Doctor Who_ The Infinity Doctors - Lance Parkin [73]
Our first priority is to seal off this time zone. Establish a communication channel with Gallifrey.’
The opaque screens dissolved back, letting them see the universe. At the same time, sensor arrays came on-line, scanning the universe. The Infinity Chamber in the central column lit up. The Time Lords formed a circle, looking up into the image of this dead universe.
Darkness. There were no stars, no galaxies, there was little matter or energy. Virtually nothing was left at all. In the Gallifreyan timezone, the universe was still warmed by the heat from the big bang. There was background radiation permeating the universe, at a practically constant three degrees Kelvin, That was only three degrees above absolute zero, but it seemed positively tropical compared with the temperature registering outside the Station now: 0.0000000000001 Kelvins. The instruments showed that there were stars here, but the hottest were barely over five Kelvin, cold enough instantly to turn water into ice, cold enough to freeze oxygen solid. Over the aeons that had passed since his lime, matter had slowly evaporated, returned to its subatomic components. The largest star left was barely bigger than Gallifrey had been, and the vestigial planets that orbited them would be no larger than boulders.
There was no light here, simply degrees of darkness.
It made their task easier. If it wasn’t behind its stasis halo, then this Station would be burning bright against the heavens, like a match struck in the dark. The amount of energy it must be expelling, the Source should be incandescent. Of course, just as common as the embers of stars here were the black holes, formed as galaxies and clusters of galaxies had collapsed in on each other. The universe was tiny, now, and contracting further.
For the first time the Magistrate wondered what the people of the universe were doing on this day. There might still be life out here, huddled close to the last sources of energy. He wondered if the descendants of the Time Lords would be amongst their number. The planet Gallifrey itself would be gone, of course, its star long exhausted. The people of Gallifrey might have migrated to a new planet, or perhaps to an artificial environment of some kind. Gallifreyans had traditionally resisted the urge to transform into beings of pure intelligence – an option they considered rather gauche. When their new home wore out they’d get themselves a new one.
Onwards and onwards. Time Lord society had remained stable for millions of years, but that was nothing when compared to the projected life span of the universe. Perhaps some of the projections were correct, perhaps by this time the Time Lords would be long dead. But if Gallifrey could fall, then what hope for the lesser races? The Magistrate wondered if there was there any life here at all. Was sentience just a phase the universe went through?
No.
The Time Lords had achieved so much in mere millions of years, their science exceeded their imagination. What technologies must their descendants have at their disposal?
Life would have found a way to leave this dying cosmos altogether.
The Magistrate looked down at this cold, dead vestige of a universe. He hoped so.
The madman holding Larna would be expecting the Doctor to come through the door. The Renegade had already demonstrated that he had expert knowledge of the Capitol’s security systems. He knew that the thickest security doors could be over-ridden, and he’d be ready on the other side of the door, with that force knife of his. He’d be able to cut Larna’s throat before the Doctor had got his foot through the door. The Doctor checked his watch. Eight point nine bells.
He’d been stood out here for ten minutes trying to work out his options.
But there just wasn’t another way in.
The Doctor rested his palm on the door. It was pulsing with energy. There must be an active time column in there.
Even if he had time to get up to the TARDIS cradles, the Doctor knew that the power room was heavily shielded. He considered transduction, transmatation, teleporting