Cold Fusion - Lance Parkin [11]
‘I’m not sure I understand it yet.’
‘You’ll never know unless you try,’ smiled the Doctor: Nyssa started reading, ‘Distance from star 107.9 Million Miles, Gravity 98% Earth Normal, atmospheric density slightly thinner, radiation slightly higher, the year is 413
Earth days long, local day is 16.9 hours. A very low surface temperature. Some evidence of industrial pollution.’
Adric was at another control panel. ‘We’re way off course, Doctor.’
The Doctor bobbed across and peered at the indicators.
‘So we are.’
‘Do you know where we are?’ Tegan asked.
The Doctor was at the scanner controls again. The picture zoomed out, and now the whole planet was visible, not just a section.
‘Still in Earth’s galaxy, many centuries in your future.
That planet has been settled by your descendants.’
‘How can you be sure?’
‘You see that narrow black band?’ The Doctor indicated the screen. The equator of the planet was marked out just as it would be on a globe, a neat line dividing the planet into northern and southern hemispheres. ‘The planet is extremely cold. At the poles elements like oxygen and nitrogen that are gases on Earth are solid: they’ve become frozen into ice. If you were to set foot at the pole, the temperature of your body would cut through the ice like a blowtorch and you’d burn down hundreds of metres. Now, at the equator, the planet is much warmer, just like it is on Earth. When humans arrived here, naturally they settled at the equator. Over the years, the settlements grew from villages into cities, but new building only spread out along that narrow strip where the climate is comfortable for humans. Now it’s just one big urban area.’
‘And people can’t live anywhere else?’ Now it was Nyssa and Adric’s turn to look confused. From what Tegan could gather, they’d both come from planets with stable, Mediterranean climates.
‘Sure,’ Tegan said, looking at Adric in particular. ‘It sounds like Australia.’
The Doctor frowned. ‘In what way?’
‘All the big cities lining the coast, everything else a desert. Too hot, too cold, what’s the difference?’
The other three opened their mouths to explain, but before they could two men were standing in front of them, an inch or so from the ground. They wore identical stiff black robes, their faces were angular. One moved a little closer to the Doctor, and made an odd gesture, a stroke of the hand that could have been a greeting, or a salute. Their robes were flapping, as if they were standing in the middle of a storm. They turned away and then they were gone.
‘Did you see them?’ the Doctor asked, striding over to where the apparitions had stood. Everyone had. The Doctor waved his hand over the exact spot. There was no lasting trace of them, and it was already tempting to believe that they were a trick of the light.
‘Doctor!’ Adric called, clearly worried.
The Doctor was bending down, examining the floor.
‘Mmm?’
‘We’re moving again.’
‘No, no. Quite impossible.’ He didn’t look up.
‘The column’s going up and down,’ Adric insisted.
The Doctor glanced over his shoulder. Within a second he was at the console. ‘The TARDIS has automatically initiated landing procedures and locked out the controls.
Extraordinary.’
The column ground to a halt and there was a resonant chime from deep beneath the floor.
The TARDIS had landed in a narrow alleyway. The Doctor stepped out into an inch of snow. He pulled his overcoat tightly around him and ventured out a few feet.
Nyssa, Tegan and Adric emerged in turn. They had all managed to find winter clothing that fitted them in the TARDIS wardrobe: Nyssa was in a tailored cashmere coat, Adric had found a parka and a fur hat with earmuffs, Tegan was wearing a fur coat over her air hostess uniform.
‘This is as warm as it’s going to get, then?’ The air was dry, desiccated by the bitter, cold, and it almost hurt to breathe it. How much colder it must seem to a human.
‘Yes Tegan’ the Doctor said patiently. ‘We’ve landed at the equator, in that city I showed you. It’s late afternoon by the look of it.’
‘I’m glad I packed my legwarmers.