her head. ‘Even now I feel hollow. There's no way to know if I'm me, or just acting like a robot.'

Peri said, ‘Robots wouldn't – but if you had been affected, we'd know. You'd have that faraway look. All that confusion.'

‘How do I even know we're having this conversation?' I blew out a cloud. ‘I'll go nuts just wondering about it. I'm sure you're right.'

‘Chick,' said Peri. ‘Can I talk to you about, you know?'

I half wanted her to get out of there and half wanted to keep looking cool about the whole thing. Sure,' I said, fumbling for another smoke.

Peri gathered up her courage and said, ‘When did you, uh, decide?'

‘Found out for sure when I was fifteen,' I said. ‘But I always knew. My mom and dad had been raising me wrong all those years.'

‘But you, uh, you've got a girl's body, haven't you?'

‘I'm a girl the same way you're a blonde,' I said. ‘Only on the outside. Inside I have an X and a Y chromosome, same as any guy. But something went wrong, so my body doesn't respond to male hormones the way it should. My parents spent a small fortune on the tests, and then they wouldn't accept the results. They had brought me up as a girl.'

‘You could have kept on being a girl,' said Peri.

‘Yeah, but I'm
not
,' I snapped. ‘Never was.' Now I'd hurt her feelings. I blew out a long cloud of smoke. ‘What makes you a girl?' I asked.

Peri had to think about that one. The question isn't as simple as it sounds. ‘I can have babies,' she said at last.

‘I can't,' I said. ‘No womb.'

‘Oh . . . I guess I see. You know, it's funny. I'm sort of surrounded. The Doctor also –' she stopped short, colour jumping into her cheeks. ‘Uh, never mind.'

‘It's OK. You can tell me,' I said. I am a very wicked fellow; we were still on the record, until she told me that we weren't.

But Peri just shook her head, scrabbling around for a change of subject. ‘What about your girlfriends?' she blurted.

‘What about 'em?'

‘Well, do they know?'

‘I've never had any complaints.' She stared. I gave her my best dirty grin and took a long, slow drag on that ciggie.

‘Uh,' said Peri.

‘Relax,' I said. ‘You're not my type.'

THE DOCTOR'
S ENTIRE
plan could have been scuppered by his inability to imitate a decent American accent. Perhaps that's one reason he left Peri behind: from time to time he would tease her with an imitation of her voice, and she knew perfectly well what he sounded like.

When he called Swan, he spoke in his normal voice. She was returning to her car with her ill-gotten loot when she heard a phone ringing. It took her only a few moments to spot the one across the street. An empty payphone booth, ringing and ringing. It was practically calling her name.

She got in her car, carefully settling Luis into the passenger seat, and drove across the road to the other parking lot. The phone was still ringing when she reached the booth.

‘Well?'she said.

‘Swan,' said the Doctor. ‘I have a device which will shut Luis down the same way it shut down your idiot savant. Indicate that you understand me.'

‘You son of a bitch,' said Swan. ‘If you come anywhere near either of us, I'll have Luis turn you into a frigging zombie. Do
you
understand
me
?'

‘I'm already near you,' said the Doctor. ‘Nearer than you realise. I only need a moment to operate the device. And then this spree of yours will be at an end.'

‘You'll kill him,' said Swan. ‘The way you killed the “idiot savant.” Are you a murderer?'

‘Listen very carefully,' said the Doctor. ‘The Savant was programmed to reproduce itself. Its offspring would have known everything it had learnt. That program has been passed on to Luis.'

‘And you're telling me this because . . .?'

‘Luis will lay his eggs in the minds of other human beings,' said the Doctor. ‘It's already begun.
Every
person you have manipulated now has a miniature copy of the Savant inside their skull, waiting to be activated. Every person who has come into contact with it in any way – there must be hundreds of people in the town of Ritchie alone. That's why they become so distant and confused – a large part of their mental activity is taken up by it, even in a dormant state. Just as the Savant was able to adapt itself to the network, it has adapted itself to human brains. Indicate –'

‘– I understand,' said Swan. ‘I understand you want to kill Luis. You know I can't let you do that.'

‘Swan,' hissed the Doctor, ‘this is no longer about your petty ambitions. It's about the safety and sanity of the entire human race. Each of those affected people will spread the infection to others. Within a few weeks, every person in the world could be affected. Billions of ticking time bombs. Just waiting for the Eridani to arrive and take advantage of them. I have no choice but to shut Luis down.'

‘Screw you!' Swan screamed like a teenager. In the next moment her voice was back under control. ‘I won't let you hurt him.'

‘I won't have to hurt him if you'll only let me help you. We only need to isolate him. I may even be able to reverse some of the brain damage. The Eridani never intended to invade this world. They'll be keen to avoid an interplanetary incident.'