Babysitter of the Daleks, part 2
Chapter 5
Jessi
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Dear Quint,
Happy Quaanza! We’re having the most fun here in Stoneybrook... Mallory and I got to spend some one-on-one time with the new babysitter, a gentleman from Europe or something. He took us both out for Cokes at the Rosebud Cafe. But don’t worry, he seemed more interested in what Mal had to say, if you can believe it. Can’t wait to see you in The Rite of Spring!
Love,
Jessi
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“Here we are!” said Mallory as we walked into the Rosebud Café.
The Rosebud Café is the dibbliest place in all of Stoneybrook. (Dibble is a word my friends and I made up. It means ‘cool’.) The café has a real soda fountain and a marble-topped counter just like a diner out of an old movie. My friends and I love to go there on dates. Right now it was all dressed up for Christmas, with a big tree in one corner covered in old-fashioned decorations, and little toy airplanes hanging from the ceiling.
Mal and the doctor sat down at the counter in front of the soda fountain. I stood beside them with one leg propped up on top of the counter. (I’m a very accomplished dancer and it’s important to keep limber at all times.)
“So… this is what you want me to see?” the Doctor looked around. “It’s... impressive.”
“It’s meant to look just like the 1940s,” I explained.
“Ah,” said The Doctor. “In that case it’s rubbish. Nothing like the 1940s. Love the 1940s. Once met a chap in the 1940s-well, turned out he was an Auton, not a chap, you know, but anyway…”
As the Doctor chattered on, I switched my footing and propped my other leg on the counter. I wondered if all foreign people talked this much. The only foreign people I ever met were Mme Noelle and Claudia’s grandmother Mimi, and I didn’t remember them talking this much.
“This place is SO dibble,” Mallory said. “Super chilly. But that’s not why we brought you here.”
“It’s because of the cook,” I added. “There’s something strange about her face.”
“Yeah,” Mal interrupted. “I saw her when I was riding my bike to the Arnolds’. She was outside the Café smoking… her face looked all flat and white-”
“Not white like, you know, the skin color of most people in this town,” I added delicately.
“Right, like, white, like she was wearing a mask. And she had no nose. And then when I looked again, it was normal.”
“I see.” The Doctor glanced toward the kitchen doors. “How long has this cook been here?”
“Not forever,” I said. I wondered where exactly the Doctor was from, and if they had any black people there. I hoped he wasn’t acting so strangely because I was black, but you can never tell. At least the members of the club never look down on me!
“Not forever?” echoed the Doctor.
“Most people have been here forever,” Mal said, shrugging.
Just then the waiter came up to us. He stared disapprovingly at my foot on the counter (clearly he was being prejudiced against me because I was black). “What can I get for you folks?” he asked.
“I want a Coke,” said Mal.
“I just want a fruit salad,” I said. (It’s important to watch your weight when you dance.)
“Do you have any fish fingers?” asked the Doctor.
The waiter raised his eyebrows. “I’ll have to ask the cook,” he said.
“Oh yes,” the Doctor replied. “Go and ask the cook. Tell you what-why don’t you ask her to come out here? Run along now.”
The waiter went back to the kitchen.
“So…” the Doctor said, turning to Mal. “Most people have been here forever, have they?”
“Well, I’ve been here forever,” Mal said, ticking names off on her fingers as she spoke. “And Kristy, and Mary Anne… Stacey hasn’t, though. Not Jessi either.”
“Stacey hasn’t been here forever, has she?” asked the Doctor in an interested tone.
I felt left out. “I haven’t been here forever either,” I said. I hoped he wasn’t ignoring me because I was black.
“Stacey moved here in the seventh grade,” Mal said. “Then she moved back to New York because her dad’s job transferred him.”
“And I moved into town at that time,” I said. “I was the only black person at SMS. Mal and I joined the Babysitters’ Club, and then Stacey moved back.”
The Doctor spun his chair around to face me. “And… when was this?” he asked.
I thought about that for a minute. It was well before Christmas last year; I knew that. I had already started the sixth grade. Then Stacey came back. Then Aunt Cecilia came to live with us. Then it was summer, and now I was in the sixth grade… I felt a buzzing in the back of my head.
