Doctor Who_ Father Time - Lance Parkin [124]
The Doctor wasn’t at all surprised to see Captain Mather in charge of that operation.
‘No peeking,’ he warned.
‘Doctor!’ The astronaut grabbed him and gave him a bear hug, lifting him off the ground. ‘I’ve had a look under the hood of this thing already – and I’m none the wiser.’
‘That’s as it should be.’
‘Where’s Debbie?’
The Doctor looked him in the eye. ‘Ferran killed her.’
Mather nodded, suddenly subdued. ‘I’m sorry.’
They all started walking towards the door.
Miranda shook Mather’s hand. ‘It’s good to finally meet you.’
‘You’re his daughter? Yeah, I can see that.’
The Doctor and Miranda shared a smile.
Mordak was looking at the door.
‘How thick is it?’ the Doctor asked, knowing he wasn’t going to like the answer.
‘About forty metres.’
‘Forty metres?’ the Doctor echoed.
‘Tarvin?’ Miranda asked.
A man in slave’s clothes looked up from the control panel. ‘Long time no see. Anything happened since we last saw each other?’ He chuckled.
Miranda smiled. ‘How’s that looking?’
‘It’s looking impenetrable.’
Miranda banged a fist against the door. ‘We’re not going to get this open...’
There was a mechanical sound from all around them, and the door slowly began to grind back, into the wall.
‘I didn’t do that...’ Miranda said, her voice trailing away.
‘Fall back!’ Mather warned. ‘Get that cannon ready. Anyone with guns, take up positions!’
The Doctor pulled Miranda away from the door, almost carrying her until they were safely behind the cannon.
With a screech, the door ground to a halt, well before it was fully open. The chink in the door was perhaps four feet across.
No one was saying anything, everyone was waiting.
There was a scrabbling sound, getting louder.
Miranda held on to her father, eyes wide.
Mather and Tarvin looked at each other and shrugged.
The sound was footsteps – echoing and amplified by the metal corridor.
A clawed hand emerged, grabbed the doorframe.
A few rifles were raised, and there were high-pitched hums, like camera flashes powering up, as the guns were readied.
‘Don’t shoot!’ the Doctor shouted.
He headed forward. The hand was pale, with thick, dark veins standing out. The Doctor frowned. It reminded him of something.
Miranda and Mordak were a few feet behind him.
‘Stay back,’ he said, but his voice lacked conviction.
The hand was slipping down. The Doctor took it, gently and pulled its owner clear of the gap.
An old man, wearing a frayed and faded technician’s uniform. He looked at the Doctor with uncomprehending gratitude.
‘Chann,’ the Doctor said, reading from the name tag on the man’s sleeve.
Mordak stepped forward. ‘It can’t be: Chann was a classmate of mine. This man is ninety years old.’
Miranda peered into the tunnel formed by the half-open door. ‘I don’t understand.’
Then she looked at her father.
‘The time engines,’ they said together.
‘Mordak, could Ferran have done this?’
‘Start a deliberate time spillage? That would be madness. It would throw the time engines out of phase.’
‘They are all dead,’ the old man croaked. ‘We could see it was hopeless. We told him we were going to surrender, and open the doors, and he killed us all. He’s decoupling the engine. Everything in there is carefully balanced, it’s exquisite. He’s thrown everything out of phase.’
Mather and Tarvin had run forward with a medical kit. Mather moved over to the gap.
The Doctor grabbed the sleeve of his spacesuit. ‘No. You’ll be killed.’
Mordak gave a dry laugh. ‘If the time engines have been tampered with, we’re all dead. The ship will explode, the time spillage will be unstoppable.’
‘Earth...’ Mather said.
‘By tomorrow morning, the Earth will be a desert,’ Mordak said. ‘Tomorrow afternoon, the sun will be a red giant, and will destroy it.’
‘Miranda,’ the Doctor said, ‘we have to stop him.’
She stood, shivered a little. ‘We don’t know that we are immune.’
‘We know that we’re the only two people who may stand a chance. That has to be enough.’
She nodded.
‘I’ll go first,’ he told her, easing himself into the gap.
* * *