Doctor Who_ The Infinity Doctors - Lance Parkin [101]
A rather battered segment of the Key to Time; a semi-organic helmet; the much-coveted Crown of the Fifth Galaxy; a blue-gold ovoid with a flower growing from it… there were many other objects, some of which the Doctor recognised, some of which he couldn’t put a name to. Objects of power in their time, but their time had long past. These were relics now, nothing more. There was also a backlit computer panel mounted to the wall. It seemed nondescript, but might bear further examination.
There were wet footprints on the marble floor, and they led straight from the door through one of the walls. The Doctor smiled, tracing the steps until he found the secret door. Once you knew the was door there, locating the small pedal switch that opened it was a doddle. It parted gracefully and silently, revealing yet another corridor.
This part of the building was a little warmer, a little lighter and a lot better maintained than the rest. The walls hadn’t fallen to damp or disrepair, the musty smell wasn’t quite as pronounced. There was a hum in the air, electricity or energy of some kind.
The far end of the corridor opened up into a large chamber. The Doctor hesitated at the entrance. The room was well-lit, and dominated by a set of great double doors.
They were set into the floor, like a bomb bay, or the way into a Kansas storm shelter. These were an immaculate white, like porcelain. There was a keyhole and two handles, set slightly apart from each other. Helios was here, as the Doctor assumed he must have been, knelt facing the back wall, supporting himself awkwardly on his stave. He was mouthing some prayer, or invocation. When he had finished, carefully, ritualistically, Helios stood and walked over to the doors, examining them.
The Doctor shifted forward to get a better look, his shoe dragging against the dry marble. Helios looked up, surprised by the noise.
‘I know you are here, Doctor,’ Helios said calmly. ‘I see the future, remember?’
‘And the past,’ the Doctor noted, stepping into the room.
‘You reacted after I scraped my boot just then, not before.’
He stopped in his tracks. ‘And that also suggests that your knowledge of the future is not perfect or you wouldn’t have been surprised.’
Helios smiled, more than a hint of warmth there. ‘You always were too clever for your own good. Alone amongst those here, I see the past as well as the future, but I have only snatches of memory of either.’
‘The worst of both worlds.’
‘Indeed. I have no idea, for example, how you managed to get past the others, or trick us into thinking you were asleep all night.’
The Doctor walked over to the doors, talking to disguise the fact that he was getting a good look at the lock, the handles. ‘I was very, very clever, and I’m itching to tell you how I did it, but if I ever do, then you might remember what I say and you’ll be able to warn them. Perhaps even retroactively.’
The doors had faint roundels on them, worn smooth by the ages.
‘Now you want to open these doors.’ It wasn’t a question.
‘I thought I might,’ the Doctor admitted lightly.
‘In all the millennia that we have been here, very few have reached this far. But you cannot be allowed to gaze upon the face of God.’
The Doctor smirked. ‘God? He’s behind these doors, is he? Odd, that, because when we were talking about Him earlier, I distinctly remember Pallant saying that he didn’t know which door God was behind. Funny thing is, you’ve known all along where the gates are, all about the secret route to them. You’ve kept that information from the others, though, haven’t you?’
‘The temptation might prove too great for even the most devout of his servants,’ Helios said easily.
‘But the temptation is not too great for you?’
The lined face clouded over. ‘No! I have resisted temptation for many millennia, I know that I resist until the end.’
‘So you’ve never tried to open the door?’
‘No! Of course I was tempted, but I resisted.’
‘Not been tempted even the once?