“Recently,” I told the Doctor.
“Recently?” he echoed. “But you can’t say how recently? Even though you were there?”
My head started to hurt. I took my leg off the counter.
Mal leaned in to the Doctor. “You ask a lot about times,” she said.
“It’s rather important,” the Doctor replied confidentially. “Can’t you remember when your best friend moved to town?”
“It was just after sixth grade began,” Mal replied after a pause.
Just then the waiter came back. He had water for the Doctor and me, and a Coke for Mal. “Sorry,” he told the Doctor, staring pointedly at him, “We don’t have any fish fingers. But… the cook told me to tell you we have some custard. She said you’d understand.
She says she’ll be out with it herself in a minute.”
“Ah.” The Doctor nodded. “Tell her that’s fine. I’ll wait.”
I frowned. “Who eats fish with custard? And what’s a fish finger? Is that a foreign thing?”
“Never mind,” said the Doctor. “Are you sure you can’t remember anything about the time?”
“Why do you care so much about time?” Mal asked.
“Time,” said the Doctor, reaching for his glass, “Is a special interest of mine.” He took a sip of the water, made a face, and spat it back into the glass. “That’s water,” he said to himself. “I hate water. Beastly stuff.”
Mal brightened. “So if something was weird about the time, you might be able to help?”
“Yes! Why?” asked the Doctor hopefully. “Do you know of anything funny about time?”
“Maybe,” Mal said, blushing behind her enormous glasses. “It’s embarrassing. But... see, I can’t wait to turn thirteen. Everything will be so much better when I’m thirteen! I’ll be able to get contacts, and maybe my parents will finally agree to a nose job, and I’ll be able to stay up late babysitting and make so much more money so I can dress like Claudia or Stacey, and…”
“Somebody say my name?” Stacey asked, appearing suddenly behind the Doctor. She was dressed in one of her super chilly outfits: a white jumpsuit with plastic seahorses sewn onto the sleeve and pant cuffs, over a bright pink top. Her perm looked even curlier than usual, and she’d put on a lot of blue eyeshadow.
“Hello!” the Doctor said, barely looking away from Mal. “Stacey, was it? Your friends were just telling me about you. You’ve had a move recently, yes?”
“Yes.” Stacey looked cautious. She must have been thinking what to say to such an exotic foreign gentleman. She’s very sophisticated like that. “Recently.”
The Doctor turned back to Mal. “Go on,” he said.
Mal looked even more embarrassed. She didn’t want to interrupt one of the older sitters, I could tell. “Well, I keep this journal,” she said softly.
“You know,” interrupted Stacey, “You and I have a lot in common, Doctor. I’m from New York, you’re from Europe. They’re both very sophisticated places. Also I’m diabetic.”
“What does that have to do with anything?” I asked before I could stop myself.
“It’s important!” Stacey said. “I have to carry insulin just like he carries that screwdriver-thingy. Also if I eat any sweets at all, I’ll die!”
The Doctor glanced back at Stacey. “Are you aware,” he asked, “That that’s not at all how diabetes works?”
“How would you know?”
“I’m a doctor,” he replied, and turned back to Mal. “Go on. What about your journal?”
“I…” Mal blushed again. “I started counting the days until I turn thirteen. I just put a tickmark on the page of my journal for each day; after seven hundred twenty-eight days-”
“Seven hundred thirty days,” Stacey corrected.
“…I’ll be thirteen! But… I know I only put one tickmark every day. I’m sure I did. I do it at the same time every night, when I’m reading under the covers with a flashlight. But every time I go back to count them…”
Mal took out her journal and showed it to the Doctor. He, Stacey and I leaned in to look. Every page of the thick notebook was covered in tiny ink tickmarks. They started out black, and then the black started to fade and was replaced by blue pen. There were even tickmarks on the inside covers! There must have been thousands of marks.
