Fic: And another missing scene
The Cute Coda from Strange Weapons!
I kept saying I had an overly cute ending, and here it is. You can see why I removed it in the end. Originally, Strange Weapons was supposed to be the concluding part of a potential UNIT trilogy, but by the time I came to post it, I had pages and pages of 1980s UNIT scenes, so, I had to abandon this. I was going to come back to it with Stardust, but wasn't sure I'd sold it enough in the other two and left it. (Which is a shame because before Evelyn had a solid reason for telling the Doctor not to take Tilly and in the posted version, she may seem to be being rather sentimental about the whole thing.) And I would probably rewrite it a bit now.
I did say that it was much, much too cute, didn't I? (It came to me in the cinema. I don't think that's an excuse, though).
***
Coda: 1997
“Dr Webber,” said Bambera, running into Nat. “I wondered if it was you when I saw the name on the programme.”
He grinned then. “You didn’t read it very carefully, then, did you? If it says the eminent Dr Webber or something along those lines, it’s not me they mean.”
“Well, you are here, and this is an international conference on the subject of investigation into the existence of extraterrestrial life among other things.”
He nodded. “And you’re here in charge of UNIT. Congratulations.”
“So what’s the joke?” she demanded.
Nat’s grin grew. “Well, if you’d paid a little more attention, you’d have noted the use of words like ‘she’ and ‘her’. It’s not me speaking, it’s Tilly.”
“You’re not serious?”
He nodded.
“You are?”
He said, “Thanks to working as UNIT’s scientific adviser, what little credibility I ever had is finished -.”
“Come off it, Webber.”
“Well, I couldn’t stop looking into other life-forms once I started,” he said. “Unfortunately it doesn’t do much for the reputation. However, I’ve acquired a wife with an unconventional genius for coming up with impenetrable theories about the relationship of time and space. Although I’ve never been able to cure her of the obsessive tidiness.”
Bambera said, “If the position ever becomes vacant again -.”
“I’d be interested, but I think she might kill me,” he said. “Only to save time before someone or something else does, of course. I nearly didn’t survive last time.”
“Now that I can believe.”
“Thanks, anyway, Captain.” He paused and coloured, suddenly looking a lot more as she first remembered him. “Sorry. Brigadier, I should say.”
She paused and there was the impatient eye roll that he remembered. “You never could work out what to call me.”
***
*whistles to cover the embarrassment*
I kept saying I had an overly cute ending, and here it is. You can see why I removed it in the end. Originally, Strange Weapons was supposed to be the concluding part of a potential UNIT trilogy, but by the time I came to post it, I had pages and pages of 1980s UNIT scenes, so, I had to abandon this. I was going to come back to it with Stardust, but wasn't sure I'd sold it enough in the other two and left it. (Which is a shame because before Evelyn had a solid reason for telling the Doctor not to take Tilly and in the posted version, she may seem to be being rather sentimental about the whole thing.) And I would probably rewrite it a bit now.
I did say that it was much, much too cute, didn't I? (It came to me in the cinema. I don't think that's an excuse, though).
***
Coda: 1997
“Dr Webber,” said Bambera, running into Nat. “I wondered if it was you when I saw the name on the programme.”
He grinned then. “You didn’t read it very carefully, then, did you? If it says the eminent Dr Webber or something along those lines, it’s not me they mean.”
“Well, you are here, and this is an international conference on the subject of investigation into the existence of extraterrestrial life among other things.”
He nodded. “And you’re here in charge of UNIT. Congratulations.”
“So what’s the joke?” she demanded.
Nat’s grin grew. “Well, if you’d paid a little more attention, you’d have noted the use of words like ‘she’ and ‘her’. It’s not me speaking, it’s Tilly.”
“You’re not serious?”
He nodded.
“You are?”
He said, “Thanks to working as UNIT’s scientific adviser, what little credibility I ever had is finished -.”
“Come off it, Webber.”
“Well, I couldn’t stop looking into other life-forms once I started,” he said. “Unfortunately it doesn’t do much for the reputation. However, I’ve acquired a wife with an unconventional genius for coming up with impenetrable theories about the relationship of time and space. Although I’ve never been able to cure her of the obsessive tidiness.”
Bambera said, “If the position ever becomes vacant again -.”
“I’d be interested, but I think she might kill me,” he said. “Only to save time before someone or something else does, of course. I nearly didn’t survive last time.”
“Now that I can believe.”
“Thanks, anyway, Captain.” He paused and coloured, suddenly looking a lot more as she first remembered him. “Sorry. Brigadier, I should say.”
She paused and there was the impatient eye roll that he remembered. “You never could work out what to call me.”
***
*whistles to cover the embarrassment*