Doctor Who_ Psi-Ence Fiction - Chris Boucher [105]
'By "whoever goes through that" I assume you mean me?' the Doctor said.
'I was going myself, but Josh couldn't be expected to handle all the systems -'
The Doctor interrupted him. These would be the automatically self-regulating systems?'
'Josh couldn't be expected to handle all the systems,' Finer repeated doggedly, 'and maintain contact with me. So I needed a volunteer thank you for volunteering.'
The pulse rate went up again.
How long, the Doctor wondered, before the first full collision between positive and negative pulses boosted the power feedback exponentially and set the machine on final phase, straightening the power streams into one another so that they annihilated each other and time, and space, and time lines, and multiverses and stopped it all from existing and made it never exist. There were equations but he couldn't remember what they were. It was a matter of luck. Just luck.
'If we work together we might still be able to find a way to stop this,' the Doctor said. 'The continued existence of existence can't just be a matter of luck.'
'Here's what I want you to do,' Finer said. His manner told the Doctor that he thought he was reasoning with a hysteric.
'You don't believe I know what I'm talking about,' the Doctor said, desperately searching for some way to convince the man. 'When you set your machine up you aligned it to a small wood. It's a couple of miles from the campus. I expect it's got a reputation for being haunted. I'm right aren't I?'
'As it happens you are.' Finer was still being carefully reasonable. 'We're below the university's secondary main car park here, and Norswood is out in that direction, yes.' He got back into the lift cradle and beckoned to the Doctor to join him. 'Why don't we go down and have a closer look at everything?'
Why not? the Doctor thought. Nothing can be done from up here. Nothing can be done from anywhere. It ends soon. As he climbed into the cradle he noticed the look that passed between Finer and Josh. He was obviously doing what they wanted him to do. He hadn't persuaded the student . Josh wasn't on his side. It didn't matter. 'Why did you line up the machine in that direction?' he said.
'You tell me.' Finer moved the small joystick and the lift swung away from the platform out over the projector.
'Because your systems worked better'
'That's true,' Finer said. 'There's an unexplained magnetic anomaly.' He stopped the lift above the beginning of the pulse tunnel and looked down at the power stream. 'Seems to help the power flux.'
The Doctor said, 'There's a weakness in the multiverse located in that wood. You're tapping into it.'
'And that's a bad thing is it?' Finer said. 'In your view?' He dropped the lift a little closer to the power stream.
'You're creating a multidimensional void,' the Doctor explained. "That's a bit like a black hole only infinitely more destructive. You do understand what
"infinitely" means don't you? No, of course you don't, nobody does. It's impossible to comprehend.'
Finer pointed down at the glowing stream of pulses. They were so fast now that no flicker could be seen. 'It looks extreme but that light beam is harmless, trust me.'
The Doctor gave a hollow laugh. 'You mean it didn't kill your test animals in front of your eyes. You couldn't get them back though, could you? They're dead, trust me.'
'Have you been spying?' Finer teased. 'You haven't been working on competitive advantage investigations have you?' He dropped the lift until it was almost touching the top of the first of the pulse-tunnel hoops.
The Doctor tried again. What's this for?' he asked. 'Have you asked yourself that? Have you asked yourself what you're doing it for?'
He was expecting some evasive waffle about the good of mankind, but instead the man looked him in the eyes and said, 'I killed my daughter.
That's what it's for.'
The Doctor was taken aback. All he could think