Doctor Who_ Hope - Mark Clapham [75]
The storm was to get worse before it got better. In Hope, and in all the other communities of Endpoint, the hatches were firmly battened down as the wind and rain hammered the buildings. Clouds raged, fierce lights burning within, as the pollutants in the atmosphere were driven away. Below, the seas bubbled with a harsh fire, a similar process making those hostile waters fresh again. The rains over Hope had been just the beginning in the end it would take five days of storms across Endpoint for the seeding pods to do their work.
For the people of Endpoint, there was little they could do as the storms raged. In the heart of Hope, in the Silver Palace, people talked and drank and played cards by candlelight. Anji and Fitz both talked to the Doctor upon his arrival, then had to wait for another day before hearing the full story of his ordeal in the bunker; within minutes of talking to Anji he retired to his bed, where he slept a disturbed but healing sleep for almost a full day and night. When he woke again he seemed happy to join in the quiet life of the Palace staff as the storms raged outside.
While the others rested, Miraso couldnt settle. After his meeting with her on the rooftop, Silver had returned to his new ship, sending the occasional communication as he went about remodelling the planets environment. Miraso absorbed these messages with due diligence, but was left unsatisfied by Silvers absence from the Palace every palace needed its king, or else what purpose did it have?
On the sixth day after the storms began, dawn rose over Hope, and the people found themselves waking to a new world. They flinched as they left their homes, stung by the brightness of the sunlight coming from a clear blue sky. Where there had been persistent fog, now there was only the occasional wisp of white cloud. Those near the coast were surprised to see the colour of the sea was a deep green, although no one yet had the nerve to see if those waters were still hostile.
The previous weeks storm, whipped up through a cluster of terraforming pods, had changed the world of Endpoint for ever. The buildings of Hope, dirt battered away by the rain, now gleamed like silver, as if in tribute to the citys saviour.
The Pier was a different place from the one it had been a week before. The first day after the storms ended proved to be a sunny one, the first sunny day in a very long time, and the Endpointers responded with appropriate wonder. The people of Hope hadnt quite got around to reinventing ice cream, which Fitz considered a nuisance, but at least the bright sunlight gave him an excuse to wear his shades. Crowds were gathering to look out to sea, no one having seen the horizon before because of the thick fog. Fitz ducked between gleaming bald heads, wondering how many of them would be sunburned by the end of the day.
He found the Doctor and Anji sitting at the Piers end, feet dangling over the edge. Fitz dropped down to sit with them, arms draping over the railing, looking out to sea.
Well, weve made some changes to the places weve visited, said Fitz. But this is ridiculous.
The Doctor tried to look modest. I wouldnt take all the credit. Silver was quite capable of working out how to use most of the technology necessary to remodel the environment. Its just a shame the humans down there didnt have the initiative or intelligence to do this years ago.
When are we going to meet these humans, anyway? asked Anji. She seemed to have a greater certainty and poise than Fitz had seen in her for a while.
The Doctor seemed uncertain. This is a very delicate situation. In spite of all the change around here, the killings cant be forgotten, reparations will have to be made. And the humans down there have been isolated for some time, most of them arent ready to face the outside world yet.
All the same, you must be pleased to see them, said Fitz. What with your bonding and all that.
Its true, with my ties to the Earth, to humanity, it was disconcerting coming to a time when Earth is gone, replied the Doctor. Ironically,