Farm.’
‘What kind of trouble?’
‘Everybody’s being very secretive about it,’ she said. ‘So perhaps that is where you ought to start looking for your scaly friend. ’Bye.’ She left.
Dr Quinn quickly looked at his maps and found one of sufficiently large scale to include Squire’s Farm. He hurried out of the house, got in his car, and drove as fast as he dared towards the farm. Even from a mile off he could see that something had happened. Parked by the farmstead was an ambulance, two or three police-cars with blue lights flashing, and a couple of UNIT Jeeps. Still, all this gave him a good excuse to stop by. He drove up the farm lane from the road, and parked on the grass verge. Then he wandered in among the public service vehicles. There were police officers and UNIT soldiers standing around, but the situation was still so new and so confused that no one stopped to ask his business. They probably thought he was a senior police detective who had just arrived on the scene. He went up to a soldier and said, ‘Where is it?’ He had no idea what ‘it’ referred to, but it seemed the right thing to say. The soldier pointed towards one of the barns at the back and said, ‘Over there, sir. In the barn.’ Dr Quinn thanked the soldier, and strode across the muddy farmyard to a large barn with open doors. Inside the Doctor was kneeling over an unconscious Liz Shaw, while the Brigadier and some UNIT soldiers were pointing guns down into an open hatch in the barn’s floor. After a moment Sergeant Hawkins came up through the hatch with a big torch.
‘Nothing down there, sir,’ said Sergeant Hawkins, ‘except a lot of apple cores.’
Dr Quinn now moved forward, and addressed the Brigadier. ‘I was just passing and saw all the vehicles outside. What’s going on?’
‘There’s been one of the cave creatures here,’ said the Brigadier, showing little interest in Dr Quinn but instead crossing over to where the Doctor was knelt by the prostrate Liz Shaw. ‘How is she?’ he asked.
‘Coming round,’ said the Doctor.’ But she’s had a nasty blow across the back of her head.’
‘I still don’t understand what happened?’ said Dr Quinn.
The Doctor turned and looked up at him. ‘Some creature killed the farmer, hid in the cellar, and then knocked out Miss Shaw.’
‘Good gracious,’ said Dr Quinn, doing his best to be surprised. He turned to the Brigadier. ‘You’ve killed it, of course?’
‘Unfortunately, no,’ said the Brigadier. ‘We thought it might be lurking in the cellar, but it’s gone.’ The Brigadier, again uninterested in Dr Quinn, turned to his soldiers and gave orders. ‘I want the whole area searched – outbuildings, the fields, everywhere.’
Sergeant Hawkins sprang to attention. ‘Yes, sir!’
Hawkins and the other soldiers hurried out of the barn.
‘Anything I can do?’ asked Quinn, wishing now to get away but having to pretend to show interest.
‘Not really,’ said the Brigadier, ‘but jolly good of you to offer.’
The Doctor raised a hand for silence. ‘Shhhh!’
They all looked down at Liz. Slowly she opened her eyes, looked at the Doctor and smiled. ‘Am I still alive?’
‘Very much so,’ said the Doctor. ‘Pulse and heartbeat normal. Can you remember anything?’
‘It was a sort of lizard,’ she said uncertainly. ‘Three eyes. Standing upright. Something wrong with its leg.’
‘We’d better get her back to base,’ said the Brigadier. ‘We’ve got an ambulance and everything laid on outside.’
‘No, it’s all right,’ said Liz, trying to get up. ‘I’ll be all right in a Jeep.’
‘Hardly comfortable enough for your condition,’ said the Brigadier. He turned to Dr Quinn. ‘Got your car here?’
‘Yes,’ said Dr Quinn, trying to think as quickly as possible. ‘But I was just going into the town to do some shopping.’
‘Really?’ said the Brigadier. ‘It’s half-closing day.’
Dr Quinn again thought as quickly as
Chelsea Camaron, Mj Fields