by Gary Russell
‘Must be Gallifreyan,’ Rani said.
Sarah Jane just nodded and Clyde realised this had to be awful for her. As if it was finally sinking in that the body of the man she cared so deeply for was inches away, inside a metallic coffin.
And she couldn’t fight it any longer.
She bowed very slightly, then turned to Colonel Karim who was standing a little to the side, reverently.
And from behind the drapes stepped the Shansheeth.
If they had looked alarming on the hologram, Clyde thought they were equally daunting in the flesh.
Each one had different coloured jewels embedded in its vulture-like head. There was one with yellow jewels, one with red jewels and another with blue who was clearly in charge – his purple robes had more gold trim than the other two and he looked…older and a bit wiser. This was the one from the hologram.
The blue-jewelled Shansheeth waved demonstrably with his short arms, and his wings unfurled.
‘Wow,’ Rani breathed.
‘I am Azure of the Claw Shansheeth. I’m so sorry for your loss,’ he said.
‘I’m so sorry for your loss,’ repeated the yellow-jewelled one. ‘I am Aureolin of the Claw Shansheeth.’
‘I am Amaranth of the Claw Shansheeth. I’m so sorry for your loss,’ said the red-jewelled one.
The leader one, Azure, flexed his mighty wings again. ‘The Claw Shansheeth invite you to reflect on the memories of a loved one lost.’
With a nod, Clyde led Rani and Sarah Jane to the front row of the pews and sat down.
‘Who are all these people?’ he asked.
Sarah Jane looked around. ‘I don’t know any of them.’
‘A few old soldiers,’ Colonel Karim whispered. ‘It’s not easy to find any friends of the Doctor. He tended to come and go without a trace.’
‘Think of all the lives he touched. The whole planet should be in mourning,’ Rani said. ‘But no one knows.’
‘You couldn’t even find old UNIT people?’ asked Sarah Jane, sounding like she was going to pick a fight with Karim. ‘I mean, I can think of a dozen people off the top of my head. Mike, John, Winifred, Martha…’
Karim held up her hand, irritably. ‘Our people tried, that’s all I can say. I’m sorry you are so disappointed in us. In me,’ she added a little waspishly.
Sarah Jane looked like she was about to reply, but then her shoulders drooped. It was as though her last bit of defiance had gone and she had to face the inevitable.
‘Can I see him?’
Karim shook her head. ‘I don’t think you’d want to…’
And Sarah Jane leapt at this. One last beat of hope! ‘Sounds like you’ve got something to hide.’
The Colonel just sighed and said gently ‘Miss Smith, he was…hurt.’
The two women faced one another, almost challenging the other to say something again.
Sarah Jane finally turned away. ‘I don’t even know what he looks like,’ she said quietly.
‘I’m sorry?’ said Karim.
‘I think he regenerated. The last time I saw him,’ Sarah Jane’s voice cracked slightly. ‘He didn’t say a word. Just looked at me as though…’ She took a deep breath. ‘That body could have a different face and I wouldn’t know if it was him.’
And a tear ran down her cheek and Rani took her hand. ‘I’m sorry.’
Sarah Jane looked at the two of them. ‘If you don’t mind, I just need to gather my thoughts.’
Clyde wasn’t sure what that meant, but Rani evidently did because she stood up. ‘Course,’ she said and yanked Clyde up and led him to a pew on the far side of the room.
‘Honoured guests, steeped in grief and misery,’ said Azure, folding his wings back beneath his robes. ‘This is the Cradle of the Lost Chords; its bittersweet melody will unite you in sorrow.’
To the right of the dais, in front of where Clyde and Rani now sat, was a peculiar object on a plinth that Clyde thought looked like a cross between a harp and bagpipes. The red-jewelled Shansheeth, Amaranth, stood beside it and began plucking at the strings that ranged across it and surprisingly beautiful music came from it.
Clyde felt a lump in his throat, as if he was about to cry. He took a deep breath. ‘That’s powerful music,’ he muttered to Rani, whose cheeks were already glistening as she was affected by the sounds.
Azure was speaking again. ‘Close your eyes. Remember.’
Clyde saw Rani close her eyes. And Sarah Jane. And all the other people in the room. Apart from Colonel Karim, who had crossed reverently to the doors and with a quick look at the yellow-jewelled Shansheeth, Aureolin, standing there, she backed out of the room and closed the doors, shutting the UNIT world out completely.
