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THE ALSO PEOPLE DOCTOR WHO – THE NEW ADVENTURES Also available: TIMEWYRM: GENESYS by John Peel TIMEWYRM: EXODUS by Terrance Dicks TIMEWYRM: APOCALYPSE by Nigel Robinson TIMEWYRM: REVELATION by Paul Cornell CAT'S CRADLE: TIME'S CRUCIBLE by Marc Platt CAT'S CRADLE: WARHEAD by Andrew Cartmel CAT'S CRADLE: WITCH MARK by Andrew Hunt NIGHTSHADE by Mark Gatiss LOVE AND WAR by Paul Cornell TRANSIT by Ben Aaronovitch THE HIGHEST SCIENCE by Gareth Roberts THE PIT by Neil Penswick DECEIT by Peter Darvill-Evans LUCIFER RISING by Jim Mortimore and Andy Lane WHITE DARKNESS by David A. Mclntee SHADOWMIND by Christopher Bulis BIRTHRIGHT by Nigel Robinson ICEBERG by David Banks BLOOD HEAT by Jim Mortimore THE DIMENSION RIDERS by Daniel Blythe THE LEFT-HANDED HUMMINGBIRD by Kate Orman CONUNDRUM by Steve Lyons NO FUTURE by Paul Cornell TRAGEDY DAY by Gareth Roberts LEGACY by Gary Russell THEATRE OF WAR by Justin Richards ALL-CONSUMING FIRE by Andy Lane BLOOD HARVEST by Terrance Dicks STRANGE ENGLAND by Simon Messingham FIRST FRONTIER by David A. Mclntee ST ANTHONY'S FIRE by Mark Gatiss FALLS THE SHADOW by Daniel O'Mahony PARASITE by Jim Mortimore WARLOCK by Andrew Cartmel SET PIECE by Kate Orman INFINITE REQUIEM by Daniel Blythe SANCTUARY by David A. McIntee HUMAN NATURE by Paul Cornell ORIGINAL SIN by Andy Lane SKY PIRATES! by Dave Stone ZAMPER by Gareth Roberts TOY SOLDIERS by Paul Leonard HEAD GAMES by Steve Lyons THE ALSO PEOPLE Ben Aaronovitch First published in Great Britain in 1995 by Doctor Who Books an imprint of Virgin Publishing Ltd 332 Ladbroke Grove London W10 5AH Copyright @ Ben Aaronovitch 1995 The right of Ben Aaronovitch to be identified as the Author of this Work has been asserted by him in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. 'Doctor Who' series copyright © British Broadcasting Corporation 1995 Cover illustration by Tony Masero ISBN 0 426 20456 5 Typeset by Galleon Typesetting, Ipswich Printed and bound in Great Britain by Mackays Paperbacks Ltd. All characters in this publication are fictitious and any resemblance to real persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental. This book is sold subject to the condition that it shall not, by way of trade or otherwise, be lent, resold, hired out or otherwise circulated without the publisher's prior written consent in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published and without a similar condition including this condition being imposed on the subsequent purchaser. Scanned by The Camel THE ALSO PEOPLE Acknowledgements ...................................................................................... 7 Notes on the Pronunciation of Proper Nouns ............................................... 8 Prologue ....................................................................................................... 9 1 Delete Where Applicable ........................................................................ 11 2 Life's A Beach ......................................................................................... 22 Hyper-lude .............................................................................................. 34 3 Party Games .......................................................................................... 36 4 Policeman on the Corner ........................................................................ 47 Hyper-lude .............................................................................................. 56 5 All the Answers ....................................................................................... 58 6 Faces in the Water ................................................................................. 71 Hyper-lude .............................................................................................. 81 7 Screaming for Ice Cream ....................................................................... 83 Hyper-lude .............................................................................................. 96 8 Gardens of Stone ................................................................................... 97 Hyper-lude .............................................................................................. 107 9 Cult Status .............................................................................................. 109 10 Unsmiling in the Darkness ...................................................................... 123 Hyper-lude .............................................................................................. 