‘Affirmative Master,’ said K-9.
Sarah Jane turned round — to see Peter walking across the reception area towards her, the wedding ring outstretched.
‘Sarah Jane,’ he said calmly. ‘I want to tell you about the Angel Sarah Jane backed away towards the stairs leading up into the hotel. ‘Doctor!’
Temporal schism divided in two, Master,’ reported K-9.
‘Of course! Yes!’ said the Doctor. ‘We’re trapped here in 3:23:23 — and Sarah Jane’s trapped too, just in another second.’
Clyde struggled to understand. ‘Oi. You said you’d explain later. It is later. Explain!’
‘The Trickster doesn’t want us helping Sarah Jane,’ said the Doctor. ‘So he’s separated us, trapped us in two different seconds!’
As she backed away from Peter, something caught Sarah Jane’s eye. The small TV set behind the reception desk was showing horse racing. The horses thundered down over a fence — again and again and again. A time stamp in the corner of the screen read 15:23:24.
‘A time trap,’ she gasped.
Peter came towards her, wedding ring outstretched.
Sarah Jane turned and ran up the stairs.
The Doctor turned towards the stairs. He inhaled deeply, as if trying to sense Sarah Janes presence. ‘She’s… she’s upstairs!’
He turned to Luke and K-9. ‘You two, watch for the TARDIS — if you see it coming back, shout the place down!’
‘Orders accepted, Master,’ said K-9.
He turned to Clyde and Rani. ‘You two — with me! Spit-spot!’
Clyde and Rani followed as he sprinted up the stairs.
Sarah Jane reached the top of the stairs and burst through the door at the very top. She had no idea where she was running to, but she knew she had to get away from Peter and think clearly.
On the other side of the door was Peter, the wedding ring in his hand.
And they were both back in the ballroom.
‘What?’ Sarah Jane looked back through the door and saw the reception area, on the ground floor. ‘That’s not possible.
‘We can’t run away, Sarah Jane,’ said Peter.
Sarah Jane turned back to him. All the emotion she felt came rushing out. ‘The one time I fall in love, the one time everything goes right, and it’s a trap!’ She said. She looked into his eyes, remembering how he’d charmed her. ‘I thought I loved you, but you aren’t even real!’
‘You do love me!’ said Peter. ‘I’m here, flesh and blood!’
Sarah Jane snorted. ‘Oh yes? And I was worried about my secrets. Well, it turned out you were hiding something pretty big, weren’t you?’
‘There’s only one thing I kept secret,’ said Peter. ‘But I knew you wouldn’t believe me, you’d think I was mad. That’s why I never told you about the Angel.’
‘The Angel!’ scoffed Sarah Jane. ‘That’s what you call him, but he — it — is a creature, an alien being!’
‘Just listen, I’ll tell you everything,’ said Peter. ‘Please!’
Sarah Jane tried to be calm. The more she knew about all this, the more chance she stood of getting out. ‘Go on.’
Peter swallowed. ‘It was about six months ago. One day I was working from home. I had a stupid accident. Fell down the stairs. I thought I was going to die — but then he appeared. The Angel.
He told me he could give me life. And the true love I’d always longed for. And all I had to do was give my agreement.’
Sarah Jane’s head reeled. She remembered how the Trickster had used her old school friend, Andrea, and imprisoned a Graske as his slave, in much the same way, snatching them into his power at the moment before they died. Then you are real.’ Her heart went out Peter. After all of this, he was innocent. ‘He tricked you.’
‘No!’ said Peter. ‘He saved me. And he found you for me. He wanted us to be happy.’
‘Then why the ring? Why hypnotise me?’
‘The ring was only for protection,’ said Peter. ‘You accepted my proposal before the ring went on, you said you loved me before the ring went on! Didn’t you love me? Didn’t you mean it?’
‘Oh, Peter…’ Sarah Jane took him in her arms and held him close.
She took a deep breath. ‘Now for the things I never told you. I’ve fought him before, I fight creatures like him. That is my life.’
Peter looked stunned.
Sarah Jane went on. ‘He’s used my past, my parents, against me — now he’s using you.’
Peter shook his head. ‘He saved me, he brought us together!’
‘I’ll show you what he is,’ she said.
