Doctor Who: Drift (15 page)

„I-‟

The Doctor tipped his head disarmingly and thrust out his hand. „I‟m the Doctor, by the way. You can call me Doctor.‟

The girl glanced past him to where the argument was going on, before eventually accepting the handshake. „Amber,‟ she said. „Amber Mailloux.‟

„Do you know what I think?‟ suggested the Doctor. „I think we should go and take a close look at this aircraft they brought down from the mountain. There‟s a man called Corporal Pydych who‟s supposed to be helping me. He‟s probably inside the hotel with all the pieces. Shall we go and sec him, and you can tell me about what you saw on the way.

Hm?‟

The Doctor ushered her gently in through the hotel entrance. He was sure nobody would even notice their absence, at least for a few minutes.

„Excuse me, d‟you mind? I‟m trying to make a call here.‟

Morgan Shaw held the mic up and pointed at it to make sure his brother got the point. What did he think he was doing, sticking his head in at the door? This was the Command Post Vehicle, for crying out loud.

Morgan had been so grateful when his comms officer, Kev O‟Neill, had come trotting out from the CPV with the message that McKim was trying to reach him. He‟d broken off the discussion with Kenzie immediately and headed for the vehicle.

The radio was much more powerful in there and he wanted to make sure McKim got his instructions loud and clear. More to the point, he would be free from Kenzie.

The report from McKim contained nothing to be grateful for however, and now Kenzie was barging his way onto
his
CPV

when he was trying to reach Kristal.

„Good. You can call for some more men,‟ was Makenzie‟s sour recommendation.

„Kenzie, get the hell out of my vehicle, or I swear I‟ll-‟

„Silver Surfer, this is Wildcat. Come back.‟

Morgan held his stare on Makenzie a moment longer, before lifting the mic Kristal was coming through like she was in a frying pan and he needed to concentrate. „Kristal, I got you. What‟s your position?‟

He listened to her summary of the manhunt and everything that had followed. If it hadn‟t been for the wounded man and Joanna‟s abduction, her report would have beaten McKim‟s hands down. And if it had been anyone but Kristal giving the account, he would definitely have had them repeat it at least twice. Still, the Stormcore was involved and that meant pretty much anything was possible.

„We‟re heading back to the cult place on foot. There‟s smoke-‟

„Negative,‟ Morgan cut her off, thinking fast, „I‟ve just talked to McKim. I‟ve got him bringing his squad down the mountain. He‟s got a man down and Joanna‟s been taken hostage.

Two rogue cultists, out for revenge it looked like. He doesn‟t know.‟

„Two?‟ asked Kristal sharply.

„Yeah, two. Ben doesn‟t know how they got the better of him and he‟s real sorry - but not as sorry as he‟s going to be.

Kristal, what about this storm?‟

He strained to hear her answer, worried he was about to lose her. „Seems... died down...‟ He gave a nod to O‟Neill, see if he could boost the signal.

„Yeah, yeah. But I want to know what it is we‟re dealing with out there.‟

„I told you. Captain. Many spirits or one big enough to swallow the world.‟

Great. Typical her mystic mantra comes through nice and clear. Morgan let the silence fill the vehicle momentarily, then sat forward in his seat. „Fine, yeah. Strangely, in all this insanity, I recall those words very clearly.‟ His tone shifted up a notch on the irate scale. „Now, what the hell does it mean?‟

„It cannot be explained,‟ Kristal told him flatly.

Despite the fact she couldn‟t see him. Morgan threw his arms up in despair. „Kristal - please - if you don‟t know - why don‟t you just say you don‟t know!‟

„Because I mean.
It cannot be explained.’

„Listen, I am trying to be open-minded here, I really am, but-‟

„Don‟t, Captain.‟ Kristal broke in unexpectedly. „Whatever you do, don‟t open your mind now. That might just give the spirits a way in.‟

Morgan Shaw pressed his tongue to the back of his teeth.

„You know what, have it your own way. Lieutenant Wildcat,‟

he said tersely. „Right now, you can head after those cultists and bring Joanna back safely. They headed east-south-east from the house, you should be able to get ahead of them and cut them off. Don‟t take any chances, but Joanna‟s safety is your priority numero uno. Are we clear on that?‟

„Crystal,‟ she answered, delivering the pun humourlessly.

