Doctor Who_ Full Circle - Andrew Smith [48]
'But, Doctor...' Garif spluttered.
'You want us to take off on our own?' said Login, dumbfounded.
'How can we?' said Garif. 'Such a momentous decision. Doctor, come back!'
The Doctor lifted his arm in a wave as he hurried out the doors. 'The green button, gentlemen!'
Login and Garif felt very alone.
Login turned to his colleague. 'He's right.'
'I see his point,' said Garif. 'On the other hand...'
Login guided Garif's hand to the flight panel. 'Garif, we must live up to our names. We must make this decision together.'
'Yes, of course,' Garif agreed.
The two of them stared at the green button.
'But you will agree,' said Garif, 'it does require some thought.'
The Doctor operated the TARDIS's spatial drive and the time column began rising and falling.
Nearby, Romana was crouched beside K9, completing the reconnection of his head. There appeared to be no problems with it.
The Doctor smiled slightly. 'They asked me to stay and be a Decider, you know.'
Romana smirked. 'You, a Decider?'
'I decided not to.' Smiling at his own joke, the Doctor removed his coat and scarf and hung them up on the hatstand.
Romana rose from K9, her work complete. 'Doctor... what exactly happened while I was unconscious?'
The Doctor shrugged. 'Oh, Adric and I were far too busy to worry about you.'
Romana's eyes lighted on the small device perched on one of the facets of the console. 'Adric's left us a present, it seems,' she said, lifting it and handing it to the Doctor.
The Doctor scowled. 'An image translator! Look! he stole that...' His disapproving frown slowly turned into a look of serious consideration. 'Still, still, it could come in very useful... let me see.' He moved quickly to the scanner control and slid the image translator into place amid the instrumentation.
Romana turned the scanner control and they both watched as the scanner doors opened.
They saw a spatial vista, dotted with stars... an image somehow tinted with an eerie greenness.
'It works,' said Romana.
'Unfortunately.'
Romana took his meaning. 'Negative co-ordinates?'
The Doctor nodded and let out a sigh. 'This settles it, Romana. We're out of our own space and time.'
Romana studied the scanner... the green tint. 'Exo-Space!' she exclaimed.
'I'm afraid so. That thing we came through was a Charged Vacuum Emboitement.'
'A CVE.' Romana knew the term from her studies at the Academy on Gallifrey. 'That must be one of the rarest Space/Time events in the universe.'
'In any universe.'
Something else suddenly appeared on the screen. it shot past the TARDIS at incredible speed, streaking deeper into E-Space, propelled by a white-hot point of energy: the Starliner.
The Doctor smiled. 'They're out of their rut.'
'Yes,' said Romana. 'And we're trapped. Trapped in E-Space. Unless we can find another CVE. Right, K9?'
K9's head came up. 'Affirmative, mistress.'
Adric, standing on the other side of the control room's inner door, had heard every word they had said. He didn't understand much of it, but he knew that the Doctor and Romana were in serious trouble.
For the moment he would remain hidden - until the starliner was well away - then he would reveal himself.
Whatever lay ahead for the Doctor, Romana and K9, in E-Space or beyond, Adric was now very much a part of it.
Table of Contents
Prologue