Doctor Who_ Camera Obscura - Lloyd Rose [40]
‘Oh no.’ Fitz clinked down his teacup. ‘Terrible idea. One of your worst.’
‘No it isn’t,’ said the Doctor patiently. ‘We’re combining forces against a common threat.’
‘But he...’ Fitz faltered. ‘You know what he...’
‘Yes,’ said the Doctor flatly, ‘I know what he did to me. It saved my life, you know.’
Anji snorted. ‘I find it hard to believe that was his primary motive.’
The Doctor sighed and rubbed his face. ‘It wasn’t. He needed my – He needed the heart.’
‘Needed it?’ Fitz echoed faintly as Anji stared. ‘What for?’
For a moment it looked as if the Doctor wasn’t going to answer: his face closed up and got that remote look. But he must just have been trying to think how to explain things simply, for he said matter-of‐factly enough, ‘Human beings have difficulties travelling in something Sabbath calls Deep Time.’
‘Anj and me don’t. Do we?’
‘Not in the TARDIS. But the Jonah, for all its sophistication, isn’t on a level with the TARDIS.’
‘Why didn’t he just steal the TARDIS then, instead of...’
‘Instead of stealing my heart,’ the Doctor finished ironically. ‘What a phrase. I suppose I’ll have to start sending him Valentines. I imagine it’s because removing my heart was a fairly spur-of‐the-moment idea, not some deep-laid plot. He realised what was wrong with me and how to save my life and how to benefit himself all at the same time.’
‘I don’t care how good a slant you put on it,’ Anji broke in. ‘I think he’d like it if you were dead.’
‘Possibly,’ the Doctor acknowledged.
‘Well, then.’
‘Well then, what?’ he said testily. ‘I’m not going on holiday with him. I’ve worked with worse.’
‘What does he want, anyway?’ said Fitz, heading off the argument. ‘What’s his master plan?’
The Doctor stretched out again, hands behind his head, face speculative. ‘Excellent question. I’ve been pondering it myself. As near as I can work out, he thinks the fabric of time is exceedingly fragile and can be pulled apart if too many timelines proliferate. So, obviously, he’s against chaos. But it goes further than that.’
‘He’s a control freak,’ said Anji. ‘His way is the only way, and everyone else is a fool.’
‘Well, that’s a fairly commonplace form of self-worship, and I admit he subscribes to it. But I think there’s more going on.’
‘He’s got partners,’ said Fitz. ‘Or colleagues. Something like that.’
‘Or employers,’ Anji said. ‘Though I’m sure he imagines he’s in charge.’
‘Yes,’ mused the Doctor. ‘That’s troubling. Who could they be?’
‘Whoever they are, they apparently don’t want you harmed,’ said Anji, ‘which I find troubling.’
‘Really?’ He smiled at her. ‘I think it’s rather reassuring.’
‘Doctor, for once, please look on the dark side. If these people, beings, whatever, wished you well, they’d have introduced themselves. They want you kept safe for them.’
‘To use me against my will to further their sinister machinations? Bit melodramatic, don’t you think?’
‘Your life is melodramatic. And more than a bit!’
‘So,’ Fitz broke in, ‘how does your heart help Sabbath?’
The Doctor sighed, more angrily than tiredly. ‘It’s complicated. Essentially, it gives him some of the physical advantages that apparently were bred into my people over millennia, of time travel.’
‘And it’s working all right?’
‘I dare say there’ve been some surprises.’
‘What do you mean?’
‘For one thing, the only reason I wasn’t killed in Liverpool is because one of my hearts was still beating.’
‘Huh?’ said Fitz.
Anji frowned: ‘Still beating?’
‘Still beating. Just not in my body.’
‘Christ!’ said Fitz. Anji looked sick. ‘You mean he... I thought you meant he was just using it as some weird biological navigating tool.’
‘He is. Only hooked up to him instead of his ship.’
‘Oh God,’ muttered Anji. ‘Oh God. I think I... How can you possibly have anything more to do with him?’
‘You’re missing the upside,’ said the Doctor patiently. ‘It’s the reason I’m alive.’ He watched as they struggled with the idea. ‘I owe him my life.’
‘By accident!’ Anji insisted.
‘Alive is alive.’
Fitz rose and went over to the liquor cabinet.