Doctor Who_ Silver Nemesis - Kevin Clarke [3]
Lady Peinforte cut in. ‘I know this. When will it land?’
Heedless of the interruption, the elderly man rambled on: ‘... passing ever closer until it once again strikes Earth at the point of its original departure in the, ah, meadow outside.’
Lady Peinforte was beside herself. ‘Yes, yes, when?’
There was a pause. The man found his place on the scroll. ‘The, ah, twenty-third of November... nineteen hundred and eighty-eight.’
Lady Peinforte almost fainted. Her voice was weak.
‘You are certain?’
‘See for yourself, ma’am.’ He handed her the last page of calculation. It swam before her eyes. Dimly, she was aware of his voice in the distance.
‘My equations will have astounding applications! I can do anything!’ the old man burbled. ‘I shall build a flying machine. Imagine that, my lady. Human beings flying like birds. Let me see...’ He returned to his figures and his voice faded away.
‘Bring the cups of potion,’ commanded Lady Peinforte.
‘We leave at once.’
‘The final ingredient, my lady,’ Richard reminded her.
‘Human blood.’
‘I shall change the world...’ murmured the elderly mathematician.
‘Ah yes, Richard,’ replied Lady Peinforte, softly. ‘Close the door.’
The enormous drawing room of the former German colonial residence was filled, as it normally was, with sunlight and the chatter of birds from the forest that surrounded it for many miles in every direction. The South American heat was as intense as usual, but after these many years, the man known as Herr De Flores was more accustomed to it than the Bavaria in which he had spent his youth, and which he now only faintly and rarely recalled. In the telescopic sights of his crossbow, a beautiful multicoloured tropical bird, one of the last of its species, preened itself a quarter of a mile away. De Flores tightened his finger on the trigger. A young man ran from the house.
‘Herr De Flores. Herr De Flores.’
De Flores lowered the bow in annoyance. ‘What is it, Karl?’ he rasped in his usual terse manner. Something in the younger man’s face, however, caught his attention.
‘Wonderful news,’ Karl replied.
2
Only when they were certain that the two large men who had just tried to assassinate them had gone did the Doctor and Ace pull themselves to the river bank. ‘Welcome home,’ said the Doctor as he hauled Ace out of the water. ‘I always liked the Eighties. They were a time of great certainty in England.’ While Ace stood drying herself outside the TARDIS, the Doctor went into it and then emerged carrying her ghetto blaster. He had built it for her from a combination of old valves and future technology.
Ace was touched. ‘Great,’ she said. ‘I’ll put on my tape from the gig.’
The Doctor fiddled with the controls. ‘Not at the moment, Ace.’
‘Why not? It’s my tape deck.’
‘It isn’t just a tape deck. And we’ve got more important things to worry about than your tape. Like people trying to kill us.’
‘Who were they? Who’d want to kill us?’
‘For me I’m afraid the possibilities are almost infinite,’
admitted the Doctor. ‘At the moment I’m more concerned about the alarm. Perhaps if I can find out where we’re supposed to be going I’ll know why it went off.’
A glowing spherical hologram began to form above a dish fitted on the top of the tape deck. As the Doctor adjusted the controls, the image resolved into a computer graphics diagram of a planetary system. This faded, to be replaced by a second diagram.
Ace towelled her hair vigorously. ‘Can’t be soon enough for me,’ she said.
The Doctor was absorbed and replied
absently. ‘Obviously these arrangements were made in a hurry. It’s important though. I’ve given it a terminal rating.’
‘Sounds nice.’
‘Oh yes? It means some planet somewhere faces imminent destruction.’
As he spoke, the diagram was replaced by another image. It was clearly a planet.
‘Ah,’ said the Doctor. ‘Now this looks familiar.’
‘It should,’ said Ace. ‘It’s the Earth.’
They looked at each other.
The elderly mathematician’s scrolls were now yellow