Part 33 (1/2)

She pulled away. 'Is that it?' she asked. Her voice was vibrant with suppressed emotion.

The Doctor seemed not to notice. 'Yes, I think so. A pretty good result considering. All over -'

'Doctor!' Tegan screamed at him, her whole body tense with anger.

'- bar the shouting.' The Doctor frowned, his eyebrows knitting together as he leaned towards her. 'Yes?' he asked irritably.

Tegan turned away, arms folded.

'What is it?' The Doctor asked the group collectively. 'What's wrong with her now?'

'I think she might be worried about Nyssa,' Atkins suggested quietly.

'Nyssa? Oh yes, I nearly forgot.' The Doctor fumbled in his pocket and drew out the TARDIS key. 'Well, let's go and wake her up then.'

The old woman who had woken in the sarcophagus followed the Doctor to the TARDIS. It was only after he had unlocked the door and ushered her in ahead of him that he seemed to realize that n.o.body else was following.

They were standing open-mouthed, watching him from the other side of the dais.

'Well, are you coming or not?' he demanded.

Tegan and Atkins looked at each other in silence.

'May I be permitted to ask what's going on?' Atkins had followed Tegan into Nyssa's room only to be confronted with yet another puzzle.

The old woman he had been told was Nyssa was sitting in a chair beside the bed. She patted the hand of the young woman who lay on the bed. A young woman who might have been her grand daughter, except that even across the years between them the resemblance between the two was uncanny.

A small piece of machinery that looked like it was cobbled together out of wires, small boxes and ceiling wax sat humming quietly to itself on the floor beside the bed. The Doctor was just disconnecting it from the young woman on the bed as they entered. As he switched off the machine, the hum died away. And the young woman yawned and stretched.

'That's the delta wave augmentor, isn't it Doctor?' Tegan asked.

He nodded, without taking his attention from the sleeping woman. 'Yes.

Though I had to rig up another delta source to replace the sonic screwdriver, of course.'

Atkins coughed politely. 'Doctor, I take it that this young woman is your friend Nyssa. But perhaps you could introduce us all?'

The Doctor stepped back from the bed, apparently satisfied with Nyssa's progress. 'Of course,' he said. He turned to the old woman. 'Do forgive me, but things have been a little hectic for formal introductions.'

'Not at all, Doctor. I quite understand.' She let go of Nyssa's hand and stood up.

'Tegan, of course, I know already. But your other friend?'

'Mister Atkins.'

Atkins inclined his head slightly. 'Delighted, er -'

Tegan was frowning. 'Do I know you?'

'Of course, my dear. And you haven't changed a bit.' The woman smiled, and the way her face suddenly brightened made her look younger. 'Though I must confess, I have.'

Tegan shook her head slowly. Then her mouth dropped open. 'Ann?'

The woman nodded. 'I'm Lady Cranleigh now. Have been for a very long time. The Doctor came to the wedding, you know?' She smiled at him, and he beamed back.

'When?' Tegan asked.

'In nineteen twenty-six,' Lady Cranleigh said.

'About three hours ago,' said the Doctor.

Atkins coughed politely.

'Ah, yes. An explanation.' The Doctor shuffled his feet uncomfortably. 'Well, this is Lady Cranleigh, nee Ann Talbot, an old friend.' He paused, apparently embarra.s.sed by his choice of words. 'Forgive me,' he said to Lady Cranleigh.

'Of course. But you're right.'

The Doctor continued. 'Ann was the image of Nyssa when we first met.

Even I couldn't tell them apart. So I asked Lady Cranleigh if she would do me a small favour and stand in for Nyssa.'

'So she was in fact merely feigning sleep?' Atkins asked.

Lady Cranleigh laughed. 'I had to lie very still and wait for a pa.s.sword from the Doctor. All terribly exciting.'

'Yes, I do apologise for the melodramatics. And for not telling you all what was going on. Especially you, Tegan. But I had to make sure that Nephthys was convinced that this was Nyssa, and that she had been semi-awake, just enough to age, for seventy years. Ra.s.sul would never have believed I could do it if your reactions weren't genuine.'

Tegan said, 'So when Nephthys looked in Ann's head for the other half of her own mind -' 'It wasn't there, of course.'

'And she thought it had sort of evaporated in nineteen twenty-six and went back to look for it?' Atkins asked.

'Exactly.' The Doctor punctuated the word with a stab of his index finger.

'And when she found Nyssa was still asleep, she sort of bounced back?'