Doctor Who_ All-Consuming Fire - Andy Lane [55]
'Have you ever read Poe?' the Doctor asked.
'I have no time for literature,' Mycroft replied.
'I have,' said Holmes.
I remembered listing Holmes's knowledge of literature as 'nil' shortly after we met. Either I had been wrong, or he had done a lot of catching up since then.
'In which case,' the Doctor continued, 'you may have come across his story A Tale of the Ragged Mountains. Of, if you prefer someone other than Poe, perhaps The Clock That Went Backwards and An Uncommon Sort of Spectre by Edward Page Mitchell.'
Holmes blinked: the only sign he gave of what I now know to have been a considerable shock.
'You claim to be some form of traveller . . . a traveller in time?'
'Yes,' the Doctor said simply. 'I do.'
'And further, do I understand that you claim other worlds, other planets such as Mars and Venus, can be reached with a step, and not a laborious and dangerous journey such as that described by Mr Verne in his book From the Earth to the Moon?'
Knowledge of astronomy - nil I had written six years ago. That list was looking increasingly suspect.
'If I fold a map of London such that Baker Street lies parallel to Wellington Street, could you not step straight from your lodgings into the Lyceum Theatre?' the Doctor asked ingenuously. I was about to comment on the difference between a map and reality, but the Doctor continued, 'Siger claimed to have witnessed Indian fakirs pass through what he described as a "doorway", through which he could see a landscape that was unfamiliar to him. The landscape of another planet.'
'Balderdash,' Mycroft expostulated.
'Baron Maupertuis does not think so,' the Doctor said.
'What do you mean?'
The Doctor seemed to grow within his strange costume. A flicker of sparks from the fire caught his eyes and made them glow with a fierce, blue light.
'Baron Maupertuis is raising an army to invade that world in the name of colonial imperialism. He intends claiming it by force. It's a barbaric act, and it must be stopped. I shall stop it. Humanity's crimes will be appalling enough when it eventually develops space travel, but to have Victorian armies spreading unchecked through dimensional gateways is almost too much to bear. And if the planet in question is inhabited... even with your antiquated weapons, the slaughter of innocent indigents could be immense.'
There was a silence after the Doctor spoke in which the import of his words seemed to echo gently, like a struck bell.
'How did Maupertuis hear about it?' I asked, then cursed myself for getting sucked into the Doctor's deranged story.
'I don't know,' he mused. 'Somebody must have tipped him off. Perhaps this Madame Sosostris. She appears to know more about piercing the veil than I would have liked'
'Or perhaps the cowled figure,' Holmes growled. 'I knew I should have stayed behind to unmask him!'
'I'm sorry,' Mycroft said, echoing my own thoughts, 'but this is all. too preposterous for words. I'm not surprised that you've got sucked into it, Sherlock, you always were an excitable child, but you, Sherringford, you disappoint me. I always looked up to you as the hard-working member of the family, devoid of fancy. Now I find you accepting this lunatic's unsubstantiated word for a story more riddled with holes than a Gruyere.
Talking of which, I do believe that I can hear a substantial dinner and a bottle of port calling to me, so if you'll excuse me...'
Mycroft began to manoeuvre his massive bulk towards the door, like a battleship attempting to come alongside a narrow dock.
'Unsubstantiated?' the Doctor said quietly, but with such force that Mycroft halted in his tracks. 'I think not. Perhaps you could introduce us to your other guest, Mr Holmes.'
Sherringford said nothing. The Doctor crossed the room and,