Part 22 (1/2)

'He's just such a wit!' said Fitz, clutching his ribs as if they were about to crack.

'What the h.e.l.l's going on in here?' demanded Trix. 'I'm trying to act like I'm calling from an office and there's you two whooping it up next door...'

Guy shrugged, unable to stop grinning. 'Sorry Trix, only we've had a bit of a breakthrough here.'

'Me too.' She looked smug even through her latex mask. 'That supplier did have the bulk order placed. And I managed to charm the delivery address out of him. It's a warehouse outside Denham.'

'Fab,' said Fitz. 'Well, in case you're interested, you were totally wrong about the names on the list.'

'Gloat all you like once we're on our way,' she told him, unfazed as usual. 'We should strike while the iron's hot.'

'I hate ironing,' Fitz complained.

'What about Stacy?' Guy suggested. 'Strength in numbers?'

'Crowded in Anji's car,' said Trix, shaking her head.

Fitz nodded. 'Besides, she's only had a few hours' sleep.'

Guy nudged him in the ribs. 'Tiger.'

'Grrr,' said Fitz, somewhere between Leslie Phillips and Tigger, making them both laugh.

'Give me strength,' sighed Trix. 'And the driver's seat!'

After what felt like hours, the Doctor began to warm up again. His breathing became deep and regular, the bluish tinge to his skin began to fade.

'I think it might be bad that they talked to him,' said Chloe. 'While they were trying to get through before, it meant they had less energy to put into stopping me and Jamais and Erasmus.'

'Stopping you from stealing people from one universe and hiding them here?' asked Anji pointedly.

'And where did you find the book?' The Doctor sat bolt upright as he asked the question, stared across at Chloe.

'You can see?' asked Anji.

'More clearly all the time. Well?'

'The book,' Chloe said quietly, 'found me. It was waiting just for me. A future history.'

'But who wrote the book, Chloe?'

She shrugged. 'Maybe we all write it. That's why we're all in it.'

'Could it belong to those wraith things? Is that why they're so p.i.s.sed off at you, they want it back?'

'No, they're angry because of what Timeless does.' The Doctor looked at Anji gravely. 'Because of the damage they've done to this reality, pa.s.sing back and forth, playing with the parallels.'

'We don't play!' Chloe stroked Jamais fiercely. 'We just help people, that's all. The people that I find.'

'You're a Sensitive,' said the Doctor encouragingly. 'You see things, feel things that others don't.'

Chloe nodded. 'When my other heart shrivelled and had to be cut out, it left me with new sight.'

'You used to have two hearts?' Anji turned to the Doctor, who was staring in shock. 'But Doctor, that's like '

He shushed her quickly, all his concentration fixed fiercely on Chloe. 'It's her story we want,' he hissed.

'I find people on lesser Earths who are hurting,' she began. 'You know, people from the alternative realities. Then, me and Erasmus, we take them here. To Real Earth.' She smiled suddenly. 'Jamais sucks out their souls and breathes them into the body of their double. We give them a fresh chance here.'

Anji's eyes widened. 'Their souls?'

The Doctor seemed dismissive. 'I imagine she's speaking figuratively. Jamais can harness unthinkable energies instinctively. A man is the sum of his memories, and characters form over time.'

'Growing up is a form of time travel?' Anji ventured.

'Of course it is. And Jamais must be able to capture that experiential energy that builds over time. A life essence, if you will.'

'But how could he know to do that? He's an animal.'

The Doctor shrugged. 'How does a spider spin its web? How does a caterpillar know to prepare for metamorphosis? Explanations are for those looking on. Those that can do it just get on with it.'

Anji turned back to Chloe. 'So what about those poor people who were just getting on with it the people on Real Earth who find themselves replaced? What happens to them once you've inserted someone else's soul in their body?'

'They are displaced as the new soul a.s.serts itself.'

'They die.'

Chloe shook her head. 'They just change. All people change, with time.'

'With time, yes,' breathed the Doctor. 'It's not an instant process, is it? The leftovers are still needed the person you dragged here from a lesser Earth forms a fund of energy that the transplanted soul must draw upon until stability is reached in its new body. And because you can't have two identical people being witnessed during the process of stabilisation, you send the leftovers off into hiding.'

Anji nodded. 'Or ideally s.h.i.+p them to another country, so if it's discovered there's two versions of the same person knocking about, they're harder to trace.' A sort of cold excitement was balling in her stomach as everything fell into place at last. 'But why kill the people you bring back from a lesser Earth? Why not help them find new ident.i.ties or '

Chloe shook her head. 'Final stability is only achieved once the exhausted original body is...'

'Killed? Of course,' said the Doctor. 'Otherwise the transferred soul will slowly revert back to the original form as Time tries to right the damage.'

'Besides, the process wears them down,' Chloe said sadly. 'Makes them simple and weak. It's better we clear them away.'

'That's horrible,' said Anji. She turned to the Doctor. 'Remember that woman Fitz saw in Bournemouth, the double of the one that Basalt murdered...'

He nodded. 'I suppose that where necessary, the cuckoo soul is drafted in to help cover up what's really happened. To allay any suspicions over a sudden disappearance.' He flashed a dark smile at Anji. 'After-sales service, I suppose you could call it. The woman's neighbours might be puzzled by her slightly odd behaviour, but they'll accept she's simply moving away...'

'Whereas who's going to miss poor old Nencini at all.' said Anji bitterly, 'shut away in a concrete box in Streatham?'

'Don't hate me,' Chloe pleaded. 'It's nasty and cruel and horrid, but if we're to help and protect anyone it is...' She said the word like it tasted bad: '...necessary.'