„And when you get back here with Joanna, you‟re going to explain to me the difference between I don‟t know and it cannot be explained. Out.‟

Morgan tossed the mic to O‟Neill, glad to be rid of it. He sniffed and rubbed his face from head to chin. He was aware of his brother studying him.

„You know, I might be able to help you out there,‟ Kenzie offered.

„Mm?‟

Makenzie propped himself against the door of the Command Snowcat. „I got myself a girlfriend. Martha. That was her kid out there, Amber. They both live with me, up at Dad‟s old cabin. I know them pretty well, might get to know them a whole lot better if this works out.‟ He looked straight at Morgan then, more sibling than rival for that instant. „But I‟ll be damned if I‟ll ever be able to explain them.‟

Morgan nodded, half a smile forming. Makenzie‟s life had moved on a lot since they‟d last spoken. Two years, wasn‟t it?

„You know, Kenzie, you might be the only one round here knows what my scout is talking about. You want to stick around, act as an interpreter?‟

Makenzie shook his head. „Too much on my plate right now.‟

Morgan stood and made for the doorway. His brother dropped down off the step to let him pass. Morgan jumped down next to him.

„Hey, what say we call a truce, huh? Nothing permanent, you know. Just long enough to get the job done‟ Morgan looked up and down the street, trying not to make a big deal out of this in front of the troops.

„What say.‟ Makenzie said, „you lend me some of those men coming down off the mountain. Soon as they‟re rested. And I‟ll sec if I can get Amber to talk to you. I don‟t know, maybe she found something.‟

Morgan decided he could cut his brother some slack. For the sake of the truce, if nothing else. „Four men, twenty-four hours. That‟s the best I can do. My man, McKim, is going to need something to occupy himself when he gets back.‟ He glanced again, up and down the line of vehicles. This time he was actively searching for something. He waved over his second-in-command. „Hey. Derm, where did the girl go? And where the hell is the Doc?‟

„Ah, Pydych, there you are, good man. I trust you haven‟t started without us.‟

All the tables in the hotel dining room had been pushed to the walls, the chairs upended on top of them. The rustic decor was totally at odds with the shattered fossil of a military airframe, laid out on a tarpaulin spread over most of a blue carpet. Sections of the wings and the tail fin, with its distinctive electronics pod, were by far the largest recovered.

The Doctor squatted to examine the mashed remains of the jet‟s nose. Much of the air superiority grey had been seared or scraped away.

Pydych coughed. „I see the experiment to shrink your assistant worked out.‟

„Mm?‟ The Doctor looked up, mildly annoyed at being disturbed. Ah, yes, Amber meet Corporal Pydych, Corporal Pydych, meet Amber Mailloux.‟ Stooping, he moved up along the skeleton of fuselage, to where the cockpit should have been. Amber has been telling me how she found your pilot‟s parachute, and how she was clever enough to stow it somewhere safe until someone could collect it.‟

„Hi, kid. Call me Irving. I hate it. but my Mom likes to know the name‟s getting used.‟

„Whatever.‟

Amber moved to stand over the Doctor, managing to block some of his light, but he had already observed the black wiring protruding from the mangled avionics bay. „I think your comic timing needs work. Corporal What‟s your verdict on the electrical systems, hmm?‟

Pydych skirted briskly around to face the Doctor. The engineer did his best deep-pan puzzled expression, then sighed. „What I can tell so far, I think all the electrics that are left in there - which is not a whole lot - are like burnt spaghetti stuck to my Aunt Clara‟s pan. But it looks like the rest was surgically removed in mid-air. And I don‟t know any acrobatic engineer display team that could pull off that kind of stunt.‟

„Curious.‟

„What was your major, Doc? The value of understatement?

Myself, I majored in cynicism, but I minored in electrical engineering and I‟ve never seen anything like this in my long and colourful career. And I‟m talking at least as long and colourful as that scarf of yours.‟

„Oh I doubt that; the Doctor dismissed the claim airily. His thoughts were elsewhere as his gaze sailed over the exhibit.

