Read Online Doctor Who: Paradise Towers by Stephen Wyatt - Free Book Online Page A
Authors: Stephen Wyatt
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unyoung Doctor and the girl who is no Kang are lost for now.’
Fire Escape shrugged. It was not a great loss. But she looked anxiously about the assembled familiar faces and failed to find one of them. ‘Where is No Exit?’
‘Was on talkiphone 3 before the Caretakers’ attack...’ Bin Liner’s voice trailed away.
‘Not now?’ Fire Escape pressed.
But all Bin Liner could do was shake her head glumly.
‘Mayhaps No Exit’s returned to Red Kang Brainquarters,’
Fire Escape argued but without much conviction. Both of them instinctively knew that the chances were that No Exit, their companion since childhood, a redder than red Kang, was unalive. They were used to loss but it still hurt them every time.
All Kangs knew what happened to the unalive. They were taken to the Cleaners. It was not part of the Kang game but still it happened. What they didn’t know, what no-one knew, not even the Chief Caretaker, complacently providing little snacks for his pet, was what was happening in the Basement of Paradise Towers. No Exit was taken to the Cleaners but where would the Cleaners take her after that?
The Red Kangs went back to their Brainquarters dejectedly, an isolated and dejected piece of the puzzle that was Paradise Towers.
5
This Way and That
Mel felt she should be getting better at knowing her way round Paradise Towers by now but it didn’t seem to be turning out that way. So many corridors looked the same. So many broken-down lifts with control panels giving totally contradictory indications as to what floor they were on. So many grimy, indistinguishable, winding staircases to be climbed between floors. It was hard not to get depressed. And harder still to believe that she would ever find the Doctor. They could pass so close to each other in this concrete jungle, one going up, one going down, one going left, one going right, without even knowing. It was only the distant hope that they would both be able, by some means or other, to make it to the swimming pool that sustained her.
And then that hope almost faded. After seemingly hours of trying to work their way up the building, they were back at Fountain of Happiness Square. Right where they started. Mel realised she should have known better than to leave any of the decisions about which turning to take to Pex. She was certainly paying the price now.
‘I’ve been trying to confuse anybody who might be following,’ Pex explained lamely as they dispiritedly scanned the all-too-familiar square. ‘It’s part of my training.’
‘Does your training include confusing yourself at the same time?’ Mel couldn’t help enquiring.
‘I’m not confused,’ Pex returned defensively.
‘So you do know how to get us up to the pool then, do you?’
‘Of course.’
‘Well then?’
There was no reply. Pex looked around hopelessly at all the ways that led from the square. Mel was not surprised, of course, but she was tired and she had had enough. ‘Pex,’ she began, ‘can I ask you something?’
‘What?’
‘Why are you here?’
Pex stared.
‘I mean, there’s no one else like you here, is there?’ Pex looked quite flattered by this remark and struck a heroic pose but Mel persisted. ‘Tabby and Tilda talked about a war. They said only the oldsters and the youngsters were brought to Paradise Towers and the rest – the in-betweens – were sent off to fight and never came back. So how does it happen that you’re here?’
Pex was defiant. ‘Isn’t it obvious?’
‘No,’ Mel countered, ‘it isn’t obvious at all. Pex, you say you want to help me get up to the pool and find my friend, the Doctor, so I have to know.’
Pex was thoughtful. ‘I was sent here,’ he announced. ‘The power to protect has been invested in me.’
The words were powerful and impressive and Pex’s conviction as he spoke them made Mel almost believe him.
Maybe he had been sent. Anything was possible in a set-up as crazy as Paradise Towers. ‘Who by,
Fire Escape shrugged. It was not a great loss. But she looked anxiously about the assembled familiar faces and failed to find one of them. ‘Where is No Exit?’
‘Was on talkiphone 3 before the Caretakers’ attack...’ Bin Liner’s voice trailed away.
‘Not now?’ Fire Escape pressed.
But all Bin Liner could do was shake her head glumly.
‘Mayhaps No Exit’s returned to Red Kang Brainquarters,’
Fire Escape argued but without much conviction. Both of them instinctively knew that the chances were that No Exit, their companion since childhood, a redder than red Kang, was unalive. They were used to loss but it still hurt them every time.
All Kangs knew what happened to the unalive. They were taken to the Cleaners. It was not part of the Kang game but still it happened. What they didn’t know, what no-one knew, not even the Chief Caretaker, complacently providing little snacks for his pet, was what was happening in the Basement of Paradise Towers. No Exit was taken to the Cleaners but where would the Cleaners take her after that?
The Red Kangs went back to their Brainquarters dejectedly, an isolated and dejected piece of the puzzle that was Paradise Towers.
5
This Way and That
Mel felt she should be getting better at knowing her way round Paradise Towers by now but it didn’t seem to be turning out that way. So many corridors looked the same. So many broken-down lifts with control panels giving totally contradictory indications as to what floor they were on. So many grimy, indistinguishable, winding staircases to be climbed between floors. It was hard not to get depressed. And harder still to believe that she would ever find the Doctor. They could pass so close to each other in this concrete jungle, one going up, one going down, one going left, one going right, without even knowing. It was only the distant hope that they would both be able, by some means or other, to make it to the swimming pool that sustained her.
And then that hope almost faded. After seemingly hours of trying to work their way up the building, they were back at Fountain of Happiness Square. Right where they started. Mel realised she should have known better than to leave any of the decisions about which turning to take to Pex. She was certainly paying the price now.
‘I’ve been trying to confuse anybody who might be following,’ Pex explained lamely as they dispiritedly scanned the all-too-familiar square. ‘It’s part of my training.’
‘Does your training include confusing yourself at the same time?’ Mel couldn’t help enquiring.
‘I’m not confused,’ Pex returned defensively.
‘So you do know how to get us up to the pool then, do you?’
‘Of course.’
‘Well then?’
There was no reply. Pex looked around hopelessly at all the ways that led from the square. Mel was not surprised, of course, but she was tired and she had had enough. ‘Pex,’ she began, ‘can I ask you something?’
‘What?’
‘Why are you here?’
Pex stared.
‘I mean, there’s no one else like you here, is there?’ Pex looked quite flattered by this remark and struck a heroic pose but Mel persisted. ‘Tabby and Tilda talked about a war. They said only the oldsters and the youngsters were brought to Paradise Towers and the rest – the in-betweens – were sent off to fight and never came back. So how does it happen that you’re here?’
Pex was defiant. ‘Isn’t it obvious?’
‘No,’ Mel countered, ‘it isn’t obvious at all. Pex, you say you want to help me get up to the pool and find my friend, the Doctor, so I have to know.’
Pex was thoughtful. ‘I was sent here,’ he announced. ‘The power to protect has been invested in me.’
The words were powerful and impressive and Pex’s conviction as he spoke them made Mel almost believe him.
Maybe he had been sent. Anything was possible in a set-up as crazy as Paradise Towers. ‘Who by,
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