Doctor Who_ Lungbarrow - Marc Platt [89]
'Warning! Contact with the Backtime Field Buffers will disengage the dimensions of this ship. Retur-'
The box gave a shriek. The Doctor hit the floor as an icy sunburst engulfed the room.
The flower of white flame hung for a moment. Then space and other dimensions outside time folded around it and tucked it neatly out of harm's way.
***
The Doctor lay on his back staring at the ceiling. The steady hum of the TARDIS was gently soothing.
He sat up. The glass column rose and fell with the pulse of flight. Lozenges of vortical light streaked across the scanner.
'Well,' he said, feeling for broken bones, 'and where exactly are you taking me?'
The box edged in beside him. It clucked and chirruped with something resembling a contented familiarity.
He looked startled. 'Home? What do you mean "home"? I don't want to go home. I can never go home again.'
135
Chapter Twenty-three
Old Mole
Innocet dabbed at the Doctor's forehead with his scarf. He was propped against the wall and was stil shivering.
He opened an eye.
'All right,' she said. 'I accept that you were nowhere near the House when Quences was murdered.'
'We al saw me. I could have come back.'
She shook her head indignantly. 'Snail, you were driven out. Glospin drove you. Al this explains away many more things than you will know. But to steal a TT machine.' He closed his eyes again. 'That wasn't real y the mythical Hand of Omega,' she continued.
'You're the classicist. You tell me.'
'It's a legend.' She glanced up at the racks of coloured tubes around the room. 'There are at least a dozen different versions of the story, but their interpretations depend on the social and spiritual needs of the times in which they were written.'
'And the authors who wrote them,' added the Doctor. 'But there are no tides without a moon. Nor towers without foundation.' He took another rice cake from his pocket. 'Badger? The Hand of Omega.'
Chris, who had been drowsing, sat up sharply as Badger lumbered forward.
'In The Triumphs of Rassilon,' rumbled the tutor, 'the Hand is the stellar manipulator that Omega forged for Rassilon. It is the key that opened the burning gate of Time. And the Other stole the Hand away.'
'Dramatic licence,' said the Doctor. 'And a very simplistic view.'
'It's much the same in The Record of Rassilon,' said Innocet. 'The Hand of Omega creates the Time-Sun that shines on Gallifrey. But in The Book of the Old Time, the Other plots to overthrow Rassilon, and flees when he is defeated. The Hand pursues him forever through eternity. Whichever way you interpret it, it symbolizes the people's rejection of superstition. The reign of the Gods ends and we learn to fend for ourselves.'
'Correct,' said Badger. 'This period is cal ed the Intuitive Revelation.'
'Excuse me for asking,' said Chris, 'but what's al this stuff about genetic discrepancies on your birth certificate?'
'Not very relevant,' the Doctor said. 'Rice cake?'
'Sorry, but it isn't easy to ignore things, not when half the thoughts in my head aren't my own.'
'That evidence is sub judice.'
'I tried to protect you,' said Innocet. 'Glospin was set to report all his theories, but I stopped them from reaching the Capitol.'
The Doctor nodded. 'Thank you, Cousin. I hope he didn't take it out on you.'
She tested the weight of hair on her shoulders. 'Glospin was ill. He collapsed with a massive double hearts seizure, shortly after the House was buried. When Quences died, Glospin was already bedridden.'
'I saw that,' said Chris. 'Arkhew and I dreamt it.'
'Satthralope nursed him through his regeneration. There were complications and no medical help. It took him many, many candledays to recover.'
136
'How convenient,' the Doctor complained.
Innocet tutted. 'He is over three hundred years older than you.'
'And only on his third generation.' The Doctor sniffed at his rice cake, grunted and thrust it back in his pocket.
'One more question,' said Chris. 'Why do all your Cousins cal you "Wormhole"?'
The Doctor gave a groan of irritation.
'Not al of us,' said Innocet.
'Why don't