Death of the Doctor Read Free Page A

said “nutty, fruity, loop the loop, tonto-barmy-bonkers”.’
    ‘I’m sure he didn’t,’ Haresh said. ‘Rani, have you got everything now?’
    Rani nodded. ‘It’s true though, Luke’s dead worried.’
    ‘Sadness affects people in different ways,’ Haresh said. ‘Remember your Grandmother when Granddad Ram died?’
    Rani nodded. ‘Yeah, she washed everything. Curtains. Furniture. She even washed the walls.’
    ‘I remember,’ Gita added. ‘I mean, who washes walls?’
    ‘It went on for days,’ Rani remembered. ‘And then…then she just started crying.’
    ‘It takes time,’ Haresh explained to the two teenagers. ‘Because when someone dies, it’s so massive, it’s like you can’t fit it all inside your head.’ He stroked Rani’s hair. ‘And that’s what Sarah Jane’s doing now. She’s denying it.’
    ‘So what can we do to help her?’ asked Clyde.
    ‘Wait,’ Gita said. ‘That’s all you can do. Friends just wait.’
    And there was the sound of a car turning into Bannerman Road and they watched as the big black car pulled up opposite, its UNIT emblem small but prominent on the driver’s door.
    Sarah Jane came out of her house, wearing a smart jacket and jeans, nothing black or dreary in sight. ‘Bang on time,’ she said to the driver as he got out and took her bag and walked around to put it in the boot. He then crossed the road and hefted up Clyde and Rani’s bags.
    The teenagers followed him to the car and Sarah Jane called over to the parents. ‘Don’t worry, you two, I’ll look after them.’
    ‘Sorry to hear your bad news,’ Haresh said.
    ‘No need,’ Sarah Jane said back. ‘I’m fine.’
    Clyde grinned back at Haresh. ‘Keep the school running without me, sir. While I head off in my big posh car –’ Clyde touched the rear passenger door but whipped his fingers away as a crackle of bright blue electricity arced around the palm of his hand. ‘Blimey,’ he muttered. ‘What was that?’
    ‘Static electricity,’ Haresh called over. ‘Course, if you paid more attention in class…’ But Gita grabbed his arm. ‘Not now, my darling.’
    Haresh smiled weakly at Sarah Jane as she got into the car, followed by Clyde and Rani.
    And they watched as it drove off, waving at Rani who waved back.
    They were ignored by Clyde, who was still staring at the palm of his hand, frowning.

Chapter Four
    The smell of time
    Four hours later, the UNIT staff car drove into an area of North Wales dominated by the edifice that was Mount Snowdon, part of the famous Snowdonia National Park. But as the car drove through the country lanes, Clyde noticed more and more red-rimmed road signs that reminded the unwary that these were Restricted Areas and Not Public Highways.
    Eventually the car came to a stop by a huge tunnel built into the side of a mountain. A red and white barrier blocked their view and for a moment Clyde assumed they’d gone the wrong way. After all, there was no one to greet them. Or raise the barrier. Or anything.
    Then he spotted two UNIT soldiers stand up – they had been lying flat on the ground, their clothing perfectly camouflaged so that no matter how hard anyone would have looked, the soldiers had been effectively invisible.
    One of the soldiers was checking the driver’s ID, the other stared at him, Sarah Jane and Rani.
    Remembering that Sarah Jane, despite her many years working alongside the Doctor with UNIT, was always nervous of their motives, he automatically sat on his hands, even though the blue crackling he’d seen earlier was long since gone.
    The last time he’d seen that energy…well, he preferred not to think about that. And he certainly didn’t want UNIT knowing it had returned.
    After a moment that seemed to last an hour, the soldiers waved the car though and the barrier was raised.
    Clyde stared out of the back of the car – but the soldiers were gone, back to their hidden guard duty, and no matter how hard he looked, he couldn’t see where