Doctor Who_ Alien Bodies - Lawrence Miles [130]
Time slowed, and slowed, and slowed, until the Doctor wondered if the entire fourth dimension was going to collapse into a single point. He’d thought, like the idiot he was, that if he activated the shrine’s engines, he’d be able to communicate with its control systems. But the shrine was big, bigger than he’d expected, almost as powerful as one of the TARDIS units it had been modelled on. His mind wasn’t strong enough to control it, not without the techniques of the Faction to help him. He wondered if he’d be here forever, frozen in this one moment of existence, never being able to break free of the shrine’s grip.
Then this was it. The end. Or rather, an eternity of never having an end. No escape, no last-minute rescue.
Defeatist thinking.
But logical.
When have I ever been logical? And why am I arguing with myself, anyway?
You’re arguing with yourself because you don’t have anybody else to argue with. Except for the Spirits, but the Spirits don’t care.
Oh no. You again. I thought you said you were a “temporary” psychosis?
I am. All this exposure to Paradox technology must have triggered a relapse. Don’t worry about it, I’ll be gone soon enough. Once you’re used to the idea of spending the rest of your life here, anyway. Sorry, what were we talking about before?
I don’t want to talk to you. Talking to one’s madnesses is the first sign of madness.
Oh yes. We were talking about Sam. We were saying how convenient it was, that a girl like her should turn up just when you needed her most. And she does have two sets of biodata. You’ve guessed that, haven’t you? Qixotl didn’t notice it, but only because the two sets are so similar, from a non-human’s point of view. Something’s altered her timeline, Doctor. Something’s filtered out her self-destructive impulses. Turned her into TARDIS fodder.
Don’t be ridiculous. Who’d do a thing like... oh. Oh, I see.
What do you see?
You’re saying Sam’s a plant. An agent for another power, is that it?
Hmm. Not that I want to insult the girl, but I don’t think Sam’s quite cut out to be a Wolf of Fenric. Do you?
Rassilon!
I’m sorry?
Rassilon. He was the last major life force I met before Sam arrived on the TARDIS. If she’s part of his game...
Oh, good grief. You have to blame him for everything, don’t you? Nobody “planted” Sam. You’ve seen the truth, here in the ziggurat. You’ve seen the effect you can have on the universe. You’ve seen the damage you can do, without even lifting a finger. Without even having to be alive, come to think of it.
What are you suggesting?
Remember what I told you? About you being a living equation, a function of the universe. Well, suppose the function thinks it’s incomplete. What happens then? Suppose, on some deep-rooted unconscious level, you feel like you need someone to be there for you. The function reaches out into the vortex... which is quite easy, let’s be honest, because your biodata’s wired into the vortex anyway... and finds someone. Someone it can make part of itself. A few little alterations to the timeline, that’s all it takes.
I don’t believe it. It’s not possible.
You’ve got things in your biodata no one else has got, remember? Or you will have, at some point before you die. Things powerful enough to let your subconscious bend the timelines all by itself. That’s why your biomass is so valuable, I’d guess. And that’s the worst part, isn’t it? You must affect everyone like that, one way or another. It’s like I said. You never think of the consequences.
No. I still don’t believe it.
Sam has two sets of biodata...
You’re obsessed! There are things that can cause that kind of anomaly. You know that. Wrinkles in the continuum. Being on board the TARDIS would make her prone to that kind of distortion anyway.
Possibly. Possibly not. But what happens if you ever find out it’s all your doing? The idea’s been bothering you ever since the vault, I know it has.
No. If that were true, then... no. I won’t listen.
‘Doctor?’
Say what you like. I know you’re wrong.
‘Doctor, can you hear me?’
It