Doctor Who_ Lungbarrow Part 46

He glanced around the group.

'It left Gallifrey,' said Romana. 'Legends say that the Other stole it. Or that it pursued him across the stars and was never seen again.'

Dorothee thought of things she would not say. She saw Glospin watching her as he fingered his scarred arm.

'There.' Leela pointed up as the Doctor's shape sailed into the sky.

She s.n.a.t.c.hed at Glospin's heels as he moved off in pursuit.

193.

Chapter Thirty-one.

New Times for Old

Dark followed light. Day and night flickered in quick procession around the travel ers. Time moved forward again.

Buildings rose and were finished. Fires winked like demons' eyes.

Can't we go back to the House? thought Dorothee. What else is there to see?

There was no sign of the Doctor.

The watchers followed Glospin high across the cityscape, until he swooped towards a high parapet decked with fluttering banners.

A white-haired man was watching a parade pa.s.s on one of the bridges below.

'Incredible. Quite incredible.' His shoulders trembled with bursts of excitable laughter. He turned to survey the majestic buildings and arches around him.

'It can't be him,' whispered Romana. 'Tell me I'm wrong.'

'It is him,' said Innocet. 'The first Doctor. This is where he fled to. Into the past. The one place where he could not be followed.'

Glospin, who was closer, turned to them sneering.

'The circle is complete, Cousin.'

The crowds lining the route were not cheering aloud, but the roar of their thoughts was almost deafening. A ceremonial car was trundling past dragged by a horned and crested monster. Its occupant, crowned in triumph, raised his hands in acknowledgement.

'It's him,' muttered the old Doctor. 'Ra.s.silon himself! Incredible! Who does he think he is, eh? Behaving like some mythical potentate!'

He glanced towards a small pyramid of yel ow stone that stood nearby, incongruous against the vaulting architecture. A door opened in its side and the Hand of Omega, battered with age, slid into view.

Immediately, alarms echoed across the city. The commentary of the populous was eclipsed.

'What are you doing?' complained the old man as the box nudged at him, forcing him forward.

Below, Ra.s.silon's carriage was hurried on by its drivers. Guards were clearing the crowds.

The box drove the old Doctor on, forcing him down flights of steps, heedless of being sighted, until they moved out on to a deserted square.

The Omega Memorial rose above them.

'Well?' said the old man. 'And what is this to do with me, hmm? Why bring me here?'

The box ignored him, steering him to the foot of the monument, where it settled and made contented noises.

He poked his stick uncertainly at a wreath of pearl-grey roses that lay at the Memorial's foot.

Shouts disturbed him. Guards were running across the square from all directions.

194.

Instantly, the box rose to meet them. More and more guards surrounded it. They carried heavy-duty weapons, clearly designed specifical y to overpower the Hand.

As the first angry flashes began, the old Doctor slipped behind the monument and ran nimbly for cover.

Guards came after him. He dodged into a side alley only to find there was no way out.

Time froze again. The Doctor was there in his vest.

'Cousin Glospin and the Famous Five,' he said. 'Seen enough yet?'

'I already knew,' said Glospin. 'This just confirms how you've used us.'

'Then go away,' snapped the Doctor.

Romana moved in. 'We came to bring you back.'

'Why? Can't you afford to lose me? Well, you may have to. Don't stare like that, Innocet. I can't help who or what I might have been.'

'Did you know?' said Innocet. 'That's what matters.'

The Doctor looked at the older/younger version of himself, trapped in his blind alley.

'No,' he said. 'I had no idea.'

'Liar!' said Glospin.

Leela lunged at him. 'Take that back, snake tongue!'

'Does it matter?' said Chris. 'Don't we all owe him more than this?'

Dorothee was nodding. 'Of course, we do. Whoever he is, he's still...' She floundered. 'He's still the Doctor.'

'And more,' said Chris.

'Yes. Plenty more.'

Glospin moved close to the little man. 'What more is there, Wormhole? What else are you hiding?'

The Doctor smiled. 'Nothing, Cousin. It no longer matters. Just remember. I didn't know.'

The old Doctor was trapped in the alley. He turned to defy his pursuers, but a door opened beside him and a ragged girl looked out.

'Grandfather, in here!'

He stared for a moment before darting inside. Behind him, came the loud boom of explosions.

He let her take his hand and lead him between enclosed colonnades until they reached a small courtyard fil ed with stacks of rags and old clothes.

'Child,' he said, wheezing to catch his breath, 'how can I thank you?'

Her dark hair was straggled and her face was thin. She looked at him with huge brown eyes.

195.

'Grandfather? You said I'd know you when you came back.'

'Grandfather?'

She flung her arms around him. 'Oh, I knew it was you. I'd know you anywhere.'

'Nonsense, child,' retorted the Doctor. 'Grandfather indeed! I've never seen you before in my life!'

'But it is you. I know it is.' She looked so hurt.

'Indeed?'

'Yes.'

'And what makes you imagine that?'

'I know know, Grandfather. After the fires, you sent us away to Tersurus, but the s.p.a.cedrome was closed and there was an explosion. I went back home, but you'd gone.'

'Home?'

'But I couldn't stay there.' She tugged at a pile of rags and pulled out several books. 'I've had to live on the streets.

I sold books for food. I've waited a whole year for you, Grandfather. A year today.'

He put his hand gently on her shoulder. 'I don't know, child. I really don't know.'

Her eyes implored him. 'You've changed. You look different, but I'd know your thoughts anywhere. Don't you remember me?'

The old man shook his head. 'No, young lady. I do not know you.' He studied her hard, squinted as if he'd had a sudden thought. 'But your name is... Susan?'

'Yes, Grandfather.'

There were shouts from nearby.

He stood. 'We can't stay here. I must go back to the TARDIS.'

'Time and Relative Dimensions in s.p.a.ce,' she laughed. 'I gave you that idea.'

He was incredulous. 'Which way?' he said, shaking his head again.

She gathered a bag of books together and led him along the deserted cloisters, talking incessantly of her life since he left her. Her nurse had disappeared and she slept in the ruins of the temple where no one went. Today, the first ever festival of freedom, had been disrupted by strange alarms and now a curfew had been declared.

Eventually they reached the deserted parapet where the pyramid stood. The alarms were stil jangling.

He looked at her fondly. 'Susan, I think you mistake me for someone else. Someone you'd like to see...'

'No,' she protested.

He held up a finger. 'Let me finish, child. I cannot leave you here. I am an exile from my own time, but with this old ship, I plan to do a little sightseeing before I try to settle. Now will you join me, hmm? I think I'd like the company.'

She hugged him tight. Startled, he lifted his arms, and then gently embraced her as well.

'Yes, I think this wil work out rather well,' he said, ushering her into the pyramid. 'But a little less of that "Grandfather" business, if you don't mind.'

196.

[image]

As the door began to close, the watchers glimpsed the ghost of a long black box that shot from the shadows and in through the narrowing gap.

They heard the strained trumpeting of elephantine engines as the pyramid dissolved out of existence.

The Doctor had already gone. The others felt themselves being drawn after him as the astral reality dissolved in darkness around them.

Glospin was moving off too. 'Let's see Wormhole extricate himself from this,' he called to them.

'You still have no substantial evidence,' retorted Innocet.