Doctor Who_ Full Circle - Andrew Smith [28]
The citizens were beginning to panic when they saw the strange blue box gradually fading into existence in one corner of the chamber. As the object solidified, the wailing groan died away. A fearful hush fell over them all.
Login failed miserably in his attempts to retain his composure. He looked to the Doctor for some kind of answer. 'What is it?'
A wide smile stretched the Doctor's face. 'Well done, Romana,' he said quietly, then tapped on the TARDIS door. 'Romana?'
The door opened. But the head that appeared was not Romana's. The Doctor regarded the short, beautiful blonde girl with nothing short of total astonishment. 'Who are you?' he wanted to know.
The girl's eyes, worried at first, widened with delight. 'Father!'
The Doctor was taken aback. 'Oh, no,' he said. 'Hardly.'
Keara ran forward, past the Doctor, into the open arms of Login, her father. The Doctor saw the proud man's eyes were moist.
'Keara,' he said, his voice choked with emotion. 'You're safe!'
The Doctor smiled happily at the reunion, but then his attention was taken by the emergence of another figure from the TARDIS. He did not know the young man, nor the one who followed him. 'What?' the Doctor stammered, looking Varsh and Tylos up and down. 'Who are you? How do you do. Just a moment, what is this? Noah's Ark?' And then, at last, a familiar face. 'Adric! Where's Romana?'
Adric looked totally lost, confused at finding himself in this environment. 'She's not here,' he said.
'Adric, young fellow, you have a remarkable gift - an ability to grasp the patently obvious,' the Doctor chided. 'Where is she?'
'Back at the cave.'
'What cave?' The Doctor didn't wait for an answer, merely pushed past Adric and into the TARDIS. His arm emerged again, grabbed Adric and pulled him in. 'Tell me on the way,' the Doctor's voice said, and then the door slammed closed.
Login released Keara from his embrace and held her at arm's length, a single tear running from one eye as he looked upon her. 'Keara... I never expected to see you alive. Don't ever leave me again. Promise.'
'I promise,' Keara vowed. 'I'll always be with you. Always.'
'There will have to be an inquiry,' said Login, and he noted the concern on her face and on the faces of Varsh and Tylos. 'But don't worry. I'll do all I can for you. And at least you're alive.'
He embraced Keara again, and was so filled with euphoria he was hardly aware of the sound of the TARDIS engines starting up and did not lift his head as the craft faded away in front of them all.
In the TARDIS, the Doctor manipulated a plethora of complicated mechanisms on the facets of the central console with a practised dexterity, while Adric watched on, his face drawn and guilt-ridden.
'Very odd, you know,' the Doctor remarked. 'These short hops don't usually work. And to be quite frank the chances of reversing a short trip are even more remote.' He saw that Adric, troubled, was barely listening, and decided to essay a joke. 'Still, here's hoping, eh?'
Adric didn't even smile.
The TARDIS materialised in the cave with an uncharacteristic ease which the Doctor found somehow unsettling. Deciding to ponder on it later, he led Adric out into the cave.
The Doctor paused outside the TARDIS doors, allowing his eyes to accustom themselves to the poor light. The fire in the centre of the floor was by now no more than an untidy heap of ashes.
'There she is, Doctor.'
The Doctor followed Adric's pointing finger, and could just discern a vague form among the shadows in one of the cave's deeper recesses. He moved into the shadows, Adric behind him, and found himself standing before Romana. She sat on a rock, unworried, staring straight ahead. It was as though she was unaware of their presence.
The Doctor was about to speak when something moved at his feet, a small, scuttling shape. Adric darted forward and kicked at it. The spider careered away across the cave floor,