Doctor Who_ Beyond the Sun - Matthew Jones [85]
‘I find it very hard to believe that the Sunless created something as complicated as the Blooms.’
‘Created? Oh no. I should think that the Blooms predate the Sunless. I suspect that they are the descendants of the race which built the Blooms. I’ve managed to piece together a little of what happened, but they’re not the greatest of conversationalists and they don’t write history books. A party of Sunless found the permanent research base the Piercy Corporation had set up here. After learning that they had removed the Blooms, the Sunless killed the profiteers and used their spaceships as a template for a fleet of their own.’
‘That would have taken decades.’
‘Oh, centuries, I would have thought. But the Sunless were determined to retrieve their newly discovered ancestors’ legacy.’
‘And then they came to Ursu to reclaim the Blooms?’
‘Not only the Blooms. The Piercy Corporation picked this place clean. We’ve spent the last year tracking down all of the equipment which was removed. It’s been quite a task.’
‘But why do this for them? You’re an Ursulan. I can’t believe that you’re interested in profit or war.’
‘No. We’re not interested in money.’
‘Are you intending to enslave Ursu? Dominate the world with your will?’
‘Don’t be ridiculous. We’re not interested in that stupid little playground world. We’re going to unleash the power of a sun. Now that the Sunless have learnt that they are not alone and that there are others in the universe they want the power their ancestors buried for them here. And with that we’re going to be able . . . well, to do whatever we want!’
‘But the Blooms are here and nothing has happened. No power. Nothing. If there ever was anything like that here it is long gone.’
Nikolas disagreed. ‘The power only needs to be unlocked.’
‘Unlocked?’
He pulled a package from his pocket. Delicately he unwrapped it and produced a small figurine.
‘Key,’ he said, simply.
Kitzinger was interested despite herself. ‘There’s no mention of any keys in the writing we’ve translated,’ she said sceptically, as she turned the small crystal statue in her hands.
Nikolas was undeterred, quoting excitedly from the translations she had provided for him. ‘The power will be unleashed by the visionaries.’
She held up the little sculpture in front of her. ‘You think this is what they meant by visionary?
Do you have any evidence for your suggestion? I mean at all? The writing attributes agency to the visionaries. I had rather imagined that they were people. And, anyway, there are meant to be two of them.’
‘This is only half of the key.’
‘So where is the other visionary then?’
‘The second visionary was harder to locate, but it is being brought here as we speak.’
16
SOUR TIMES
Extract from the diary of Bernice Summerfield
We walked the streets of Anarray in silence. Nobody spoke. I don’t remember where we went or for how long. We couldn’t have stayed in the dormitory even if we had wanted to. The Sunless were bound to return at some point.
No one knew what to say. I was grateful that my throat was too sore to allow me to say much at all. Tameka and Emile were concerned for Scott, but were too frightened to give voice to their fears. Turning it into words would only make it more real.
Whoever had alerted the Sunless to our existence was after the artefact. Nothing else was taken, although almost all our possessions were destroyed. Which meant that Iranda was lying about its value. I had no idea what it mattered or what I could have done about it.
I didn’t really care.
I watched Tameka as she picked through the remains of her belongings, salvaging her shattered make-up compacts. Emile just stood in the corner with his arms wrapped around himself looking pale. Their distress was palpable. I just wanted to take them away, magic them home.
We probably walked for miles. I was aware that my feet were hurting, but that was probably only from a night spent in stilettos. Eventually, we stopped in a small city garden and sat on the grass, not looking at each other. The