Part 31 (1/2)

'He changed his mind. He decided he didn't want to destroy everything. I mean, who would?' Don't mention Sutekh. Don't even think about Sutekh. 'So he reversed the process and locked himself up here for all this time. Dreaming, learning. I should imagine there's an amazing amount of knowledge stored here in this palace.'

'What do you mean, Doctor?' asks Pelham.

'Well, look around. Fred here is connected to all the sensory equipment the Old Ones could muster. With his abilities, he's probably been soaking up information for millennia.'

'Never mind about him! What about me? We're talking about me! Why should I put myself to sleep for a million years? No.'

The Doctor looks at Romana, who looks back. She is calm now, determined to help.

'All you ever wanted was to be normal, to fit in,' she says. 'If you don't stop the higher dimensions spreading, that's an opportunity you will never experience.'

'I don't want to give up all this, I can do anything.'

'Anything except that which you really want,' Romana replies.

Huvan sits down, blinking away tears. 'I don't know what to do. What should I do?'

'Oh, for G.o.d's sake, put an end to it, Huvan!' Miranda Pelham suddenly shouts at him.

He looks up. The anger has gone from him; now there is nothing but sorrow. He sinks to the floor.

The Doctor sympathises, sympathises but doesn't empathise. 'I understand that this is a phenomenally difficult decision, Huvan. Not one I would like to make. However, it's time to grow up. You're not an evil man, you won't make the wrong choice.'

There, that's everything, all he's got to offer. Everything now is in the hands of the boy.

'All right. All right,' Huvan mutters. 'But what happens to me? How can I be normal?'

Again, the Doctor swaps a glance with Romana. They both know what has to be said. 'That's the phenomenally difficult part. There is a way. You won't like it, but it's definitely a way.'

Cleverly, Romana seats herself next to Huvan. 'It's your decision. We don't have the power to stop you. You must do what you feel is right.'

'What happens to me?' He is shouting again, frightened.

'Who sorts me out?'

'You do. You do it to yourself. Your powers are almost limitless. It is possible to start again, a new man who doesn't remember any of this.'

Unsurprisingly, Huvan is not best pleased to hear this.

'What? A new man? That... that's as good as killing myself.

Don't be so stupid.'

'No,' says Romana. 'One day you will remember. I promise.'

'You will be different but you will still be you,' says the Doctor. 'The man you should have been. Otherwise, look at Valdemar here. A million years of solitude before the next curious lot turn up. I said it wasn't easy and I didn't lie.

Make the decision, Huvan, before you destroy everything.'

'I can't... I can't...'

'Decide!'

So Huvan decides. Miranda Pelham weeps for him, surprising herself. The spectre of death still hangs over her, having so nearly taken her. What he had to do to himself... would she have had the courage? Yet another life ruined, all because of her own idiocy and short-sighted ambition.

She cannot help looking at the giant creature that dreams here. Valdemar, the real thing, her fiction become reality.

There is a nagging thought, a thought that won't leave her.

All those years ago, stumbling over the cult, writing the book.

Had she really been the one doing the writing? If this big guy here has been asleep and dreaming and gathering all this knowledge for a million years, who's to say he didn't... ? No, it can't be true. They couldn't all be characters, could they?

Who's writing whose story here?

'Of course,' the Doctor is saying, 'of course I knew all the time that my hypnotic suggestion would enable you to shake off his influence. You mustn't take the credit for that.'

Romana folds her arms once again. 'Oh yes? So it had nothing to do with me at all, I suppose?'

'Well, you're young, inexperienced. You must expect to trip over occasionally.'

'If you must know,' Romana states calmly, 'I think I had help from another source.' She pats a tentacle that is wider than her. 'Our friend here. I don't think he's quite as dormant as he makes out.'

'What absolute poppyc.o.c.k!' the Doctor bellows. 'I'll have to teach you humility, Romana. If you've any chance of becoming as clever and resourceful as I am '

'I don't believe you,' says Pelham. 'The universe nearly ended, all this around us and you two just stand there bickering.'

They stand in front of her, unrepentant. 'Miranda,' says the Doctor. 'You must learn to see things from the correct perspective. Now what are we going to do with you?'

MIRANDA PELHAM.

She reels. The voice is deafening, booming round her head.

She feels herself falling.

MIRANDA PELHAM.

'What is it? Are you all right?' Romana helps her to her feet.

'I don't know. Didn't you hear it?'

The Doctor shakes his head. 'Hear what?'

MIRANDA PELHAM STAY.

She puts her hand to her mouth and backs away from the body of the Old One. 'It.. it's him.'