Autonomy

by Doctor Who

  Their scarred, pitted surfaces had weathered all the debris which the cold reaches of space could throw at them.

  They were relentless.

  And coming closer.

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  'Tenyears'time,'Katesaid,assheandtheDoctor hurried through the dingy service-shaft, 'there'll be places like this all over the world. It started with the big shopping centres getting cinemas and saunas and stuff, and grew from there. They started realising people didn't come to them just for shopping, they came for days out. They'd do their shopping, get manicures and hair done, have a meal and go to the cinema. This is just the next generation.' She stopped, breathless. 'Doctor, are you listening to me?'

  'Service ladder!' said the Doctor delightedly. He tapped the metal ladder and it gave a resounding ring. 'Seems sturdy enough.'

  In the narrow tunnel, Kate hurried up behind him. They had been hurrying through the dimly lit labyrinth for what seemed like half an hour or more, she thought. This Doctor, whoever he was, seemed full of enthusiasm for tunnels.

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  It hadn't surprised Kate to see him, or to recognise him.

  It had taken her a minute or two to place the face - it had been four years, after all. But for now, she was keeping it to herself. Just as she was keeping the HyperCard to herself, tucked in the inside pocket of her pinstripe jacket. The one that the Doctor had given her, four years earlier.

  These stretch for miles,' she said. 'No idea where we might end up coming out. Could pop up in the middle of Shaneeqi's dressing room.'

  'Aaaah, well.' The Doctor gave her a cheeky, sideways grin. 'Life needs an element of surprise, Kate. Come on!' He hopped onto the ladder and started climbing.

  Kate sighed, and climbed up after the Doctor. She didn't really see what else she could do.

  'So tell me about Sir Gerry. What's he doing, exactly?'

  the Doctor called down.

  'He wants publicity,' Kate said. 'He advertised for young business-people to take part in an exercise. I think it's about seeing if we can find gaps in the organisation, make him more money. He probably thinks it's better than getting a team of consultants in.'

  'And how did you get on board?' The Doctor, poking around in the ladder-shaft above him, seemed distracted.

  'I found out about it. Got some fake credentials and references put together. My aunt's got a few useful contacts in the media.'

  'Right...' The Doctor had found a metal hatch at an angle above the ladder, and was looking for an opening mechanism. 'Good stuff. Every thrusting young journalist needs a helpful aunt.'

  There's some big thing going on. Sir Gerry and Max Carson

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  AUTONOMY

  - you met him earlier — they're planning a big switchover of all the Hyperville systems to a new centralised computer program.'

  'Right. Interesting.'

  'And that Miss Devonshire, I think she's involved somehow. She's there in the background, like an assistant, but I don't believe it for a moment. She's bankrolling it, I think.'

  'And when's this happening?'

  'Some time next week, supposedly. But there are always mutterings. Sir Gerry manipulates the mainstream media, but he's old-school. He forgets about the talkboards and the Bluetooth networks.'

  'What are they saying?' asked the Doctor, as he applied his sonic screwdriver to the hatch.

  There's been a few... incidents. An electrician died a few weeks ago, in the WinterZone. Supposed to have been an accident - faulty connection they said. Then there was the WaterZone they just closed off.'

  'Well, these things happen...' The Doctor pocketed his sonic screwdriver. 'But if you're suspicious already, then you do wonder.' He suddenly looked back down the shaft at Kate. 'Sorry-whose dressing room did you say?'

  'Shaneeqi. She's here promoting her new Zone. There's a big cocktail reception bash tonight, in the Aura Casino.'

  Kate waited for the Doctor's reaction. 'Shaneeqi? No? Oh, come on, you must have heard of her. Biggest artist of the last five years. "Gimme Love Now"? "All That You Mean"?

  You must have heard "Don't Steal My Boyfriend, Girlfriend"? That was the vid-download Number One for nine weeks.'

  'I've... been a bit out of touch,' said the Doctor awkwardly. 'How does it go again?'

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  Kate cleared her throat. 'I'm kind of hanging on a ladder here.'

  'Oh, go on. Just a little burst.'

