Doctor Who_ The Infinity Doctors - Lance Parkin [118]
He had a waking dream of the future, he saw candlelit tunnels, the very oldest parts of the Citadel. The place this would be decided. He had to be there, he had to call on the darkness within him.
His mind reached into the lock of his cell. It found the tumblers and bolts, drew them around, slid them apart.
The door clicked open.
Larna rubbed her eye, watched another panning shot of the Needle’s surface move across the display. She tapped a search sequence into the computer.
The console gave a soft chime.
‘I’ve found him,’ she announced.
The Doctor’s bio-signature was registering at the edge of the structure that Hedin had located. There were other life forms there, too. Now she knew where to look, Larna began increasing the resolution of the scan.
The Magistrate was stepping up the console to stare into the central column. The display was zooming in at dizzying speed towards the structure. It focused in on a dome, then the scanners penetrated even that. ‘Already?’ he asked.
‘Hedin was closer than he realised.’ But she could tell that the Magistrate didn’t accept her explanation, that he was truly impressed.
The display in front of her was resolving into a sharp picture.
Larna gasped.
The Magistrate stared into the column, looking at the same image: the Doctor lying slumped on a pile of bricks.
‘Is he alive?’ she asked.
‘He’s in a deep coma,’ Hedin reported. ‘Four humanoids in the same chamber.’ The picture switched, showing three sleeping men in dark clothes. A fourth sat on guard, watching over them.
‘Are those the Needle People?’ asked one of the Technicians. ‘I was expecting… you know… something bigger.’
‘What do we do?’ she asked.
The Magistrate looked at the image of the Doctor for a moment.
‘Come with me,’ he ordered. ‘Lord Hedin, report our findings to the Council.’
Voran stared down into the Infinity Chamber.
From here he had a perfect view of the Station and the two TARDISes as they moved into their attack positions around the Needle. They were the only four objects with any energy or light to them in the dead universe.
The ranks around him were depleted, and no one seemed entirely sure where they should be standing, except the monks who kept their distance.
Hedin – an image of Hedin – stood at his side. ‘As you see, Acting-President, we have taken up a defensive position.’ The Chamber image moved silently down to the Needle, until they were inside one of the buildings.
‘Activity is centred here,’ Hedin reported. ‘This is where we have located the Doctor. The Magistrate plans to take his TARDIS down there and –’
Voran felt a familiar tug at his sleeve.
‘What is it, Pendrel? It had better be important.’ Voran turned, to be confronted by Pendrel and, behind him, one of the Sontarans.
‘This is Chief of Staff Grol. He wishes to speak to the leader of the Time Lords on a matter of the greatest importance.’
The Acting-President snorted. He’d forgotten all about the aliens. They could rot for all he cared, but he was shrewd enough not to say that out loud. It was squat, and wore the same space armour as the creatures he’d seen on the Public Record Video. It smelt of diesel oil.
Voran turned to Hedin. ‘Please bear with us, my Lord.’
Hedin bowed respectfully.
‘Where is Dok-Tor, the leader?’ the Sontaran barked. His bloated head and piggy face did not go well together, the wispy moustache simply adding to the impression that this was something less than human.
‘I am the Lord Voran, Acting-president of the High Council of the Time Lords.’ He didn’t think it advisable to mention that the man in charge of the negotiations was a fugitive and a murderer.
The Sontaran grunted. ‘You will suffice. We have lost contact with our leader.’
‘He is very busy in conference,’ Voran said delicately. He hesitated. ‘A private session with the Doctor and the Rutan ambassador.’
Behind Grol, the image in the Infinity Chamber flared up.
Voran leant around the Sontaran to get a better look. The Needle was crackling now with energy.
‘Hedin, what is that?’ he asked.
‘A surge in energy from the