Winner Takes All (2 page)

After a moment it opened on the chain, which Rose thought a bit odd, but forgot it almost at once when she saw her mum, petite and blonde just like Rose herself, peering through the gap. The chain came off immediately, and the door had barely swung open when Jackie had her arms round Rose. ‘You're here! You're here!'

Rose grinned as she hugged her mum back. ‘Yeah, looks like it.'

Jackie looked at her accusingly as she came out of the embrace. ‘But don't tell me, you're not stopping.'

‘Oh, we'll hang around for the party,' Rose said.

‘The party? I'm expected to throw a party every time you turn up on the doorstep?'

‘No, Mum,' said Rose, following her into the flat, ‘the party cos you've won the lottery.'

Jackie gave a snort of laughter, turning to look back at the doorway. ‘That? I just won some games thing. You know, on the scratchcards. Gave it to Mickey.' She peered over Rose's shoulder. ‘Come on, where's his nibs then? Doesn't he want a cup of tea?'

The Doctor appeared in the doorway, grinning. ‘Just waiting to be asked in.'

‘He needs to be asked in,' Rose said to her mum. ‘Like a vampire does.'

Jackie looked as if she believed it, as if she thought the Doctor might turn into a bat any minute.

‘Not really,' Rose added. ‘Shall we have that cup of tea, then?'

‘So, what's this scratchcard thing?' Rose asked after a bit, when they were settled comfortably on the white leather chairs in the lounge, and on to their second cup each.

Jackie leaned over to grab hold of her bag. She put in a hand and pulled out a sheaf of bits of orange cardboard. Rose took a couple. They all had a picture of a cartoon animal on them, with a giant speech bubble coming out of its mouth. The speech bubble had bits of silvery stuff on it, with ‘Sorry, you've not won this time! Please try again!' showing through on the card underneath, where the silver had been scratched off.

‘What's that, a hedgehog?' said Rose, indicating the cartoon animal.

‘Percy the Porcupine,' said Jackie. ‘It's this character they're using. Test promotion in this area. Every time you buy something down the town, you get one of these cards. Then you go to a little booth where there's some poor out-of-work student dressed as a porcupine, and they give you your prize. Daft thing is, they didn't even think to limit the number of cards you can get! If you get all your shopping a bit at a time, you can get dozens of the things. I got eight by breaking up a bag of carrots the other day.'

‘Oh, Mum!' said Rose, part embarrassed, part reluctantly proud.

Jackie sniffed. ‘Don't you “oh, Mum” me. It's not like I've got a lot to look forward to, my only daughter off gallivanting round the galaxy and me all alone here. Big prize is a holiday, and I couldn't half do with that. Sun, sand, men in little shorts . . .'

‘Talking mice?' Rose muttered under her breath. But Jackie wasn't listening.

‘Mrs Hall down the road won one, it's wasted on someone like that, you know what she's like, probably won't take her hat and coat off even if it's eighty degrees, and there's me with a bikini still with its label on stuck in the drawer that I've never had a chance to wear . . .'

‘Oh, Mum!' said Rose again.

‘Nothing like getting something for nothing, is there?' put in the Doctor.

‘And what's wrong with that, I'd like to know,' said Jackie, bristling.

‘Nothing. That's what I said.' The Doctor took the cards from Rose and examined them. ‘Just odd, don't you think, they don't seem to be promoting anything in particular. Beware porcupines bearing gifts, an' all that.'

Rose took back the cards and handed them to her mum. ‘It's a test thing, ain't it? They'll do the proper promoting when it's all over the country or whatever. Or maybe they just want people to spend more money at the shops. What, d'you think it's really aliens, trying to take over the world with free holidays and games consoles?'

‘Yeah, well, it could happen,' said the Doctor. He got up and wandered out of the room.

‘Don't mind us!' Jackie called after him. ‘Make yourself at home!'

‘I will, ta,' the Doctor's voice came back.

Rose turned back to Jackie. ‘Glad you're not moving to a country mansion, though.'

‘What?'

‘I thought you'd won the lottery, remember.'