  'Errm..." Kate, feeling embarrassed, bobbed her head from side to side, trying a vague impression of Shaneeqi's polished, mid-Atlantic intonation. 'It goes "Don't steal my boyfriend, girlfriend/ She ain't my girlfriend, boyfriend/Talk to the hand, listen to my band/ Na-na-na,yo,yo... "There's kind of a few more na-na-nas. And a few more, er, yo-yos.

  That's... pretty much, like, the chorus.'

  'Very good!' said the Doctor. 'You should go on The X-Factor. And, sorry, how many people bought this?'

  'About five million,' admitted Kate. 'God, it's so sad that I know this,' she added to herself.

  The Doctor shook his head. 'And she has a Zone? In Hyperville?'

  'Well, yes, she will have,' said Kate. 'Sorry.'

  The Doctor gave the hatch a shove and it squealed open, clanging as it hit the floor on the other side. 'Right, then,'

  he said, and hauled himself up onto a metal floor, reaching out to pull Kate up after him. A wall of cold hit Kate, and she shivered. The hatchway had brought them out in the middle of a snowy landscape, seemingly at night. Above them, remarkably realistic stars shimmered in a velvet-blue canopy of sky. Fir trees stretched into the distance, festooned with filigree spiderweb lights and dripping with glowing blue icicles. Kate and the Doctor's breath misted in the air.

  Kate closed the hatch and straightened up beside the Doctor. 'I don't believe it,' she said, shaking with cold. The snow crunched beneath her feet, she noticed - it seemed real.

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  The Doctor beamed with boyish joy. 'Oooh, yes. Winter Wonderland! Ohh, this is brilliant] Like the SnowGlobe.' He looked at Kate. 'Sorry, somewhere else I went once.' He pulled an expandable telescope out of his pocket and surveyed the landscape. 'Aha! Look!"

  Reluctantly, Kate took the telescope and trained it where the Doctor was pointing, down in the valley. The Hyperville train was puffing along, she saw, filled with laughing tourists in winter coats and hats. She shrugged, handed the telescope back to him.

  'I hate Christmas,' she said through gritted teeth.

  'Oh. Really?' The Doctor looked concerned. He frowned, peering down at her with genuine surprise on his face. 'No, really? What - all the logs on the fire and the gifts round the tree? And the carols and the lighty... light things and the mince pies?'

  'Can't stand it,' said Kate grimly. 'It does my head in.'

  She wasn't going to go into any more details, not with this guy she hardly knew.

  'Oh. Well, let's find a way out.' The Doctor pivoted on his heel. This way, I think.' He pointed to a spot between the trees.

  'Listen!' Kate put a finger in the air. She was sure she had heard something - a silvery sound on the wind. A jangling noise.

  The Doctor ran back to her side and smiled. 'Jingle bells, jingle bells!'

  'I am seriously going to have to kill you if you keep loving this so much. How can you enjoy this?'

  The Doctor raised his eyebrows at her. 'All right, all right, Ebenezer, keep your wig on. Anyway, why don't you do your

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  job? Write down some notes about... profit and loss margins and... and all that.'

  Kate folded her arms, annoyed. 'You haven't got a clue what you're talking about, have you?'

  The jangling sound was getting louder. It was accompanied by a swishing - like the sound of skis, Kate thought, only louder, heavier.

  A shape appeared over the snowy ridge, coming through the trees. Kate saw its shadow first, then her m
outh fell open in astonishment as the approaching vehicle crested the rise and sped down the slope towards them.

  It was a sleigh. It was wooden, whiter than the snow, with gleaming silver runners. It was led by four beautiful reindeer with shining pelts and firm, glossy antlers, and driven by a small, bearded man in a pointy hat. Reclining in the luxurious seat of the sleigh was a beautiful, raven-haired woman, with ice-white skin beneath an elaborate

  crown,

  dressed

  in

  silver

  furs

  and

  expensive-looking leather gloves.

  At a crack of the driver's whip, the reindeer slowed to a canter and the sleigh began to swish to a halt.

  The Doctor raised his eyebrows.

  Kate grabbed his arm. 'Doctor, it's—'

  The Doctor's voice was a soft mutter. 'Just go with the flow. Let me do the talking.'

