Doctor Who_ Time and Relative - Kim Newman [36]
'That's your Granddad?' asked Gillian.
I nodded.
Grandfather was humming to himself, twiddling knobs and pulling levers, checking gauges and dials.
'What's he doing?' asked John.
Good question.
Later –
'It's all quite simple, child,' said Grandfather. 'This fellow, the Cold, was here first. It wakes up after a lengthy snooze to finds its homeworld crowded with Johnny-come-latelys. No wonder it's on a bit of a tear. Life takes many forms; here it is active in ice, dormant in water. Fascinating. Unique. I've yet to determine whether the animus is inherently embodied in the H20 or a bodiless energy that happens to be able to shape frozen water. Millennia ago, in the First Great Ice Age, the Cold was the dominant lifeform of the Earth. One of Evolution's first experiments with Intelligence. A remarkably successful one at that. It's given me the best argument I've had since I came to this backwater.'
'The Cold Knights aren't from Outer Space?' asked John.
'Good lord, no. Why would you think that?'
'Or from Russia?'
'Certainly, it's been dormant in Siberia. It may have been awakened by those Soviet refrigeration experiments. Something to do with freezing their cosmonauts for long space voyages. Or perhaps storing populations underground after nuclear war until the country is inhabitable again. It isn't very clear on what the point of the Novosibirsk Project was. And that Alaskan deep probe was a jab to the sleeper as well. Then again, it may be that when the Cold sensed warmth coming, the phenomenon which enabled the rise of mammal sapience, it set an alarm-clock in the geology, as it were. Whatever reason, the Cold is back, it's flexing its mind and wants to settle in again. Can't blame it.'
'It's an "it",' I said. 'Not a they.'
'Indeed, Susan. Very perceptive. In its present stage, the animus of the
Cold – its essential self, its brain and eyes – isn't everywhere, just where the ice is moving. It has to concentrate itself to take action and it needs the right conditions to develop. If left alone, it will consolidate. All the ice in the world will become its brain and body. It'll be quite something to see.'
'That means it will get stronger?' I asked.
'If all goes well. If I make some corrections.'
'You're helping the Cold Knights?' said Gillian.
It took Grandfather a few moments to hear what Gillian had said. He didn't exactly ignore the people I'd brought with me, but treated them as if they were stray dogs or pieces of furniture. Only when they spoke directly to him did he have to concede that they represented a species of intelligent lifeform.
'Not exactly, child,' he said, holding his furry lapel. 'I'm merely doing my best not to get in its way. My time-space machine is a little leaky, I'm afraid, and that affects the natural cooling/freezing process. An enormous amount of energy is being expended and we're inadvertently in the way, leeching off the Cold. This little contraption here is just a dampener, to vent the dimensional overspill. We operate on the principle of non-interference with indigenous populations, and it would ill behove us to take sides. It's the first thing we're taught: don't meddle. Clearly, this fellow has a strong prior claim on the planet. If you two can come to an accommodation, it would be best for everyone. If not, I don't think the Earth will miss you people overmuch. That might seem harsh, but if you were to think it through I believe you'd find the argument had a lot of merit in it.'
'You're an alien,' said John, accusing Grandfather but looking at me.
'Um, what, an alien? No ... there's no such thing. There's only life.'
'It's all true,' said John. 'Aliens are here, from flying saucers, living among us, undermining