Doctor Who_ Interference_ Book Two - Lawrence Miles [121]
Just a few minutes after the travelling show had exploded, twelve entirely new people were lying there in the wasteland. Each member of the travelling show had become the next in line.
* * *
Minutes passed. Hours passed. Nobody moved, and in that period of silence it was doubtful that any of the twelve knew they were alive at all. Then – finally – a lone Gallifreyan priest appeared from over a nearby crag, saw the twelve travellers in the sand, and went to help them.
The priest would one day call himself I.M. Foreman, but at that point in his life he still hadn’t made up his mind about leaving his homeworld, and he definitely hadn’t yet decided to sharpen up his telepathic centres by removing his own eyes. But, when the twelve strangers eventually recovered, it didn’t take the priest long to realise that they were all his future incarnations. One day they’d acquire the techniques of time travel from the other wasteland refugees, and the travelling show would begin, working outward from Gallifrey in its grand spiral of life. For now, though, all the priest and his twelve new friends could do was wonder how they’d ended up in the same place at the same time. Perhaps, they speculated, it was one of those things that had simply been destined to happen.
The rest would be history.
* * *
Sarah looked at the scanner. Then at the Doctor. Then at the scanner. Then at the Doctor. Then at the scanner. She was sure she was going to get bored of this sooner or later, but she wasn’t sure when.
‘Well?’ she said. ‘Where did they go?’
‘Back to Gallifrey,’ said the Doctor. ‘Several thousand years ago. To meet their destiny.’
‘And what’s their destiny?’
The Doctor nodded at the whirling flesh thing on the scanner. ‘That is, I’m afraid. The final form of I.M. Foreman. The last regeneration.’
‘Huh,’ said Sarah. ‘I’d ask for my money back if I were him.54’
But the Doctor was already back at the controls, and a second later the column in the middle of the console was bobbing up and down again. When they landed, the scanner told them that they were back in the alley where they’d first arrived. The Doctor had opened the doors before Sarah could even ask him what he was doing.
‘Stay here,’ he said, as he took his usual hundred-mile strides across the room.
‘All right,’ said Sarah.
‘No, Sarah. I mean, really stay here.’
‘Oh,’ said Sarah.
* * *
Even the first TARDIS had vanished now. That made Number Thirteen very, very irate indeed. There were still people in the town, but it could feel them huddling inside their homes, and they didn’t seem to be particularly varied or interesting bioforms. Many of them had been inbreeding for generations, judging by the state of their genes.
Number Thirteen had planned on swallowing all life on the planet, then (and only then) deciding on the form it actually wanted. No point building yourself a great big body before you’d weighed up all the options, was there? But now it was starting to wonder whether it shouldn’t just –
Aha!
The Time Lord was back. Number Thirteen turned its attention towards one of the side streets, and saw the little animal standing there with his hands on his hips, staring up defiantly. It could smell the panic on his body, though. Still, you had to admire the creature for trying. Number Thirteen reared up, becoming one great wave again, and prepared to crash down on its victim.
‘I’d listen to what I’ve got to say first,’ said the Time Lord.
Number Thirteen paused. The wave lost momentum, and it found itself crashing back to the ground in a big messy puddle of energy. The Time Lord stepped back, to avoid getting splashed.
‘Are you listening?’ the Time Lord asked.
Number Thirteen felt the absurd urge to nod.
‘Good,’ said the Time Lord. ‘Now pay attention. You used to be Gallifreyan, like me. I don’t know