  He strode towards the sleigh, insouciant, hands in pockets. Kate hurried to keep up with him.

  'And whatever you do,' said the Doctor, 'don't eat the Turkish Delight.'

  'Did you hear that?' asked Reece.

  'No,' said Chantelle, irritated. She ran forward through the

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  unnaturally green undergrowth, marvelling at the feel of the artificial sun on her face.

  Chantelle didn't get out into the countryside much. She thought it was a weird place - full of odd things that made snorting noises and left dung on the ground. She got nervous around horses and cows .She was a city girl - you knew where you were with people, and with shops and cars and buses and the stench of petrol.

  And yet, now, looking at the beautiful forest which they'd somehow managed to construct in the middle of Hyperville, she wondered if she had been missing out on something.

  'I definitely heard something,' said Reece worriedly.

  'Why's there nobody else around?'

  A second later there was a whooshing noise in the air, and an arrow landed in the mud at Chantelle's feet. She leapt backwards, almost knocking her brother over.

  Chantelle pulled the arrow out of the ground and gazed at it in wonder.

  'What's that?' she murmured. 'Another message?'

  'A warning,' said the voice from the undergrowth.

  They gasped, and turned to face the direction the voice had come from. Nobody was to be seen.

  'A warning to stay out of Sherwood Forest,' said the voice again - a woman's voice, soft and clear, coming from behind them now. Reece and Chantelle spun round again.

  A woman emerged, detaching herself silently from the shadows where she had been invisible. She was beautiful, with an oval, elfin face framed by reddish-gold ringlets, and she wore a long, plain, green dress adorned with a simple wooden crucifix. But the thing they noticed most about her was that she was wielding a sturdy bow, with the arrow strung and pointing straight at them.

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  'Maid Marian!' said Chantelle softly.

  'You are spies,' said the woman's soft voice. 'Spies for the Sheriff of Nottingham.'

  'No, no,' said Chantelle hurriedly. 'Really, we're not. We just came here to explore. If it's a problem, we'll... get off, won't we, Reece?'

  'Yeah. Sure,' said Reece. 'Get off. Right away.'

  'You are spies,' said the woman again. 'Spies for the Sheriff of Nottingham.'

  Chantelle narrowed her eyes. There was something not quite right about this Maid Marian. Her face was too chiselled and perfect, her movements and her speech stiff and mannered.

  'Reece,' said Chantelle, 'can you hear... clicking?'

  Maid Marian appeared to crane her neck by a few centimetres. And then by more. And more again. As Reece and Chantelle watched open-mouthed, her neck extended until it was a pale, stretchy column of glistening flesh at least half a metre long; and then it spun round in a full circle. When she turned to face them again, her eyes were glowing green.

  'I have them, Robin,' she said. 'I have the spies.'

  The teenagers turned to run.

  On the other side of the clearing, a man stepped out to block their way. He was tall and muscular with flowing dark hair, was dressed in a green tunic and held a burnished wooden staff.

  The Hoodie himself,' muttered Chantelle. 'Now we're in trouble.'

  Robin Hood smiled. It was not a friendly smile. His eyes looked blank and unresponsive.

  Then, his hand twirled at the wrist, spinning his staff faster

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  and faster until it became a deadly whirl. He began to move stiffly towards them.

  Reece and Chantelle gasped and took a step backwards.

  They ain't real,' gasped Reece.

  Chantelle shook her head. 'Robots or something. Like those things the Doctor deactivated in the Doomcastle!'

  The green-eyed Marian smiled cruelly and her fingers tensed on the bow.

  'Down!' yelled Chantelle, and she pulled Reece onto the mud with a thump.

  Marian's arrow shot through the air where Recce's head had been a split second earlier.

  It slammed into Robin Hood's chest with a thud.

  Seconds later there was a flash of blue sparks, and Robin Hood staggered backwards, wreathed in blue smoke.

  The Marian-bot had already flipped another arrow out of her quiver, and loaded it into the bow with lissom arms.

