Doctor Who: Mawdryn Undead by Peter Grimwade Read Free Book Online Page B

turned up. Bit of admin, bit of rugger, CO in the school Corps.’
    ‘Do you teach?’
    ‘Mathematics.’ He saw the mischievous glint in the Doctor’s eye and laughed. ‘I know how many beans make five, Doctor. And you don’t have to be a Time Lord to cope with the A-level syllabus.’
    ‘Well, Brigadier,’ said the Doctor, putting his cup on the table, ‘much as I appreciate your company, I’ve still got to find my TARDIS.’
    It was the Brigadier’s turn to look sceptical. ‘Your TARDIS, Doctor! I never believed it did half the things you claimed.’
    ‘Just at the moment I’d settle for half a TARDIS.’ He grew serious. ‘I’m very worried about Tegan and Nyssa.’
    The Brigadier frowned and the Doctor wondered if he was about to have another turn.
    ‘I knew a Tegan once,’ said the Brigadier.
    ‘Tegan’s after your time,’ the Doctor interrupted. ‘She was travelling with me in the TARDIS.’
    The Brigadier didn’t hear him. He smiled as if cheered by some private thought. ‘An attractive girl. Very high-spirited.’ The memory, once released, grew stronger. ‘Had an Australian accent.’
    ‘What did you say!’ The Doctor was galvanised into attention.
    ‘Australian. Yes, it’s all coming back. ‘The Brigadier grew more confident. ‘Tegan Jovanka. That was her name.’
    Clifford-Smith led Tegan through the old stable yard.
    ‘Over there.’ He pointed at a wooden hut. Chintz curtains hung at the windows and wild roses grew in a tangle round the door. Someone was pruning the briars with a pair of secateurs.
    ‘Excuse me!’ called Tegan.
    ‘Hello there.’ The man turned. From his military bearing, blazer and regimental tie this must be the Brigadier the boys had said could help her. She was relieved to find he was no Colonel Blimp; quite dashing in fact – handsome even.
    ‘I’m sorry to disturb you, but I’m looking for a Doctor.’
    Tegan started to pour out her troubles. There’s been an accident – well a sort of accident. A friend of mine and a boy from the school..
    The Brigadier stopped her with a friendly smile. ‘I think you’d better come in.’ He ushered her through the door.
    Tegan entered the room to the strains of the National Anthem. The Brigadier turned off the television.
    ‘Right, sit yourself down, er... young lady.’
    ‘The name’s Tegan. Tegan Jovanka.’
    The Doctor was wild with excitement. ‘It is Tegan!’ he shouted.
    ‘That’s what I said,’ muttered the Brigadier, at a loss to understand the Doctor’s sudden enthusiasm.
    ‘Your Tegan, my Tegan — the same person!’
    ‘Of course, Doctor,’ said the Brigadier, brushing crumbs from his woolly cardigan.
    ‘Tegan, Nyssa, the TARDIS, they’re all here!’
    ‘Are they?’
    ‘Or rather, they were. If you see what I mean.’
    ‘Hardly a hundred per cent, Doctor.’ Not for a long time had the Brigadier felt quite such an ignoramus; not in fact since his last meeting with the Doctor.
     
    ‘I must have miscalculated the offset. The TARDIS
    came through to the right place but the wrong time-zone!’
    The bemused Brigadier shook his head. ‘You and that TARDIS.’
    ‘Now it’s vital you remember exactly what happened.’
    The Brigadier sighed. ‘It was a long time ago. Surely what’s past is...’
    ‘Very much in the future,’ interrupted the Doctor, raising an admonishing finger as if to send Lethbridge-Stewart to the bottom of the class. ‘You never did appreciate the interrelation of time.’
    ‘Not much call for that in the A-level syllabus,’
    blustered the Brigadier, not used to playing the dunce.
    The Doctor tried hard to conceal his impatience. He must not confuse the old boy any further for he needed the help of his UNIT colleague more than ever before.
    ‘Brigadier.’ He spoke quietly and slowly. ‘You have in your memory the information I need to track down the TARDIS and communicate with Tegan and Nyssa.’
    The Brigadier had always enjoyed a good crisis — not to