Doctor Who_ Camera Obscura - Lloyd Rose [37]
The Doctor’s. eyes flashed. ‘You fool. Do you think Time is nothing but a flame to imprison in your little lantern? Do you think I am?’ He stepped back and smiled, grimly. ‘Speaking of which, how are the side effects?’ Sabbath said nothing. ‘I see. A little twinge on Station One perhaps. A slight weakness in Spain. And perhaps a bit of difficulty about ten days ago?’ The Doctor laughed. ‘Still, quite an accomplishment. The very first human-alien transplant. I hope you kept records.’
‘Octave‘s existence,’ said Sabbath, as if the Doctor hadn’t spoken, ‘indicates a severe interference in the stream, either deliberate or accidental.’
‘It was Octave who tried to kill me.’
Sabbath sighed irritably. ‘I should have guessed. I assume you tried to talk to him, and he panicked.’
‘More or less.’
‘So, instead of solving the problem, you might have got yourself killed.’ Sabbath smirked. ‘Dear me. That would never do.’
‘I appreciate your concern,’ said the Doctor drily. ‘Of course, given your regrettable paucity of allies, I suppose I’m worth keeping around. And though I hate to say it – given my new understanding of what you call the situation, I now agree we should join forces.’
‘Is that why you came?’
‘No, of course not. I just came to get on your nerves.’ The Doctor strolled to the fireplace, tossed the cushion back into the armchair, and flopped into it. ‘They are your nerves, aren’t they? Haven’t borrowed them as well?’
‘Shall we return to Octave?’ said Sabbath stiffly.
‘By all means. What was the question? Oh yes – is his interference in the timestream deliberate or accidental? I rather think accidental, don’t you? Difficult to imagine a fiendish plot in which Octave could be a tool. I’ll have to ask him.’
Sabbath smiled, pityingly but with a glint of amusement. ‘Oh yes,’ he said softly. ‘It worked so well the first time.’
‘Never give up,’ said the Doctor blithely. ‘That’s my motto.’
‘What exactly happened to you, anyway?’
‘Crushed chest. One of those – what do you call them? Flyweights.’
‘Your TARDIS put you back together.’
‘In a manner of speaking.’
“And you tracked me through our biodata connection.’
‘Yes. It’s fairly simple if you have the right technology. I daresay even you could cobble together something of the sort.’
‘If I –’ Sabbath began, but he was interrupted by the appearance of a young woman in the door from the garden. She shot a quick look at the Doctor and immediately glided to Sabbath’s side – not, the Doctor noticed with interest, as if seeking safety, but protectively. He was intrigued by her strong-featured face, particularly the two tufts of dark hair right at her hairline, one directly above each eyebrow, like little patches of fur or perhaps even budding horns. They gave her a feral look that her simple wine-coloured frock with its black lace collar could not entirely domesticate. She touched Sabbath’s shoulder warningly.
‘It’s all right,’ Sabbath said. ‘I know him. He’s a time traveller, like myself. That’s what you’re seeing. This is Miss Elizabeth Kelly,’ he said to the Doctor. ‘She is sensitive to time disruptions. It’s all right,’ he told her again, ‘you can leave us. I’ll be quite safe.’
Reluctantly, with a backward glance at the Doctor, she left the room. The Doctor looked after her, his mind clicking away to find where he had stored her name. He knew he’d run across it recently. ‘She’s very solicitous of you,’ he observed. ‘You seem to bring that out in women.’
Sabbath ignored the comment. ‘Octave’s act is impossible, of course, without some warping of the fabric of space-time. It’s unlikely he was the cause of that.’
‘Doesn’t seem the type,’ the Doctor agreed. ‘You never know, of course. But I’d think someone with that much power, not to mention the sophistication to access it, would have better things to do than tour the North with a conjuring act.’
‘Indeed. From the evidence, it would seem that he had somehow acquired certain characteristics of quantum space-time, specifically the ability to flick in and out of what we call reality –’
‘Oh no,’ said the Doctor