Doctor Who_ Original Sin - Andy Lane [11]
The bottle clenched in his pseudo-limb dribbled a milky liquid into the canal. Attracted by the unfamiliar taste something broke the surface for a brief moment and brushed against his thigh, but to him it was the slap of a holstered blaster.
He staggered sideways, and paused for a moment, resting against a wall.
Water cascaded down the brickwork, soaking his already moist body. He rotated his eyestalks unsteadily, and saw a faint image of the present overlaid on the past. Somewhere in the recesses of his mind a decision was made. He would head for home.
Laboriously he pulled himself up out of the water and sprawled headlong upon the narrow wooden walkway. Eventually, he surged up until his body was balanced on his muscular basal foot, and took a long swig from the bottle.
Something moved in the shadows.
‘At last,’ a voice said. ‘The prodigal returns.’
‘Whassat?’ he cried. He saw the blade as it arced through the air towards him, and was still trying to fit it into his fantasies when it slashed through his neck. As his lifeblood ebbed into the canal, and the blade cut away at him, he dreamed of battle in space, and glory, and death.
The TARDIS materialized beside a moving walkway at the point where it passed through the three hundred and first level of a residential tower in the Overcity.
Bernice stepped out of the time vessel, and was immediately carried away by the walkway. She gazed around, too surprised to cry out. The walkway was moving through an open plaza, around which shops and restaurants were clustered to attract passing trade. It seemed to be early in the morning: most of the premises were either closed or were just opening up, and the walkway was almost deserted.
Bernice turned to look back at the TARDIS. The Doctor had placed his key in the TARDIS lock before stepping outside, and was hanging onto it like grim death. He was having to run backwards just to keep himself in the one spot.
As Bernice watched, he managed to lock the door and let go. The walkway carried him away from the TARDIS. He watched it recede with a forlorn expression upon his face, clutching his multicoloured umbrella for comfort.
Turning away with a resigned shrug, he raised his hat to an old couple who 19
passed by. They smiled, and waved back. A robot valet by their side waved as well.
‘Do you think anybody will notice it there?’ she called.
‘I wouldn’t have thought so,’ the Doctor replied, walking along the strip towards her. ‘The TARDIS has an amazing capacity for being overlooked. So long as we remember where she is, we’ll be all right.’
‘I hope you’re right,’ Bernice said.
Ahead of them, the walkway plunged out of the tower entirely, spanning the space across a rosy sky to a hole in the side of its nearest neighbour. Judging by the position of the sun, it was early morning. Looking ahead, she could see a number of towers strung along their path like stations on a monorail line.
She took a deep breath, and felt something inside her chest relax. There was something about the smell of Earth that couldn’t be duplicated.
The Doctor smiled as he joined her. ‘Aren’t I always?’
‘I refuse to answer that question, on the grounds that it may incriminate you.’
It suddenly occurred to Bernice that the Doctor was further away than he had been a few moments before. She looked down at the walkway. It was continuous between the two of them, but he was definitely moving slightly faster than she was.
‘Doctor,’ she said, ‘we’re drifting apart.’
‘Don’t say that,’ he cried, shaking his head. ‘I know we’ve had our tiffs, but fundamentally we’re still friends!’
‘No,’ she said, exasperated, ‘I mean, we’re physically drifting apart. This stuff we’re standing on isn’t solid. It’s more like a very thick liquid.’
He looked around, then down at his feet. ‘You may be right.’
He bent down