Doctor Who_ Trading Futures - Lance Parkin [21]
‘“You”,’ the Doctor said.
‘I beg your pardon?’
‘“You are at a crucial point in the history of this planet.” We, surely? We’re all in the same boat, aren’t we?’
The old man smiled. ‘Yes. Well done. You have uncovered my little secret. While I have presented myself as a reclusive scientist, I am in fact –’
‘– a time traveller,’ Anji finished for him.
His smile flickered, he clearly didn’t like having his big surprise spoiled.
‘Indeed. I should have known not to underestimate the people of this time zone.’
‘So the –’ Anji realised she was going out on a limb, ‘– time machine you have is the product of a future technology. You are from the future?’
‘Indeed. Over ten thousand years in your future.’
The Doctor looked over at Anji and grinned, like she’d just won a round of charades.
‘A dangerous time to be here,’ the Doctor suggested. ‘You said yourself that the world’s on the brink of war.’
‘The war will be averted,’ Baskerville said simply. ‘Historians aren’t clear how, but I think I know.’
‘Care to share?’ Anji asked lightly.
‘I think I prevent it. I think I prevent it by reaching a deal with the European Zone that sees them acquire a working time machine. From that, the elite of the EZ become the Lords of Time, and usher in a new age of peace, prosperity and social and scientific progress. That is what I am offering.’
The Doctor opened his mouth to ask the next question, but Dee had come back in. ‘The sending chamber is ready,’ she announced.
* * *
Dee led Anji and Baskerville to an airlock with solid metal doors.
‘Dangerous, is it?’ Anji asked, a little nervously.
‘Not for the subjects,’ Baskerville said quietly.
The airlock door slid open. Anji and Baskerville stepped through, waited while the door slid closed behind them, some fans whirred, then the door in front of them opened. The room beyond the airlock was bare, with plain white walls. A stainless steel device sat incongruously in one corner. Anji quickly worked out why the room smelled of coffee once she realised it was a coffee machine.
Dee and the Doctor watched her through a thick glass window.
‘This is the time machine?’ Anji asked.
‘This is the sending area.’ Baskerville told her.
‘Have some coffee while I prepare the process,’ Dee suggested, her voice echoing slightly over the PA system.
Anji went over and poured herself a cup but she wasn’t impressed – too bitter. She glanced back up at Dee, who was adjusting dials and pressing buttons behind the plate glass.
‘Where would you like this demonstration to take you?’ Baskerville asked. ‘There’s an effective range of about two thousand years – it’s past‐facing, but can reach any point on Earth.’
* * *
On the other side of the thick glass, the Doctor was bending over a control panel, trying to figure out the controls and displays. There were some very thick cables coming up through the floor, all connected to a central box about the size of a fridge‐freezer. There were switches and displays all along that box.
‘That’s the time‐path indicator, I take it?’ he asked, pointing out one of the displays.
Dee gently moved him aside. ‘If you don’t mind, sir, this is quite a delicate stage of the operation.’
‘What’s the power source?’
‘I’ll explain later.’
The Doctor nodded. ‘I see. And it only has a range of two thousand years.’
‘Only?’
The Doctor’s smile flickered. ‘Well, I admit that two thousand years is very impressive.’ A thought struck him. ‘If it can only take someone back two thousand years, and Baskerville is from more than two thousand years in the future, then how could he use it to get here?’
Dee frowned. ‘That’s something you’d have to ask him.’
‘Could he have made a lot of little two‐thousand‐year hops? Does it work like that?’
‘You’ll really have to ask him.’
‘So, Ms Gordon, you’re not from the future?’
‘No. I’m from this time zone.’
‘So how did you and Baskerville meet?’
‘He contacted me when he arrived in this time. He had access to historical records, and he knew from them that we