Doctor Who_ Christmas on a Rational Planet - Lawrence Miles [69]
‘Marielle, can you see the drawers? Look, up here. Nice drawers. Nineteenth century, I think. Uh. Sorry. Ahhh!’
‘Christopher? Christopher!’
‘Marielle, listen. If you see any holes...’
‘Holes? But there’s just the dark –’
‘Yeah. Holes in the dark. Don’t go near them, Marielle. I think... I think they’re holes into the vortex. Look, don’t ask about the vortex, okay?’
‘I can hear them. Oh, Christopher... there are so many of them, on the other side of the holes. There’s a mind... Dieu, it’s so big, but it’s shut into a cube...
‘Marielle! Ignore them! Just ignore them!’
‘There are so many. Some of them are singing. Singing in the... vortex? Yes. And there’s a man. Spread out through time. He says he was tricked. And there’s something like a worm, or a snake. Creatures... planets... trapped in loops of time. And there are ships. Ships, lost in the vortex. Christopher
–’
‘Ignore them! Marielle, don’t go near the holes. Shit, the drawers just fell apart.’
‘The clockwork things... they’re falling apart as well...’
‘What?’
‘Falling apart... cogs and gearsprings... everything is...
apart...
‘Marielle? I’m trying to reach you. Hang on, Marielle.’
‘Marielle?’
‘ Marielle? ’
The King George public house made Daniel Tremayne think of a butcher’s store. The roof of the building had been torn open across its length, the edges made jagged by the splintered wooden beams that had once arced smoothly overhead. It was like looking out through the ribcage of an animal carcass.
The pub had been murdered by the Revolution.
No wonder it made Daniel think of a butcher’s store.
Forrester was standing by a hole in the wall that must once have been the doorway, watching the muddy thoroughfare outside, stepping away from the gap whenever anyone passed by. ‘The Doctor could be halfway across history by now,’ she muttered.
Daniel didn’t even bother to shrug. He just sank further back into the corner, scraping his backside on a sharp fragment of rubble.
‘Two-to-one we’ll end up having to clean up the mess ourselves. Well, that’s my life for you. Wiping the sick off the furniture on a cosmic scale ‘ There was a roar of triumph from a street nearby, and Forrester squinted through the rain to try to make out what was going on. ‘This shouldn’t be happening, Danny-boy. It’s a disruption. An anomaly. And I hate anomalies, especially when I’m partially responsible for them.
This place offends my instinct for law enforcement.’
And under her breath, she added, ‘What’s left of it.’
Daniel just grunted. Forrester turned to him. ‘You’ve gone quiet all of a sudden. Aren’t you going to ask me when you can get out of here? You haven’t shut up about it all night.’
‘Doesn’t matter. Doesn’t make any difference. Too late now.’
‘Because you got involved?’ Forrester scowled. ‘You’re sorry you saved my life, is that it? Thanks, Dan. Thanks a lot.’
Another grunt. Daniel couldn’t think of any other answer.
He saw himself picking up the rock on Eastern Walk, lifting it over the hooded man’s head, seeing the blood drained out of Forrester’s face, bringing the rock down. He thought of the story of Cain and Abel. The whole course of human history, changed by a rock. What kind of world is this, that’s made out of pebbles?
Then there was a low chiming, like the echo you hear after the ringing of a church bell. Forrester was reaching into the pouch that had been stitched into her shawl, the thin material stuck to the shiny suit underneath by the rain. The sphere she’d taken from Catcher’s place was in her hands.
The sphere was spinning. Very gently, very slowly, whistling as it turned. Daniel saw surprise on Forrester’s face.
‘What now?’ she growled.
He knew the layout of the King George well enough. The crack in the western wall had been just big enough for him to slip through, though he’d had to duck as he’d moved along the narrow passage inside, where the structure had collapsed in on itself and created a cramped alleyway of stone debris and shattered timbers, with the Watchmakers shouting CLEAN IT
UP!