Doctor Who_ The Algebra of Ice - Lloyd Rose [105]
‘We’re on. . . This is. . . ’ She sniffed again and rubbed her hand irritably across her eyes. ‘You built this.’
‘I never.’
‘You did.’
‘No, honestly, Ace, I never had any talent for sculpture. I was the despair of my art teach– Hang on.’ He gazed up, then around. ‘I remember,’ he murmured, and gripped her arm. ‘You shouldn’t be here. It’s dangerous. You –’ He broke off. ‘How did you get here anyway?’
‘Later, OK? We should go now.’
‘Go?’
‘Don’t get all strange again. Come on.’
‘We can’t go,’ he said heavily.
‘What are you talking about.’
‘I had a plan. . . ’
‘One of those plans that doesn’t work?’
‘Yes. It was meant. . . I wasn’t going to survive it.’
‘You bastard!’ She tried to hit him but he caught her wrist.
‘So I didn’t work out a way back. There isn’t one. We’re trapped.’
Chapter Twenty-six
215
‘You bastard!’ She was sobbing again. ‘Run off like that. . . Stupid, stupid. . .
Well, bollocks.’ She raised her head and wiped her nose. ‘No we’re not bloody trapped. Not while I still have some Nitro Nine.’
‘Cor,’ said Molecross.
‘Yeah,’ said Ethan.
They were staring through a large tinted window into the capacitor chamber.
‘It’s big,’ said Molecross.
‘Very.’ Ethan crossed to the computer and began calling up information.
Molecross remained at the window, transfixed.
‘D’you suppose it’s actually a good idea to release the energy?’
‘The Doctor programmed it to happen, and I doubt he’d have done anything to harm the TARDIS.’
‘Where’s he gone, anyway?’
‘God knows. He made it up. Hm.’
‘What?’
‘The energy was supposed to be focused through a medium into the Doctor’s construct.’
‘What medium?’
Ethan scrolled down more and more slowly. ‘The Doctor.’
‘Oh no, that’s mad!’
‘I don’t disagree, but he was going to do it. He and the TARDIS share an artron field. He’d be the barrel for the energy bullet.’
‘But Ace is in there with him!’
‘He didn’t plan on that. He was just going to blow up and take the aliens with him. Nice of him to let us know.’
‘He was afraid we’d stop him.’
‘Oh yes, that’s bloody likely. Why not stop an electron or two while we’re at it.’ Ethan slammed a hand on the keyboard. ‘This is so ballsed up only a genius could have done it.’
‘We need to get him back.’
‘Unfortunately, yes.’
‘Oh, no, no, no, no,’ said Brett. ‘Bad idea.’
Molecross jumped. Ethan stiffened but didn’t look around. ‘Aren’t you supposed to be screwing up the files?’
‘This is much more interesting. Turn and face me, young Amberglass. I don’t enjoy looking at your back.’ Ethan turned. Brett nodded. ‘That’s better. Good manners are always in order.’
216
The Algebra of Ice
‘What do you want?’ said Molecross weakly. Brett squinted at him.
‘Who are you again?’
‘Adrian Molecross. I’m a journalist.’
Brett flinched delicately. ‘Not the sort of company I usually keep.’
‘Stop it with the upper-class snot thing,’ said Ethan, ‘and tell me what you want.’
Brett turned toward the door to the capacitor chamber. ‘I want that.’
‘Then why haven’t you taken it?’
‘I can’t. Though the controls that modify and release it are on line, the energy itself isn’t. We could take over the entire TARDIS system and not access it.’
‘And if you connect with it now, that gives you plenty of power while you’re waiting to harvest the rest of the ship.’
‘I always said you were clever.’ Brett looked through the window. ‘Impressive.
This whole place is astonishing. I’d never have dreamed there was such a thing.’
He shimmered slightly and appeared denser. ‘I’ll need a bit of solidity for this.’
Ethan stared. ‘Surely you don’t think you can get the capacitor on line by touching it.’
‘I have no interest in getting the capacitor on line. I also contain a code for transforming into a conduit. We will tap the energy directly, using it to power its own transfer.’ He turned his head slightly, eyes distant. The door’s computerised lock clicked. Brett opened it.
Ethan stood up, he had no idea why. He couldn’t think of a damned thing to do. ‘It will kill you,