Doctor Who: Engines of War Read Online Free Page B

energy had been discharged. Clearly, it had been damaged in the explosion. She cursed beneath her breath. Still, whoever it was who’d come down in that blue box didn’t have to know that. The weapon would still make an effective deterrent.
    Brandishing it like a shield, she advanced slowly on the box, wary of any sudden signs of movement that might indicate hostilities. Was it an escape capsule? It certainly didn’t look very big, and the way it had fallen from the sky suggested it had been ejected from an orbital craft. The edges of the box were still glowing from its abrasive entry into the atmosphere, and a dark, sooty streak across its outer casing indicated that it had taken a glancing strike from an energy weapon. Had a Dalek saucer shot down the ship? She wondered if the occupant of the escape pod might even be human. But why were the words ‘POLICE BOX’ written on the side in big, bold letters? Nothing that was happening seemed to make any sense.
    The man gave another cough, louder this time. Cinder sensed movement. She stopped walking and thrust the barrel of her gun in the direction of the box, just in time to see a head emerge from the open hatch.
    With a loud huff, the man threw his arms over the sides of the box and hauled himself up, so that his head and shoulders were poking over the rim.
    Cinder glared at him, unsure what to say or do. He was an older man, with a craggy, careworn face and startling green-brown eyes. His hair was silvery grey and brushed up into a tuft at the front, and he wore a bushy white beard and moustache. He frowned at her, looking perplexed. He appeared to be wearing a battered leather coat and a herringbone patterned scarf.
    ‘Well?’ he said, as if waiting for the answer to an unasked question.
    ‘Well, what?’ she replied, jiggling her gun to ensure that he’d seen it.
    He raised both eyebrows as if taken aback by her insolence. ‘Oh, so waving a gun at me is the best thing to do in the circumstances, is it?’
    ‘Well…’ Cinder thought for a moment, confused. ‘Look, you’re the one who’s just fallen out of the sky!’
    ‘And just as well that I did,’ he said. ‘I’d argue that my timing is impeccable.’
    ‘What are you talking about?’ said Cinder, failing to quell her exasperation.
    ‘Look at you,’ he said. ‘Clearly in need of my help.’
    Cinder felt a surge of indignation. ‘Oh, really ?’ She shook her head at the sheer arrogance of the man. ‘ I need your help?’
    ‘I should say so,’ replied the man.
    ‘And what makes you say that?’ asked Cinder. She was growing tired of this irritating newcomer and his ridiculous posturing.
    The man made a gesture that might have been a shrug, if it hadn’t been for the fact he was hanging on to the edge of his box with both arms. Come to think of it, the position did appear a little odd, given how shallow the box actually was. He sighed. ‘If you don’t want to end up getting yourself exterminated, then I suggest you get a move on and hop inside.
    ‘What?’ she said. ‘You want me to get in that box with you?’ She pulled her best ‘not in your lifetime, mister’ expression.
    ‘I don’t want you to do anything,’ said the man, ‘but unless you’re as stupid as you look, you’ll do as I say.’
    Cinder had to fight the urge to pull the trigger on her gun in the hope that there was enough residual charge in the power pack to blast him into tomorrow. ‘Right,’ she said. ‘You’re on your own.’ She turned to walk away.
    ‘NOW!’ bellowed the man. There was a sense of urgency in his voice that hadn’t been there before, an edge to it that made her suddenly decide to pay attention.
    ‘Ex-ter-min-ate!’
    Cinder twisted on the spot to see the spider-thing emerging from the ruins on her right. She cursed, loudly. She’d been so intent on her argument with the man in the box that she hadn’t been paying attention. She should have known better. She pointed her gun at the