Doctor Who_ Ghost Light - Marc Platt [66]
‘Fine time to watch a video!’ Ace snapped.
Laying a hand on her shoulder, he asked, ‘How does this ship travel?’
‘Speed of thought?’ she suggested, and then it all snapped into place. ‘It’s alive!’
The Doctor turned slowly in a circle admiring the magnificent stone architechnology. It fermented with living energy right up to its carved inner spire. ‘Light’s gone, but the ship survives with a new crew.’
Ace didn’t see how that would stop the firestorm. An oily, gloved hand caught her round the throat and a gun levelled at her head.
‘Turn off the power!’ ordered Josiah. ‘I’ll have my Empire yet!’
Ace struggled and kicked at him. ‘Get off me, scumbag!’
‘Josiah! Afraid the ship doesn’t want you too?’
threatened the Doctor.
In their concord of movement, Redvers, Nimrod and Control turned from the screen to face the intruder.
Redvers swept his arms out in a magnanimous gesture of friendship. ‘There’s a place for you here, old chap.’ But Josiah held Ace still tighter. He and Control were still linked. She could not leave without him, but neither could he remain on Earth without her. And he would kill to stay.
The ship groaned. Control stepped forward, proud and attractive, with a new-found and learned authority. Her jewellery was gone, but a slight sheen on her full skirts threw back the light as they rustled around her.
She threw up a hand and cried, ‘Stop! Get back where you belong!’
In the alcove, the head of the reptile husk imploded.
Josiah gasped, doubling forward in pain. He collapsed to the floor.
The Doctor caught Ace and they both watched fascinated, as the features of Josiah Samuel Smith lost their colour, melted and reformed, while the creature scrabbled and gurgled in the debris.
‘There go the rungs on his evolutionary ladder,’
observed the Doctor. ‘So he falls headlong!’
Ace sneered, ‘Go on then, evolve your way out of that one!’
‘Poor Control,’ croaked the pitiful brute that had been Josiah. ‘No way up now. No changing.’
The original Control gently laid her hand on its head and a shower of brittle auburn hair cascaded between her fingers. ‘Unhappy creature. I shall look after you.’ She slipped a leash over its head and led it away to the cell, where it might stay until she prepared better quarters for it.
‘They swapped over,’ said Ace, incredulous at the whole balancing act.
‘Everyone has their place,’ nodded the Doctor. He turned to find that Nimrod was trying to usher them out of the way.
‘We have our work to do, sir. Entries and amendments to revise to complete the catalogue.’
‘No nukes, then?’ said Ace, but Nimrod looked mystified.
‘Alice is enquiring as to the explosive potential of the spaceship,’ interpreted the Doctor.
Nimrod shook his head. ‘No miss, the energy will be redeployed for our departure.’ He scurried off on important business. His book of tales would have to wait.
The random gushings of energy and sound had settled into a steadily rising flow. Redvers hurriedly extracted a set of charts from the drawers of the desk. He suddenly understood so much that was new and pondered the holographic patterns of the maps excitedly.
‘Redvers has the whole universe to explore for the catalogue! New horizons! Wondrous beasts! Light years out from Zanzibar!’
Control had reappeared and was thumbing through an index file of glowing headings and entries. ‘Doctor, something tells me you are not in our catalogue.’ The Doctor looked awkward and began to sidle towards the tunnel. Control smiled. ‘Nor will you ever be,’ she reassured him.
The steam began to gush from the outlets again and the new crew took their places before the screens. ‘You’re busy.
Must fly!’ called the Doctor. He went to raise his hat, but found he had left it upstairs.
‘Bye bye,’ called Ace and a chorus of farewells came back through the glowing haze.
‘Gone gone,’ added the Doctor, hurrying her up into the tunnel. She started