Doctor Who_ The Infinity Doctors - Lance Parkin [58]
The Doctor smiled at him, trying to look casual.
The scanner activated, showing an image of the universe.
‘Nice trick,’ the Doctor observed. I’ll have to get one of those pictures for my room.’
Castellan Voran tutted. The Magistrate nodded towards the screen. ‘Look closely.’
The Doctor peered at the picture, unsure what he was looking for. ‘Is that a flaw in spacetime?’ he asked finally.
The Castellan didn’t speak, he simply readjusted the angle of the viewer.
The Doctor watched a succession of images, all telling him the same thing.
‘Have you tracked the source of the disturbance?’ he asked.
‘No,’ said Voran.
The Magistrate was more forthcoming. ‘Whatever the Effect is, it is well beyond the boundaries of the universe. We need to locate the source to repair the Effect, seal it off from the rest of time.’
Finally, the picture showed them the entire universe from some ‘distance’. The Effect was a curved line.
‘You think that the Effect is a circle, with the source at the centre.’ A statement, not a question.
‘Yes,’ said the Magistrate, ‘don’t you?’
The Doctor drummed his fingers against the top of the desk while he considered the other options. ‘Yes.’
‘But you see the problem with that theory?’
‘Well, yes. The centre is a very long way away.’
The Magistrate shook his head. ‘The centre is outside the boundaries of the universe. It can’t exist, so the source can’t exist.’
The Doctor stood up, smiling. ‘Beyond the current boundaries. But the Effect is moving through time as well as space. Boundaries change.’ From the macroscopic perspective of the scanner’s image it was clear that the universe was roughly spherical and expanding. It resembled a balloon, with the whole of spacetime on its skin. That analogy was the one that Gallifreyan tutors used in schoolrooms, the problem with it being that there was nothing inside the balloon, and nothing outside. The Effect originated somewhere towards the centre of the balloon literally in the middle of nowhere. ‘Take the Effect’s eleven-dimensional nature into effect,’ the Doctor suggested.
‘The universe has expanded since its creation,’ the Castellan said impatiently, ‘the arc of the Effect suggests that its point of origin is right at the dawn of time, when the universe was a great deal smaller. We did think to look in the far past.’
‘I’m sure you did,’ the Doctor said sincerely. He turned to the Magistrate. ‘What effect is the Effect having?’
The Magistrate was looking thoughtful. ‘None whatsoever at the moment, although the potential is there.’
‘And who do you think is behind it all?’
The Castellan and the Magistrate looked at each other, bewildered.
‘It’s a natural phenomenon,’ the Castellan answered.
‘Possibly…’ the Magistrate responded, his voice trailing off. ‘No sentience that we know of is capable of producing anything as powerful.’
‘Centro is,’ the Doctor replied without hesitation. ‘True, none of Centro’s spacewarps have ever reached anything like this level, but they could if he found a large enough power source. He certainly has the persistence.’
The Castellan scowled, and gestured towards the picture.
The cracked display of the universe vanished. In its place appeared an image of a metal skull with camera eyes, its jaw slack, as if it was screaming. Brilliant white shards of light transfixed it.
‘Centro is where you left him,’ the Castellan assured them.
‘For now,’ the Doctor agreed, relieved. ‘But if it isn’t Centro, then who is it? The Klade? The Tractites? The Ongoing? It could be the Nibblepibblies.’
‘It could be them,’ the Castellan agreed, unaware that the Doctor had just made them up. ‘But it is much more likely that this is a natural phenomenon. We’ve prepared a report.’ He handed over a wad of notes.
The Doctor nodded, made a show of reading the first couple of paragraphs. ‘Good. Right, I’ll run a check on the Effect from my TARDIS, try locate the Source from there.’ He got up and started to make for the door.
The Magistrate caught his arm. ‘You