Doctor Who BBCN17 - Sick Building Read Online Free PDF Page B

Doctor?’ purred Tiermann. He waved the canapé robot away from him crossly.
    ‘Leaving it till the last minute. And, from what I’ve seen, you lot haven’t done any packing yet or anything. I know some worlds, when they’ve had wind of the Craw on the way, they’ve upped and fled with weeks to spare.’
    Tiermann shrugged. ‘I don’t like unnecessary panic. And there is no need for panic, Doctor.’ He was growing agitated. ‘It was this kind of niggling that I became a recluse to avoid. . . I got out of the rat race in order to prevent contact with. . . ’
    ‘People like me?’ grinned the Doctor.
    ‘People who get worked up. Who never sit long enough in one place to really think about things. . . about their place in this world. . . ’
    ‘You’re a cool customer, Tiermann,’ said the Doctor. ‘I’ll give you that.’
    Tiermann took it as a compliment. Then his wife startled them all by speaking up: ‘Ernest likes everything to be very civilised. He would hate to make an undignified exit from this planet which has been our home for so long.’
    The Doctor studied her pale, perfect face. ‘Well, yes. I can imagine.
    And it’ll be a wrench, won’t it? Zooming off to some manky old space port. Finding digs on Antelope Slash Nitelite for a bit. You’re gonna 28

    be out of pocket when the Craw gobbles this place up, aren’t you?’
    ‘We’ll hardly be paupers, Doctor,’ Tiermann snapped. Then a tall, butler-like robot came to the drawing room door, and bid them all come through for dinner.
    Martha was hardly aware of what they ate, as the courses came and went in the tense dining room. She sipped carefully at a pale orange soup, and picked at a delicate fish in creamy sauce and she could hardly taste a thing. She was on tenterhooks, knowing that some almighty row was brewing between the Doctor and Tiermann.
    She could feel it crackling on the air: palpable as the approach of the deadly Craw itself.
    The Doctor almost seemed to be baiting their host. ‘Ah, you can have too much luxury and ease, is the way I see it,’ he was saying, sitting back in his chair. ‘You lot, here, with all your gizmos and gadgets and servants doing everything, well, you don’t really have to struggle or try to do anything for yourselves, do you? You can’t have any zest or energy or relish in anything, can you?’
    Tiermann glared back at him. His wife looked uneasy. There was a faceless robot sitting right next to Amanda and everyone had been too polite to draw attention to it. But Martha thought it was downright weird that, whenever Amanda leaned forward to take a mouthful of food or a drink or something, the robot next to her nipped in first and consumed it for her. Amanda didn’t seem to mind at all. She behaved as if this was perfectly normal.
    ‘You, Doctor, don’t know what you’re talking about,’ Tiermann said.
    ‘I think perhaps you envy us our lives here in the Dreamhome. Perhaps you’ve never known luxury and peace of mind.’
    ‘Ha!’ cried the Doctor. ‘I’ve known enough to know that the former certainly doesn’t lead to the latter. I think you’re just burying your heads in the sand here. That’s what you’ve been doing all these years.
    Hiding from the cosmos. Hoping it’ll go away. Here in your perfectly tasteful paradise.’
    There’s nothing wrong with good taste,’ Tiermann said.
    ‘But everything’s so bland!’ the Doctor burst out. This place is so tasteful, it’s painful! Everything’s beige and cream! There’s nothing 29

    out of place! Everything’s trying so hard to be inoffensive and easy on the eye! Even the food we’re eating. . . It’s tasteless! Boring!’ He shoved his plate away with a clatter and there was an embarrassed pause. ‘Um,’ said the Doctor. ‘That was a bit impolite, I suppose.’
    Amanda smiled at him. ‘Never mind, Doctor. . . ’ Tiermann interrupted then, taking great offence at the Doctor’s words. ‘You can say what you want about my