Part 11 (2/2)

'Have you been briefed on this mission at all?' the Doctor asked irritably.

'I know there's some hi*tech being offered to the Eurozone Government. I know that the EZ are in contact with someone making that offer, someone who appeared out of nowhere two months ago.'

'His name is Baskerville. What he's offering is a working time machine. I'll tell you all about him but only after you tell me the time.'

Malady watched him carefully. 'It's five to twelve,' she told him suspiciously.

'We're below ground.' It wasn't a question. 'How far below ground?'

'Doctor, you were going to tell me about Baskerville.'

'Is this floor watertight? Are we in a bunker, or just an ordinary building?'

'Doctor '

'There's no time to warn anyone,' the Doctor blurted. 'But we can save ourselves.'

'What's going on?'

He broke into a grin. 'I'm glad you asked. At midday, Athens is going to be hit by a tidal wave. There's going to be ma.s.sive loss of life. Now, you don't know that, but the leaders of the Eurozone do. Baskerville told them. He's from the future, he's read about the tidal wave in his history hooks, and he's proved he's from the future by making a series of predictions, all of which have come true.'

'Baskerville's from the future?'

'Malady, that really wasn't the bit I wanted you to concentrate on. For the moment, can we stick to the tidal wave? We've got what, four minutes? to get out of Athens, or at the very least find somewhere waterproof. Does this safehouse have a safe?'

'Not one that's big enough for two people.'

'One person? You can get in, I'll make my own way to safety.'

Malady laughed out loud. 'G.o.d, you're good. I almost fell for it. Can you imagine what would happen when they found me? If If they found me? ”Hey Malady, who locked you in the safe?”, ”Oh, I locked myself in the d.a.m.n safe, because my prisoner said I'd drown if I didn't”.' they found me? ”Hey Malady, who locked you in the safe?”, ”Oh, I locked myself in the d.a.m.n safe, because my prisoner said I'd drown if I didn't”.'

'Did you feel that?'

'Oh come on, Doctor, what next? ”There's someone behind you”? OK, I'll bite: what was I supposed to feel, Doctor?'

'An earthquake, I think. Some distance away, but quite concentrated and powerful. Enough to set off a tidal wave.'

The Doctor stood up, handed her the handcuffs and pulled her out of the room. 'It really is time to get going.'

Fitz woke up, which came as something of a relief.

He hadn't moved the two men in the trenchcoats were still there, so was the big circus tent. He could hear the crowds. He was dimly aware that the old bloke who'd kicked his head in and his good*looking ladyfriend were only a few yards behind him. But they hadn't caught up with him in the time he'd been unconscious. However long that had been.

He felt like he'd just eaten a six*course meal.

His vision was blurred, but as if to compensate the smells were overpowering. Gra.s.s, the canvas of the tent, the burgers and chestnuts from the food stalls. Fitz wasn't a scientist, but he imagined the blurred vision was something to do with the good kicking he'd been given. He should have been worried it was permanent, but that lobe of his brain must have been whacked, too.

The two blokes were quite ordinary looking. Average height and build. They looked boring, more than anything else. There were two of them, of course, but even so, Fitz felt that he'd have a reasonable chance to get past them.

'Doctor...' one of them said.

They thought he was the Doctor. Fitz had forgotten that bit. What would the Doctor do in these circ.u.mstances?

'Oh yes, I am the Doctor,' Fitz a.s.sured them, worried he sounded a bit too camp.

'You will give us the secrets of time travel.'

'You know I can't do that,' Fitz said, looking back over his shoulder. The old bloke was right behind him, why hadn't he caught up?

And why did it feel like there were lead weights in his shoes and coat pockets?

The gravity was higher than it was on Earth.

So there was a rather obvious conclusion to be drawn.

'This is an illusion,' Fitz told the trenchcoats. 'A simulation of Earth, not the real thing.'

'Yes, Doctor. Onihr science is capable of such magnificent feats.' The man held up the little box he'd had before.

'But not of sorting out the gravity problem.'

The two men looked at each other.

'If you can't manage simple artificial gravity,' said Fitz airily, 'then you're hardly ready for me to hand you a time machine, are you?'

'You will build us a time machine. You will teach us its secrets.'

'We have fragments of the knowledge,' the other added. 'Our race has spent millennia acquiring them.'

'You find them lying around?' Fitz snorted.

'Precisely. On every planet, there are pieces of the puzzle.'

'Echoes in the rituals or artwork.'

'Artefacts. Components. Relics.'

'The Onihr race collects these, but however brilliant our scientists, we can not fit these pieces together.'

'We want that knowledge. We shall be the masters of time.'

Fitz shook his head. 'I'm not going to stop you trying,' he said doubting it was what the Doctor would say in the circ.u.mstances. 'But I'm not going to help you. So, just take me home.'

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