Doctor Who_ Wooden Heart - Martin Day [65]
Martha shook her head, puzzled and irritated in equal measure. She remembered her earlier return from the forest, and the strange topography of the land around the village; perhaps that explained why Petr and Saul seemed to unquestioningly accept what the old woman had just said.
‘You’ve been here before, have you?’
The Dazai nodded, infuriatingly.
‘And you didn’t think to tell us about the shortcut? We’ve been attacked, half-eaten, shipwrecked…’
‘Petr and Saul needed some time together,’ said the Dazai. ‘There were some… matters that needed their undivided attention.’
‘Wasn’t there a safer way of doing things?’ asked Martha.
‘Perhaps,’ said the Dazai. ‘But it worked, didn’t it?’ And she glanced over at the brothers, who were supporting each other, arms wrapped around each other’s shoulders.
‘What’s going on?’ said Martha, dimly aware of the note of hysteria creeping into her voice. ‘What’s this door in aid of? Who are you?’ She felt on the verge of tears, though she wasn’t quite sure why – perhaps it was just having had the rug pulled out from under her feet once too often.
‘I’m just someone who follows her instincts,’ said the Dazai. ‘All other forms of knowledge… have their limits.’
‘Oh, very Zen!’ said Martha.
The Dazai smiled, the sort of relaxed smile that just made Martha want to go and do something very un-Zen‐like. ‘Something told me it was important for the brothers to at least begin the process of reconciliation,’ said the Dazai. ‘The land and the people are one, after all.’
Martha remembered the Doctor having said something similar recently. In fact, now that she thought about it, he was the only other person she’d ever met who could be infuriating and wonderful and frustrating, all in the same breath.
‘This is the heart of our world,’ continued the old woman. ‘I come here often to think. Of course, I wasn’t about to tell anyone else that. The island, the far side of the shore – they’re all off limits, and rightly so.’ And she nodded and bowed towards Petr, with a glance both recognising and overthrowing his petty laws and regulations.
‘And this door?’ Now that Martha looked at it, there was the faintest impression of the space station decor, resembling the shadow of the portal she and the Doctor had seen in the forest. But this was definitely a real, solid, physical door, seemingly carved out of the same stone as the surrounding pillar.
‘It has never opened for me,’ said the Dazai. ‘I am a part of this world, and am constrained by it. You, on the other hand…’ And she gestured to the great stone door with her pale, bony hand.
Martha stepped forward uncertainly. She was suddenly reminded of the Disney King Arthur film she’d seen as a kid, and was grateful that there wasn’t any sword to pull out of this particular stone, or some other expected show of strength. In fact, she couldn’t see anything remotely resembling a handle, or hinges, or a doorknob. It was simply one great slab of stone set inside a similar vertical block.
She paused, aware of everyone’s eyes on her, and let her hand rest on the rock. The pillar pulsed imperceptibly; it was as if she was resting her palm on the outer covering of some vast and distant machine.
Moments later there was a click. The entire door, now a centimetre proud of the surrounding stone, was edged with a pinkish brightness. Martha took a step backwards, and the door swung open further. Beyond it Martha could see only pulsing red light. Given that the rocky structure was about the same width as the TARDIS, Martha wasn’t sure if this was some sort of teleport, or if it led to impossible rooms – or if it was simply a brightly lit, hollowed-out space.
‘Go on,’ said the Dazai, her voice calm and soothing.
Martha stepped into the light, and immediately everything around her changed. She found herself in a rounded room, criss-crossed with a web of wires and tubes, dominated by an impossible, floating creature. To one side stood the Doctor; to the other, Saul’s daughter, diminutive, but