  She turned, spinning on one foot. Reece rolled to the edge of the clearing. The Marian-bot swung towards him, then back to Chantelle, who was still crouching on the mud, not daring to move.

  'Come on, Chantelle!' Reece stretched his arm out.

  'Come on!'

  Maid Marian's face seemed to twitch in an eerie smile.

  Her fingers loosened on the arrow.

  Chantelle screamed and buried her head in her hands.

  There was a loud gunshot, and a pungent smell in the clearing.

  A second later, Chantelle lifted her hands from her eyes and gawped in amazement. A black-uniformed security man, wearing headphones over his cap, was crouching at the edge

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  of the clearing, his smoking pistol levelled. The bullet he had just fired had split Maid Marian's arrow in two.

  The clearing was soon entirely surrounded with security men, all in black caps, black uniforms and headphones with radio-mikes. One of them dragged Reece to his feet, while another helped Chantelle to hers.

  The Robin-bot was still inert, sparking and clicking, its hand still spinning the staff round and round, although more slowly than before.

  The Marian-bot snarled, its eyes flashing a brighter green, and levelled another arrow at the security squad.

  'We didn't get it, Mr Carson!' shouted the leader of the squad. 'Do you want it incapacitating?'

  A bearded man in a dark suit strode into the clearing, quickly taking in the situation. 'Wait,' he snapped. 'Don't damage it.'

  He twisted the dial of his watch. An almost-unbearable whining sound tore through the forest, hurting Chantelle's eardrums - she and Reece clamped their hands over their ears, realising now why the guards wore headphones.

  The Marian-bot dropped its bow and bent over suddenly as if hit in the stomach, its white hands against its white temples, head rotating from side to side.

  The dark-suited man made another adjustment to the dial, and the whining sound increased in pitch.

  The Marian-bot's legs collapsed beneath it like those of a broken doll. A second later it keeled over and hit the artificial forest floor, its auburn nylon ringlets spread out in a fan on the mud.

  Reece and Chantelle, breathing heavily, slowly got to their feet.

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  AUTONOMY

  The man smoothed down his jacket and strode over to them, holding out his hand. 'Max Carson, Director of Operations. I'm so sorry about this. I do hope this... minor malfunction has not inconvenienced you in any way.'

  Chantelle gave him a look. 'If that's what you ca
ll a minor malfunction, matey, I'd hate to see a big one.'

  Max Carson smiled inscrutably. 'I do apologise.

  Hyperville is at the cutting edge of this kind of interactive theme-park technology. There are inevitably certain...

  teething troubles with some exhibits. You will of course be offered a full refund, plus gift vouchers on your HyperCards to the value of—'

  That ain't what I'd call teething troubles, mate!'

  Chantelle snapped. 'You got yourself a psycho Maid Marian and a bunch of Hammer Horror loonies on the loose in the Doomcastle! This place is a flamin' deathtrap!'

  Reece thumped her elbow. 'Chantelle! The man was gonna offer us a freebie!' He looked hopefully up at Max.

  'How much, mate?'

  But Max Carson's diplomatic smile had already vanished, and now his face tautened. 'You were in the Doomcastle earlier? I see.' He nodded to the security squad leader. 'Take these two... children to Hospitality Suite Nine and ensure they are fed. Please don't allow them to leave under any circumstances!'

  He turned, hands behind his back, and began to stride off into the forest.

  'You can't do that!' Chantelle yelled. 'We've seen things!

  We can tell the papers!'

  Max Carson stopped, looked over his shoulder. 'My dear young lady,' he said. 'You won't be telling anybody about anything. Not for a very long time.'

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  And then Chantelle felt her hands pinned behind her back, and, like Reece, had a gun shoved into her ribs.

  'Let's go, missy,' said the security man. 'Don't give us any trouble.'

  Chantelle glared at him. 'Call me missy again, sunshine,' she said, 'and you'll really find out what trouble means... All right, all right. We're moving.

  In the white snow and the glittering lights of the WinterZone, the Snow Queen's head slowly turned to look at the Doctor and Kate.

  'Greetings, visitors,' she said softly. 'And what, pray, are you?'

  The Doctor grinned. 'Ohhh, that's goooood. I like that.