Part 6 (2/2)

'So where's she supposed to be?'

'Phaester Osiris. Probably more interesting now it's ruined than it ever was when Horus was at home.' The Doctor stared off into s.p.a.ce for a while and Ace took the opportunity to check over the controls the Doctor had been inspecting.

The Time Path indicator was locked into their present lime 3985 and the reading gave the offset from their present position in s.p.a.ce, paused above Phaester Osiris to take a bearing on Bernice's signal. Or rather, to reverse calibrate the bearing that Benny's tracker/locator was taking on them. That would enable them to take the TARDIS right to her.

It was a little more complicated than that of course. With the Doctor it was always a little more complicated than you might expect. Since they had not arranged an exact time for Bernice to operate the tracker, they had been drifting forward in time, waiting for her signal to appear. That way Benny could be picked up when she had had enough, and the Doctor and Ace could avoid the wait.

Ace moved round to a panel of the console which the Doctor had not yet reached, fed the calculated co*ordinates into the navigation computer and leaned forward to read the result.

'Menaxus,' said the Doctor, still staring into the middle distance.

'Bless you.'

He snapped round suddenly as if she had nudged him in the ribs. 'No no no no no.' His eyes lifted momentarily to the heavens. 'The planet Menaxus just off the edge of the Rippearean Cl.u.s.ter.'

'So what's wrong with that?'

'In 3985 there's a war going on there, that's what's wrong with that.'

Ace nodded. That sounded like the sort of archaeology Benny would appreciate. 'Great,' she said. 'Let's go.'

Bernice was still feeling decidedly shaky. She made her way back to the auditorium, using the corridor wall for support. Thankfully the door was still open and afforded some illumination. The light at the end of the tunnel, she thought as she stumbled slowly towards it.

She sat for a moment on the top tier of the auditorium According to Gilmanuk there had been benches here probably wooden although nothing remained of them now. She looked along the floor for areas of wear or signs of how they had been fixed, but could see nothing. After a minute she gave up and raised her line of sight so that she was looking down at the stage.

It was a good view. She could imagine the actors playing out their drama below, tiny figures on a distant stage. Clever how the eyes were drawn to the centre of the theatre by the inward slope of the walls and the stacked tiers of seats.

There were no actors there now. Just Klasvik and Gilmanuk working in different areas at the front of the theatre and Tashman and Krayn manoeuvring the water cannon into position facing the huge mud slide. She could hear them swearing at each other as they lowered the heavy equipment into place beside a tripod*mounted disruptor and swung it towards the stage.

Bernice smiled as Krayn's voice floated up to her, clear and insistent: 'No, not the top of the mud aim it at the bottom. We're not going to wash the whole thing away, just take it off its mark.' Whatever else the Menaxans might have got wrong with their theatre, the acoustics were superb.

She pulled herself to her feet and set off down the wide steps towards Gilmanuk.

A small blue box swam through the eternity that exists in the gap between the past, the present, and the future. She floated through the s.p.a.ce where s.p.a.ce itself does not exist, and curved her way towards an appointment in the real universe. The dematerialization circuit began to reverse*phase as the outer plasmic sh.e.l.l of the TARDIS emerged into normal, finite*dimensional s.p.a.ce. The police*box exterior slowly appeared in the gloomy corridor, lit almost exclusively by the flas.h.i.+ng of its own light as it pulsed to the same unholy grating rhythm as her engines as they echoed round the deserted castle.

A pause. Utter silence again. The gloom receded slightly as the dim light from the narrow slits of the high windows gained the shadow of a foothold in the darkness. Then the TARDIS door swung open, spilling light onto the stone floor and silhouetting two figures.

'Cold and dark,' said Ace. 'Can we try again?'

'It wouldn't be so dark if you took off your sungla.s.ses,' the Doctor's voice called from behind her.

Ace wrinkled her nose in the gloom as she pulled off her mirrored sungla.s.ses and held them out. The Doctor sniffed cautiously at them as he examined the sungla.s.ses in the gloom. Then he s.n.a.t.c.hed them from her hand and stuffed them into a jacket pocket.

'They obviously couldn't afford the electric bill.' The Doctor pulled the TARDIS door closed after him and locked it.