“That,” the Doctor said in a whisper, “Is brilliant. Now all I have to do is count them, and we’ll have some idea of when, exactly--”
“Whoops!” cried Stacey, suddenly losing her balance. I hadn’t seen what made her fall; maybe it was another diabetic thing. She fell forward onto the counter and spilled Mal’s Coke all over the pages.
Mal looked almost relieved; the Doctor looked ready to cry. Just then, we all heard a huge crash from the kitchen, followed by a deep voice shouting.
“Bow tow crow fow!” it shouted.
The Doctor jumped over the counter, holding out his screwdriver. “Everybody get down!”
Chapter 6
Stacey
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Dear Dad,
It’s Christmas in Stoneybrook again. It has been quite an exciting one too. I mean, New York is great for Christmas and all but New York doesn’t have a Doctor. He’s soooo dreamy and just showed up out of nowhere! I feel like I’m in New York again!
Anyway, I’ve been doing well. I haven’t had a single candy cane this year since I really can’t afford to. Christmas at the hospital does not sound fun at all. Speaking of food, hopefully I’ll see you before New Year’s and we can go to a great restaurant in New York!
Sophisticated love,
Stacey
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I had been walking down the street after doing some window shopping and arrived at the Rosebud Café. You see, being from New York I tend to have this certain flair for fashion and style. I’m the best dresser out of all of my friends, besides Claudia that is. I don’t mean to sound conceited, but it’s the truth. Anyway, as I looked into the Rosebud I could see Mal and Jessi talking to that man. I got a funny feeling from the man and when you’ve grown up on the streets of New York you tend not to trust people who give you funny feelings. Yet here I was in the café and something bad was happening!
“Yikes!” shouted Mal as some kind of rhino came running out of the kitchen chasing a woman in an apron with hair that was just as frizzy as Mal’s.
“Bow tow crow fow!” shouted that strange rhino as it stomped with loud klomp klomp klomp sounds.
The woman tossed the apron off as she skidded around the counter and toward us. She had a smile on her face which I found even curiouser. How could someone who is being chased be so happy? I pushed Mal and Jessi back against the counter as she ran by. This was not a sophisticated way to act at all.
“Cybermen! Not many, but you know how they are. Just watch out for the pits, nasty things that they’ve dug. Not like them, but you know, when you’re desperate!” the woman said as she went for the door.
She stopped suddenly and turned, waving to us all as the rhino got closer to her and said, “Oh and, hi sweetie.”
Then she grew terribly pale and melted with a sploosh. The rhino skidded to a halt in front of the puddle before turning around to face us. Mal, Jessi, and I shrieked as we saw her melt. Nothing like this has ever happened in Stoneybrook! She also did not introduce herself or state anything about herself as she spoke, which was very unsophisticated. She had a European accent as well, so I would think she should have been far more sophisticated than she had acted!
“She just... melted. I bet she had diabetes,” I said, nodding my head as I knew I was right.
“What? No,” said the Doctor to me with a puzzled look. “Did you see a real doctor about your diabetes? Or does it work differently here in this portion of America like everything else...”
“I’ll have you know that-” I started to say, but the Doctor had walked away from us.
Jessi turned to Mal and said, “Sometimes I feel like that after I’ve been dancing all day and then have to deal with Aunt Cecelia.”
She and Mal gave each other a knowing Look and I just shook my head. Sixth graders were so babyish. I turned my attention back to the Doctor who was now talking to the rhino. How a person talks to a rhino is beyond me, but it was starting to remind me of the mystery at the zoo! While I thought about those few days I hadn’t realized that the Doctor had motioned us over so Mal and Jessi had left me.
They were now walking away towards the door with the Doctor, side stepping around the puddle of goo. I decided to follow them as I couldn’t leave two junior members alone after all. I wrinkled my nose at the goo as I left the café. This was not a good day. I shut the door behind me so I wouldn’t have to look at the goo and saw that the Doctor was still talking to the rhino. It had some kind of weird stick poked into its torso and was saying something to the Doctor who was gesturing at it.
“I didn’t mean to park it there, it just happened to be the only place to park it. It’s not like you can drive a lunar body around the block a bit to wait for something to turn up like you’re at the shops,” the Doctor said.
