Cloaking Device
"Come on Jim! We didn't come to the beach so you'd spend all day reading!" shouted the severe looking man, as he tried to coax the boy back in to the water. Jim frowned back and determinedly focussed on his tatty paperback. Reaching over, he turned up the transistor radio, so Marc Bolan could extol the virtues of swan riding over any more unwarranted interruptions from his parents.
Jim had never thrilled to his family's annual pilgrimage to the various sea side resorts dotted around the country and he was even less enthusiastic about wasting precious weeks before the frightening new prospect of Comprehensive school life. He longed for his crowded bedroom at home and its enveloping world of Marvel Comics, Star Trek books and Star Wars characters.
The solitary high point of the late August week had been a trip to the local Cinema to see the latest blockbuster "Jaws". It was only after days of nagging that Jim's dad had relented and agreed to lie about the boy's age at the ticket desk; much to his mother's disapproval. Jim could still feel the shiver up his spine as Richard Dreyfuss first spotted the great white shark in the New England Ocean.
Jim was roused from his mental rerun by a loud burst of laughter from a pretty blond girl further up the beach. His pubescent hormones immediately kicked into top gear as he watched her laughing unselfconsciously. Her blond hair flicked over her bare shoulders as she shook in almost hysterical amusement. The summer sun shone warmly on her cherubic face, at odds with the shapely body filling her bright orange bikini. He snapped the 'off' switch on the radio, Bolan easily losing the battle for his attention.
The girl finally managed to regain her composure and she addressed the source of her merriment. "Doctor, where on earth did you get that outfit? It looks like something Queen Victoria would have knitted."
The imposing man she was speaking to stood scowling at the foot of the beach's solitary, wooden bathing hut. His tall, elegant form was encased in a thick woollen bathing costume, stretching from his knees up to his neck and along both arms. "My dear Jo, Prince Albert wore an identical costume himself, in fact he had this knitted especially for me."
"It's not exactly the thing to wear on the beach these days though, is it Doctor?"
The man's expression softened as he looked affectionately at his pretty friend. "No Jo, I suppose it's not."
"You shouldn't draw too much attention though." She looked across the wide swathe of sand stretching off into the distance and Jim quickly buried his head in his paperback; blushing crimson at the possibility she may have caught him watching her. Apart from Jim's parents and the couple by the bathing hut, there were only half a dozen pensioners sat in deckchairs, further along the sands. "It's hardly peak season, is it?" Jo continued.
"No, but St. David's is so pleasant. It would be a travesty to pass through without sampling its attractions. I remember helping to lay the foundation stone when the Cathedral was first built, or was that the renovation after the fire in the seventeenth century?"
Jo smiled patiently. "Probably both, knowing you. But remember we've only got one night here. I promised Uncle Frank we'd be in Porth Madog by tomorrow afternoon. We don't want you arranging a weekend brass rubbing with the Bishop or anything like that!"
"I know Jo; I'll make sure you don't let your Uncle down. I'm sure he can't wait to see you again after all this time."
"He can't wait to see us both."
The man smiled wistfully and looked out over the panoramic sands ahead of him. "It's incredible, isn't it Jo. Miles of almost deserted beach and the huge expanse of sea beyond, all part of a world that's only the tiniest speck of dust in the vastness of the cosmos and a flicker in the infinite stretches of time."
She put her small hand, weighed down with a host of chunky rings, on the man's woollen clad shoulder. "Come on let's have a swim, that's what we're here for isn't it?"
"Very well Miss Grant."
"All right, last one in buys the ice creams!" They both headed for the sea.
Jim's eyes followed them as discretely as I could, still digesting their bizarre conversation. He couldn't decide whether the man was as mad as a hatter or if his father (always eager to tease him about his obsession with science fiction) had set this up as some kind of cruel, practical joke. Not for the first time, he felt a wave of resentment against him. Jim couldn't help it if he wasn't following in his sport-mad footsteps. Give him a brain instead of a bat and ball, any day.
They were in the water now, too far away for Jim to hear their conversation; chatting and swimming a few yards from his mother and father. Despite his maturity, the Doctor was a powerful swimmer and confidently displayed his prowess to his young companion. Their stay in the water was brief, however, soon making their way back up the beach and in to ear shot.
As they settled back down at the beach hut, the girl dabbed at her damp face with a thick, fluffy towel. She looked curiously at the man, who was now sat in a candy striped, deck chair at her side. Despite his recent furious medley of swimming strokes, his bathing costume was bone dry and not a drop of sea water clung to his grey, bouffant hair. She seemed to stop herself from asking for an explanation as he gave a barely disguised smirk, implying that he new exactly what the girl was thinking.
"Most refreshing, Jo. I always used to find that fifty lengths with Johnny Weissmuller was the perfect way to work up an appetite. My 'Plaice Florentine' will be even more welcome this evening."
The Doctor turned towards the crumbling bathing hut, but was stopped in his tracks by a piercing scream from the water's edge. He turned to look and tensed; Jim's mother was screaming hysterically and pointing out into the sea at her husband, who was flapping his arms manically amongst the waves. Jumping up, Jim ran to join her, but could only stand open mouthed in shock.
"He's drowning!" shouted Jo, as she and the Doctor ran towards the water's edge.
"Can't he swim?" asked the Doctor urgently, as his long legs carried him towards the sea ahead of his friend.
