Cold Fusion - Lance Parkin [8]
Scientists had managed to quantify the Machine: they measured exactly how tall and broad it was and they could calculate its mass and weight. They knew that it was built from metals that weren’t found on the planet, and so logically it must have originated elsewhere. They discovered.evidence that the Machine had grown over time. By scraping away at some of the surrounding rock, they had determined that the Machine had roots and branches, like a tree, and some of the panelling appeared more recent than neighbouring sections, almost like scar tissue.
But the scientists still didn’t know what the Machine was for.
The two-storey dome from which the scientists conducted their studies was on a more mundane scale than the Machine, an oasis of normality in a mile-high subterranean chamber: Now, thirteen hooded figures swept across the observation gallery, taking their allotted places.
They moved In unison, their hands grasping each wrist in turn, then the neck clasps, as they checked the seals on their radiation suits. Even this far away from the Machine, regulations demanded that thick protective clothing was worn. At a signal from their leader, they brought down their visors and began their work. Gloved fingers pulled down levers and tapped at control panels, twelve individuals moving in a carefully choreographed ritual. As they began chanting their reports, the babble of voices sounded like a church congregation.
Outside, the Machine responded. The lights on its side brightened almost imperceptibly. The earth was beginning to hum, pulsing every couple of seconds. The scientists sat back, awestruck. They were in the presence of a power beyond their comprehension, something that a more primitive race might describe as ‘divine’. The leader gave another Signal, and they returned to their controls. After another moment’s frantic activity, the Machine died back down.
A printer in the comer of the room chattered into life spooling out several feet of computer paper. One of the scientists was already standing over it. When the printout had finished, he tore the last sheet off and handed it to his leader, who raised the visor on her suit. She studied the report for a little under a minute.
Finally, she looked up. ‘First stage has been achieved.
Hypothesis confirmed. Estimated time before second stage completion?’ she asked her deputy.
‘Unknown, Chief Scientist. We predict that the second energy peak will occur within sixty minutes.
‘Proceed.’
Nyssa found the Doctor in the TARDIS cloisters. He was sitting on a stone bench, absent-mindedly playing with a frond of ivy.
‘That’s a Hedera helix. You really shouldn’t be touching it ‘ she said.’
‘It’s perfectly harmless, to a Time Lord at any rate,’ but the Doctor released the creeper, which sprang back against the wall He gestured around. ‘I wasn’t sure whether these had been ejected or not. Much of the TARDIS has gone: so many memories, so much of my past.’ A few days ago, to escape a trap devised by the Master, it had been necessary to remove much of the TARDIS’s mass. This had been a straightforward operation which gad saved their lives, but now a quarter of the interior had simply ceased to be. As far as the Doctor and his companions could ascertain, nothing of significance had been deleted. The cloisters were a hexagonal colonnade, part of a tranquil area not far from the console room. The sound of trickling water was coming from somewhere, its rhythm infinitely more soothing than the normal background hum of the TARDIS
engines.
‘It affected me.’
‘Of course it did,’ Nyssa consoled him.
‘It’s more than sentiment: you might say that the TARDIS is an aspect of me, just as I am an –’. The Doctor glanced into an oriental pool and his attention stuck