She turned and called, ‘Trickster! Trickster!’ Suddenly, the hooded figure appeared, still in his dazzling white robe. The hood hung over that terrible blank face.
‘Sarah Jane Smith,’ said the Trickster, nodding to her as if this were a polite social occasion.
‘Why have you done this? What do you want?’ The Trickster’s mouth curled upwards, the nearest expression he could muster to pass for a smile.
‘I want you to be happy,’ he said.
Chapter Eight
The Doctor Meets The
Trickster
‘She’s in here!’ cried the Doctor at the top of the stairs, as the sonic screwdriver issued a particularly loud and insistent beep. Clyde and Rani piled after him as he burst through the doors and into the empty ballroom.
Rani was amazed. ‘How did we get here again?’
‘A spacial loop mixed up with the temporal loop!’ Clyde exclaimed.
Rani was startled all over again. ‘How did you work that out?’
‘We’ve been doing this a while now,’ said Clyde. ‘I’ve taken notes!’
He looked ahead to where the Doctor was pacing the room. He’d returned the sonic screwdriver to his pocket and was again inhaling deeply, as if trying to find Sarah Jane with his own physical senses. ‘Come on, come on, Sarah, let me find you
‘She doesn’t like being called Sarah,’ Rani pointed out.
The Doctor gave her a puzzled look. ‘Well, she does by me.’
Clyde figured that made sense. If she’d let the Doctor call her just ‘Sarah’ all those years ago, then her insistence on being called by her full name ever since must be her way of cutting herself off from that past.
Rani was watching the pacing Doctor, with a thoughtful look. ‘Hang on, though,’ she said. ‘This is mad! The Trickster, he’s this all-powerful immortal, he wants to cause chaos throughout the stars — and he wants Sarah Jane to get married! What does he get out of that?’
‘You want us to get married?’ Sarah Jane almost laughed into the blank face of the Trickster. ‘And then what?’
‘You will forget all that has happened here, as if it had never been,’ he replied. ‘And then…’
He passed one of his white-gauntleted hands in front of her eyes…
Sarah Jane blinked. An image began to form in her mind’s eye, as if placed there by the Trickster.
She heard the Trickster’s voice as if from far away. ‘Here is the life you will lead.’
In her mind, Sarah Jane saw herself and Peter emerging from the front of the hotel, both of them beaming with happiness. All the wedding guests were waiting outside.
‘Mr and Mrs Dalton!’ cried Haresh.
She saw herself kissing Peter as a photographer took pictures. She saw Luke, Clyde and Rani smiling and clapping, Gita throwing handfuls of confetti…
Then suddenly the image shifted. She saw herself walking into the attic back at home, carrying two cups of tea. Peter was standing with a broom in the middle of the attic, which was completely empty There was no alien technology, no mementoes of previous adventures, no Mr Smith.
‘All done?’ she saw herself asking.
‘Finally, got all of the junk cleared out!’ said Peter.
She saw herself hand him one of the cups of tea. ‘Right,’ she heard herself saying, ‘decorators due on Monday. Make this into a proper little office.’ Ag
ain the image shifted. She saw herself and Peter cuddled up together on the sofa, laughing at something on television.
That normal life. She’d never realised how much she wanted it. How she’d always wanted it.
Then suddenly she was back in the ballroom with Peter, looking up into the face of the Trickster. ‘I will bring you happiness,’ he said.
Sarah Jane shook herself, remembering the Trickster’s previous attempts to destroy her. ‘But what’s the price? There’s got to be a catch, with you there always is!’
Peter came to her side. ‘Sarah Jane, all you have to say is “I do”.’
‘And if you don’t, you will remain here,’ said the Trickster. ‘Forever.’
Sarah Jane steeled herself. ‘Then so be it,’ she said firmly.
The Trickster inclined his head. ‘So will Peter. And so will your son and your friends. You’ll condemn them to remain here.’
Sarah Jane swallowed. Luke and the others were still here? The Doctor was still here?
The Trickster gestured to the unending limbo of whiteness on the other side of the windows. ‘This place is nowhere,’ he said. ‘And it’s forever.’ And with that he shimmered and disappeared. Sarah Jane turned to Peter. ‘Now do you see! Now do you see what he is!’