“Even so, it was a violation and we do not let violations go unpunished. You will see to it that everything is carried out as stated on the card,” said the rhino as he handed the Doctor a bit of plastic.
“Are you serious?” he said, flapping the card at the rhino. “I don’t have time for this! I’m dealing with, well, dealing with time!”
Mal finally managed to squeak out, “Doctor, is something wrong?”
“Oh no, no. Nothing to worry about. Just this Judoon wasn’t after her as I had thought. He wanted information as to where I was and then saw that it was her so he chased her in hopes of killing two birds with one stone,” the Doctor prattled on. “And I will deal with this... this glorified parking ticket later.”
“Parking ticket? This is a policeman?” asked Jessi. “He doesn’t look like any policeman I’ve ever seen.”
“Policeman? Oh, yes, right, I suppose so. Apparently I parked a lunar body too far from the Earth or some nonsense,” the Doctor said, giving us a Look as the rhino tapped his foot. The Doctor then made for the door to the café, “Now about those fish fingers and custard.”
“We don’t have time to eat! There’s a meeting in 30 minutes and if we aren’t there early Kristy won’t be happy,” I said, tapping my watch. Though I did have to admit that a Lunar Body sounded like a very sophisticated European car.
The Doctor pushed the door open anyway and walked in followed by Mal and Jessi. I looked to the rhino policeman and shrugged. This was not good at all for those junior members. I was going to go in and give them a piece of my mind, but I figured I had to deal with Kristy who was a much bigger pain when she was mad than anyone else I was around at the moment. As I was about to leave so that at least I wouldn’t be late, I heard a shriek from inside the café.
“Aieeee!”
I hurried inside with the policeman and gasped. The Christmas tree that had been set up in the café was now wiggling around and shaking. A few branches on the sides started to push out into what looked like arms while a few others started to shift to form a scary face! It started to pick the ornaments off of itself and toss them at the Doctor and junior members while letting out some kind of crackly, raspy growl.
The Doctor pointed his screwdriver at the flying bulbs which glowed before shattering completely in midair. Mal dove for the power socket to get the lights unplugged while Jessi pirouetted around the room to distract it. Orbs and candy canes were flying everywhere- I was almost hit with a candy cane which would have certainly put me into a coma! A coma is an illness where you just sleep a lot and can’t wake up. It may sound nice, but boy is it terrible.
Mal got the lights unplugged but that only freed the tree even more! She grabbed onto the dangling strand of lights as the tree pulled her across the floor while Jessi gracefully jumped over her. The Doctor quickly side stepped out of the way as the tree barreled toward him. It rammed into the wall causing needles to shower off of it. The creature was shaken, but it roared again and turned to face the Doctor. It hopped its way toward him on its little stump, but the Doctor ducked under one of its outstretched arms and slid to safety. This was certainly shaping up to be a memorable Christmas!
“Oh my lord!” I said as the rhino barged in.
“I will not have any misconduct on my watch! This is a most unjust action that shall not go unpunished!” yelled the strange rhino.
He pulled out what looked like a gun and I shrieked! Guns are very dangerous and I should know since I grew up in New York and many bad people there have guns. I ducked down and curled into a ball, hearing a loud pew! I had shut my eyes tight and dared not look out until I heard Mal and Jessi talking about how scared they were until the rhino came in.
“Not my preferred way to do things,” said the Doctor as I opened one eye.
The rhino had shot the tree with that gun which caused it to go up in flames! Jessi poured her fruit salad and Mal poured the Doctor’s water over the tree to get the flames to go out and I stood up slowly. The Doctor was kneeling down by some of the shards from the ornaments, waving that screwdriver around.
“These were cameras. Well some were, some were just cheap Christmas ornaments,” he said as he stood up and looked at the wand. “Dalek technology there as well. Not very good Dalek technology, but Dalek nonetheless.”
“Dalek?” said Mal, inching closer to the Doctor.
“Yes, I’d tell you, but,” he said as he nodded to the clock on the wall of the café. “It’s almost 5:30.”
I gasped in horror, “Kristy’ll have our heads!”
