Doctor Who: The Invasion Read Free Page A

of the lamps. 'Now throw your arms up and bend at the knees...
    Head back a bit...'
    Rather resentfully Zoe tried to do as she was bidden, while Jamie watched with a satirical grin.
    'Well, miss...' the Doctor persevered.
    'Isobel,' the girl replied, her motorised shutter whizzing off shots of Zoe in quick succession.
    'Isobel. Do you know when your uncle will return?'
    'Nope. He left about a week ago. Haven't seen him since...'
    Isobel replied vaguely, manoeuvering Zoe into a different pose as if she were a mannequin. 'He was raving on about some new process these people wanted him to develop.'
    The Doctor was restlessly tapping the two faulty circuits in his coat pocket 'Can't we get in touch with him, my dear?' he pleaded. 'It is rather urgent.'
    'I tried the other day. They said he couldn't take any phone calls.'
    'Who did?'
     
    'Oh... International something,' muttered Isobel, clicking away again, as Zoe began to enjoy her new role as model.
    'International Electromatix?' Jamie suggested.
    Isobel ignored him. 'The number's scribbled on the wall above the phone. By the stairs.'
    The Doctor heaved an enormous sigh of relief, thankful to have got sornewhere at last. With Jamie close on his heels, he hurried out.
    Zoe made as if to follow them.
    'Don't move,' cried Isobel, still snapping away. 'You're a natural. I don't often get the chance to photograph a real model. Too expensive.'
    Flattered, Zoe lingered on. Then Isobel paused and led her over to a battered old wicker skip.
    'Let's find you some different gear,' she laughed.
     
    Jamie stared at the hieroglyphic maze of names and numbers scrawled on the wall behind the telephone while the Doctor dialled.
    'Suppose this is the same organisation the truck driver was telling us about,' he whispered. 'Perhaps the Professor's been...'
    The Doctor nodded grimly. Then he suddenly flinched as a harsh metallic female voice rasped in the earpiece.
    'International Electromatix. State your business.'
    'I wish to speak to Professor Watkins please,' requested the Doctor.
    There was a brief pause.
    'Party not available,' grated the voice.
    'It is rather important,' continued the Doctor courteously.
    'Perhaps I could leave a...'
    'Party not available... Party not available...'
    'Oh, fiddlesticks!' hissed the Doctor, slamming down the receiver. 'It's the curse of the Technological Age, Jamie. A robot answering machine.'
    'I don't think you'll get any joy!' Isobel yelled from the other room.
    Jamie sent a murderous look down the hall. 'What now, Doctor?' he asked dejectedly.
     
    The Doctor rubbed his hands together expectantly. 'Nothing for it, Jamie. We'll have to pay International Electromatix a little visit.'
    Returning to the makeshift studio, they found Zoe decked out in long curving eyelashes and a fluffy feather boa posing extravagantly in the glaring lights.
    Jamie burst out laughing. 'Och, lassie, ye look like a wee chicken wi' all those feathers,' he roared.
    Zoe took no notice. 'Any luck, Doctor?' she asked hopefully.
    The Doctor shook his head. 'We shall have to go there in person I'm afraid, my dear.'
    Zoe wrinkled her nose uninterestedly. 'I think I'll stay here,' she said, twirling the boa seductively in the Doctor's face. 'This is jolly good fun.'
    The Doctor nodded in reluctant agreement and asked Isobel if she knew the address of International Electromatix.
    'Oh, that's scribbled up on the wall somewhere too,' she giggled.
    'Och, don't ye ever write anything down on paper?' Jamie exclaimed as the Doctor shuffled out.
    'I'd only lose it if I did. The wall's safer,' Isobel explained.
    'Can't lose a wall, can you!'
    The two girls howled in mutual appreciation of the joke.
    Glowering humourlessly, Jamie trudged out after the Doctor.
     
    The headquarters of International Electromatix turned out to be a tall slim tower of steel and glass surrounded by lower buildings, all faced with identical rows of reflective coppertint windows, situated in the City. Jamie and the Doctor