Doctor Who_ The Infinity Doctors - Lance Parkin [111]
‘Lord Omega,’ she said. ‘This is the Doctor.’
‘Yes, leave us,’ he commanded. ‘Dress for dinner.’
She bowed, and left through one of the archways.
‘Am I all right as I am?’ the Doctor asked, indicating his coat with his hand. ‘I didn’t realise we were going to be quite so formal. The invitation didn’t say black tie.’ He looked up at Omega, whose purple cloak was spilling over the edges of the throne. ‘Or fancy dress.’
‘Would you like a drink?’ Omega asked.
The Doctor shook his head. ‘No thanks… a chair if you have one, I’ve travelled quite a long way to get here and I’ve not sat down for a while.’
A small wooden chair appeared behind him.
‘Thanks.’ The Doctor sat, realising that it made him appear even smaller and less significant compared to the giant on his throne on his dais. He stood, began pacing around the room. He examined the mirror, peering into it. Apart from seeing himself, he saw stars and planets.
‘A window out over the universe of matter,’ Omega explained.
The Doctor pursed his lips. ‘That’s what I call a looking glass.’ He looked around again, aware that Omega was staring at him. ‘Nice place you have here,’ he concluded. ‘So you saw how I got past the Needle People?’
‘It was simple enough. When matter is transmitted, a duplicate is created at the destination and the original is destroyed. You rigged your transmat bracelet so that the original was not destroyed. That body is in a self-induced coma.’
‘Clever, wasn’t I?’ the Doctor said lightly. ‘So you can look out over the real universe. What about this place?’
‘This is my domain. I see everything here, I know everything here, I control everything here.’
‘Including your wife?’
‘She is bathing, preparing herself. Wearing nothing but that new body of hers.’ He leered. ‘Would you like to see her?’
The Doctor turned away from the mirror. ‘Would I like to see her? No.’ he said matter-of‐factly. Instead he looked into the fire, watched it flare up.
‘“No”? Perhaps you mean “not like this”. She would never know. You could touch her, take her thoughts, and she wouldn’t know.’
The flames were calmer now, almost hypnotic. ‘Is that what you have done?’ the Doctor muttered. ‘Is that why you brought her here?’
Omega’s laugh filled the room. ‘I have other priorities. Her heart belongs to you, for the moment. She is a fascinating woman.’
The Doctor turned. ‘You are jealous of us? You want her for yourself!’
‘If I wanted her, Doctor, make no mistake I could have her.
And she has no feelings for me now, if she ever did.’ The Doctor looked Omega in the eye for the first time. The ancient Time Lord’s face was lined, his red eyes surrounded by shadow. It was as if he hadn’t slept for a million years, and borne the weight of creation on his shoulders all that time.
‘We talk, that is all. She has told me of Gallifrey, the Time Lords, her dead children, the countless millennia that she has lived through while I ruled… this. She has a rather unique perspective on the history of our planet.’
The Doctor had been walking towards the throne as Omega spoke, Now he stepped onto the dais. ‘She has seen the best and worst of what our people have to offer.’
‘Your people, Doctor.’
The Doctor took another step up, looked Omega in the eye. ‘You’re a Gallifreyan, Omega. You’re more than that.
You must have been hit by the time energies when Qqaba went nova. You must have taken the full force of the explosion. My bet is that you understand Time a great deal better than your average Time Lord.’
Omega laughed, the sound originating all around the room. ‘You may be right.’
‘And existing outside your native universe must also have given you – what was your phrase? – a “unique perspective”.’
The red eyes narrowed. ‘I have seen the past and future change. I have seen a universe where there was no Rassilon, and the Time Lords were gods thanks to me. I have seen a universe where Rassilon still rules