135 11 Tears of Rust .......................................................................................... 136 12 Travelling Man Blues .............................................................................. 148 Epilogue ....................................................................................................... 157 Acknowledgements I would like to thank Kate Orman for reminding me how much fun this is. Rebecca and Peter for putting up with my total lack of grammar, punctuation, spelling and my somewhat loose perception of linear time as it pertains to deadlines. Nick Chatwin and Muhmud Quayum for their help. And my family for their support. I'd like to remind everyone that while talent borrows and genius steals, New Adventure writers get it off the back of a lorry, no questions asked. Notes on the Pronunciation of Proper Nouns !x is an aspirated consonant pronounced by clicking the side of the tongue against upper right- hand teeth. !q is an aspirated consonant pronounced by 'clucking' the tongue. !c is an aspirated consonant pronounced by placing the tongue against the front teeth and sucking them explosively back. a is pronounced ah as in car. e is pronounced eh as in leg. i is pronounced ee as in leek or keep. o is pronounced like the a in walk. u is pronounced oo as in look or cook. Stress is on the second syllable from last: aM!xitsa is pronounced am-!xit-sah; saRa!qava is pronounced sah-rah-!qah-vah. I have chosen to use the simplified (personal) versions of people's names throughout the text as the more complex (use) designations would be cumbersome and serve little purpose. An example is the drone aM!xitsa, whose use designation incorporates the diminutive of his construction point and generation; thus: aM!xit-i!xa!xi-sa!Qa!cisa. To avoid meaningless and ugly neologisms and to avoid unnecessary descriptions I have translated certain commonplace nouns into their closest English equivalents; thus: hours, minutes, days, months, monkeys, apple trees, caramel, coffee, chocolate, pastries, etc. To avoid further confusion I have rendered all Xhosa, Themne, Shona, Martian and Gallifreyan words in their accepted English forms. One further note: in order to err on the side of political correctness I refer to Indigenous Terrans rather than Earth Reptiles or the archaic Silurians. Prologue According to the old women there had once been a Leopard that fell into a trap. She lay there in the bottom of the trap, her powerful body bruised and sore. It was hot and dusty. She felt miserable. 'Let me out of this trap,' the Leopard cried. 'Let me out!' But nobody came to let her out. All the other animals were afraid of the Leopard and were secretly glad that she might die. After many hours a woman walked past the trap. The woman had a kind face and smiled when she met people on her travels. 'Let me out, let me out,' the Leopard whimpered, her voice weak with thirst and captivity, the bruises on her body throbbing with pain. The woman walked over to the trap. When she saw the Leopard inside she was frightened. 'Let me out,' called the Leopard, pathetic in her misery. 'If you do not let me out I will soon die.' The woman looked down at the Leopard for a long time. She had travelled far and wide in the world and knew that leopards were the most dangerous of animals. More cunning than Chief Lion who was lazy and let his wives hunt for him. Stronger than cousin Cheetah who ran like lightning but for only a small distance. More vicious even than sister Panther who could smell the wind and run for ever. 'If I let you out of the trap,' called the woman to the Leopard, 'will you promise me one thing?' 'Whatever you want,' replied the Leopard, 'only let me out of this trap.' 'You must promise that you will not harm me once I release you,' said the woman. 'You are a powerful animal. Your sharp claws could tear me to pieces.' 'I will not harm you,' promised the Leopard. 'I want only my freedom.' The woman pulled away the branches which covered the trap and bent down to help the Leopard out. 'Aha!' roared the Leopard as she stretched her powerful body. The woman watched fearfully as strong muscles rippled under the Leopard's fur. 'How hungry I feel now that I am out of that dreadful place. Soon I must eat my supper.' She looked at the woman. 'You, my friend, will be my supper.' When the woman heard those words she trembled with fear. 'You promised that you would not harm me. Let me go. It is late in the day and my friends have brewed beer for me. Tonight we are giving thanks to our ancestors and the village relies on me to talk to the dead for them.' The Leopard laughed. 