Cold Fusion - Lance Parkin [117]
Adam broke into a smile, imagining the chaos that a single storm was bringing to the Scientifica. He unzipped his bag and removed the fusion charge. It was about the size of a cigar. He wondered for a moment where he should plant the bomb for maximum effect. Then he remembered the blast radius of the bomb and realized that he didn’t have to be too fussy.
‘What are you doing?’ a distinctive Celtic voiced asked.
The Doctor turned, still not yet used to the idea that the small scruffily dressed man represented his own future.
‘Trying to find a way to boost the signal. That way we can send a warning to the pyramid.
The smaller Doctor nodded thoughtfully, pursing his lips. ‘Hmmm. Yes. It might work.’
The fifth Doctor peered at him over his glasses. ‘Look, if you don’t want to help, then don’t, but please don’t get in my way. Time is rather pressing.’ He returned to the innards of the machine, locating what looked like the signal booster. If he could find a way to increase its power supply without burning it out...
There was a tap on his shoulder. The Doctor whirled round and loomed over his future self, making him blink.
‘Now look, things are getting critical here, and there isn’t any time to lose. If you want to make yourself useful, then check that apparatus. It’s a remote control for a TARDIS
and in a couple of minutes, we’ll need to –’
‘– double check that temporal fusion has worked and that the Machine is on course, yes, very good,’ the little man said. ‘Sorry, but this is all getting a bit convoluted.
Could you explain something for me?’
‘Quickly,’ the Doctor snapped, turning back to his work.
‘Fine, fine, quickly. I’ll try to be concise. Er...’ he paused, apparently to deliberately infuriate his earlier self.
‘That’s it: what’s Adam got?’
‘A fusion bomb.’ The signal booster was quite fragile a nanochip with a crystalline structure. ‘
‘How do you know that it’s a fusion bomb?’
‘I was there when he got it,’ the Doctor used the tone he usually used to talk to small children, or Tegan. He removed the booster, and reconfigured the surface with the sonic screwdriver.
The seventh Doctor tutted. ‘Careless. You should have stopped him from getting hold of it. Or better still, you should have defused it.’
The booster slotted easily back into place and began warming up. ‘Adam took a bomb before I had a chance to ‘
the Doctor explained patiently. ‘
Tegan screamed all the way to the transmat chamber, and had to be carried. Nyssa and Chris were more subdued.
One Adjudicator placed her on the transmat platform, two others restrained her companions.
‘I’m sorry,’ she told them, trying to compose herself.
Chris shook his head. ‘I feel the same way.’
‘Goodbye, Tegan,’ Nyssa said quietly. From her tone of voice, Tegan could guess that she had little confidence in the transmat process. Dareau just smiled.
‘I thought the Adjudicators enforced justice,’ Tegan said defiantly. The Adjudicator-Lieutenant’s face had set into a permanent expression of cruel indifference. Everything about his appearance, from his cropped hair to the glint in his dark brown eyes, suggested that he revelled in his sadistic image.
‘There have always been fanatics in the Guild,’ Chris said, ‘always a few who are more interested in the punishment than the crime.’
Dareau was watching him with contempt. ‘A pretty speech. I won’t ask where you got it from.’
‘Do it if you’re going to,’ Tegan said defiantly, straightening herself.
‘Tegan,’ Chris said, ‘remember your rights.’
Dareau pressed the dematerialization control.
Tegan screamed.
Then realized she had arrived at the pyramid.
A Scientifica technician was lying in a pool of blood in the middle of the room. Adam was by a control panel, looking up at the source of the noise. Now he turned his attention back to the bomb in his hand.
‘No he didn’t.’
The fifth Doctor frowned, finally looking back. ‘What do you mean?’
‘I defused it,’ his future self said joyfully.