Clyde listened to the music and felt his eyes close; with a swell he remembered the Doctor.
At the wedding.
Facing the Trickster.
Sarah Jane’s husband fading away.
The exploration of the TARDIS.
And then he saw himself touching the TARDIS door. And the blue electrical energy crackling around his palm for the first time.
And his eyes popped open.
Unseen by anyone else, that energy was there again.
He shoved his hands into his pockets and glanced across the room to Sarah Jane, whose eyes were tightly shut. He couldn’t begin to imagine what she was remembering. Her time with the Doctor went back so far, long before Clyde was even born. The things she must have seen, the planets and races she must have visited.
He was slightly jealous, but in a good way.
The music was still strumming away. The candles were giving off a strange incense-like smell.
And it briefly crossed his mind that everyone seemed to be almost entranced.
And he was aware that all three Shansheeth were staring at him. Straight at him. As if angry that he wasn’t joining in. Remembering.
But then the atmosphere was broken as behind Clyde, by the doorway, there was a crash as something hit the floor and broke.
The music stopped suddenly and everyone opened their eyes and looked across.
Two people stood in the doorway.
One was a tall teenage boy, dressed in cool casual clothes – and as unfunereal as you could get – tanned and clearly athletic, with bright intelligent blue eyes and wavy blond hair.
And the other was a much shorter, older woman, so slight she might have been invisible in the wrong light. She was wearing simple denim jeans and shirt and a pair of sneakers, but with high heels. And she was covered with a wrap that on her looked more like a blanket, decorated in what Clyde thought looked like it had come from Native American Indians or something. Her hair was snow white, which was a stark contrast to her well-tanned face.
The two of them had obviously spent a lot of time in warmer parts of the world than London!
‘Oh, so sorry,’ she said in a loud voice. ‘Sorry, don’t mind me. I brought flowers, which is silly, there’s no need is there?’
And on the floor, Clyde realised, was a smashed vase of long white lilies.
‘But I saw these lilies and the vase was so lovely – it was hand-blown by some Asian-Argentines, although I don’t suppose you’d actually use your hands, would you? Cos glass must get awfully hot –’
Perhaps in an attempt to quieten her gabbling, the yellow-jewelled Shansheeth by the door bowed its head. ‘I am Aureolin of the Claw Shansheeth. I’m so sorry for your loss.’
‘Oh, thank you,’ she replied and without taking a breath added, ‘aren’t you gorgeous?’
The other two Shansheeth repeated the mantra and she nodded to them both.
‘I know,’ she said. ‘Isn’t it terrible?’ She reached out to touch Aureolin’s robes. ‘Oh, you are gorgeous – I wish I had my glasses, you’re like vultures. Lovely, big alien vultures.’ She grabbed the boy’s arm, as if trying to make him touch the robes too. ‘Look, babe, aren’t they wonderful? And nothing to be scared of. Just like I taught you.’ And she sighed loudly and a l
ittle sadly. ‘Oh, I’ve missed all this.’
She bent down and scooped up the dropped flowers, passing them to the boy. ‘Get rid of these, sweetheart, there’s a good boy.’
With a smile, he carried them to a small table near the door, throwing Clyde and Rani a look that said how pleased he was to see someone of his own age in the room.
Rani motioned for him to join them, as the woman looked around at all the people sat there, nodding at some, touching shoulders or arms as she started to apologise. ‘Sorry, sorry, oh, hullo I like your hat and sorry. I’m making an awful noise, aren’t I? Although –’ and she was facing Sarah Jane now, who had stood up, unlike the rest of the astonished guests. ‘Although there’s a tribe called the Nambikwara on the Mato Grosso – I lived there, back in ’83 – and anyway, they sing all night when there’s a funeral. They sing like birds, I swear, it’s the most astonishing sound.’
And Sarah Jane smiled at her.
‘I’m sorry, do I know you?’ the woman asked Sarah Jane.
‘We’ve never actually met, but it’s Jo Grant, isn’t it?’
The woman smiled a huge grin. ‘Long time since I’ve heard that name. It’s Jo Jones since I got married.’
