Doctor Who_ Hope - Mark Clapham [109]
But what about the data from the TARDIS? asked Anji. Wont he be able to build some kind of ship to get him off that world?
A ship? said the Doctor, shrugging. Perhaps. I should imagine he has the skill to build a rudimentary spacecraft, providing he can find the resources on his new home. But a time ship? Not without this. He held up a sliver of circuitry. The memory wafer from his datapad. All the data you collected from the TARDIS. Without this, he might as well be holding a pocket calculator. I slipped it out of the datapad when I was ostensibly dying on the floor there. I knew Silver wouldnt leave without the data, so I let him think he had what he wanted. The Doctor spun the memory wafer between his fingers, staring at it as if he could see the secrets hidden within. I think Ill look after this, he said, sliding the wafer into his top pocket.
There was a moments silence, except for a slight crackle from some of the machinery. The room seemed much smaller without Silver there, and they could all feel the echo of his presence.
Come on, said Anji quietly. Lets get out of this place.
Time passed, and the impact of events began to sink in. Endpoint had changed immeasurably in a short period of time. The environment had altered, humans and Endpointers had made contact, Silver was gone. Everything had changed, and change brought questions.
The Doctor didnt have answers, at least not to anything other than technical and scientific queries, and soon faded into the background. It was clear to Fitz and Anji that he would have preferred just to leave there and then, but he had loose ends to try to tie up first. The Doctor wasnt inclined to let either Stephenss or Silvers inhuman projects be revived. The coordinates of Silvers new home were deleted from all databanks, in case anyone should try to rescue him. The altered Kallisti that created the Silverati had been destroyed, and to replace it the Doctor created a benign, purely organic Kallisti serum that provided the physiological benefits without turning the recipient into one of Silvers children.
One mystery remained. The two Silverati wounded when the Doctor, Fitz and Anji escaped from captivity had not recovered in time to follow their brethren through the Hypertunnel. A search of the Bunker revealed no sign of them, and security cameras showed them exiting via the airlock. Opinion was divided as to whether Silverati would be able to survive the pressure and absence of oxygen at that level.
When told of these two Silverati by Powlin, Anji imagined them down there, walking on the ocean floor, consumed by the darkness. If they lived, who could tell how long their lives would be? They could be walking the sea bed forever, the ice cold water their only companion in the dark.
When the Doctor met Miraso on the roof of the Silver Palace, there were fires burning in the distance, thick smoke hanging in the heathazed air, no wind to blow it away.
It all seems to be falling apart, said Miraso. There are riots breaking out in some of the poorer sections of the city. I keep getting calls from across Endpoint, members of Silvers satellite organisations who want their independence. Ive put all of Silvers old guards at the disposal of Powlin and the militia, and theyre keeping on top of it, but... it all seems different now. What we had is gone.
Thats true, said the Doctor, squinting in the midday sun. Part of what Endpoint was about the struggles against a hostile environment, order imposed through tyranny in a cruel world thats gone. And for a while therell be chaos, and disorder, and other teething problems. But that Endpoint spirit, that spirit of Hope and Persistence and all those other places where Endpointers have survived against all the odds, that spirit will see you through, help you survive.
Miraso smiled thinly. And what then?
Then... well, thats up to you, said the Doctor. You have immense