Peter shook his head. ‘It doesn’t matter! You can save them, Luke and the others!’
One again he held the wedding ring out to her.
The Doctor stopped at a particular spot in the empty ballroom. ‘She’s right here!’ He scrabbled in his pocket. ‘If I can just narrow the link ratio…’ Suddenly a deep voice issued from the other side of the room.
‘Doctor,’ it said slowly with a deep sigh of satisfaction.
Clyde turned, and saw the Trickster, now wearing the dirty black robes Rani and Luke had described to him. A bitter, electric odour seemed to cling to him.
Clyde looked to Rani to see if she was all right. Her jaw was set defiantly, as if she was about to kick the dreaded immortal where it would hurt most.
The Doctor sauntered forward casually, as if he was just greeting a late arrival at a party. ‘You look better in black. Or is white the new black?’
‘At last — Doctor!’ said the Trickster. ‘I could feel this moment reverberating back through the ages. The meeting of the Pantheon of Discord and the last of the Time Lords.’
‘I’ve known the legends of the Pantheon, since I was a little boy,’ said the Doctor. ‘I’ve fought your shadows and changelings. Never thought we’d actually meet.’
‘And I know the legends of the Doctor. The man of ice and fire, who walked among gods, who once held the Key to Time in his hands.’ Clyde was almost amused by the matter-of-fact way in which these enormous events, things that had changed the history of the entire universe, were being discussed.
The Trickster gestured dismissively towards Rani and Clyde. ‘Now he is surrounded by children.’
‘They’re my friends,’ said the Doctor fiercely. ‘Which reminds me, you’re looking a bit lonely for a pantheon.’
‘I embody multitudes,’ said the Trickster coolly. Then he leant his head forward a fraction, and whispered, ‘And who are you, the man who lost everybody, to talk to me of loneliness? When the Gate is waiting for you?’
For the first time, Clyde saw the Doctor shaken by something. His smile faded. ‘What do you mean?’ he asked quietly.
But the Trickster ignored his request. ‘Sarah Jane Smith is my prize. Even you, Doctor, do not realise how wonderful she is.’
The Doctor advanced on him, as if mention of Sarah Jane had touched a nerve in him. ‘What do you want with her?’
‘What I always want, from any of those I visit,’ said the Trickster. ‘Her agreement.’
The air rippled — and he disappeared.
The Doctor ran his fingers through his hair. ‘Her agreement!’ he shouted. ‘The power of words! She says “I do” and — yes, that’s it!’
‘That’s what?’ asked Clyde.
‘She promises to love and honour her husband,’ said the Doctor, talking fast as if his mouth was struggling to keep up with his brain. ‘The wedding ring goes on — and then she’s agreed to it, and she’s totally under the Tricksters power! Marital bliss — but — she forgets this ever happened. She starts living a new life… ’
‘She forgets her old life,’ said Rani. ‘Protecting Earth!’
Clyde saw the consequences. ‘So the planet’s wide open — aliens can just barge in!’
The Doctor nodded. ‘Without Sarah Jane, without you lot saving the world from an attic in Ealing, there’ll be chaos and destruction — meat and drink to the Trickster!’
Clyde remembered the alternative timeline he’d been trapped in by the Trickster the last time he’d appeared. A grey shell of a world, the last humans dying. That would be the fate of Earth and countless other planets if Sarah Jane married Peter. Then he thought of Sarah Jane and her bravery and shook his head. ‘As if she’s gonna say yes.’
‘But she will, won’t she?’ said the Doctor, looking between them. ‘Because we’re here.’
Clyde didn’t have time to think that through. Suddenly that strange wheezing, groaning sound started to reverberate around the room, and one wall of the ballroom began to ripple and twist, as if something was forcing its way through from the other side.
A tall blue rectangular outline pushed itself through the wall.
The Doctor punched the air. ‘TARDIS, beautiful, yes! It’s homing in on me! Emergency programme, protecting the pilot! Of course!’
The shape resolved itself into the front door of the TARDIS — with no box behind it. At the same time, a wind blasted from it, pushing them all back.
Blue light started to spark and crackle around the TARDIS door.
Luke burst in from the reception area. ‘What’s happening?’
