Part 26 (1/2)

'Yes, I was standing there on the opposite bank, just out of sight of a soldier who's on guard a few hundred yards down there. They'd told me that there was something dangerous going on. Thing is, I heard an explosion, and then, not very long ago, the big one that was probably the school. I was afraid for my friend. I had to get inside. The barrier feels disturbing. I don't know why, but I had a feeling of dread as I approached it, a terrible fear of dying. I was just plucking up the courage to take a run at it when I saw this youngster wandering down the path. He seemed quite surprised to see me, but when I called out to him, he walked up to this...

barrier, well, whatever it is, took my hands, and pulled me through. It was like ducking through something very hot and there was a muddy taste. But here I am.'

'Yes...' Smith stretched out his umbrella until it connected with the barrier and then stepped back, as if he'd got an electric shock. 'Very nasty.' He turned back to Hadleman. 'I need to find the boy. We have to talk.'

'We certainly do.' Timothy stepped from behind a tree on the other side of the river. He walked on to the bridge and halted halfway, one hand holding the Pod, the other playing with the air of the barrier like he was idly plucking a harp. 'I had to do this, to put this between us. This way you can't grab the Pod from me and give it to them.'

'I wouldn't just grab it,' Smith said. 'You know I wouldn't.'

'Do I? They have the person you hold most precious in the world.'

'You know about that?'

'I was told.'

'Then why won't you give me the Pod, let me give it to them in exchange for her?'

'Because it doesn't stop there. There's more to it than that one deal. That's why I brought you here. I sent him to find you.' Tim indicated Hadleman.

'Did you?' Hadleman frowned.

'Hmm. Rather manipulative of you,' Smith muttered.

'Perhaps. Come and join me, Dr Smith.'

Hadleman glanced between the two partic.i.p.ants, feeling even more that he was in a play. 'We can't cross like you can. He'll be - '

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'No.' Smith handed Hadleman his umbrella. 'Take this. If it kills me, give it to Bernice, tell her to carry on.'

'But who's she?'

Smith didn't answer. He stepped on to the bridge and walked forward, his hands reaching out to grasp Timothy's.

Through the barrier.

The fires stretched all the way to the horizon. The ground was blackened and steaming. In the distance stood a vast statue, a little girl with a balloon, made of crystal. Its head stood amongst the slight grey clouds.

Smith looked up at the burnt orange of the sky. 'I know this place,' he said.

'While you're with me, you do,' Timothy told him. They were standing amongst the flames. 'The barrier is two perceived frames of time, different ones, put next to each other. I'm not sure what that means, I was just told it. But a sort of... rubbing between them, that's what hurts people who go through it. Unless they're something called a Time Lord. They can just walk straight through. That rubbing is also what lets us do this.'

'What is this place? Is it h.e.l.l?'

'It's one possible future. This is the Doctor's home. This is Gallifrey.' A great singing was echoing across the landscape. Smith watched as a parade pa.s.sed by down a narrow valley, a series of robed individuals hanging from poles, strung between a row of marching figures. The captors were all different, of many races, some humanoid and some not, of many s.e.xes and sometimes both. They were all clad in fine costumes, with exotic weapons hanging from their belts. They sang a gorgeous, complex song as they hauled their captives between the burnt canyons, towards the foot of the statue. 'Who are they?' asked Smith.

'The children of the Aubertides, the ones who took on the biology of the Gallifreyans. Every regeneration buds, every new individual can regenerate twelve times. They're a vast army now, united and loyal to their family. They used the Doctor's TARDIS to land on the planet, and did what n.o.body else had managed to do took the Citadel by force. The Time Lords on the poles are the High Council, the ones in charge of the place. Does this make sense to you?'

'No. Yes. I don't know.' Smith shook his head furiously, as if to clear it. 'They can do this because they got the Pod?'

'Yes.'

'But this is a distant world, nothing to do with me, or Earth, or anything I know.

And you said this was one possible future. These Time Lords might fight them off, or perhaps we could warn them, or perhaps - '

'Look closer.' Timothy gave the Pod a squeeze, and they were suddenly at the foot of the statue. An old woman in the robes of a Time Lord was looking imperiously up at August, who held in his hands a wire crown. A much younger Time Lady stood beside them, her straight blonde hair incongruous against her high collar.

Behind the two Gallifreyans stood Greeneye, a long curved sword in his hands.

'We found this,' said August. 'It's one of the links to the Matrix, isn't it? How do I access it?'

The old woman pursed her lips. 'You will find no Time Lord willing to give you that information.'

'No, Lady Flavia, I'm sure you're right. I'm sure that this is the impulse that comes over most invading races. The locals won't show them how to preserve certain aspects of their culture, so they destroy everything and, as they rebuild the place in their own image, have to face the indignity of being called barbarians. Flavia, you know how petty and amoral this whole process is. In a century, if that, we will be the Gallifreyans and you will be history. Our descendants may regret this carnage, but they will be secure and happy and here. Don't you wish to preserve some slight details of your civilisation by telling us about them? It is, as you must know, the only possible morality on the grandest scale of things. To have a few pieces on the right side. To win a little. What do you say?'

Flavia thought for a moment and then smiled. 'I like the thought of you being called barbarians for a century or two. Let that be my little victory.'

Oh.' August nodded to Greeneye imperceptibly. The Aubertide swung the sword back and swept it through Flavia's collar. He halted the swing precisely as the elderly Time Lady fell forward, her neck half severed. Blood poured from the wound and she weakly tried to put her hands to her neck, writhing on the ground.

'Well, I'm sorry, Flavia, but this is for history too. We'll let you regenerate each time and then keep on chopping. It could be worse, believe me.' August turned to the other Time Lady. 'Now, you're the one called Romana, aren't you? Will you tell me how to use this crown?'

Smith flexed his hands into fists. 'Can't we stop them? Can't we interfere?'

'No,' Tim replied. 'We mustn't be seen to be here.'

'I want to go home. I want to go back to Earth, I don't want to see this.'

'Fine, we'll go back to Earth. If you don't care about this-'

'It's too big for me to care about. I can't care about everything. What he said was true, nothing lasts, everything changes. Why should I worry about anything but what I can see, what I can touch?' Smith raised his hands, agonised.

'Why indeed?'

Romana had evidently said something insulting. Greeneye had forced her to her knees in front of him.

'Why won't she just tell them what they want to hear?' Smith demanded. 'It can't be more important than her life, can it?'

Timothy was silent.

'All that they said about history, it's true,' said Smith, his eyes on the twitching Flavia. 'Time doesn't care. But I keep thinking about a school playground. They must have been hurt by somebody. As a family. Hurt as a species. So they hurt back. So they don't change. So nothing changes. Do I really have to hurt them again to stop them? And if I wanted to, could I? All I want is for me and Joan to be left alone.'

The blade scythed up into the air and the young woman looked at it, a slight curl of contempt on her lip.

Smith thought about a dying flutterwing. He could think about it. That was another piece of him that was about to die down in the valley. 'Take me home,' he told Timothy. 'I won't give them the Pod. I'll think of another way. Even if it kills me.'

The man and the boy were standing across the bridge again.

Smith let his hands drop to his sides. Timothy walked forward, the barrier s.h.i.+mmering around him, and joined Smith on his side of it. Hadleman was still watching, entranced.