Doctor Who_ Empire of Death - BBC Worldwide [85]
`The Doctor said I had latent psychic abilities,' Nyssa recalled.
`Yes. I could feel them when you were growing inside me, reaching out, flexing. It was only by the ministrations of my midwife I was able to carry you full term'
`You said on rare occasions a baby would be conceived with psychic abilities - why not born with them?'
Tremas could not look at his daughter as he spoke. `Few women ever survive carrying such a child. Normal babies kick in the womb, but psychic foetuses - they use more violent methods'
Òh no...' Nyssa whispered, horrified at what she was hearing.
Àny such foetus was routinely aborted to save the mother. That was the tradition on Traken.'
`But you didn't...'
Lucina smiled. 'No. I knew I would die giving birth to you, for that was what the Keeper had foretold. And so it came to pass'
`You didn't die during childbirth,' Nyssa realised. 'I killed you. I murdered you!'
`Please, my child, you mustn't think of it like that. You didn't know, couldn't know what you were doing. It was a convulsive action, just as any newborn convulses after leaving the womb.
You were fighting for life - and you took that life from me to survive'
Nyssa shook her head. 'Why are you telling me this? Why now?'
`You are special, Nyssa. You have the potential to reach across the divide between this place and the mortal world. You must embrace your abilities, stretch forwards with your thoughts. Only when you have said goodbye to that life can you see this world as it is'
`He's gone' The Doctor stood up slowly, a weary resignation about his eyes. He looked down at the blood on his hands, rubbing the fingertips together, almost as if he was going to pray.
Then the general appeared, still fastening the gleaming buttons on his tunic.
`What is this spy doing here?' he demanded, a lifetime of bluster and bristle resonating from the bluff manner. 'Who said he could be released?'
Ì haven't been released,' the Doctor replied wearily, holding up his wrists to display the manacles still in place, his skin rubbed red and raw by the harsh metal edges. 'Your sergeant thought I might be able to save this unfortunate'
The general glared the body on the ground. A puddle of blood had leaked out from beneath the corpse, providing a crimson reflection of the dawn sky above. 'What happened here?'
`Murder - of a sort. A court might call it manslaughter but I'm not so sure'
The general's eyes narrowed as he noted the blood staining the Doctor's hands. 'You did this, didn't you? I've seen death many times. That body has but a single wound, certainly not enough to be mortal. Somehow you -' The general's words trailed off as his attention was taken by a sudden and perplexing change. 'What the deuce is that?'
Nyssa closed her eyes, a fist clenched in front of her face. She felt a tiny nudge in her mind, as if she were bumping into something invisible. But when she tried to open her eyes again, she couldn't. 'You must focus, my child,' Lucina whispered.
'Concentrate on that which eludes you and reach out to grasp it'
Nyssa felt her fist opening, the fingers unbending to point ahead. She tried to think herself beyond the barrier in her way, a hollow absence opening inside as breath caught in her throat.
Then she was floating forwards, her knees bent, stomach fluttering. The mirror became a window in her thoughts.
* * *
A dripping sound was the first indication, like droplets of water falling from a great height in the distance. With each drip, the noise grew louder, more resonant. One by one, those gathered turned and looked