Part 30 (1/2)

The woman smiled. 'I'm flattered, John, that you regard me as an old flame. That was your interpretation of what I was doing in your memories. But I think you're on rather dangerous ground. I'm one of the Doctor's dreams, an icon, a female custodian of something that's deep inside him. I was the only piece of himself that he left behind in his head. I'm important to him. He hardly listens to me, mind you.

And he never returns my telephone calls.'

'Do you want to tell me what you told John in the glade this morning?' the Doctor asked. 'What you were trying to whisper in his ear for so long?'

'You still don't know? I don't see why I should tell you now. You employed me, after all, to defend and take care of your deepest memories, and then you failed to take heed of any of my warnings.'

'I didn't, you mean,' Smith interjected.

'There are things down there in my unconscious that even I don't know about, memories from before I was born,' the Doctor explained. 'I couldn't get rid of all of them and Smith was certain to start accessing some of it. I just thought that there ought to be somebody in there who knew who I was.'

'Couldn't she have appeared earlier and saved me all that bother?' Smith asked.

Verity patted him on the shoulder. 'I wasn't allowed to. That was the frustrating thing. I couldn't intrude into your consciousness. I could only appear when you'd got it sorted out for yourself.'

'So what did you say to him?' the Doctor asked.

'That he believes in good and fights evil. That, with violence all around him, he's a man of peace. That he's never cruel, or cowardly. That he is a hero.'

Smith closed his eyes for a moment. 'It felt good to hear it confirmed. Of course, that's not a definition of me. That's you, Doctor.'

The Doctor reached out and touched him on the shoulder. 'As I believe you said, being me is a state of mind. Six other people apart from you and I have had a go.

You were rather good at it.'

Smith looked at him again and managed a smile. 'Perhaps I taught a few more would-be Doctors how to do it.'

'Perhaps. But I wonder how many will remember when they grow up?'

Verity waved a hand between them. 'Sorry to interrupt. Look who's here.'

Death looked at them all, sniffily. 'You deal with me again, raven Time Lord, possibly for the last time.' She put a hand on Smith's shoulder. 'This one belongs to me, now. I told you long ago, Doctor, that I would take a life from you in return for that of your companion. Our business is now concluded.'

Smith s.h.i.+vered at her touch. 'What's going to happen to me?' he asked.

'Another owl for Lord Ra.s.silon?' the Doctor asked.

'That is not for you to ask,' Death replied.

Verity kissed Smith's forehead. 'It'll be fine. b.l.o.o.d.y Eternals think they own the universe. They don't know everything.'

Death began to fade, and Smith with her, the man looking around himself in wonder.

'Give my love to Time and Pain,' said the Doctor.

'If it wasn't for Time, I would never entertain you.' Death glared at him. 'But you cannot let family down.'

She clicked her fingers.

The Doctor opened his eyes.

Joan was standing in front of him, staring at the ring on her finger. 'When - whatever that was - happened, the ring saved me. I could feel it, protecting me, holding me here like a sort of anchor.'

'Good.' The Doctor went to the bank of controls, and pulled a long electrical cord from it. He peered at the globe where the two timeframes spun around each other, then hopped over to where the Pod lay, still in August's dead fingers.

'That poor man,' Joan whispered. 'He must have turned against his fellows at the last moment. He gave his life for his conscience.'

The Doctor bit his lip, pulling the Pod from the cold hand. 'Yes...' He connected the Pod to one end of the cable, and the timeframes to the other, then hit a few switches. The timeframes faded and he spun the Pod in triumph. 'Good, that's Hoff in the Pod as well. Now...' He pulled the cloth from the vortex disc, and reset the controls, so the b.u.t.terfly tunnel spun off in another direction. 'The Monks of Felsecar guard some of the most dangerous artefacts in the universe. I'm sure they'll appreciate another item for their collection. Who knows, maybe one day they'll let those two out.'

'Why, John, what do you mean?'

The Doctor winced again, secretly. 'Nothing. I'm still confused.' He tossed the Pod into the vortex, and watched it spin away into the distance. Then he switched off the cabinet. 'Shall we go?'

'Where?'

'About three hundred yards away. Out of range of the self-destruct mechanism.'

'Oh,' said Joan.

From the diary of Prof Bernice Summerfield In the clearing in the forest, I watched as the woman walked up to John Smith and whispered something in his ear.

She vanished soon afterwards and Smith turned and walked away into the darkness.

I think. When I came to write this all up... Listen, if you're a historian, you know you can't trust a diary, right?

Well, it felt like the woman was just a character I'd made up. Perhaps I'll just start this whole account with the words: 'Long ago and far away.' I got back to the campfire and walked round and round it, hugging myself.

Hutchinson was still in mid-rant when the time barriers. .h.i.t us.

We got to our feet after they'd pa.s.sed, feeling as if a ghost had gone by, or that we'd just missed a fast aircraft at an air display.

Tim blinked. 'I feel like - like I've just woken from a dream,' he said. 'Goodness, Anand, what a strange few days this has been.'

Hutchinson stopped talking, tried to pick up his place and started to flounder. I have a feeling, if my own experience was anything to go by, that he has a smell of mud and iron in his nostrils.

Hadleman and Alexander clutched each other. Alexander looked at the other man and I saw a strange, hopeful, smile on his face. 'I don't know why,' he said, 'but I suddenly feel quite hopeful.'

While I was doing all this observing, and the sun was coming up too - by the way, I'm really quite thorough about background - I realized that I'd started to cry. Or laugh. Or something.

What a strange life this is.

At any rate, by the time the Doctor got there, I was smiling.

Diary Entry Ends

Chapter Fourteen.