The Forgotten Army (3 page)

Amy waved a hand in front of his face. 'Hey!

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Don't drift off, just when you're about to agree with me!'

The Doctor was suddenly serious. 'Amy, everyone in Times Square has just stopped. Do you know how often that happens?

That never happens...'

Looking around them, Amy could see the humans in the queue answering their phones, and all turning to look up the alley.

The Doctor grabbed Amy's hand and ran back up the alleyway into an almost silent Times Square.

I bet you weren't so grumpy when you were here before.'

A thought crossed Amy's mind. 'Did you come here with another girl?'

The Doctor smiled. 'Don't look at me like that, Pond.

You've been on other dates; I've been to other New Yorks. And this isn't a date, before you ask, and neither was the other time, sorry, times, and I choose to look at it, at like - Oooh! What is happening up there?'

On the massive digital screen above them, a headline scrolled in bold red capitals: CHAOS AT THE MUSEUM.

On every screen in Times Square, the same three-second burst of action was playing over and over again: a frenzied white mammoth leaping off a stand, turning its head and roaring at a terrified and cowering man in a bright white jacket.

All around them, people were staring open-mouthed at the screens.

The Doctor was smiling, struggling to hide his 21

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excitement. 'Now that is more like it! The burgers can wait!'

'That poor man!' Amy cried. 'Look how scared he looks.'

Up on the screens, live CCTV camera footage showed that the Museum had emptied of people, but one man remained. It was the man in the distinctive white blazer, and he was vainly trying to hook a velvet rope around the mammoth's leg.

'That's either very brave or very stupid,' the Doctor remarked. 'And it'll never work. We'd better get a move on.' He took Amy's hand and led her across the road.

'How do you know the way?' Amy asked as they started to run up Broadway.

'In an emergency, always head for the helicopters...' the Doctor told her with a smile.

Sure enough, several helicopters were passing overhead, news crews and armed police all heading for the New York Natural History Museum.

The Doctor gazed up at them. 'Think we can thumb a lift?'

Amy shot her arm out in front of a yellow cab and yelled,

'TAXI!'

The car screeched to a halt, and Amy opened the door. "Thank you. Very important business. My man has my credentials.'

The Doctor stood dumbstruck.

'Come on, dumbo.' Amy waggled her fingers.

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'The papers...'

The Doctor twigged, and passed her the psychic paper.

She waved it at the driver, who jumped out of his car, saluted clumsily, and held the door as Amy got in.

'I've always wanted to do that,’ Amy murmured happily as the Doctor clambered in beside her. 'Looks pretty happy to be helping the Empress of Scotland, doesn't he.'

'What does that make me?' the Doctor asked.

Amy smiled. 'You're my bag carrier, of course.'

Sam's day was still going very, very badly. After the screaming crowds had fled, he had stayed behind just long enough for the heavy doors to be sealed again. Now he was alone with a prehistoric animal, and he was feeling very scared. He had hidden himself in the cloakroom, and was peering out from behind a row of Puffa jackets, watching the mammoth pacing the Museum's Grand Hall.

As it moved in slow circles around the room, the mammoth growled in frustration at each locked door. It was looking for a way out, Sam realised, wondering what it would do if it stayed trapped for much longer. Frustrated by its captivity, the creature had already smashed the reception desk with a casual flick of its leg, and then set about destroying the priceless Barosaurus skeleton with sharp stabs of its tusks.

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Sam felt responsible. He had spent months of his life tending to the mammoth, and he knew every inch of its furry body. He was aware of an unnerving instinct telling him this was a faithful pet that would recognise him and do as he said.

But the more the mammoth roared and stamped on its surroundings, the less Sam believed he could have an influence on the savage beast.

Nothing he had learnt about biology had prepared him for this. Sam couldn't get over how impossible it all was. The mammoth had been frozen for thousands and thousands of years. There was no way it could have come back to life.

He tried telling himself that the mammoth was probably as scared of him as he was of it, and that it didn't want to harm anyone... All he had to do was give it what it wanted, and it would calm down. But a sinking feeling told him that what the mammoth wanted was feeding, and at the moment Sam was the only food in the room.

There was something else, too - some nagging detail. Sam was sure that when the creature had first roared, he'd heard a strange high-pitched noise, like the precise clicking of a thousand tiny cogs. He was the only person close enough to hear it but, to Sam, it had almost seemed as if someone, somewhere was laughing...

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As their cab zoomed
past Central Park, Amy quizzed the Doctor. 'What's the diagnosis, then? Is this an alien cloaking itself as a mammoth to hide its true evil features? Or maybe some evil life force has possessed an innocent mammoth and brought it back to life?'

The Doctor looked stern. 'If we're lucky...'

'What does that mean?' Amy asked. 'If we're lucky...'

The Doctor didn't answer. Something was clearly troubling him.

Amy pressed him harder. 'We're here to protect it, right?

Stop any trigger-happy cop killing the poor thing.' She punched the Doctor lightly on the arm. 'Oi! I'm talking to you here!'

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The Doctor turned to Amy. 'I've travelled light years to see new species before, and there's something wrong with this...

Why is this white mammoth even alive? I mean, whoever heard of a white mammoth, anyway? And why is it here now?'

They reached the corner of Central Park West and 79th Street and leapt out into a scrum of gawpers and onlookers.

As he pulled away, the cab driver yelled, 'I'm honoured, your Majesty.’ and Amy gave a regal wave of her hand.

In front of the Doctor and Amy, heavily armed police were gathering around a mobile command centre, while NYPD cops put up barriers in front of the Museum entrance.

Amy paused to survey the crowd in front of them, but the Doctor headed straight off into the crowds. Amy caught up with him as he arrived at the police barrier and, with a huge grin on his face, introduced himself.

