Doctor Who_ Cat's Cradle_ Times Crucible - Marc Platt [37]
"They're not following," said Ace.
Shonnzi glanced behind them. "They're busy."
She leant against a doorway. Across the street, the opposite wall was painted with moonlit storm clouds. "Can we stop a minute? Are you going to help me find the Doctor or not?"
Shonnzi looked uneasy and mumbled, "We can't stop here."
"I'm not moving until you tell me."
"It isn't easy," he said.
"I want to know, Shonnzi. Did you speak to him? Where was he going?"
Shonnzi grinned. He pulled off the battered grey straw hat and offered it to her. "The daft old goik gave me this."
She stared at the hat. It had been in front of her all this time and she hadn't recognized it. Its brim was coming apart, its crown was full of holes and its patterned band was gone.
But it was the Doctor's hat. The hat that he used to tumble up his arm like a juggler. She took it gently in her hands, weighed it for a moment and then passed it quickly back. She was choked. "You'd better hang on to it. He'd be glad to see it being used," she said.
She kicked aimlessly at the dust. The City loomed vertiginously all around, ready to topple in. Nothing ever seemed to change, wherever you were. The twilight never changed, the air never moved. It was just grey. Miehrrvre. That was the word she wanted. A word she'd picked up from an Orculqui SorbetSlurp rep on Iceworld. It had no Earth equivalent, but its meaning was clear. No weather. Staleness. No change. Like a tomb.
She took a swig of water from his canteen. "How long have you been here?" she said.
"We don't know. There's only Now here. You'll see."
"But you've seen me before." She was desperate, almost in tears. "I've only just got here."
With a look of anger, he planted the hat back on his head. "Oh, don't start crying. That's typical, just like the others."
He turned away in disgust from her. She boiled over. Her hand went into a fist and she hit him hard on the back of the neck. Then she ran blind away from him.
Down the rubble-strewn arcade she belted, until she faced the great stone hand in the atrium.
"Doctor! I need you!" she yelled and it echoed back and forth around her.
In the starlight, the remaining finger on the hollow hand pointed towards a dark passage at the back of the area.
"Ace!" Shonnzi was calling after her from the entrance. "Come back. It's not safe down there!"
A silver shape lay across the passage mouth. When it saw it had Ace's attention, it rolled over, paddling its paws in the air. It was still unreal. Too glossy and smooth like living liquid. Ace moved towards it, but the cat rose and darted into the shadows. Ace followed. Tiny flames flared in alcoves along the passage walls as it passed, like moving through stars. Deeper and deeper. It paused for a moment, waiting for Ace to catch up. Then it darted away and all the flames guttered and went out. Ace was alone in the darkness.
The ground began to tremble and then with a growing roar, to rock. Ace was flung sideways against a wall and down to the floor. Once more, she heard the murderous scream of agony and rage. It was the cry she had heard in the TARDIS, as the monstrous invader had struggled to breach the console room doors.
Ahead of her, a light was growing. Harsh and glutinous, it filled the end of the passage like a cold white sun. Out of its glare came a dark figure. The shape was silhouetted, gliding closer and closer in long heavy robes. A wide circular collar rested on its shoulders, rising high to hide its features. The ground shook as the spectre drew nearer. The walls creaked ominously like the diaphragm of some aged creature at its last breath. The figure loomed above her, its arm outstretched.
The alcove flames hissed upwards and Ace gasped in shock. The light caught on the sepulchral features of the apparition, eyes staring like one possessed, skin gaunt and shimmering in the glare. It was the ghost of the Doctor.
11: Figures in the