Doctor Who_ The Gallifrey Chronicles - Lance Parkin [36]
The Doctor squirmed a little in his seat. It wasn’t physically uncomfortable.
‘My life had great purpose, once,’ Marnal said, waving the books. ‘I always knew it. I had bathed in the light of heaven, and now I was in darkness, but I knew that I would come back, yes, I would come back. Until that day –’
‘You thought you’d go back?’ the Doctor asked.
‘Yes.’
‘I. . . didn’t,’ the Doctor admitted. ‘The way I saw it, my purpose was to be the match. To carry the torch, to be the torch. The spark of heavenly light in the cold and the darkness. To go forward with all my beliefs and –’
‘That,’ Marnal said, looking weary, ‘was because you knew what I didn’t.’
He turned and left the room, locking the door behind him.
‘I didn’t,’ the Doctor said quietly.
∗ ∗ ∗
78
Fitz strummed the new guitar he’d somehow acquired during the course of his clothes shopping.
‘I’m going to miss the TARDIS wardrobe,’ Trix said. She’d buttoned up her shirt and was walking around his hotel room, looking for the skirt she’d bought this afternoon. It was the casually miraculous, Fitz thought. Sharing a life with such a woman, just turning your head to see her there.
She frowned. ‘You have the strangest look on your face.’
‘You’re a beautiful person,’ he told her.
‘There’s a lot you don’t know about me.’
‘And I have hidden depths too,’ Fitz countered. ‘Or, at the very least, I have a lot of hidden shallows.’
Trix sighed. ‘Are you ever going to get changed?’
‘The restaurant isn’t ten minutes’ walk away and we’ve got an hour before we have to be there.’
He plucked at the guitar again.
‘Are you getting hungry? You’ve not eaten anything today.’
‘It’s OK, Trix, I can look after myself.’
She smiled. ‘Sorry.’
‘What for?’
‘I don’t want to nag.’
‘You weren’t.’ He put the guitar down and patted the bed, trying to look seductive.
Trix was too busy putting on her skirt to notice.
Fitz wondered how best to attract her attention. ‘Remind me to ask her about Jamais and Chloe. I forgot before.’
‘I’ll try to remember. So what do you think Greg will be like?’
‘Tall, dark and handsome, I’m guessing. Like me.’ He gave what he hoped was a sweet smile and patted the bed again.
‘Anji’s one of the richest women in Britain now,’ Trix said, failing to take the hint.
‘Takes one to know one. It’s weird. Like we won the pools or something.
What’s that thing they always say?’
Trix grinned. ‘“It won’t change me.” I’ve always thought they should take the money off anyone who said that, and give it to someone who could do with a change.’
‘No. I was thinking more like “It hasn’t sunk in yet”. A lot’s happening all at once.’
Trix’s smile faltered.
‘No,’ Fitz said quickly. ‘It’s not a problem. Just that I’ve spent so long being the same old Fitz, it’s strange that everything’s changed. But it’s changed for the better.’
79
He patted the bed again.
‘I saw you the first time,’ Trix told him. ‘But it really is time you got ready.’
The young woman had come in to feed the Doctor. She wasn’t saying anything.
She was something of an expert at serving him. She’d given him some juice, tipping it into his mouth at just the right angle. Then some soup and bread, the soup not so hot it burned, just enough bread each time to get a good mouthful. She’d done this before, and she really didn’t look like a professional kidnapper.
‘You’re a nurse?’ he guessed, once the bowl was empty.
She nodded.
‘What’s your name?’
The young woman spent a couple of seconds calculating whether to answer.
‘Rachel.’
‘Hello, Rachel. I’m the Doctor.’
She clearly didn’t want to get into a conversation.
‘How long have you known Marnal?’ he tried.
Again, she was very wary of him.
‘It’s not a trick,’ the Doctor said. ‘If it was a trick, I’d tell you.’
A wry smile. ‘I’ve known him a few months. I mean, I’d read some of his books. They’re like Tolkien, aren’t they? Everyone reads at least one of them when they’re fourteen.