Jackie sighed. ‘Wish I had. Wish I was getting out of this place.' She looked genuinely down for a moment.

Rose stared. ‘But you love this place! All your friends are here and everything!'

Jackie shrugged. ‘It's gone downhill since you left, sweetheart. Do you remember that Darren Pye? Went to your school.'

Rose thought for a second, and then shuddered. ‘Two years above me. Looked like a shaved gorilla only not as handsome. Hardly ever turned up, and when he did the police were usually not far behind him. Thumped kids for their lunch money, only he didn't stop with lunch money, and he didn't stop with thumping, either.'

‘He's moved in two down three across,' said Jackie.

Rose tried to picture which flat she meant. ‘What happened to Mrs McGregor?'

‘Started wandering about the streets in her nightie, thought it was still the war. That Tony of hers put her in a home down Sydenham way.'

‘And the council put in Darren Pye?'

‘They put in Mrs Pye, which means you get Darren.' Jackie shuddered. ‘It was when you phoned, he'd been having a go at that Jade, took her purse and her mobile – and she won't call the police, he said he'd have her if she did – wouldn't let her down the stairs, and she thought he was going to push her down them, and she's due any day – I had to go to her, she was crying so much I thought she'd have the baby then and there, and you read in the papers how long it takes ambulances to get here these days.' She, paused, half worried, half indignant. ‘She was that scared, I gave her my phone so she can call for help if she needs it, and I don't begrudge her although I'll miss it till I get it back and I hope she's not answering calls meant for me . . . I know it's not like aliens and that, and he's not even really hurt anyone yet, and it's not like he's trying to take over the world, but . . .'

The Doctor wandered back in then, hands behind his back, and leapt on this.

‘Yeah, aliens trying to take over the world usually have a better motive than just wanting to make people's lives a misery.'

Rose looked at the Doctor. ‘So, are we gonna sort him out then?'

The Doctor looked at her in mock surprise. ‘I never save anything smaller than a planet.' He grinned, and pulled his hands out from behind his back. He was holding something blue and furry. ‘Oh, and sometimes a teddy bear.'

She grabbed the furry object. ‘Mr Tedopoulos!' Then she thought for a second, and used the bear to whack him across the chest. ‘You went in my bedroom?'

TWO

R
ose thought they'd better go and see Mickey while they were there, because he'd never forgive her if they didn't, or so Jackie said, and Rose thought she was probably right. After all, it wasn't as if they'd ever even formally split up. But long-distance relationships were bad enough when one person went off to college, or got a job further than the end of a tube line; when someone was commuting from London to the end of the world, or to Victorian times or something, they didn't really stand much chance at all.

Mickey didn't seem particularly surprised to see them, and Rose guessed – which Mickey confirmed – that her mum had been on the phone the instant they left the flat. She looked at him, and felt an unexpected wave of affection surge through her. With his gorgeous dark skin and twinkling eyes, he really had been a bit of a catch. Didn't have a time machine, of course, but even so . . .

But that was her old life, and she wasn't that person any more.

‘Hope we're not interrupting anything,' she said.

‘Just playing a game, babe,' he said.

‘And you're how old? Six?' said the Doctor. ‘Nice bit of Snakes and Ladders, is it, or something a bit more sophisticated like Snap?'

Mickey didn't seem to take offence. ‘This games thing that Rose's mum got me. Thought it was a bit of a rip-off at first, not a PlayStation or an Xbox or anything and you only get one game, but it's brilliant. You'd like it. All aliens and stuff.'

The Doctor seemed unconvinced.

‘Come on, I'll show you,' Mickey said.

The Doctor had dragged a second chair up close to the TV, and Rose was perched on its arm. There was a pile of games on the floor:
Gran Turismo, Resident Evil, Bad Wolf, TimeSplitters 2
, loads of football stuff. She'd picked up the top one and was examining it: an orange cardboard box that had a picture of a cartoon porcupine shooting a cartoon insect-thing on it. Big black letters gave the game's name:
Death to Mantodeans.
The two men were discussing the game itself, passing the control pad between chairs, across Rose. She might have been a cushion for all the notice they were taking of her.