'Hello, I'm the Doctor. I hear you've got a bit of pest problem... Papers, Pond, papers.'

Amy flashed the Doctor's psychic paper, and the police officer saluted. 'Good to see you, sir! Been a while since we needed the Official City Animal Wrangler. Didn't actually know we still had one.'

The Doctor smiled. 'Protecting the city with a smile since 1861. Now, at ease, can we get all these barriers taken down, please? A bit of space for my

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work and I'll have this under control in no time.' He nodded at Amy. 'Along with my friend, the Assistant Official City Animal Wrangler.'

The officer looked troubled. 'There's been orders from the top, sir. No way can we interfere with their jurisdiction.' He leant in close to the Doctor and whispered. "The Men in Black are on their way. Commander Strebbins has taken charge until they get here.'

Amy turned to where the officer was pointing, and saw a serious-looking woman in an all-black suit pacing purposefully near a mobile base of operations. She was giving stern orders to a young officer, who relayed them into his walkie-talkie. The woman seemed to reach a decision, gesturing with a raised hand. As one, the armed police marksmen fanned out across the entrance and took up position, aiming their guns at the Museum door.

The Doctor was not happy. 'No, no, no, no, this is all wrong...'

Next to Amy, a news reporter started speaking direct to camera. Amy could make out the words 'armed response unit... compassionate killing... minimise risk to civilians...'

'Trinity Wells will be here soon,' the Doctor suddenly announced, and Amy watched a big grin light up his face.

'She one of your old flames?' she asked, intrigued.

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The Doctor smiled. 'Never met her, actually.'

On cue, the AMN news helicopter appeared overhead as the Doctor continued. 'The thing is, people think I'm bad news, but every time I see Trinity on the telly, I know the world's in terrible danger.'

More armoured vans pulled up in front of the Museum, and heavily protected police came piling out, bulky with bulletproof suits and helmets. Commander Strebbins waved them into position and, to her horror, Amy saw an officer pull a bazooka out of a case. Amy was sure she caught the command 'lock and load'.

The Doctor took Amy's mobile out of her pocket and zapped it with his sonic screwdriver. There was a burst of static and they instantly heard the police radio signals.

'-o Nine, in position -1 have eyeball on the west door -

awaiting orders - confirm live ammunition -no casualties recorded - tear gas on standby - will enter on confirmation of news media blackout -Zero Nine, over and out.'

Around them, the crowd had grown quieter in expectation of an unhappy ending. The onlookers could sense this was going to be brutal. Amy was sure she could hear a child crying somewhere nearby. She felt as glum as the Doctor. Something as incredible as a mammoth had come to New York, and the police were preparing to kill it. She couldn't

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believe how people could become so cruel just because they'd met something they were scared of.

Amy turned to the Doctor, upset. 'This is terrible, Doctor.

What are we going to do?'

The Doctor looked worried. 'We can't let it be killed, who knows what will happen... Maybe I could use what they have to help... The thing is, Amy, we need to get to it before anyone does anything stupid... Amy? Amy!'

But Amy wasn't waiting. It was time for action. She walked straight up to the mobile command centre and accosted the nearest police officer, practically grabbing him by his lapels.

By the time the Doctor caught up, she was in full flow: 'Right then, Detective Pond here, courtesy of the TARDIS Division of New Scotland Yard, Scottish branch.... You've been told we were coming. No?'

The cop was shaking his head. Amy stepped even closer to him, standing at her full height.

'What's your name?' she demanded.

'Officer Henderson.'

'First name?'

'Oscar.’ the young officer replied, surprised.

'Right then, Oscar, I'm Amy. I just wanted to ask, has the creature inside killed anyone?'

Oscar seemed to relax slightly. 'No, ma'am, and if you could step back I'd be much obliged. This is a controlled situation.'

Amy wasn't backing down. 'Has it harmed 29

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anyone in any way?'

Again, Oscar shook his head. 'No. But we believe that we should take preventative measures against any threat.'

Amy leant forward, bringing her mouth right up to his ear. Then she yelled, 'SO WHY ARE YOU GOING TO KILL

IT?'

Oscar stumbled back, stunned by her ferocity.

The Doctor sprang to the rescue. 'If I can just borrow my friend back, thank you...' As they walked away, he whispered, 'I think there might be an easier way of doing this. Can I borrow your phone again?'

The Doctor rubbed Amy's phone up and down on his jacket like it was a cricket ball and hit it a few times with his sonic screwdriver. 'This should work.’ he mumbled and pressed 'Call'.

Moments later, the Doctor was speaking with quiet authority, the big grin back on his face. 'Commander Strebbins, would you know what I meant if I gave you a code X231 hyphen 19 ten?'

There was a momentary silence, punctuated with urgent bursts of static and whispered conversation. Amy glanced over towards Strebbins, who was obviously confused that anyone could radio straight to her. The Doctor seemed to have turned the phone into a police walkie-talkie.

'Let me guess what you're saying.' Amy's attention snapped back to the Doctor, who'd obviously lost 30

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patience waiting for Strebbins's answer. 'There'll be no record of the mission allowed, no one in the NYPD or the FBI will be accountable, and you'll have to put your guns downs. No one's going to like it, but you're gonna do it. The short version is: I'm the Doctor - lemme in!' He grinned as he handed the phone back to Amy. 'I love a good code X231 hyphen 19 ten!'

Amy could see the furious Commander Strebbins approaching them. She looked to be in her fifties, and was probably hardened by numerous hours on the street. She was also obviously not used to being told what she could and couldn't do.

The Doctor turned to greet her. 'Hello, I'm the Doctor. You might have heard about me?'

'Colonel Mace was vague on that matter,' Strebbins growled.

'But he seemed to think I'd have no problem letting you take command of this scene. Told me you were worth ten thousand of my men.'