Doctor Who_ Enlightenment - Barbara Clegg [18]
‘Then I condemn you to everlasting life,’ the inexorable voice slowly faded. ‘You will never leave this ship.’
Tegan was sitting on her bunk looking at the photograph of Aunt Vanessa when she heard the knock. ‘Go away,’ she said, automatically. But it was not Mariner who spoke. ‘It’s me,’ said the Doctor, rather plaintively. Tegan was on her feet and unbolting the door in a flash, and the distress on her face was plain to see.
‘What’s the matter?’ The Doctor quickly closed the door behind him.
‘This!’ Tegan held up the photograph. ‘And this room!’
‘They can reproduce anything they see in the mind,’ the Doctor said, gravely. ‘That’s how this ship was made. Out of the minds of the crew. Just as this room was made out of yours. They use human minds as blueprints. And not only human. Ephemeral minds anywhere – from any system, any galaxy.’
‘Are they – are they like Time Lords?’ Tegan asked in a small voice.
‘No. They exist outside time,’ the Doctor answered.
‘They are Eternals. They exist in eternity. Exist, not live.’
‘But why do they move like automatons sometimes?’
Tegan wanted to know. ‘Why do they look like zombies?
Why that blank stare?’
‘Emptiness,’ the Doctor answered. ‘Their minds are empty, used up. They need ideas. From us. They’re desperate for them.’
Tegan was beginning to feel desperate, too. ‘We’ve got to get away from here!’ she said. ‘I can’t cope with Marriner for much longer. Let’s leave!’
The Doctor shook his head firmly. ‘Not before we’ve found out what is at the end of the race’ he said. ‘I understand how you feel, but I must ask you to stay. We can’t risk them finding out about the TARDIS.’ His face was grave and anxious as he finished speaking.
In the wheel-house, Striker and Marriner stood motionless and impassive. Then a faint smile curled Striker’s lips.
‘TARDIS?’ he mumured. Marriner’s eyes came to life. He was listening.
‘They couldn’t do anything to the TARDIS, could they?’
The Doctor’s words had Tegan really worried.
‘I wouldn’t like to risk it,’ he answered. ‘They have enormous power.’
He had already reached the door by the time Tegan caught up with him. ‘What can we do, then?’ she asked desperately.
‘Try and distract them,’ was the reply. ‘Give them something to worry about. Even an Eternal can’t put his mind to too many things at once.’ He opened the door and hurried into the corridor. ‘Come on – we’ve got to find Turlough.’
In the wheel-house the Captain and Marriner slowly turned to each other. They were alert and concentrating.
Suddenly their eyes met. ‘Now!’ Striker ordered. Marriner jumped to a salute. ‘Aye, aye, sir.’ Then he left the room.
The Doctor and Tegan hurried along, slightly out of breath from their search. Then as they passed the end of a companionway, the Doctor suddenly stopped dead. He had caught sight of a figure lying motionless in the gloom. It was Turlough. He was recovering consciousness and struggling to sit up by the time they reached him.
‘What happened?’ the Doctor asked with concern, as he helped him to his feet. But Turlough was evasive.
‘Nothing. I fell,’ he answered, turning away as he spoke, and straightening his shirt collar.
He was not quick enough to prevent Tegan seeing the livid bruises on his neck. ‘What are those marks?’ she asked, suspiciously. But the Doctor was hurrying them on their way before she could pursue the point. ‘Quickly!’ his voice was urgent. ‘We must get back to the TARDIS.’
Striker was oblivious of the helmsman at the wheel. He no longer stared out into space; his attention was elsewhere, and he seemed to find something very amusing.
Panting slightly, Tegan reached the bottom of the companion-ladder where