Doctor Who_ The Infinity Doctors - Lance Parkin [115]
The Doctor pursed his lips tapping them with his finger.
‘Are you absolutely sure you’re asking the right question?’
Omega leant back in the chair. ‘I shattered one set of chains only to discover another. My body was destroyed.
Only my… soul survived, Only that part of me which is me still exists. There is nothing of me that can return to the universe of matter. Not without… help.’
‘Omega needs a consciousness here to maintain the universe as he leaves,’ she explained, ‘I could fulfil that role.
But at the moment there’s nowhere for him to go. He needs a body for his soul to take over. He can’t create one from scratch, for the same reason he can’t leave the universe of anti-matter.’
‘My body’s already taken,’ the Doctor said, palm over his chest. ‘By me.’
‘You have a spare.’ Omega pointed at the cracked mirror.
The Doctor saw himself, asleep on the floor of the Librarinth.
‘A Time Lord body, in the universe of matter, right on top of the Effect itself. I could transfer myself into that, resume my place in the universe. A situation so perfect it is almost contrived.’
‘By whom?’ the Doctor asked.
Omega chuckled.
‘You will remain here, in a universe where you are a god, with the woman you love and thought you’d lost for ever. You can shape this place, populate it, at will. You will have everything, all that you want. Literally your wildest dreams.
Everything but the power to return to the universe of matter.’
The Doctor stood, grabbing the edge of the table. ‘And what makes you think that I’ll agree to all this? Why would I let a god loose in the universe, particularly one with a grudge against the Time Lords?’
‘I wouldn’t be a god there, a naked singularity cannot exist in the real universe. I don’t want to be a god there. Before I was a god, I was a man, and I long for that again. It is the only thing my powers cannot grant me here.’
The Doctor smiled, not fooled by Omega’s pained expression. He turned away from Omega, paced towards the fire. ‘You came from an age when Gallifrey ruled by the sword, when it used its great powers to dominate others. As President you will be given full access to the Matrix, the Great Key, the Demat Gun, the Magnetron, the blackstars…
not to mention a whole arsenal of weapons that only the President knows about. And you’re one of the Gallifreyan Elders, one of the true Immortals. You would be President for ever. Singularity or not, even as a man there would be nothing to stop you. Nothing. So I’m afraid I couldn’t possibly allow you to go back.’
Omega gave a small smile, barely noticeable.
‘Whatever makes you think you have a choice?’
Chapter Eleven
Speak of the Devil
A burst of blue light splashed over the ramparts of the Station, the only light in the dark universe. Moments later, there was a distant roar, like a crashing wave or a rumble of thunder. The entire structure of spacetime was churning and boiling like a cauldron, and the Station rocked with it, but the stasis halo held.
The six crewmen stood at their posts around the Station’s console. They’d got used to the shifting floor beneath them many hours ago and, as the Station rocked, they rocked with it. The Station wasn’t sustaining any damage, and they’d concluded that this wasn’t an attack directed at them, simply a side-effect of the increasing size of the breach in spacetime. Since contact with Gallifrey had been lost, the crack had widened, and space and time around it had strained to accommodate the growth. Sudden, violent bursts of energy were only the most obvious effects. After almost a day in the dead universe, the crew of the Station had analysed the anti-matter/matter annihilations that caused the breach, they had begun to be able to predict the Effect’s behaviour.
A few of the less sensitive monitors were still aimed at the Needle, and Lords Hemal and Quarduk had brought their TARDISes around to surround the object. At a very, very safe distance, of course. Those remaining in the Station were calm. They were waiting now, sure that they could sit