Doctor Who_ The Infinity Doctors - Lance Parkin [126]
The Doctor shrugged. ‘A rather melodramatic name, but yes. The black hole that Rassilon brought to Gallifrey.’
Larna looked over at the central column, rising and falling.
She bit her lip. ‘It would make us into gods.’
‘Would you want that power?’ he asked. He was testing her, she realised.
‘Isn’t that what you always say you want the Council to do? Intervene?’ The Doctor lent over her, brushed her face with his hand. Larna let him. ‘You want the Time Lords to help others to reach their potential, you want to spread peace and knowledge. You don’t want to conquer the universe.’
‘What do you want?’ he asked.
She laughed. ‘It doesn’t matter what I want.’
His hand moved down her neck to the pendant at her collar. He toyed with the blue gem for a moment. Larna looked down at his face.
‘Of course it matters,’ he said. ‘It matters more than anything.’
‘What do you want me to say?’ she asked quietly. ‘It’s fantasy…’
‘It’s power,’ he said, sliding his hand over her shoulder, baring it. ‘You know how to take it. What would you want with it?’
Larna swallowed. ‘You’re testing me.’
‘Don’t you want me to test you?’ He was working at her shoulder, massaging away some of the stiffness.
‘The High Council won’t let us evaporate the Eye of Harmony,’ she laughed. ‘It’s the source of power for all of Gallifrey. And it’s not ours.’
‘They might want it back,’ the Doctor conceded, leaning closer.
‘Think about what you’re saying: civil war on Gallifrey, infinite firepower on both sides. They would have no choice but to use timewar against us.’ She shuddered. The Time Wars in Gallifrey’s past were a nightmare of contradiction, paradox and death. After the war, the Time Lords had been forced to seal off whole areas of time and space that had become damaged beyond repair.
‘ I’d use timewar against them. I’d use it first, if necessary.’
‘Do you think that’s what created the grey universe?’ she asked, trying to ignore his attention. ‘A Time Lord civil war?’
‘It’s not the only way it could have happened, but it certainly could have happened that way.’
‘And you’re prepared to risk it?’
‘Are you? I would need your help, your expertise.’
She tensed. ‘You’re not the Doctor, are you?’
‘No.’ He leant in, nuzzled the side of her neck.
‘You’re Omega. You’ve taken control of the Doctor somehow, crossed back into this universe. What have you done with him?’
‘The same thing I did with the Magistrate, put him out of harm’s way.’
He kissed her cheek. She pushed him away.
‘You are evil,’ she stated, preparing to stand.
He held her shoulder, didn’t let her up. ‘How? I have given the Doctor what he desires the most. I have ended an injustice, made things as they should have been.’ He leant back in again. ‘Without the singularity I am one man. With it, we would be gods. Do you really think anything could stop us? You could have anything you want. More than that: you could have everything you want. It wouldn’t be tyranny, not one drop of blood need be spilt, the universe would willingly submit to you. Is that evil?’
‘Would you submit to me?’
‘Is that what you want?’ he asked, releasing his grip on her shoulder. ‘Without the singularity, I’m powerless to prevent it.’
‘You’re just a man?’ Larna felt the weight of the Magistrate’s gun on her belt. ‘Mortal?’
He smiled, held out his hand. ‘I’m just a man. It’s your choice, Larna. What do you want?’
Chapter Twelve
Infinity and Beyond
Hand below hand, hand below hand, Savar climbs down the brick power shaft towards the centre of Gallifrey and the Eye of Harmony.
The pointing has worn over the millennia, there are plenty of holds for his hands and feet. The mortar crumbles as his fingers brush against it. Behind him is a column of energy, blasting up from the Eye. It’s pure white, thick as a tree trunk.
It pulses slightly, it hums like a monastic chant.
The source of this energy, and so much more besides is calling to him, or so he believes. Is that his mind, or some Time Lord instinct? The intense gravity of the black hole warps space and time around it, and