Doctor Who_ Silver Nemesis - Kevin Clarke [41]
‘And the Earth with it,’ concluded the Leader. ‘The choice is yours, Doctor.’
‘That’s hardly rational.’ The Doctor smiled icily.
The Cyber Leader suddenly seemed on the verge of entirely losing control of himself. He shuddered for a moment perceptibly. ‘ I shall destroy you now!’ he shouted.
‘What’s this?’ asked the Doctor with extravagant courtesy. ‘Hatred? Cybermen with emotions? Dear me, you’re becoming defective.’
Ace closed her eyes. It was apparent the Doctor had gone too far this time. They were unarmed after all and...
Her thoughts were interrupted by a screeching woman’s voice approaching from round the corner. Every head turned as Lady Peinforte, attended by Richard, appeared across the building site marching unnoticing through the puddles and mud. With a shock, Ace realized instinctively that Lady Peinforte was mad. ‘All things,’ she was shrieking. ‘All power.’ She laughed happily. ‘Time,’ she informed a cement mixer in passing. ‘Space.’ She clambered over a pile of wood and continued across the site in a dead straight line towards the statue of Nemesis. ‘The world!’ she shouted, throwing back her head and laughing.
She was soaking wet but did not appear to notice. In fact she was apparently unaware of anything at all except the statue which drew her like a beacon. ‘The...’ she was about to continue when at last she seemed to notice the group standing by the rocket sleds. ‘Heavens,’ she said, and gazed regally round, from the Doctor, to Ace and to the Cyber Leader, before finally resting her eyes on the statue, where her attention remained. She began to croon softly.
‘She is mad,’ said the Cyber Leader. For a second, the Doctor, Ace and the Cyberman were in agreement, but Richard interrupted before this could establish itself.
‘Speak not of my lady so,’ he said hotly, and glared at the assembled beings, unafraid and challenging.
Lady Peinforte, however, was beyond offence. She approached the statue slowly and in wonder. ‘See?’ she murmured to it, comfortingly, like a mother to a disturbed child, ‘I am here.’ She smiled reassuringly at it and continued humming softly.
‘What,’ asked the Doctor crisply, ‘do you want?’
To everyone’s surprise, Lady Peinforte heard, understood, and responded at once. She turned to him with a sudden air of normality. ‘Why, my Nemesis, what else?’ she replied.
‘You’re too late,’ said Ace. ‘The Doctor’s got it.’
Lady Peinforte smiled with apparent serenity and looked pityingly at Ace. ‘It is incomplete,’ she informed her, ‘until it holds the bow. That can be given to anyone.’
Suddenly, Lady Peinforte turned on the Doctor, and for that instant Ace felt the full chilling blast of her madness and hatred. ‘It will now,’ continued her ladyship, ‘be given to me.’
Her words seemed to hang in the cold air. Ace was almost amused at her incredible affrontery. Even the Cyber Leader seemed taken aback. Lady Peinforte, however, stared at the Doctor, impatiently awaiting his response.
Ace stepped forward. ‘Listen, you old bag,’ she began.
‘Enough,’ said Richard sharply.
Ace ignored him. ‘The Doctor’s not going to just give the statue to you.’
There was a silence. Ace turned to the Doctor for his confirmation. Something in his face made her blood run cold. She wavered. ‘Tell her, Doctor,’ she said, with a note of fear.
The Doctor looked down at the ground and said nothing. He appeared to be weighing up the choices in his mind. This was no time for silence. Ace shook his arm.
‘Doctor?’ she said again loudly. This time she did not bother to conceal that she was imploring him.
‘Doctor... who?’ asked Lady Peinforte. She smiled malevolently at Ace. ‘Haven’t you ever wondered where he came from?’ She swung round and faced the Doctor fully.
‘And who he is?’
Ace began to tremble. ‘Nobody knows who the Doctor is,’ she said, as firmly as she could manage to do so.
‘Except me,’ said Lady Peinforte.
There are moments when time stands still. Indeed, the Doctor himself was not only an authority on why such a phenomenon should occur