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Rachel was surprised to feel more upset than she had the first time.

‘The first Time Lord for two million years whose memories won’t be stored in the Matrix,’ the Doctor noted matter-of-factly. ‘His secrets die with him.

Now, come on, we need to get going.’

A small robot dog was gliding towards Rachel with what looked like a gun sticking out of its nose.

‘Intruder, master,’ it said.

‘Don’t worry about Rachel, K9. How are the repairs going?’

‘Proceeding ahead of schedule. List follows: the main –’

214

‘Can we take off?’ the Doctor asked, cutting him off.

‘Affirmative.’

The Doctor moved around the console, dialling, twisting, pushing, pulling and slapping controls. The central column began rising and falling.

‘I thought the Vore could –’

The TARDIS rocked violently, as though someone was grabbing it.

‘They can. In fact, I’m banking on that.’ He tapped a control and the TARDIS

dived to one side. Although Rachel couldn’t work out quite which side it was.

‘It’ll keep them busy. Feint with the left, strike with the right. The Vore are attracted to flaws in the space-time continuum. They exploit the flaws, use them to pull their whole planets through space. They don’t get any choice, they’re moths to a flame.’

‘Master. . . ’ K9 warned as the TARDIS lurched again.

‘I know, I know. I need you to do something, K9. When I give the signal, I want you to deactivate the ship’s defensive systems.’

‘Deactivate, master?’

‘You heard. Rachel, could you come over here a minute? Every three or four seconds, press that black button, would you?’

Rachel looked down at it.

‘Oh come on, it’s not that difficult,’ the Doctor complained. ‘I’ll do it,’ Rachel muttered.

She tapped the button, and the TARDIS seemed to go into free fall for a few seconds. She turned to ask if it was meant to do that, but the Doctor was leaving the console room.

‘Wait! Where are you going?’

The Doctor grinned. ‘Infinity and beyond, as it happens. That’s another three seconds, you’ve missed your cue.’

Rachel pressed the button again. This time, the TARDIS spun on its axis.

The Doctor entered the power room and strode up to the control panel on the back wall. The iron sphere sat in the middle of the room, as normal, completely inert. The floor shook as the ship completed another random evasive manoeuvre. He checked his pocket watch. It told him three different times, all at once.

He pulled the switch that opened the eye.

I know you, the presence trapped there told him.

‘Bully for you.’

Why this is hell, nor are you out of it.

The Doctor shook his head, almost pityingly, at the misquote.

Your precious Earth has been devastated. A threat on a scale that not even you can deal with. Do you appreciate the irony, Doctor? You summoned the Vore 215

to Earth. The atomic explosion damaged the eye, your hesitation in pulling the lever that would seal it off, your desire to know your past, allowed the creation of a cicatrix. A small one, but it was enough to attract the moths to the flame.

‘Yes, I know. I was there,’ said the Doctor, without looking over his shoulder.

He opened the eyeboard, and got it to display the ship’s current coordinates and to set up a communications link with the main console.

A lever that you didn’t pull because you doubted yourself.

‘Yes, dramatic irony, poetic justice, hoist by my own petard, history repeating. How very clever of you.’

In times gone by, Doctor, you would have called on the Time Lords to help sort out a threat of such magnitude, but now you are truly alone in the universe.

The Doctor checked his watch again.

He looked round for the first time. Fully open, the eye filled the room with a blue swirling light so bright that it roared. He couldn’t conceive of the power involved, the energies being released. Had there really been Time Lords who looked into this and saw a mere source of energy to be harnessed? Were they as gods, or just lacking any imagination whatsoever? Assuming they couldn’t be both. The TARDIS shook.

Your companion is dead.

The Doctor was jolted from his thoughts.

‘Which one?’

The