Doctor Who_ Cat's Cradle_ Times Crucible - Marc Platt [63]
She turned to go and saw another swathe of web through the struts. "Hang on," she said and ran along a slim girder, balancing over a dizzying drop.
Shonnzi faltered and then ran after her, snatching at her arm. "No, Ace."
"I want to see."
There was another cocoon dangling between the girders. Another upside-down victim.
"Leave him, Ace," pleaded Shonnzi.
Ignoring the chasm below, she wrenched free of his grip and tore apart the filament around the prisoner's head. It was Vael. Another Vael. He was pale and haggard, and Ace could not tell if he was older or younger than the Vael she had left below.
His eyes flickered open and saw her. "So that's the dream," he muttered blearily.
Ace heard the chittering of guards in the depths of the Tower.
"Come on," hissed Shonnzi.
She slipped and teetered precariously on the brink. Shonnzi's arm grabbed her back and he began to pull her away.
"We can't leave him!" she protested, too giddy to struggle.
They reached the plate and moved out on to the walkway. "Oh, yes we can!" he snapped. "Do you want to find the Doctor?"
She was going to argue, but the guards' cries were getting closer. "I'll be back for him," she insisted. It was the let-out she needed.
"You don't mean that," he said as they ran.
"The Doctor would do it," she retorted and added caustically. "But then you'd know all about that, wouldn't you?"
She looked back. Three guards had appeared and were pounding after them. Ahead, the walkway re-entered the body of the Tower. A wheel like a timber saw was carving across the entrance with serrated teeth.
They skidded to a halt and the guards stopped too, content to leave their victims trapped.
On one side, the vertiginous scaffold edifice rose above them. On the other, a series of black metal plates sloped down the Tower's escarpment like buttresses holding the tangled growth of girders in check.
There was nowhere to run.
Shonnzi faced the guards. "You can't hurt us," he called. "You know you can't. There'll be no hope if you do."
The creatures chittered among themselves, but advanced no father.
A section of girders opened up like an iron shutter and the Process cartwheeled out on to the walkway. It was the younger creature and with it was Vael. Its slimy hide glinted in the coloured starlight. The massive head swung from its guards to its victims.
"Take them!" it croaked.
Ace edged backwards as the guards advanced. She glanced at Shonnzi. He was sweating profusely. They were too close to the edge.
"Oh Gods, Doctor!" he shouted. "Why did you get me into this mess?"
"Ace," said the Doctor's voice in her head.
The cat brushed like cold liquid against her legs. It twined back, getting hopelessly under her feet. She lost her balance, grabbed for Shonnzi's hand, missed and stumbled headlong over the edge.
The air was so still it was almost solid. Ace was cradled, not falling but sinking through a treacly miasma of molecules. Waves of rising power that buffeted against her downward momentum.
Ealing Broadway, she thought, before the tenancy of her mind was lost and she was evicted from her own head.
Vael stared after Ace. Her tiny form spiralled slowly into the darkness. Hateful little creature. The City looked after its own. Her wide brown eyes and antagonism reminded him of Loie.
Beside him, the Process hissed its rage.
Shonnzi stood alone on the walkway, trapped between the guards and the spinning saw wheel.
"Take him!" Vael shouted.
There was a rumble of thunder as they advanced. The stars overhead dimmed noticeably, guttering in their frozen courses.
From the Tower came the clamour of the broken bells attempting their cracked chime.
For a moment, he caught Shonnzi's eye. A remnant of the thoughts they once shared came into his mind.
It is almost time.
Shonnzi ran at the edge, out into the empty air, arms and legs flailing, and was gone.
17: Mutatis Mutandis
Listen, Ace!
She hardly noticed the smooth metal buttress that rose slowly up to hit her. The solid air grated the breath out of her lungs. Down