‘I met the Doctor just after you left,’ Sarah Jane said. ‘You’d gone to live in the Amazon.’
The woman, Jo, clicked her fingers. ‘Of course, they told me about you when I tried to call the Brigadier one day. He’s in Peru a lot, you know.’
‘I know,’ Sarah Jane smiled and held out her hand. ‘I’m –’
‘Sarah Jane Smith,’ Jo grinned back. ‘After all this time. And you are so beautiful!’
The two instant new friends gripped one another’s hands. ‘They used to tell me so many stories about you, at UNIT,’ Sarah Jane said.
Jo looked slightly wistful at the memories. ‘Those soldier boys. Happy days.’
Sarah Jane noticed the yellow-jewelled Shansheeth by the door staring at them, perhaps wanting them to stop talking, so the service could carry on – and she ignored it.
‘You still married then?’
‘Clifford,’ Jo said. ‘About thirty years now! We left him picketing an oil rig in the Gulf of Mexico to come here. We’ve got seven children.’
Sarah Jane stared agog. ‘Seven?’
‘And that gorgeous boy over there,’ she pointed at the young man who had arrived with her, ‘he’s one of twelve grandchildren. Number thirteen on its way, too!’
Sarah Jane just hugged Jo again. ‘I’ve got one son, Luke. He’s just gone to university, in Oxford. I miss him.’ And perhaps anticipating Jo’s next question, she shook her head slowly. ‘No – no father in the picture.’
Jo grinned broadly. ‘Playing the field? Good on you, girl.’
‘It’s not quite like that,’ Sarah Jane said, looking a little embarrassed. ‘It’s complicated.’ Then she changed tack and led Jo to the pews and they finally sat down and lowered their voices. ‘It’s funny, all of this today,’ she waved her hand towards the Shansheeth, who all seemed to be staring at them now. ‘Got me thinking. Because the Doctor showed me such a remarkable life, and once he’d gone…well, it took me a long while to get over it.’
‘Me too,’ said Jo.
‘Then he came back.’ Sarah Jane paused, remembering the times the Doctor had briefly touched her life again. And as one the Shansheeth seemed to take a step closer, and the music from the Cradle got fractionally louder, as Sarah Jane’s mind brought more memories back. Deffry Vale School, where she and the Doctor stopped the Krillitane…fighting Brother Lassar…the Skasas Paradigm…and him upgrading K-9…giving her the sonic lipstick…
‘Who came back?’ Jo asked slowly, her voice a bit slow, as if she didn’t quite get what Sarah Jane was saying. ‘The Doctor?’
Sarah Jane nodded happily. ‘Yeah.’
‘Do you mean…recently?’
And Sarah Jane realised Jo was upset. And she hadn’t meant to upset her, but she couldn’t lie now. ‘About…about four years ago.’
‘I never saw him again.’
And Jo was thinking about the night Cliff Jones proposed to her. In that homely little cottage in Llanfairfach, Wales. And the big party with all their friends laughing and cheering. And the Doctor. Suddenly so lonely. Slipping quietly away from the party, hoping no one had noticed his sadness amidst all the happiness. But Jo had noticed and although she couldn’t, and wouldn’t, change her and Cliff for anything in the world, she always felt a pang of guilt that wanting to be married had stopped her and the Doctor staying together.
The Shansheeth were closer now.
‘Well,’ Sarah Jane said brightly. ‘It was just a coincidence the first time. We were both investigating something and –’
‘The first time?’ cut in Jo. ‘It was more than once?’ She smiled slightly, to hide her disappointment. ‘He must have really liked you.’
Sarah Jane said nothing.
Jo carried on, thankfully changing the subject. ‘Funny thing is, Sarah Jane, I always had this notion, this thought, that if the Doctor died, one day, even if he was on Metebelis Three, or Solos, or another universe, I’d feel it.’ She touched her chest. ‘Here. In my heart.’
And Sarah Jane’s hand was over her own heart, and she was nodding. ‘That’s exactly what I thought! But I didn’t feel a thing.’
‘Nor me. Not a peep!’
Sarah Jane suddenly got animated and after a glance at the curiously-way-too-close Shansheeth, she looked Jo straight in the eye.
‘Do you think the same as me?’
‘That he’s still alive?’
