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Who am I? What am I? Why am I?
Who… what… where… how…
I think therefore I am…
I think therefore…
I think…
I…
What is ‘I’…
Nothing…
‘I’ is nothing…
I…
I…
i…
…
..
.
In the canteen, Do
The Doctor had made a couple of quick calls to people he knew in high places (or maybe low ones) and a
‘This is England,’ the old American man had muttered.
‘I always wanted to come to England. How on earth did I get here?’
The Doctor couldn’t answer that one but instead fobbed him and his lovely wife off by saying he’d arranged for them to stay in a hotel (not this one, thank God) in the centre of town, and they had a seven-day pass to explore the city. ‘Take the train out, go visit Bath, or Warwick or the Isle of Wight.’
‘Or Hull,’ Do
‘Do
‘I du
always thought it sounded interesting.’
‘Hull’s lovely,’ Wilf joined in. ‘Went there for a long weekend once, to see a match. Went out on a boat.’
The Doctor gave in. ‘All right,’ he said to the Americans. ‘Go to Hull, too. It has boats. Apparently.’
The elderly couple went off muttering about Hull, and the Doctor turned his attention to the students. Three guys and a girl.
‘What happened to the Professor?’ asked the girl.
The two guys at the back (oh, so a couple, Do
The Doctor nodded. ‘Italian man? Yes, I’m sorry.’
The students all stared at each other. ‘I don’t see any point in going back to Italy.’
‘I do,’ said the smaller guy at the back, looking at the other.
Ahhh, thought Do
‘We should at least tie up loose ends out there,’ the third guy said.
And the group wandered off, muttering together.
The Greek man was apologetic, saying he had no recollection of what he’d done, but guessed it hadn’t been good. The Doctor explained it wasn’t his fault and that he should go back to his family and forget about London.
The man wandered off, muttering.
‘Suppose he did something back in Greece? Suppose any of them did? Or all of them?’ Do
‘I can’t sort everything out, Do
anything, they can come to terms with it. And they’re unlikely to actually remember.’
‘You’re thinking of your friend at Copernicus, aren’t you?’
‘One of them killed him. Broke his neck. Our Greek friend seems the most likely, but I’m not a policeman. And I can’t prove anything.’
Do
‘Miss Oladini,’ Do
‘Is she all right?’ the Doctor asked.
‘She’s ecstatic. What did you do?’
‘Du
‘Doctor?’
‘Well, perhaps while I was sorting things out with UNIT for that lot, I may possibly have mentioned how indebted we all were to her, too.’
‘She says here,’ Do
The Doctor beamed. ‘Good for them both.’
‘Thought you didn’t like cats much?’
‘I always liked Dolly. And she deserves a good home.’
‘Doctor? How many other people did Madam Delphi use and then chuck away?’
‘Mankind were just tools to the Helix, tools to be used and abandoned.’
‘Like Netty?’
The Doctor visibly winced.
‘I’m sorry,’ Do
The Doctor looked at his friend. ‘But true, and honest. I had to take the risk, Do
‘My God,’ Do
The Doctor was serious. He took her hands in his.
‘Made me a better person.’
Do
They watched as Wilf and Netty started walking towards the main reception area. ‘Let’s get them back to your mum, eh?’
Do
The Doctor nodded. ‘Yeah. An older version of her daughter.’
‘Oi!’ Do
‘Come on, spaceman. You’ve stared down Sontarans, Pyroviles and the Fishmen of Kandalinga. I don’t really think my mum’s that scary.’
‘You don’t?’
‘Nah. Unless it’s Monday. Mondays, she gets one of her ’mares on. Is today Monday?’
‘Today is indeed Monday.’
Do
FRIDAY
A few days later, and mankind had, as it always did, coped and moved on. MorganTech had officially crashed and burned, it’s CEO and executive staff declared bankrupt in absentia.
The M-TEKs had been recalled and destroyed and a warrant was sent out for the arrest of Dara Morgan, until the truth was established about his identity (or at least the fact that he wasn’t Dara Morgan), at which point the whole MorganTech affair came under the jurisdiction of UNIT and vanished from public view. The people guarding the craters had woken up, completely baffled as to why they were there. They were arrested, but would no doubt all be freed once UNIT got involved.
The Noble family were heading to the RPS – Wilf was finally getting his di
laughing at silly little things along with Do
Wilf and the Doctor had sensibly escaped to the back garden, drinking tea and discussing in hushed tones the Doctor’s various adventures with ‘the outer space robot people’, with each tale usually ending in uproariously raucous laughter.
Do
‘You’ll have Mum wondering what you’re talking about, and then the game’s up.’
‘Not go
A quick look shot between grandfather and granddaughter, followed in unison by ‘Are you mad?’
‘She’d definitely kill you this time,’ Do
‘After killing me for keeping secrets,’ Wilf agreed.
The Doctor shrugged and changed the subject. ‘So, tonight’s little shindig. What time are you heading off?’
‘ We are heading off at seven,’ Do
The Doctor opened his mouth to protest, to say the last thing he wanted was another RPS di
‘Brilliant,’ he said unenthusiastically. ‘I may need to nip back to the TARDIS to, um, change my suit.’
Do
‘Here?’
‘Here.’
‘No TARDIS? No suit?’
‘No TARDIS, no suit, no emergency calls from Princess Leia suggesting you’re her only hope.’ Do