Chapter 7
Claudia
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Dear Uncle Russ,
I hope you had a goood Crismis this yere. We are haveing fun with the culb but Krusty does’nt like the newe member much. He is frum Euerope which is near England somewere I thinque.
Love,
Claudia
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Kristy cleared her throat, and glanced grimly at the digital clock on my bedside table. It said 5:29. It had said 5:29 for some time now. Almost a full minute, probably! I popped a mini snickers bar into my mouth.
"Cock'ate?" I offered the packet around the room, my mouth full of candy. Nobody took one. The mood in the room was tense. We were seconds away from 5:30, and three members were still missing! Mary Anne looked ready to cry. (Though that in itself wasn't so unusual.)
The numbers on the clock changed to 5:30. We all stared at the door. Still no Mal or Jessi. Still no Stacey.
"This meeting will now come to order!" Kristy announced gravely. "And it appears that we have a serious problem."
Mary Anne burst into noisy tears. "It's all fallen apart!" she sobbed.
I held out my bag of candy to her. Chocolate always helped me to feel better when I was upset. And when I wasn't, too. I firmly believe that chocolate (and all types of junk food!) are food for the soul. What other explanation could there be for the fact that despite my junk food addiction, I have never gained an ounce!? Mary Anne didn't notice through her bawling, though. I shrugged and took another for myself. Mmm!
Dawn rolled her eyes.
The phone rang. Mary Anne dried her eyes and answered. “Hello, Babysitters’ Club!” she said. “Mrs. Pike? You need a sitter for right now? Now you know the rules, Mrs. Pike. You can’t have a sitter until six. We’ll let you know in a moment.” She hung up.
Kristy turned her glare to Mary Anne.
“Mrs. Pike needs a sitter for... six o’clock,” said Mary Anne nervously. “She’s taking Mr. Pike to the Emergency Room. She didn’t have time to say why.”
“Humph,” said Kristy.
I unwrapped some more chocolate.
The front door closed with a slam. I heard a set of feet pounding up the stairs and eventually, there was Stacey all red in the face and panting! She’s especially attractive when she’s out of breath.
“Sorry,” Stacey gasped. “I was on my way, but the Doctor... there was a rhino and then the tree... the two sitters... fruit salad... the balls are really cameras and the Doctor said...”
Stacey stopped when she saw Kristy’s Look. She sat down. “Can I have some wheat crackers?” she asked.
I went to find them where I’d hidden them inside a pair of dibbley argyle knee socks in the back of my closet. But Kristy gave me the Look, and I sat back down.
“Look,” Stacey panted, “I said I was sorry, but I need something to eat! It’s... it’s my diabetes!”
“It’s always the same,” Kristy said almost sadly. “We gave you another chance, but you haven’t changed a bit.”
(A while ago, Stacey left the club to hang out with her new, sophisticated friends from the cheerleading squad. Kristy’s been keeping her on a pretty short leash since then.)
The phone rang just as my front door slammed again. Mary Anne answered it. “Hello... I told you, Mrs. Pike, not for twenty more minutes! We’ll be right there!”
Just then the Doctor, Mal and Jessi came tumbling into the room all at once. The Junior Members collapsed and muttered “sorry” when they saw Kristy; the Doctor didn’t seem afraid.
“Are we late, then?” he asked. “Sorry. But as I’m sure Stacey’s already told you, there was a bit of a to-do at the café...”
“Right,” Kristy said, rolling her eyes. “A tree and a rhino.”
“Rhino? What nonsense.” The Doctor thought for a moment. “Oh, you mean the Judoon. Yes, one of those, and the Christmas tree--”
“I’ve heard enough,” said Kristy angrily. “This is now an emergency meeting of the Babysitters’ Club. Doctor, you and Mal are going to babysit the Pikes as soon as it’s over. In the meanwhile, we’re going to have to--”
The doorbell rang downstairs.
I peeked out the door. “Janine! Can you get that?”
Janine is my sister. She’s a genius-- she’s taking college courses even though she’s only in high school! My parents pretend they don’t like her better than me, but I know they’re lying. I knew Janine was home because she had an Astrophysics exam tomorrow that she needed to study for. She’s always taking showoff classes like that.
