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By Root 774 0

of a way of explaining this without getting too metaphysical,' said the Doctor. 'People who travel in time are not like other people. To travel in time is to step out of the normal course of history and by doing that you become vulnerable, let's say, to the influence of the other things that also exist outside of linear time.'

'Gods,' said Bernice, 'you're talking about Gods, aren't you?'

'I prefer to think of them as extremely powerful transtemporal beings,' said the Doctor primly.

'Because of their extreme nature it's actually quite difficult for them to intervene in the mundane day to day world so they're always on the look-out for suitable agents.'

'Like Kadiatu?'

'Time travel is a form of power and power without responsibility is very dangerous.'

'So what are you planning to do about her?' asked Bernice.

'I don't know,' he said. 'She may have to be put to sleep.'

He forced himself to watch her face change. Interest giving way to shock, to anger, to betrayal and then, most painful of all, to an expression of profound disappointment. All these emotions, the entire course of the conversation up till now, he had predicted the night before as he stood with aM!xitsa looking out over Kadiatu's cove, but that didn't make it any easier to bear.

There would have been a time, long ago, when Bernice would have asked him if he was joking, or assumed that he meant 'put to sleep' in a literal sense. A time when she would have made enquiries about stasis capsules or jokes about spinning wheels. Since then, he knew, she had lost most of her illusions about him.

Bernice was looking at him with something close to loathing, unconsciously shrinking back from him in her chair. He wanted to reach out to her and explain what it was he was trying to achieve but that would ruin everything. If she were to do the job for him he needed her in precisely the right frame of mind – it was an imperative. He waited for her response.

I don't believe it, thought the Doctor. What gives you the right et cetera –

'No,' she said, 'I won't let you.'

He gaped at her.

'I've had enough, Doctor.' Her voice was calm, matter of fact. 'I won't stand by and let you murder someone just because they don't fit into your cosmic plan.'

'That's not –'

'Shut up, shut up,' said Bernice, 'I'm tired of your damn excuses, your justifications and your bloody lies. If you do this thing, you and I are finished, understand me?'

'All right,' said the Doctor, 'you decide.'

'I mean it, Doctor,' said Bernice.

'So do I,' said the Doctor. 'I'll let you decide whether she lives or dies.'

'There's no decision to make.'

'In that case you won't mind if I explain. Will you?'

She subsided back into her chair, glaring at him suspiciously.

He opened the suitcase and turned it round to face her. He showed her the ring folder, the hypospray and the two cartridges. Both cartridges were filled with a red liquid and labelled with little white sticky-backed squares. On one he had drawn a crude picture of a butterfly, on the other a skull and crossbones.

Bernice looked up from the case, still angry, still suspicious but interested now. Yes – he had her, hook, line and rusty three-speed bicycle.

'The one marked with a butterfly contains a retro-DNA tailored to Kadiatu's unique genetic structure. Once injected it will modify sections of her own DNA creating an analogue of the symbiotic nucleatides in my own blood. In short, it will give her roughly the same capabilities as a Time Lord – enhanced temporal perception, a certain resistance to chrono-instability and a few other things.' Things that I can't talk about, even to you.

'Will it stop her from killing people?'

'If I could do that, Bernice, we wouldn't be having this conversation.'

'And the other cartridge?'

'Death,' said the Doctor. 'Fast, painless, humane.'

'And I make the decision?'

'Yes.'

'Then I choose to let her live.'

'No.'

'You said it was my decision.'

'I mean don't give me your answer right now,' said the Doctor. 'I want you to think about it for two days.'

'Why? I'm not likely to change my mind.'

'Then