Sarah Jane nodded furiously. ‘Yes. Yes, he has to be. Because if anyone would know he wasn’t, it’d be you and I!’
And the Shansheeth backed away slowly.
Clyde had been watching all this and at that point, he leaned over to Rani. ‘She’s not letting it go, is she?’
Rani shrugged. ‘Maybe she is right, after all.’ Rani nodded slightly towards the obsequious Shansheeth now returning to their places. ‘And they give me the creeps.’
‘Ooh,’ Clyde smiled, ‘what happened to not judging them?’
Rani frowned. ‘I’m serious, there’s something weird and –’
‘Hiya.’
Rani and Clyde were cut off by the guy who’d turned up with Jo Jones sitting behind them.
‘Sorry,’ he whispered. ‘But everyone else is about a hundred years old in here. Fancied talking to someone who might smile occasionally.’
Clyde liked him immediately and offered his hand. ‘Clyde Langer, mate.’
Rani introduced herself as well.
‘My name’s Santiago, and that’s my Gran,’ he said, pointing at Jo.
‘Good name,’ Rani said.
Santiago grinned at the compliment. ‘It’s where I was born. In a caravan at the foothills of the Andes.’
‘Should’ve called you Andy,’ laughed Clyde and the other two smiled at this.
Then there was a noise from Azure who was now back right in front of the teenagers.
‘With respect,’ he intoned pointedly, ‘the Cradle will continue. Binding you all in sorrow.’
Rani pulled a face. ‘I think he’s telling us to behave.’
Clyde nodded. ‘Like your Dad at school assembly.’
Santiago shrugged. ‘Wouldn’t know. Never been to school.’
‘No way! You are officially the luckiest bloke on Earth,’ said Clyde. ‘How come?’
‘We’re always travelling the world.’
‘You rich?’
‘Nah, exactly the opposite. But Mum and
Dad – and they got this from Gran – spend their lives going from country to country.’
‘Doing what?’ asked Rani.
‘Protesting, mainly.’ Santiago seemed so enthusiastic, so obviously proud of his parents, his eyes glinted passionately as he talked. ‘At the G8 summit, Mum chained herself to the railings. And at the Climate Change Conference, Dad got arrested. Twice! Mum’
s in Japan right now, on a little boat, stopping those whalers.’
‘Whoa!’ Clyde was impressed. ‘Serious life.’
Santiago nodded. ‘Just to get here today, Gran and me, we were on the Southern plateau of Tierra del Fuego, so we had to hike to Buenos Aires, get a boat to Las Malvenas, then a cargo plane across the Atlantic to Dublin, then the ferry to Wales.’ He smiled at the memory. ‘It was fantastic. Where are you guys from?’
‘Ealing,’ Clyde and Rani said simultaneously. And slightly apologetically.
At which point, the Cradle of the Lost Chords was strummed again by the red-bejewelled Shansheeth, and so the Service of Remembrance began.
Chapter Six
The cradle sings
The service was over and most of the dignitaries had either left or returned to whatever meagre bedrooms UNIT had provided.
For Sarah Jane, Clyde and Rani this was the small cramped room Colonel Karim had shown them earlier.
But right now they were in Jo and Santiago’s room which was, if possible, even smaller and more cramped, with a bunk bed shoved up against one wall, opposite just another blank, featureless wall with a ventilation shaft in it. There was barely enough room for more than one person to stand in the room, so as Jo and Sarah Jane sat on the bed to discuss the service and their belief that the Doctor just couldn’t really be dead, the three teenagers realised they needed to get out to give them space.
And themselves.
‘Right,’ said Rani, practical as ever. ‘We’ll head off and find the canteen. Cups of tea all round?’
‘Ooh,’ Jo said, diving into her humungous carpetbag and pulling out a sachet. ‘Just hot water for me, sweetheart. I’ve got some powdered Lapacho –’ and Jo stopped and smiled at Sarah Jane. ‘The Doctor took me to a planet once. Peladon. And the smell of Lapacho is just like the royal palace there.’
Sarah Jane breathed in, as if smelling it herself. ‘I went to Peladon.’
‘You never did!’ laughed Jo.
Sarah Jane nodded enthusiastically. ‘With the Great Beast, Aggedor.’ Sarah Jane put her hands into claws and roared, and Jo giggled.