Cold Fusion - Lance Parkin [103]
When evidence of the Machine and its Pilot were unveiled in the Court itself, that would have brought home the nature of the threat.
That was before the enemy had started massing at the Waystation, only a couple of hundred kilometres away.
Medford had been unable to contact Whitfield at the research dome. The Machine may have already fallen into the hands of the enemy.
The Doctor began calling to him as soon as he was within earshot. ‘Provost-General, you must listen to me.
There is a dangerous piece of machinery on this planet.
You know of it: you found Patience there, and the Scientifica are running experiments on it.’
Medford’s face remained stony. He was face to face with the Doctor now. ‘You know what the Machine is?’
‘It was built by our people,’ Patience said.
Medford nodded, as though he had known all along.
‘And what is it?’
The Doctor seemed to consider his options for a moment. ‘It’s a time machine,’ he admitted, ‘a broken one.’
The Adjudicator considered this for a couple of seconds.
‘Can you fix it?’
‘I not only can, I must,’ the Doctor insisted. ‘The TARDIS has already been activated on a number of occasions and it’s caused damage to the structure of time. If you check with the Chief Scientist, you’ll find that the ghosts only appeared for as long as the TARDIS was active.
If the Scientifica attempt a full-scale flight, then... well, I don’t know what the consequences would be.’ He was telling the truth, or was a skilled liar.
‘The logical thing to do would be to destroy the Machine’ Medford concluded.
The Doctor paused for a moment. ‘It’s indestructible.’
‘Nothing’s indestructible, Doctor.’
‘There is a better way,’ Patience said. We can return the TARDIS home.’
‘Home?’ Medford asked casually, trying to get her to reveal more. She was clearly an intelligent woman, but seemed naive in comparison with the Doctor. Five minutes’ talking, and she’d tell him everything he needed to know about the alien threat: the level of technology, the types of weapons, strategy and philosophy.
‘To Gallifrey, the moment it left,’ she explained. ‘If guided properly, the flight would undo all the damage that has already been done. It’s called temporal fusion.’
Medford had checked the name Gallifrey with the Imperial Datanet – the Doctor had used it before. The planet was not listed anywhere, not even in the Blue Book of the Unitatus or the most obscure of the discredited early deep space travelogues. ‘And you can perform this temporal fusion?’
‘I’ve not seen the state of the TARDIS yet, but it’s had millions of years to recover. It should be fairly close to working order by now. You must take me to the research station,’ Medford smiled. ‘But of course.’
The wallscreen beside was buzzing with disjointeded reports of military action across the planet. The terrorists were taking full advantage of the freak weather, but the peacekeeping force was more than a match for them.
Forrester had made her opinion clear: she didn’t believe a word of it.
The scientists had adjourned to the research dome for the night. Before they had finished, they had managed to identify more of the instruments in the control room of the Machine. Whitfield had made some solemn speech to the effect that humanity was taking its first steps to a full understanding of the Time Machine and its operating principles. Then she’d ordered that Roz and Adric were taken to one of the spare bunkrooms and locked up for the night.
The Scientifica technician given the task bent over Adric and fluffed up his pillow. The boy had already