'Don't be facetious, Doctor.'

The Doctor peered through the semi*darkness at Ace. 'I'm not being facetious.' He touched her lightly on the nose and Ace flinched. 'It takes a lot of power to heat and light a big place like this.'

'Not in the middle ages, it doesn't. And anyway, n.o.body lives here now.' Ace drew her finger down the dusty wall of the corridor to make her point. It came away clean, and she inspected it in the gloom for a moment, then looked quizzically at the Doctor.

'Yes.' The Doctor stood stock*still, his hand held up to keep Ace quiet. His dark figure looked like a statue waiting for night to break and the sun to rise over a distant courtyard, Eventually his hand dropped to his side and he turned. Ace could see one side of his face where the light caught it. Her eyes were getting accustomed to the darkness. 'It is very quiet,' murmured the Doctor. 'Except for that hum.' He c.o.c.ked his head to listen again. Ace could hear nothing. She shuffled her feet impatiently in dust that did not move or stick.

Then the Doctor was off, striding down the dim corridor, his umbrella catching what light there was as swung in tune to his steps.

'Oh, Doctor ' Ace had to walk quickly to catch up, stubbing her foot on the raised edge of a flagstone. 'I can hardly see!'

The Doctor continued undeterred. 'Light thickens,' said mysteriously, as he rounded a comer Ace had failed to notice, She caught her step and hurried after him.

Tashman had managed to carve a thin slice down through the edge of the mud. Steam rose from the crack and the damp edges were dried and fragile, lumps crumbling off where the disrupter had lingered. A web of veins spread out from the narrow gap between the main ma.s.s and the relatively thin pillar which now stood beside it.

Krayn was aiming the water cannon at the base of the mud, preparing to wash the foundation from under the sliver which Tashman had detached. Benny joined Gilmanuk as he watched uneasily from a safe distance. His face brightened as she approached. Then he saw the serious look in her eyes and his demeanour changed to concern.

'What is it?' he asked as she reached him.

Benny shook her head and gestured at the tunnel mouth. 'Come with me, will you?' She remembered too well how good the acoustics were. She was not sure she was ready to publicize what had happened: already she was beginning to doubt it herself. Then she felt the constriction in her throat as she spoke, and she knew it had happened.

'I think we should wait a moment.' Gilmanuk nodded towards the water cannon. A jet of white water shot out from the nozzle, taking away the outer bottom corner of the new mud pillar. It worked its way slowly inwards and downwards as Krayn made minute adjustments. The mud was very damp, but it remained a solid lump as it peeled away from its parent and toppled slowly towards the floor under the tunnel entrance. For a moment it paused on it newly cut comer, then gravity gave it one more little pull and the ma.s.s of mud continued over and down. It gathered momentum as it went and slammed into the ground with a slapping squelch that echoed round the theatre and within Benny's head. The bottom half of the newly formed step splayed out under its own weight, but the whole thing held together.

'Well done,' called Benny, and Krayn answered with a smile and a wave. 'We'll test it for you.'

Mystified, Gilmanuk followed her as she went towards the step. It came up to just below her waist a little tricky, but not too difficult to clamber up. They would need a total of six steps probably to reach up to the opening above. She was not prepared to wait until they had finished.

Luckily this first step was slightly away from the back wall so the ropes still swung loose. Benny helped Gilmanuk up onto the slippery surface of the mud. It was solid enough for her feet not to sink in, but she almost slipped over several times as she leant over to pull the nearest rope towards her. She grasped it at last and started to climb up out of the theatre.

Blackness, No moon. No stars. Nothing. Ace peered up at the dark opening a few feet above her, a slit of black in the murky grey of the wall.

'Heavy cloud?' she suggested.

'I'm not sure.' The Doctor shrugged. He stared up at the window pensively, his eyebrows tight and his forehead creased.

'Well, there must be something out there.' Ace squatted down in front of the Doctor, knitting the fingers of her hands together to make a cradle. 'Here, I'll give you a bunk up.'

'Thanks.' He lifted his foot into Ace's hands and reached up for a hold on the ledge at the bottom of the narrow window. He could just reach, fingers scrabbling for a purchase, as Ace stood upright, hoisting the Doctor up as she did so.

'What can you see, Doctor?'

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