„There‟s really not much left of this Raven, or its experimental modifications. You wouldn‟t happen to know about any of those, would you?‟

Pydych laughed and polished his fingernails on his collar. „I can tell you this much: they were experimental. Rush-job avionics and wiring to patch in the Storm-‟ he arrested himself and smiled at Amber „-device. I hadn‟t seen a bigger lash-up since my brother tried to spy on me and my first girlfriend with a cheap Polaroid and my remote-control car.‟

„They had remote-control cars when you were a kid?‟ Amber goaded.

„Hey, kid, I‟m only thirty-six next month and I played with cars well into my twenties. Now, if you‟ll excuse me, I think your learned colleague is trying to attract my attention.‟

The Doctor was indeed waiting on Pydych with an expectant stare. „Yes,‟ he said with tested patience. „I didn‟t really want to break up your new friendship. Corporal, but I have a question I think you can help me with. The Captain happened to mention the Stormcore-‟

„Uh, yeah. Doc, can we just stick with calling it the device?

I‟m not entirely comfortable using official designations in front of the kid.‟

„Corporal, in the first place I thought codenames were intended to disguise the nature of top secret equipment; and in the second, I‟m getting a nasty feeling you‟ll be able to forget your state and its secrets if we don‟t find some answers very soon.‟

While Pydych tried to make up his mind, the Doctor watched Amber detach herself from the scene and drift off towards the tail of the wreckage. It struck him that she was a good deal more distant than the length of the aircraft.

„Yes, okay, yes. The Stormcore was where the electronic warfare officer normally sits. At first I was guessing it was -

disintegrated - like most of the electrics.‟ Pydych shrugged

„But if the creepy kid found the chute then it made it to the ground The pilot and the Stormcore were rigged into the same ejector system.‟

„Really?‟ The Doctor frowned. Well, that‟s very bad news indeed.‟

Pydych blinked „Bad news?‟

„The wires looked like they were cut,‟ Amber said from down the room. „On the chute.‟

„Since others have apparently recovered it,‟ the Doctor pursued his point, „I can only assume your pilot ended up guarding the Stormcore with his life. Which is a tremendous pity.‟ He rose slowly. „Because he might have been able to tell us what attacked this aircraft.‟

The humour drained from the lines in Pydych‟s face. „Wait -

attacked?‟

„So far, we can be fairly certain most of these breaks are impact fractures. The metal is buckled and warped and what‟s left of the wiring is burnt, as you say.‟ The Doctor let a gloomy cloud descend over his face, and his finger traced a ragged course in the air. marking a wide area around the missing cockpit. „But doesn‟t it strike you as odd, that neither White Shadow nor the cult could find a single fragment from this entire section? And some of these jagged edges look a little too neat for my liking: torn along the dotted line.‟

Pydych‟s worried features were simply mirroring the Doctor‟s. „The question we have to ask ourselves. Corporal Pydych,‟ he declared darkly. „is who made the dotted line?‟

Martha hit the door release as soon as the lumbering 4x4

had rolled to a halt. The woman agent turned in her seat.

„Hey, hey. Slow down there, Martha.‟

Martha stared right back into those blank shades.
Melody,
I appreciate your politeness and all, but if you‟re thinking of telling me to relax I‟ll save you the bother. I‟ve been sitting quiet in the back of this car all the way down the mountain and you‟ve told me next to nothing about what business you have with my daughter. So if you don‟t mind, I don‟t feel much like relaxing, I feel like finding my baby girl right now.‟

At that, she was out of the car. slamming the door behind her. They were parked across the street from the store and despite blowing snow she could see the grey silhouettes of a bunch of vehicles up by the hotel. She couldn‟t see Mak‟s police truck, but if he was in town he‟d have parked in back of the station. She thought she‟d best march straight for those vehicles.

Two more car doors opened and slammed in tandem.

„Whoa, Martha,‟ the man called Parker caused her to turn.

„Those guys there are the United States Army. They‟re all here as part of our operation, you know, and they‟re likely to be mighty sensitive about folks busting in and asking all kinds of questions. Maybe you‟d prefer my partner here to make the introductions.‟