Doctor Who_ Cat's Cradle_ Times Crucible - Marc Platt [62]
A speck was moving fast along one of the streets. Ace thought she saw herself, bicycling unsteadily down the curve of the City until she was lost among the buildings.
She ran back along the balcony.
On a different phase of the City below, she saw herself again. A tiny speck, further off, standing talking to someone she could not quite make out. She stared so hard, unsure if she was looking into the past or future, that her eyes began to smart.
Parallel worlds. But Time in the City ran parallel with itself within the municipal boundaries. Riddles and mazes were OK on paper when you could work out what was going on. Because she was Ace, she had to get physically stuck in the middle of one with extradimensional penalties and without a guidebook or teacher's notes.
If she was trapped here, she would have to learn to live with it. And maybe with herself too. She had to know. It was driving her crazy.
"Ace."
She thought she heard her name and stared out across the City.
"Ace!"
It was coming from close by inside the Watch Tower. She slid between the girders, ducked under a giant cog wheel and saw a swathe of glimmering web wound in the iron matrix. Something was buried in the cocoon — a figure, its feet where its head should be. "Come on," it complained in a muffled voice. "We haven't got all day."
At last, she thought. It's him at last.
She peeled back the web with the Swiss Army knife. Shonnzi's head grinned at her, upside down with the Doctor's hat still planted firmly on.
"Evening," he said. "Got any biscuits."
More than anything, she had to know.
"Is he really dead?" she said. "They keep saying he's dead."
"Are you going to get me down or what?"
"Just tell me!"
"Is who dead?"
"The Doctor!" she cried. "They say he's dead. You keep saying you've seen him." She looked straight down into his startled eyes. "What did you see then? His ghost?"
"Don't know," he said irritably. "It wasn't like that. Just get me out of this, will you? I'm brittles and fricpins all over."
She began to hack at the filaments with the knife. "But you have seen him?"
"Yes."
"And he taught you things?"
"Still does."
"Still!"
"I've just been talking to him," Shonnzi declared.
The filament snapped with a fizz and the cocoon unravelled. Ace caught Shonnzi as he fell forward. They landed together in a heap on the plate floor.
"First time I've seen him for ages," he grinned with his face inches above hers. His breath was warm on her cheek.
She eased herself out from under his body, ignoring the fact that he made no deliberate attempt to pull away. "You're a liar," she said.
"No, I'm not," he said firmly, meeting her accusing stare head on. He sniffed as he looked over the edge. "We can't stay here."
A chain nearby clanked. Its loose links slowly began to tighten.
"Did he just stroll up for a chat then?" said Ace coldly. "How come he never talks to me?"
"He will. He's coming closer."
"Prove it! What's that ghost thing then? Is that him? Where exactly do you see him?"
Shonnzi never blanched. He just adopted a matter-of-fact, irritated schoolteacher voice. "When I'm asleep," he said.
Anywhere else she would have laughed. But why not? Let's all talk in our sleep. Any sensible idea round here got trotted off to the knackerman as soon as it was thought of. Perhaps he was as crazy as she was. Yeah, why not?
It was no good. She wanted something tangible. Not dreams and ghosts.
He picked up the knife and looked at the initials on the handle. "IC. Ian Chesterton," he said.
"Who?" said Ace.
Around them, the giant mechanisms began to clank and clatter like the winding of a vast cosmic clock. The wheel beside them started to grind round, its cog teeth bit at the air as it turned faster. The mechanical corpse of the Tower was returning to life.
"We've got to get out," Shonnzi said. He put his hand on her arm. "We'll find the Doctor. He said I'll know when the Time's right."
"Yeah,"