River of the Universe- Chapter 2

The Doctor was happily feeding the ducks when the coach pulled up beside them. He threw the last of the bread into the water and followed Martha onto the coach.

They sat at the back to avoid any unwanted attention,as they had received a few odd looks when they had passed the passengers.

The Doctor whispered. “Anyone would think we were up to something.”

Martha grinned at him. “If only they knew.”

“They’d be calling the local loony bin to cart us way,” he replied with a mischievous glint in his eyes.

“Oh no you don’t,the last thing we need is unwanted attention.”

The Doctor gave the person two rows in front one of his widest and brightest grins before opening the map.

“Now let’s see,” he scanned the map.“There’s Devizes, if I’m right we’ll find the source of the signal somewhere out on Salisbury Plain.”

Martha nodded in agreement. “Assuming we do find the source, I don’t think they’ll let us waltz in and switch it off.”

“I was coming to that, I’ll just have to improvise. How far it is to Devizes, I don’t know how long we have before the effects start getting noticed.”

********************

The Doctor waved at the passengers as the bus pulled away from them.

They obviously thought he was some kind of madman and he had made no attempt to dissuade them from thinking that.

With a grin that could have outshone the Cheshire Cat, he had regaled Martha with stories of daring do and mystery.

The path they walked along was full of walkers and cyclists enjoying the pleasant winter sun.

They sat down on the Doctors’ long coat and spread the map out in front of them.

The Doctor traced his finger along the map. “The signal is definitely coming from near here, this path must run near it, but how near I can’t tell”.

With that he folded the map and sprang to his feet.“C’mon, no dilly dallying, we have a universe to save.”

The path soon narrowed and ended at a small country lane.

The Doctor took out the screwdriver and turned a full circle, a puzzled look crossed his face.

“What’s the problem?” Martha asked when she saw his puzzled expression.

“That’s weird, now there seems to be two readings, mind you the main source is getting nearer. With any luck we should soon be right on top of it.”

“Not before it gets dark and I don’t fancy being out here at night, I think there was a bed and breakfast sign a few miles back.”

The Doctor sighed, she was right of course, he would have walked all night but he couldn’t expect Martha to do the same.

He nodded his agreement and they retraced their steps.

*******************

The Doctor lay on the bed, his head full of explosions and implosions, of nightmarish scenes of devastation.

These were things he had long since pushed into the furthest depths of his memory.Now these things were going to happen again, and to a world he had promised to protect.

The clock said it was only two o’clock, he couldn’t in all honesty wake Martha at this time so he headed downstairs.

He sat in one of the comfy chairs, his thoughts whirled around in his head.

The power that had been harnessed threatened everything he held dear.

Whoever was tampering was either very foolish, or even more frightening actually knew what they were dealing with.

***********************

The sun awoke Martha as it peeked through the curtains, she stretched and yawned. The bed was so comfortable, she thought about lying in for a few more minutes.

Then she remembered why they were here and hurried to get dressed and down to breakfast.

The room was full of the other guests but she could see no sign of the Doctor.

Any minute now he would burst in like a whirlwind and brighten the whole room, she was about to leave when the landlady appeared.

“Are you looking for your friend, he left about an hour ago. I asked it if I should call your room but he said not to disturb you. He said not to worry and that he would be back as soon as possible and not to follow him.”

Martha sat down again, more concerned than angry.

She could understand him not putting her in danger,but she couldn’t understand why he hadn’t confided in her.

The landlady took her order for breakfast and spoke again.

“You must be working up at the research buildings near here. We’ve had several stay here before they get their own places.”

Martha nodded, here was a golden opportunity to find out where the Doctor had gone “Is it within walking distance?”

“Goodness me no, it’s over ten miles from here, your friend hitched a lift with the milkman this morning.”

*******************

The professor walked towards the picnic area, her team often came here for a break if the weather was nice.

The sun was pleasantly warm and the trees sheltered her from the bite in the breeze.

She noticed someone sitting at one of the tables, he was probably one of the other researchers.

She didn’t recognise him, but that wasn’t strange.

Everybody was working on different parts of the puzzle and knew nothing or very little about each others’ research.

*****************

The Doctor followed the group back to the base and managed to slip by without showing a pass.

After all no-one noticed one scientist extra in a gaggle of scientists.

He casually peeled of from the main group as they entered the glass fronted building, he entered a lift and randomly chose a floor.

The lift doors opened onto a long corridor, he scanned each window as he passed.

They all seemed to be full of the standard research, white coated personnel scurrying about and standing over test tubes and Bunsen burners.

This was going nowhere so he returned to the lift and looked at the panel.

These places in his experience usually came with several underground laboratories and with any luck this base was no different.

Not seeing any visible extras panel he scanned it with his sonic and grinned.

“Sneaky, a panel hidden within a panel, anyone would think they had something to hide,” he muttered happily to himself as he selected the last button on the panel.

He whistled a happy tune as the lift began to descend.