'You fool,' she snarled, 'you should not have believed me. Now that I am outside the trap there is no reason why I should keep my promise. Now, however, I am going to have a short rest. Do not worry about your ancestors, for once I have finished my sleep I shall send you to meet them directly.' The woman looked round desperately for help. A short distance away she saw a small Musasa Tree. 'Musasa Tree,' she called, 'help me to escape this ungrateful Leopard. I let her out of the trap and now she wants to eat me for her supper.' The Musasa Tree grew angry at the woman's words. 'Why should I help you?' she replied. 'You've never done anything to help me. Every day I shade you from the hot sun and keep your house cool and pleasant. Yet all you want to do is cut me down and use me as firewood.' The woman sighed unhappily. She knew that what the Musasa Tree had said was true. Sadly the woman turned away, searching the veldt for something that might help her. Her gaze fell upon the Path, along which she had walked. 'Nzira,' she called the path by name, 'help me to escape from this horrible Leopard.' But Nzira was even angrier than Musasa Tree. 'I will not help you. What have you ever done to help me? I give you safe passage through the forest, but all you ever do is kick me with your heavy feet and press me further into the ground.' The woman sighed again because she knew that Nzira was speaking the truth. Then she remembered the River who was called Rwizi. 'Rwizi,' she called, 'help me escape from this evil Leopard who promises to eat me for her supper.' But Rwizi would not help her. 'Think of everything I do for you,' said Rwizi. 'I give you water to grow your crops. I bring water for your cattle to drink in the evening. Yet all you do is use me to wash your dirty body and your soiled clothes.' The woman sighed for the third time for she knew that Rwizi was speaking the truth. Finally, in desperation she called upon the spirit of her Grandmother. 'Mbuya,' she called to the heavens, 'save me from this wicked Leopard.' 'I cannot save you,' replied the spirit of her grandmother. 'You should have listened more carefully to the stories I told you as a child. The Leopard is not wicked, she is only being what she is. It is in her nature to eat when she is hungry, to kill when she is threatened. You should have remembered this before you released her.' On hearing this the woman fell to her knees and covered her face with her hands. Bitter tears fell from between her fingers and watered the earth. Just then a small sprightly animal came hurrying through the forest. He had long narrow ears and a small bushy tail. It was Tsuro the Hare. 'Whatever is the problem?' asked Tsuro when she saw the woman weeping. 'Why are you looking so miserable on this lovely day?' The woman told him about the Leopard whom she had released from the trap and how it was planning to eat her for supper. 'Hmm,' said Tsuro after hearing the story. 'What you have told me may very well be true. But I must hear what the Leopard says about the matter. 'Leopard,' called Tsuro. 'I've been told that you fell into this trap. Is that so?' 'Yes, it is true,' agreed the Leopard, flexing her paws so that each of her claws extruded one after another. The woman, seeing this, edged behind Tsuro. 'O clever Hare,' she whispered, 'I hope you know what you are doing.' Tsuro ignored her and asked the Leopard whether it was true that she had promised not to harm the woman. 'Yes,' said the Leopard, 'but there is no reason why I should keep my promise. After all, her brothers dug the trap into which I fell. And they are the ones who always shout at me and then try to kill me when I am anywhere near their village.' 'I see,' replied Tsuro, scratching his head thoughtfully. 'So it was the woman's brothers who dug the trap into which you fell. And you were lying there, right at the bottom of the trap when the woman came and let you out. Now, I would like you to show me how it happened.' 'That's easy,' said the Leopard, happy to find someone who understood her situation. She jumped down into the trap. 'I was lying like this . . .' Scarcely had she begun when, quickly, Tsuro pulled the branches across the top of the trap. 'Let me out, let me out,' cried the Leopard. 'If you let me out of the trap I promise not to harm anybody ever again.' Tsuro turned to the woman. 'Well,' he asked, 'are you going to let her out?'
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