Doctor Who_ Nightshade - Mark Gatiss [106]
then smiled. ‘Clever. Very clever...’
‘What is it, Doctor?’ said Ace worriedly.
‘If we’re lucky...’ he said under his breath.
The Sentience had sensed the star diminishing. How long Ace shrugged. ‘What? The star burns out?’
it had hovered there, drinking in the beautiful energy, it
‘No, no. Remember what I told you.’
couldn’t tell. But what was time to it? Now it was free to
‘It turns into a pulsar, right?’
roam through space, consuming anything it came across.
‘Yes,’ said the Doctor quietly. ‘Unless the core of the star is The eater of stars!
too massive for the neutrons to support it against gravity. In It sent out a portion of itself and suddenly shuddered which case the core continues to collapse.’
with delight. There was another star, somewhat more Ace shrugged. ‘Well?’
distant, but so powerful!
‘Continues to collapse until the gravity at its centre is Seconds later, the Sentience was storming out of the strong enough to form...?’ The Doctor raised his eyebrows galaxy.
expectantly.
Ace frowned, then smiled, then grinned as she realised what the Doctor was implying.
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DOCTOR WHO: NIGHTSHADE
DOCTOR WHO: NIGHTSHADE
Then a curious peace came over it as it vanished forever.
The Sentience was aware of the star’s death. Immediately, Perhaps it had finally come home.
it began to monitor the space around it for more energy. It was colossal now, stretching shimmering tendrils into the The Doctor flicked a switch and the scanner roundel vacuum.
darkened to the same hue as the others.
It would leave and find more stars.
‘It’s over,’ he sighed. ‘Consumed by the black hole.’
Nothing happened.
Ace breathed out delightedly. ‘Well...’
Once again, it attempted to leave and found that it could
‘Yes. Time you were getting back.’
not. It desired to be elsewhere and this had always been The Doctor looked at her steadily. He didn’t want to let easy to accomplish. Why not now? Besides, since it had her go but under normal circumstances he would have done.
grown greater the need was greater.
Under normal circumstances.
Already, the yawning emptiness seemed to burn within it.
But there was more at stake now...
The Sentience flexed a tendril but was dragged back
‘Crook Marsham 1968, here we come,’ he said brightly.
remorselessly towards the dead star.
This was impossible. It had to move. Get away. The star Ace had nothing much to pack and returned to the had nothing left to give. There was no more energy. There tertiary console room with her rucksack and bomber jacket.
was nothing but oblivion.
Her tape deck would have to stay as it was anachronistic For the first time in its ancient life, the Sentience felt and liable to cause a few raised eyebrows. Come to think of something akin to panic. It tried to wrench itself free, it, by the time Ian Brown and the Stone Roses came round, lashing its tendrils in fury, but the gravity of the star she’d probably be too old to like them any more. Funny wouldn’t permit it. Not even the Sentience could escape thought. But she had Robin now...
from a Black Hole.
She walked into the room uncertainly. The Doctor was at For a long moment, an eternity of experience flashed the console and the TARDIS was just materialising.
through its consciousness. Sir Brian de Fillis and his wife,
‘Doctor?’
Harry Cooke and his daughters. Dyson and Scott from the He turned.
archaeological expedition. Dr Shearsmith, Jack Prudhoe, Ace bit her lip. ‘Everything we talked about before. You Win Prudhoe, Betty and Lawrence Yeadon, Abbot will be OK now?’
Winstanley...
The Doctor smiled. ‘You know, the Elizabethans thought Need. Cannot die. Still need. Must go on. Must...
nostalgia was a diagnosable disease. Perhaps they were Holly Kidd. Edmund Trevithick...
right.’ He sighed. ‘Thanks to you, Ace, I know that what’s Must go on... Must... Must...
done ... is done. No sense living in the past. The only way The Sentience shimmered briefly like a firefly.
for me is forward. Always forward.