‘Smart graphics,' said the Doctor.

‘Yeah, first-person's cool, innit?' said Mickey. ‘All Blair Witchy, like you really feel you're there, yeah? And it's never the same twice. The amount of variables they must've programmed in is amazing.'

‘And it's got these porcupines in it, has it?' said Rose, trying to take part in the conversation. It wasn't as if she couldn't have been really good at this stuff herself if she'd wanted to be, but she just couldn't see the point. ‘The ones from the promotion?'

‘Yeah, right at the beginning,' Mickey said. ‘They're at war with these other things called Mantodeans, like giant praying mantises sort of thing, and they send you off on a mission to infiltrate the enemy stronghold. That's what it's all about. ‘Spect they'll pop up again at the end if you win. No one's done it yet, though.'

‘How d'you know?' Rose asked.

‘Cos I have my finger on the pulse, babe.'

She kept looking enquiringly at him till he continued. ‘They're offering a prize. First person to complete the game gets a load of cash. So everyone round here wants to give it a go. Nag at their mums till they win a game off the shopping. Set up a message board on the net an' that, talking about it. Hardly anyone's even got past the training level.'

‘Training level?' said the Doctor.

‘Yeah, that's what they call it. It's all cartoony, not like this stuff.' He indicated the screen, which currently showed a realistic-looking view of a tunnel entrance. ‘All tests and that. If it wasn't for the prize, I reckon a lot of people would've given up. But once you've done it, you get this intro about the proper game, the mission, and you get to play the good stuff.'

‘And not many people have got that far then?' asked Rose, pretending interest just for something to say.

‘Nah. Hardly any, I reckon. So just call me da man and get ready to worship at my feet, cos that prize is gonna be mine.'

The Doctor pointed at an indicator in the corner of the screen. The score wasn't very high. ‘Yeah, looks like you're on the home stretch, da man.'

Mickey got all defensive. ‘Yeah, well, no one's got very far yet. Reckon there's a glitch or something. Half the time it doesn't save your game and you have to go back to the beginning. And the puzzles you gotta work out, they're like mega brainy stuff. Maths and that.'

‘Puzzles?' said the Doctor.

Mickey reached across Rose for the controller, and pressed down on a button. On the TV screen, Rose watched a shaky corridor rush past. At the end was an imposing-looking door. A panel on the door came into focus, with numbers and letters scrolling across it.

The Doctor sat up. ‘I'm surprised anyone's got past this at all. Look at the algorithms on that!'

Mickey grinned. ‘Ladies present!'

The Doctor leaned across Rose and took the controller off Mickey.

‘There's all sorts of different ones,' Mickey said helpfully. ‘Some are sort of, you know, pictogrammy things. Or odd ones out, that sort of thing.'

The Doctor was already staring at the screen, muttering things like, ‘Convert that section to binary . . . If
d
equals 8.9 to the power of
y
 . . . Ha ha!' With a triumphant yell he stabbed at the controls. On the screen, the door slid open.

‘Watch out!' called Mickey. ‘They're the bad guys! The Mantodeans.'

On the other side of the door there was a cluster of monsters, which were, as Mickey had said, like giant green praying mantises. They stood upright on stick-thin legs and had terrifying pincer-like jaws that they began to snap together as they approached the door – it looked as if they were heading straight for the screen, as if they'd come out into Mickey's living room if they didn't stop.

‘Do I have any weapons?' asked the Doctor.

‘Arrow keys to aim, red button to fire,' said Mickey.

On the screen, the monsters shrieked one by one, as each fell in a blaze of laser beams.

‘You don't like guns,' said Rose critically.

‘I hate guns,' replied the Doctor. ‘Which isn't to say that a bit of fantasy violence can't be therapeutic. Now, here's the next door . . . Will there be any more Mantodeans the other side, I wonder?'

‘Yeah, probably,' said Mickey. ‘Only now they know you're there, they won't be so easy to get. First couple of times I did this, I got my head bitten off.'