Kristy pounded both arms of her director’s chair. She looked furious. “Everyone listen!” she fumed. “We’ve had a serious infraction today. How am I supposed to run this club if I don’t have the full cooperation-- Doctor, what are you doing!?”
The Doctor was heading toward the door, staring intently at his screwdriver again. I liked the green light... it reminded me of a pair of earrings I’d made once, out of battery-powered bug zappers. My head hurt for a week after I wore them! A light the size of the one on his screwdriver would have been perfect, if only it wasn’t making that funny noise.
“They’re here? But why would they ring?” The Doctor was saying to himself.
“I didn’t tell anyone they could leave!” I never would have believed it, but Kristy looked on the verge of tears. As for Mary Anne, she was crying so hard she was in the middle of a puddle.
“Does this place have a back door?” the Doctor asked.
“I think so,” I said. I wondered why it was taking me so long to answer a question about my own house... but I’ve been so confused lately! It seems to get a little worse every day.
“Right.” The Doctor nodded solemnly. “Good. Because I want all of you girls to go downstairs quietly, right now, and--”
“No one’s leaving!” Kristy barked. “Sit down!”
Janine knocked at my bedroom door and then came in without waiting. She was wearing one of her ridiculous outfits: a gray button-down sweater over a white button-down shirt, with a knee-length pleated green skirt. I would never have left the house in that outfit unless I’d tie-dyed the shirt or slashed a bunch of holes in the skirt, or hung fishing lures all over the sweater. Something so it wouldn’t look so odd.
“Pardon my intrusion,” said Janine. “But there is an animate, verbal pepper pot of extremely grandiose size on the doorstep. It requested to converse with Stacey.”
Kristy looked like she was going to explode!
“I’m the leader of the club,” she fumed. “I should be the one it wants to talk to.”
Stacey stood up, looking even more scared than when she’d walked in.
“No!” Kristy jumped out of her chair so fast it fell over. “I’m going to talk to it. You have to stay here.” She swept past Janine and left the room.
Stacey waited until she was gone, then she ran out too. I heard her a minute later, sneaking down the back stairs.
“I’m in charge,” Kristy shouted to whatever-it-was in the doorway. “No one is going to talk to you but me.”
The next voice we heard was weird. It was kind of like the sound of my voice the morning after I’d tried to dye my whole mouth purple to go with an outfit. (It’s a long story.)
“You are not the one you call Sta-cey! I will speak only with the one you call sta-cey!” it shouted. “You will surrender the one you call sta-cey or you will be exterminated!”
“You can’t scare me,” said Kristy. There was a loud thunk as if she’d kicked something metal. “This is my club and everyone does what I say. I’m in charge here! Me!”
Bizoo! Bizoo! Bizoo! went a strange sound.
The Doctor cringed.
“detonate!” cried the voice. I felt the walls of my house began shaking. My artwork started to tumble off the walls!
“I’m sorry,” the Doctor said, turning to us. “Just run!”
Chapter 8
Byron
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Dear Grammy,
Merry Christmas! We like our new babysitter.
Love,
Byron
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None of us had seen the explosion, but we all felt it! It rattled the whole neighborhood! Adam, Jordan and I had been making a snow fort when it happened. (Mom made us play outside because she had to go somewhere in a hurry with my dad) I ran inside at first, because I thought it was my brother Nicky getting into trouble somehow, but then we realized it was outside... the Kishis’ whole house had exploded! We all ran down the block to watch the firemen put it out.
There was quite a crowd out on the sidewalk. I ran to where the sitters were first. I hoped they hadn’t been hurt-- especially my sister Mallory! Who would have cleaned my room and baked desserts and cut the crusts off my sandwiches, if Mallory had been hurt? Luckily she was fine. They were all fine, even the strange new babysitter with the bowtie, except for Kristy and Stacey. No one seemed to know where they were.
“Shouldn’t we go look for them?” Mary Anne was saying.
The Doctor didn’t seem to hear her. “Did everyone else get out? What about that depressingly normal person who answered the door?”
