Doctor How and the Deadly Anemones by Mark Speed Read Free Book Online Page A

–?”
    “Come. Upstairs.”
    Kevin followed the Doctor upstairs, feeling a strangeness clawing at his back from the gloom; the unexplained gnawing at his imagination. If he’d been on his own he would have run for his life. He glanced around and even the faint green light had gone, leaving complete darkness.
    A wash of light blinded him as the Doctor opened the door to the hallway, and warm air wafted into his face as he trotted up the last few steps into the dryness. “Quick,” said the Doctor, ushering him out and then closing the door behind them.
    “Who the hell was he?”
    “Oh, no one.”
    “You can’t say that.”
    “No, really, that was no one.”
    “I get tired of your riddles sometimes. Be straight with me if we’re going to work together.”
    “Kevin, it was no one . Literally.”
    They made their way down the ten-foot path to the street.
    Kevin snorted. “So that person and the whole conversation was like a figment of my imagination, then? That is such a crock, Doc. And I have to say that you really are something else. You put on this whole image of being hard-done-by, saving the universe, being kind to everyone, the all-powerful protector and all that. And yet you’re a slum landlord keeping some old retired geezer in a filthy basement not fit for human habitation. I don’t know where you get your morals from, but you ain’t got the moral high ground on this one. If I knew who to report you to in out-of-town circles, I bleedin’ well would. Seriously. Tell me where the extraterrestrial branch of Age Concern is and I’ll file a report. I don’t care about no employment contract or nothing. You is an utter disgrace, man.”
    The Doctor smiled at him. “Finished?” he asked.
    “Yeah,” said Kevin. “Finito. Seen enough to know who the real Doctor How is.” For once, it was the Doctor who was walking briskly behind Kevin, who was making a beeline for the nearest Tube station.
    “You noticed all the slime on the walls?”
    “Yeah. And on the floor. Disgusting , man,” Kevin spat the words over his shoulder and upped his pace.
    “That was who – or what – we were actually talking with.”
    “Shove it, Doc. We was talking with an old geezer.”
    “That’s its – their – avatar.”
    Kevin stopped and turned. “No way. Avatar for what ?”
    “For the slime that you just condemned as disgusting. It’s a colony of slime. A bit like jellyfish are colonies of cells. Admittedly, the one we’ve just visited is several orders of magnitude more sophisticated, but the principle’s the same.”
    “But they… they were an ‘it’. I mean, what do you call that?”
    “I usually call them Tim.”
    “ Tim ?”
    “Yes.”
    “But you can’t call a colony of slime Tim !”
    “They think it’s a rather nice name. I’ve found that most people called Tim are pretty amiable. And our Tim is pleasant enough, as you’ve seen. They’re very pleasant, in fact. But toxic, sadly. Very. In fact, highly – to pretty much everyone in the Pleasant universe. So much so that they’re lucky to be in the Pleasant universe at all. They weren’t always like that, and they have no malicious intent. So they are. In the Pleasant universe, I mean. Just not very welcome.”
    “Well…” Kevin stumbled on, embarrassed by his incorrect assumption and condemnation of his employer. “Well, you didn’t exactly get out your fat capitalist wallet for him – them. For Tim. Did you? Not like them tax-dodging Cleaners.”
    The Doctor chuckled. “I let them live there rent-free. No one else in the Pleasant universe wants them around. I mean, you can understand why – the toxicity – but it’s not their fault. Someone has to offer them asylum. Refuge. It’s so unjust to persecute people just for being who they are. Wouldn’t you say?”
    Kevin looked at his feet. “Yes,” he said. “’Course it is. Sorry, Doc.” A tear rolled down Kevin’s half-Scottish, half-Afro-Caribbean cheek from one of his