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avevale_intelligencerShe stood over the body, and felt something starting to go wrong.
She'd gone off schedule. That was bad. It was important to keep to the schedule. Otherwise...otherwise...she couldn't think. It would come to her. She was special, after all. But something was going wrong. She looked at the others. They were starting to feel it too. They couldn't help.
She had to get away from the...from the thing. She went outside and leaned against the wall, breathing deeply, trying to recapture her scattered thoughts. The fact that she couldn't was part of the problem, but she couldn't remember quite why. Something was going wrong. She had to focus, focus, focus. She would be able to work it out. She was special.
Something was breaking. Cracking. Overstretched. What was it? She couldn't remember. But they would help, the people who... Yes, they would know. Her thoughts were trying to run away in all directions, but they couldn't move fast enough to get away from the...from whatever. She had to hold on to something. It was all right to let her knees go, that wasn't important. Something was cracking, breaking. Falling down. She was falling down. But that was all right, the floor would catch her. It was more important to remember. Remember what? She had a brief moment of panic, and then forgot why.
Falling down. She grabbed at the phrase. Something was falling down. If she told them, they'd be able to put it right. They seemed to be taking a long time to get here, but then everybody else always took a long time when you were special. She could hold on. She was special. She just needed to remember...
There was a song. She could tell them with the song. Then they'd make it all better. She just needed to hold on to the song. She started to sing it under her breath, no longer aware that her limbs had lost co-ordination, no longer aware of what she had done, all of what was left of her mind focussed on the one thing she knew she needed to remember.
"Lond-on bridge is fall-ing down...fall-ing down...fall-ing down..."
*
Extract from an interview with Cmdr W.L. Tremayne, KBE, released under the Thirty-Year Rule:
Q. What happened then?
A. Well, the balance of power changed, didn't it? It was the seventies, détente and all that, and there was constant infighting among the various agencies. They said our methods were too direct, that we were taking jobs that could be covered more cheaply by farming them out. And then there was this new outfit, UNIT. I don't know what kind of influence they had behind them, but their approach was deemed more suited to the current political climate. So, NEMESIS was disbanded. Thank you very much, here's your OBE, don't forget about the Official Secrets Act will you, now push off.
Q. Do I sense some lingering grievance there?
A. Good heavens no. Glad to be out of it, if you want me to be honest. Liver was starting to play up, and frankly the goalposts were shifting so rapidly in those days an old war horse like me couldn't keep up with them. Anyway, I managed to make myself useful in other spheres. No, I told Lethbridge-Stewart at the time, I said good luck to you. Rather you than me, old chap. Didn't do too badly on the whole, I suppose.
Q. And what about your agents?
A. Most of them found other jobs within the profession, if you want to call it that. NATO, MI5, so on and so forth. Some of them even went to UNIT.
Q. But not all of them.
A. Now I know who you're asking about, and I have to tell you, I have no idea what happened to those three. Completely disappeared. Not that I had any particular urge to look for them. I mean, we got on well at the time, but I always felt there was some sort of a distance between us, that they were holding back from me. Which is all well and good, of course. I'm a fairly private person myself. But we never--oh, what's the word these days?--we never "bonded," if you know what I mean. Saved my life on a number of occasions, of course, so really I suppose that should have forged a bond, but somehow it never did.
Q. Would you work with them again?
A. From here? (laughs) I suppose they could change my drip feed or something. If I were young again, though, absolutely. No question. Best in the business, they were. Nobody like them. (Pause) I'm afraid you'll have to excuse me now.
Q. Thank you, Commander Tremayne.
She'd gone off schedule. That was bad. It was important to keep to the schedule. Otherwise...otherwise...she couldn't think. It would come to her. She was special, after all. But something was going wrong. She looked at the others. They were starting to feel it too. They couldn't help.
She had to get away from the...from the thing. She went outside and leaned against the wall, breathing deeply, trying to recapture her scattered thoughts. The fact that she couldn't was part of the problem, but she couldn't remember quite why. Something was going wrong. She had to focus, focus, focus. She would be able to work it out. She was special.
Something was breaking. Cracking. Overstretched. What was it? She couldn't remember. But they would help, the people who... Yes, they would know. Her thoughts were trying to run away in all directions, but they couldn't move fast enough to get away from the...from whatever. She had to hold on to something. It was all right to let her knees go, that wasn't important. Something was cracking, breaking. Falling down. She was falling down. But that was all right, the floor would catch her. It was more important to remember. Remember what? She had a brief moment of panic, and then forgot why.
Falling down. She grabbed at the phrase. Something was falling down. If she told them, they'd be able to put it right. They seemed to be taking a long time to get here, but then everybody else always took a long time when you were special. She could hold on. She was special. She just needed to remember...
There was a song. She could tell them with the song. Then they'd make it all better. She just needed to hold on to the song. She started to sing it under her breath, no longer aware that her limbs had lost co-ordination, no longer aware of what she had done, all of what was left of her mind focussed on the one thing she knew she needed to remember.
"Lond-on bridge is fall-ing down...fall-ing down...fall-ing down..."
*
Extract from an interview with Cmdr W.L. Tremayne, KBE, released under the Thirty-Year Rule:
Q. What happened then?
A. Well, the balance of power changed, didn't it? It was the seventies, détente and all that, and there was constant infighting among the various agencies. They said our methods were too direct, that we were taking jobs that could be covered more cheaply by farming them out. And then there was this new outfit, UNIT. I don't know what kind of influence they had behind them, but their approach was deemed more suited to the current political climate. So, NEMESIS was disbanded. Thank you very much, here's your OBE, don't forget about the Official Secrets Act will you, now push off.
Q. Do I sense some lingering grievance there?
A. Good heavens no. Glad to be out of it, if you want me to be honest. Liver was starting to play up, and frankly the goalposts were shifting so rapidly in those days an old war horse like me couldn't keep up with them. Anyway, I managed to make myself useful in other spheres. No, I told Lethbridge-Stewart at the time, I said good luck to you. Rather you than me, old chap. Didn't do too badly on the whole, I suppose.
Q. And what about your agents?
A. Most of them found other jobs within the profession, if you want to call it that. NATO, MI5, so on and so forth. Some of them even went to UNIT.
Q. But not all of them.
A. Now I know who you're asking about, and I have to tell you, I have no idea what happened to those three. Completely disappeared. Not that I had any particular urge to look for them. I mean, we got on well at the time, but I always felt there was some sort of a distance between us, that they were holding back from me. Which is all well and good, of course. I'm a fairly private person myself. But we never--oh, what's the word these days?--we never "bonded," if you know what I mean. Saved my life on a number of occasions, of course, so really I suppose that should have forged a bond, but somehow it never did.
Q. Would you work with them again?
A. From here? (laughs) I suppose they could change my drip feed or something. If I were young again, though, absolutely. No question. Best in the business, they were. Nobody like them. (Pause) I'm afraid you'll have to excuse me now.
Q. Thank you, Commander Tremayne.
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Date: 2010-06-04 12:45 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-06-04 02:06 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-06-04 06:03 pm (UTC)forward to-- er, more to which to look forward. When you're ready...