“I am present and accounted for,” Janine said, hugging herself in her sweater. “And our parents are at their places of employment tonight. Does anyone require any medical assistance?”
Claudia rolled her eyes at Janine. “Listen,” she said. “Doctor, you’ve got to go to the Pikes’ house now.”
“But--”
Claudia saw us for the first time. “Kids!” she said with a fake smile. “This is the Doctor! He’s going to be your new babysitter, okay?”
“But--” the Doctor began again.
“We’ll keep looking for Kristy and Stacey,” said Claudia. “As vice-president of the Babysitters’ Club, I’m ordering you and Mal to go babysit... okay?” she looked nervous.
Mallory took my hand. “Come on, Doctor,” she said. “If you don’t, Kristy’ll probably kill you. Wherever she is.”
“Er... yes,” said the Doctor. “Yes, go and look for her. But concentrate on Stacey. And if you see one of those... those sentient pepper pots again, will you do something for me? Run. Run for your life. All right?”
Claudia pouted. “You just don’t want to see what good detectives we can be.”
“Come on, silly-billy goo goo!” Claire cried, taking the Doctor’s other hand. “Come see our house!”
The Doctor turned around to shout at Claudia one more time. “I mean it!” he said. “Run for your life!”
“Let’s have some hot chocolate,” Mallory said. “I think I remember where Mom put the mugs.”
“I broke all the mugs by accident,” said Nicky, “Except for the ones on the counter.”
“I threw up on those,” said Margo, popping up at Nicky’s side.
Mallory shrugged. “Just another typical day at the Pike house,” she said.
“You do this every day?” the Doctor asked admiringly. “But... didn’t you say there were eight Pike children?”
“Vanessa wouldn’t stop reciting her epic poem,” said Jordan, rolling his eyes. “So we locked her in the closet.”
“Ah,” said the Doctor. “Well, you seem to have the situation under control, don’t you, Mallory? Because someone really ought to be looking for-- on second thought,” he said, looking up at our house and turning around without pausing, “I think you children might like to go to the park with me. Won’t that be nice?”
“But I’m cold!” said Mallory. Then she saw it too.
There was a robot in our front yard. At least, I thought it was a robot. It was made of metal and it was moving around. It had a plunger and an egg beater instead of arms, and one eye on the end of a long stalk. There were polka-dots running down the front of it. It was plowing down our snow fort, shouting “exterminate!”
“Let’s go to the park, kids!” Mallory said, turning to follow the Doctor.
“But--” I cried.
“Just do what the Doctor says!” Mallory yelled. We all followed her.
“What is that thing?” Mallory whispered to the Doctor.
“It’s a Dalek,” the Doctor said. “Or something that wants me to think it’s a Dalek! Same thing that came to your meeting, I’m afraid. Run!”
“Is it... an alien?” asked Mallory after a pause. “Is it dangerous?”
“Of course! Now run!” the Doctor said.
“What about Vanessa?”
“I’ll go back for Vanessa.”
The Doctor skidded around the corner and through the gate to the park. “I don’t think it’s interested in Vanessa. I think it wants you, and the other members of your club. It wants you to tell them where Stacey is, and it won’t stop until it finds her.”
“Why?”
“I don’t know.”
The Doctor stopped in front of what looked like a big blue phone booth. I hadn’t seen it in the park before. He opened the door and went in. “Come on!”
“There isn’t room!” I said.
“Do what he says,” Mallory answered, pushing me. We all went into the phone booth. Inside was a large room, with a big messy piece of machinery rising up out of the middle.
“It’s--” Mallory began.
“Bigger on the inside, I know,” the Doctor interrupted. “Can you watch the children here while I go back for Vanessa?”
“Shouldn’t I go with you?” Mallory asked.
“What does this lever do?” asked Jordan, running up to the machine.
“Don’t touch that! Don’t touch anything!” cried the Doctor, running to pull him away. “Mallory, you’ve got to stay here. Nothing can get into the TARDIS, I promise. Just stay here with your brothers and sister. And don’t touch anything!”
Without waiting for an answer, the Doctor ran out.