Free Winner Takes All by Jacqueline Rayner Page B

standing right in the middle of the room. The Doctor put his hands on Rose’s shoulders, and looked deep into her eyes, that look that made her know she’d do whatever he was going to ask of her, however dangerous it was. ‘I want you to collect up the games,’ he said. ‘As many as you can. We’ve got to stop people playing it. At the moment it’s the only way we might be able to prevent more deaths.
    â€˜All right,’ she said. ‘But people aren’t going to just hand them over – they’ll think I’m trying to steal them or something.’
    There was a sound from outside the door.
    â€˜You’ll think of something,’ said the Doctor, hurriedly. ‘Right, off you go. I’ll see you later. Meet you at your mum’s.’
    Rose smiled an acknowledgement.
    The Doctor raised his hand to operate the controls.
    The door burst open.
    The Quevvil raised its gun.
    The Doctor’s hand came down.
    Everything went fuzzy again.
    Rose wanted to throw up. It was just as bad the second time. But her vision slowly cleared. She found she was face-down on carpet, but it was familiar carpet. The Doctor had done it! They were back in Mickey’s living room, right on the very spot from which she’d vanished earlier. ‘We made it!’ she groaned, climbing to her knees.
    There was no answer. ‘Mickey?’ she said. Feebly, she shuffled round to the front of the chair. Mickey had also materialised face-down on the floor, but he’d made no effort to move. ‘Come on, you lazy lump,’ said Rose, trying to jolly him along. ‘If I can get up, you can.’ But Mickey still didn’t move. ‘Mickey?’ she said again, suddenly scared. She reached out with a hand. He didn’t stir. She used both hands, managed to roll him over.
    Then she realised. The Quevvil had managed to fire its gun before they had been zapped away. And it had hit Mickey.

EIGHT
    T here’s a war on, Robert, and you’re our only hope. You are the Chosen One, the one boy in all the world. You must fight the forces of darkness.
    And by the way, your mum? She’s not your real mum. How could the Chosen One have a mum like that? You must go to this ordinary coach station
    only it doesn’t look like a coach station, it looks like a fortress
    where you will be transported to your destiny
    here we are, this is the collection point, this is where we were supposed to go, now aren’t you looking forward to it?
    But it was really weird because the stupid promotional people were still wearing their costumes. And then they’d been taken into this strange room, and they’d been zapped to his destiny.
    To an alien planet.
    And it was real.
    These are aliens, they are called Quevvils and they look a bit like porcupines, and they are in a war against these giant insects called the Mantodeans. They’ve been at war a long time, and they’ve developed all sorts of technology, but the Mantodeans have this force field round their stronghold which kills Quevvils and stops teleportation, and so they need humans to get through it, and you are the one boy in all the world who can save their race . . . This scratchcard promotion was all just a clever plan to get you here, to bring you to our rescue – we arranged for your mum (not that she is your mum) to win a holiday in the sun so you could embrace your destiny  . . .
    They hadn’t even totally lied, not really. There was sun and there was sand, just like they’d said, because this planet was desert stretching out for as far as you could see.
    But it wasn’t a holiday.
    They’d grabbed people one by one, and stuck these things on their heads. Into their heads.
    â€˜All carriers augmented, Frinel.’
    â€˜Place them in the holding pen. The controller that will bring us victory has been located on Earth. Carriers must be prepared.’ All except the boy Robert, he