Doctor Who_ Silver Nemesis - Kevin Clarke [1]
– passes, one might be forgiven for imagining one briefly glimpsed a face within the centre of the rock. Somehow, in that instant, there is the fleeting sense of a still expression, carved in silver. Perhaps it is seen through a small glass panel, or more likely, not seen at all.
Infinity of a more immediate nature was on the Doctor and Ace’s minds that afternoon. In the case of the Doctor, a number of simultaneous infinities were at work, all of them pleasurable on this occasion. The rare appearance of the sun in England on a late summer’s day seemed to be everlasting. The beautiful waterside garden of the pub outside which they were sitting equally seemed to be going nowhere, as indeed it had not for at least three hundred years. Of greatest importance to both of them was the jazz blowing out of the saxophone of, in the Doctor’s view, the most exciting musical discovery since John Coltrane; it sounded and felt as infinite as anything the Doctor had ever encountered on his travels. He had once defined music to Ace as interior space travel, and he reflected on the accuracy of this remark as the drummer counted in the band for the final number of their first set.
The people around them were equally relaxed. The music blew through their souls and drifted gently away over the countryside. It would have required a cynic to pay more than passing attention to the two large men tapping their feet rather mechanically at the edge of the audience.
Among civilized music lovers it would be almost unthinkable that anyone might stare at them, either because they were identical twins, or because while apparently listening to the band they both continued wearing what looked like extremely expensive personal stereo headphones – headphones that appeared to be made of solid silver. The crowd, however, were music lovers, and although the identical men were extremely large, no one did stare at them and such questions did not arise.
The final number came to an end. The crowd applauded, yelling for more, but the band took a break. Ace picked up an abandoned Sunday paper and stretched. ‘I could listen to them all afternoon,’ she said.
The Doctor opened his eyes dreamily, still out in the distant galactic reaches of the last high E flat.
‘And so we shall,’ he replied.
Fully aware of this, because more than cursory preparations had brought them here in the first place to catch the quartet, Ace was already immersed in the news.
‘Have you seen this?’ She rustled the paper at the Doctor.
A headline ‘Meteor approaches England’ swam briefly before his eyes. ‘Charlton have picked up three points.’
The Doctor nodded, seeming to concentrate fully on her excitement.
‘Yes,’ he agreed, ‘that’s my favourite kind of jazz: straight blowing. I’m afraid I got quite annoyed when it went through the audiophonic lasers phase.’
‘Who are they?’
‘You know.’ It appeared she did not. ‘Sound and light becoming the same thing.’ He might as well have been speaking the lost and later corrupted, recycled and codified sound-patterns of the defunct planet Ofrix, to which no outside being other than himself, to his knowledge, had ever ventured. ‘Holographic movies coming out of saxophones.’ They appeared to have reached a communicatory impasse. The Doctor looked desperately at the date on the paper and beamed with relief. ‘Oh, of course. It’s 1988. Ten years to go. Make the most of them.’
Ace, as usual, was not fooled. The Doctor could see this.
‘I complained about the future of jazz to Louis Armstrong,’
he continued in a brave attempt to reassert his authority. It didn’t do to let Ace see him slip up.
‘What did he say?’
‘I can’t really remember. Oh, yes.’ Recalling it, the Doctor warmed to his theme. ‘He said music would always survive. He was right, of course. You see, he knew better than anyone that if you’re going to play around with the most basic principles of time then mark my words time will – ’ the Doctor was sharply interrupted by an unearthly screeching which seemed to come from inside his shirt-sleeve ’ – catch up.’
People nearby turned round.