The Doctor struggled against the wind, trying to reach the door. ‘Yes! Look! That’s pure artron energy — TARDIS power! Equal and opposite to the Trickster’s power, that’s how we can fight him!’ He managed to reach the door and flung it open. ‘Come on, all of you, get in!’
Clyde and the others pushed forward against the wind.
The wind snatched at the Doctor, dragging him through the door.
‘No!’ He held out his hand towards Clyde, who was nearest. ‘Come on! Now!’
The Doctor grabbed Clyde’s hand.
Then he was pulled back by a sharp jolt from the TARDIS door.
He disappeared behind the TARDIS door, which slammed shut in Clyde’s face.
Clyde cannoned forward against the door — and sparks of blue energy crackled round him.
For a second he felt as if he was being electrocuted. A piercing blue light blinded him and he felt himself being thrown back across the room.
As he thumped down on the floor he was aware of the TARDIS door being swallowed up by the wall.
It was gone. And the Doctor with it.
There was silence. ‘Just us then,’ said Rani.
Clyde got to his feet and rubbed his right hand. It tingled, like he had pins and needles.
Luke put an arm around him. ‘You OK?’
‘Yeah, I think so,’ said Clyde. He looked nervously at the blank wall. ‘He’ll come back for us, won’t he?’
‘What if he can’t?’ said Luke.
Chapter Nine
Sarah Jane’s Choice
‘Without the Doctor, what are we gonna do?’ said Clyde as he, Luke and Rani trailed despondently back into the reception area.
‘He said the power of the TARDIS could fight the Trickster,’ said Rani. ‘Something-energy.’
K-9 piped up. ‘Artron energy; residue of TARDIS engines. Known to be highly inimical to certain time-sensitive life forms.’
Luke sighed. ‘But there is no TARDIS.’ Suddenly, as if in response to Luke’s words, Clyde felt his right hand jerk up and away from him. The tingling increased.
‘Whoa!’ he called, ‘Whoa no!’
His hand was crackling with blue sparks. ‘What’s that?’ said Luke.
‘Artron energy, Master Luke,’ said K-9.
‘Clyde, you got a shot of it,’ said Rani.
Luke stared at the fizzing sparkles dancing around Clyde’s fingers. ‘Then we can fight him?’ Clyde brought his hand closer to him. He flexed his fingers, and the tingling sensation increased. ‘No,’ he told the others. ‘I can fight him.’
‘We’ll forget all this madness,’ said Peter. ‘You saw, we’ll be married, we’ll be together, safe, with Luke and the others! We can all go home.’
Sarah Jane took a deep breath. That normal life was just two words away. But at what cost?
‘It would be so easy,’ she said. ‘But that’s how the Trickster works, that’s his deadliest weapon. Temptation. I’m not making that mistake again.’
‘But you’d never know,’ Peter protested.
Sarah Jane looked into the eyes of the man she loved. ‘Peter, he wants to stop me defending Earth. He couldn’t do it any other way. So he used love.’
Peter smiled. ‘You’re so incredible, even more than I knew. You really mean it. You’ll sacrifice yourself, stay here forever.’
Sarah Jane shrugged. ‘Wouldn’t anybody?’
‘I couldn’t do it,’ said Peter. ‘I’d take the offer, and I’d forget. Because I would do anything to save you.’
‘I can get close to the Trickster with this,’ said Clyde, holding up his glowing hand. ‘But I want to get as far away as I can from you three when I do it, just in case.’
He moved towards the doors of the hotel, determined.
‘Clyde, you can’t!’ said Luke. ‘You don’t know what you’re doing!’
Clyde smiled. ‘When did that ever stop us? It’s what Sarah Jane would do, it’s what the Doctor taught her. I’ve got no choice!’
He put out his left hand to the hotel door.
Rani barred his way. ‘Please don’t do this!1 Clyde pushed past her, and threw the doors open.
‘Trickster!’ he called into the infinite whiteness. The shape of the Trickster formed out of the swirling white mists.
‘Clyde Langer! Why do you call me?’
Clyde put his right hand behind his back. ‘I wish to serve you. I wish to join the Pantheon!’ He walked out into limbo.
[Sarah Jane Adventures 09] - The Wedding of Sarah Jane Page 5