Doctor Who_ Silver Nemesis - Kevin Clarke [31]
Although she was still in the doorway, Ace noticed that in dodging the Cyber Leader, the Doctor had deliberately moved well inside the crypt. She could see no escape for him now.
The Cyber Leader broke the silence. ‘What do you want?’ he asked thickly.
The Doctor grinned at him and gave the bow an affectionate stroke. This was not lost on all the crypt’s occupants, whose eyes moved as one in fascination to it.
When they looked up again for his reply, the Doctor was smiling indulgently at them.
‘You Cybermen do go in for obvious questions don’t you?’ he said, with mock sadness. ‘But then you always have talked in such a dull way. You know, everything’s always...’ and he adopted an extremely convincing Cyber voice, ‘Kill him, or Excellent.’ The Cybermen started in reaction to the insult but the Doctor was back to his own voice again and still ahead of them. ‘So what do I want?
Well, obvious questions beg obvious answers. Nothing.
That’s what I want.’ He looked at the Leader with apparent concern. ‘Have I lost you?’ He spoke clearly, as though to a child. ‘Nothing. Nothing.’ And suddenly he became steely. ‘Nothing lasts for ever.’
The Cyber Leader made a dismissive gesture, as if to cut through the swathes of unnecessary talk he was enduring.
‘Give me the bow,’ he rasped.
But the Doctor moved out of reach again, and again, Ace noticed, further into the crypt and among his deadly enemies. ‘Patience, patience,’ he admonished. ‘I thought we’d have a little chat first. Relive old times. Look to the future.’
‘You have no future,’ replied the Leader, with flat finality. ‘Neither does your companion, nor any of her race.’
As the metallic voice grated, Ace was stealing a glance at the Nemesis. It was brighter than she had ever seen it, and its intensity was increasing by the moment, as though the entire statue were preparing for massive and unimaginable activity. It was reacting to the bow, which she now saw was shining equally brightly in the Doctor’s hand. Ace began to see the Doctor’s purpose. The Doctor, meanwhile, was replying to the Cyber Leader, and holding the attention of all the other beings in the crypt.
The Doctor seemed blithely unconcerned at the imminent destruction of himself, Ace, and the entire planet on which they stood. ‘I’m afraid I have to disagree with you,’ he was saying cheerfully. The Cyber Leader, however, had clearly suffered as much delay as he was prepared to tolerate. He held up an imperious silver hand.
‘Enough,’ boomed the voice, ‘we shall complete the statue.’
The Doctor ignored him. ‘There is, however you care to approach it, always a future,’ he ruminated.
Ace took a deep breath. Despite the Doctor’s seemingly boundless confidence, she felt things were bad enough without his going off on one of his lengthy discourses on the subject of time. It was, after all, his favourite theme, with which like a jazz musician with a good tune, he never ceased finding new aspects to explore and develop.
Unfortunately, the present wasn’t the perfect moment for his thoughts on the future. The Cyber Leader evidently agreed. ‘Take the bow from him,’ he ordered harshly.
‘And for some of us,’ continued the Doctor as though he had not heard, ‘it arrives too soon.’
‘Look!’ shouted Ace. She was unable to stop herself.
The most extraordinary light she had ever seen was radiating out of the tomb. As they turned to look, cracks appeared all over the tomb. Smoke began billowing out of it and it disintegrated. As it did so, the statue rose to its feet, bursting into blazing light. All the humans present involuntarily stepped back; even the Cybermen seemed nonplussed.
The whole crypt was flooded with radiant light. All the remaining rock that had been covering the statue fell away and it stood entirely revealed for the first time. The reality of it took Ace’s breath away. She was looking at a living silver image of Lady Peinforte.
Amid it all, the Doctor stood happily, looking about himself and rubbing his hands in apparent satisfaction. He winked at Ace and smiled. ‘That seems to be in order,’ he said, and