Doctor Who by Kate Orman Page A

pancakes; Bob, chain-slurping chocolate milkshakes like an enthusiastic butterfly; and me. The little black-haired Aussie in the crumpled dark-grey suit, wrapped defensively around a bottomless mug of black coffee.
    Ladies and germs, there is nothing in this world to compare to good old bad paint-stripper American coffee, trapped in a percolator jug and mercilessly boiled and reboiled into a thin black fluid of evil. Every gulp fills your nose with the aroma of nailpolish remover. You end up peeing the same smell. Add a few spoons of sugar to take the cruel edge off the stuff, and you have a confection equal parts foul and sweet. Mercifully, the hippie restaurant was selling the real thing instead of some pussy substitute. I had three cups and Peri had four. Bootstrapping our brains.
    â€˜Today,’ announced the Doctor, ‘we’ll return to Washington, and deliver the device we have to the Eridani. My explorations have yielded as much information as they’re going to. Then it’s only a matter of locating the final component, and the Eridani can be on their way.’
    â€˜What about the wiretap?’ said Peri. There were deep patches of dark under each of Peri’s eyes; she wore no makeup, and her hair was still damp from the hotel shower. She dropped her voice. ‘What if the police know what happened at TLA?’
    â€˜Perhaps it would be best to stay clear of Bob’s home for a little while,’ conceded the Doctor. ‘Until we establish just how much the authorities know.’
    Everybody looked at me. ‘Don’t be ridiculous,’ I said, stirring more sugar into my coffee. ‘Why would I wreck my own story?’ Boy, did I want to talk to Mondy. It was never hard to get him on the phone – problem was, how did I make a call without the other three noticing? There was a payphone in back of the restaurant, but you could see it from our table.
    â€˜How do we find the final component?’ said Peri.
    Bob pointed a finger at her. ‘Swan’s email,’ he said.
    â€˜That’s right,’ said the Doctor. ‘She emailed a number of people, fishing for information about the Eridani components. Individually, the messages give away very little; she wasn’t careless. But when you have the complete set, there’s information which I believe can lead us to the final component.’
    We finished up breakfast. (The Doctor paid in cash; no sense leaving a credit card trail behind us.) Outside the womb of the cafe it was a crisp, quiet Boxing Day. Growing up in Canberra, I’d seen snow fall just once – wet flakes that disintegrated as they touched the front lawn. If we wanted to go tobogganing, we had to drive up into the mountains. I still love what snow does to the air, making it dry and cold, smelling of clean water. Besides, Washington was built on a swamp, and winter there beats the
hell
out of summer.
    â€˜Ah, Peri,’ said the Doctor, putting a hand on her shoulder. ‘I have a mission for you.’ She brightened up a little. ‘Would youtake Bob’s car to the airport and leave it there? Rent another, and drive it back to the motel.’
    â€˜I think I can handle that.’
    â€˜Hmmm.’ He didn’t seem to notice her sour expression. ‘Take Mr Peters with you.’
    Peri glanced at me as I flicked my Bic. I couldn’t read her face, but she didn’t look too happy about her passenger. Bob didn’t look exactly ecstatic either at the prospect of losing his wheels. ‘Don’t worry,’ Peri tried to reassure him. ‘We can leave it in the long-term parking lot – it should be safe. I guess it’ll throw off anyone trying to find us, too.’
    â€˜Lemme get some of my stuff out of the trunk first.’
    Moments later, Bob was babbling excitedly to the Doctor as they jumped into a taxi, already plotting their next move.
    Peri and I looked at one another over the roof of