"Yes," stammered Jim's mother, "but…"
The Doctor looked again at the man flailing about, twenty meters from the water's edge and shared a disbelieving look with Jo as she caught him up. There was a rich vein of red colouring the seawater around Jim's father and circling towards him was the unmistakable form of a huge shark's fin.
"It can't be," murmured the Doctor as he stared at the water ahead of him.
"Doctor, we have to help!" shouted Jo and started to move towards the water.
"Don't worry Jo, we will, we will." He held her back with his left arm as he reached inside an almost invisible pocket in his bathing costume with his right. He pulled out a silver tube about eight inches long. Mounted at the end was a red band at right angles to the shaft, with a silver recess fixed in its centre. A number of buttons dotted the side of the tube.
The Doctor raised the device and pressed two of the buttons in combination, causing it to emit a jarringly high pitched, electronic whine. The frantic movement in the water immediately intensified as the shark moved faster and closer to the terrified man.
Jim's mother screamed in horror again. Jo looked at her friend alarmed. "Doctor?"
"All right Jo, just a small adjustment." He pressed another button on the device and the pitch of its emission moved perceptively higher.
"Oh God," cried Jim's mother, as she clasped her hands to her ears. Both Jo and Jim grimaced at the noise.
The effect on the shark, however, was immediate; changing direction and heading quickly out to sea. It disappeared beneath the waves only seconds after its departure from Jim's ashen faced father.
The Doctor waited a few moments longer before turning off his mysterious gadget. He surveyed the scene before him: Jim and his mother standing silently in shock as his father treaded water, a look of confusion replacing the pain and panic of a few moments earlier.
Jo broke the quiet, rushing into the water to help the man back onto the beach. "Come on Doctor, he needs help!" She cried. Her companion only looked on ponderously.
Annoyed by his reticence, she sat the man gently on the wet sand and started to examine him for wounds. The examination didn't take long. There wasn't a single bite, cut or even a blemish on his entire body.
"That's impossible!" Jo exclaimed. The Doctor finally joined her at the man's side. "The water was red with blood." She looked out at the stage of the spectacle. The water was clear and calm. Jim looked on as bemused as the girl. "Surely, all that blood couldn't have disappeared so quickly?"
"That's not the only mystery Jo," said the Doctor. "How can a great white shark appear thousands of miles from its natural feeding grounds in water far too shallow and cold for it to swim in?"
As Jim's mother hugged her husband with obvious relief, Jim sunk to his knees on the sand, the shock of events sinking in. He started to shiver, despite the warm afternoon sun.
The Doctor's strange metal tube started to make a new sound: a dull intermittent bleep this time. He held it up and frowned in concentration. "How very strange," he stated thoughtfully.
"What is it Doctor?" asked Jo.
"Intense psychic energy Jo and very near by!" He swung the device in a wide arc and the frequency of the bleeping intensified as it passed near Jim's shaking head. The boy looked up dully.
"Good heavens!" said the Doctor. He moved to Jim's side and crouched on his haunches as the tube continued to ratchet up in its emissions. He waved the device carefully around the boy's skull, as the beeping slowly began to fade in volume and rapidity. His parents looked on in confusion.
"Is he all right?" asked Jo.
"Quite fine." The Doctor looked at Jim intently, his lined face both frightening and reassuring at the same time. "You, young man, are a very special boy indeed." His device had stopped now and he turned back to the girl. "Jo, this young chap briefly demonstrated a level of unconscious psychic projection that isn't supposed to occur in your species for several hundred years!"
The girl looked worriedly at her friend, as she knelt at Jim's side and put a comforting arm around his shoulders. Despite his shock, he could feel his cheeks flushing with embarrassment again. "So what do we do Doctor?" She smiled at Jim and squeezed him towards her.
"Nothing Jo. The energy has completely dissipated now and without any residue, I have no way of knowing if it will recur or not. Probably just a freak, temporal genetic-flux. I'm pretty sure it's not going to happen again."
"'Pretty sure' Doctor?"
"Well, um, not entirely sure." He rubbed the back of his neck, frowning in thought. "It would be best if I monitored the young chap in case of a recurrence." He looked down benevolently at Jim. He was still shaking, despite the girl's attentions. "Jo, would you go and get my cloak from the beach hut please?"
"Doctor?"
"Please Jo. Oh and Jo, empty the pockets first."
After what seemed an inordinate length of time, whilst the Doctor just looked nervously at the boy's silent parents, Jo returned with a billowing velvet cloak. "Here, we are Doctor," the girl said frowning. "But I'm not sure if there's enough room in Bessie for all that stuff you had in your pockets!"
The Doctor knelt in front of Jim. "Now young man", he said gently, as he pulled the cloak around the shivering boy. "You could be quite the most special person on this entire planet and don't you forget that. I want you to keep my cloak with you always and I mean 'always'! Can you promise me that?"
"Ye-, yes," Jim stammered back, snuggling into the warm, reassuring, velvet swirl of material.
The Doctor addressed his parents, who were still stunned by the whole chain of events. "Take very good care of your son. I'll be back to check up on him one day." With that, he touched his companion on her shoulder and she gave Jim one last beaming smile as they both walked slowly up towards the bathing hut. "Now Jo, about that 'Plaice Florentine'!"
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