by Dan Abnett
‘You could operate the hatch,’ explained the Doctor, ‘because the palm-checker recognised your genetic code as human. It’s the same reason that Bel could open the door. Humans built this, so human gene-codes work the locks.’
‘Even human genes as old as mine?’ asked Amy.
‘Gene-code is gene-code,’ replied the Doctor.
‘Wait,’ said Arabel, flustered and looking at the Doctor, ‘if you can’t open the lock, doesn’t that mean you’re not human?’
The Doctor glanced awkwardly at Amy. ‘Ah, yes. How do I explain that best?’ he began.
Before he could answer, Amy shrieked, ‘Samewell!’
Samewell’s outstretched hand was hovering above the palm checker. At Amy’s protest, he snatched it back.
‘I just wanted to see if it would work for me too,’ he said. He pouted.
Several more dull but herculean blows landed on the other side of the hatch and made him recoil.
‘I’d best try it on another door, though, eh?’ Samewell added.
‘I think that would be healthier for all of us,’ the Doctor said.
He looked around, and took stock of where they had ended up. It was a service room, full of metal shelves and hoppers. The shelves were racked with tools and equipment that looked part surgical and part horticultural. The hoppers were packed with mechanical spare parts wrapped in plastic. He picked up a few items and examined them.
‘We can’t really stay here, Doctor,’ Amy said.
‘No, we can’t,’ said the Doctor.
To reinforce her point, the banging on the hatch ceased, and was replaced by a high-pitched and very unpleasant wailing noise. It was like a dentist’s drill with the volume turned up.
‘No, we really can’t,’ said the Doctor. ‘That’s a focused sonic drill. They’ll be through that hatch in two shakes. Two shakes if we’re lucky. Probably more like one shake. Let’s get going.’
They hurried away from the painful noise to the end of the service room. There was another hatch, shut tight.
‘Now you can try it, Samewell,’ said the Doctor.
Samewell put his hand on the plate. The hatch opened.
Samewell looked extremely pleased with himself.
Passing through the hatch, they entered a gloomy corridor lit by a line of blue overhead lights. It stretched away in both directions. From the left came the roar of heavy turbine machinery. The Doctor took them to the right. He got Samewell to close the hatch behind them.
‘That’s two barriers they’ve got to get through,’ the Doctor remarked.
Feeling a little more secure, they walked briskly down the corridor.
‘What was that you were saying to the Ice Warriors before we slammed the door in their faces?’ Amy asked.
‘Oh, you know. Saying hello.’
‘How do you say hello to an Ice Warrior?’ she asked.
‘Um, “Hail, Ice Warrior”?’
‘You’re not as funny as you think you are,’ said Amy.
They reached another hatch. This time, Amy opened it.
The room on the other side was dark, but quickly woke up as automatic lights flickered on. The air smelled stale and slightly dusty. It was a large room, lined in pale white shipskin, with a wide, flat floor covered in odd patterns. The patterns were circles and spirals, inlaid in a fine, contrasting metal filament. There was another hatch at the opposite end of the chamber, and one side of the space was fitted with complicated workstations and consoles. There were also two chairs facing the console station. The chairs had high, padded backs and raised armrests. The area looked like the cockpit of a spaceship.
The Doctor walked over to the workstation area. He seemed intrigued by the control systems. ‘Go and see what’s behind the next door,’ he said to the others. ‘Don’t go too far.’
‘What are you going to be up to?’ Amy asked.
‘I’m going to look at these,’ he said, leaning over the consoles. He ran a speculative finger along the fascia above a line of touch-sensitive pads. Dust came away on his fingertip. ‘I think I know what this is,’ he said. ‘In fact, I’m sure I know what this is.’
‘Really?’ asked Amy.
‘Give me a moment,’ said the Doctor, investigating further. He gestured over his shoulder. ‘Look at the floor, Pond. Look at the patterns on the floor. Where have we seen that before?’
‘Uh, I don’t know?’ Amy said.
‘Think about it. We’ve seen it recently.’
‘Really? I don’t know.’
‘Then hang on a minute,’ he said. He sat down in one of the high-backed chairs, laced his fingers together, and cracked his knuckles. He had already pressed a few switches at random. Several indicator lights had come on. The consoles began to hum with power. ‘Allow me to show you what this is.’
‘Have we really got time to stop and play around, Doctor?’ Amy asked.
‘We’ve got time to stop and play around with this,’ said the Doctor. ‘If,’ he added, ‘this is what I think it is. And, as I believe we established, it is.’
Arabel and Samewell returned from their examination of the next door.
‘It’s another hallway,’ said Bel, ‘and then some rooms beyond that. We didn’t go too far.’
‘Good,’ said the Doctor. He adjusted some more controls.
‘What are you doing?’ asked Samewell.
‘He’s showing off,’ said Amy.
‘I’m not,’ said the Doctor. ‘I’m bringing these long-dormant systems back online, and juicing them up to operational power.’
‘Yeah, but he’s not telling us why he’s doing that, or what it is he’s doing it to,’ Amy said to Bel and Samewell, ‘and the reason is because that way it’ll be more impressive when it finally does whatever it’s going to do.’
‘No harm ever came from a bit of dramatic anticipation,’ said the Doctor. ‘There is an art to the building up of suspense. A prince from Denmark told me that.’ He gently tinkered with a few more settings, and then picked up a chunky remote-control device that slotted into a socket in one of the consoles. He stood up.
‘Come on,’ the Doctor said to them. ‘Come over here. Into the centre of the room. Hurry now.’
Power was building. They could all hear the ambient tone. Light levels in the room were starting to increase too.
‘What have you done?’ Amy asked.
‘It’s safe, I swear,’ said the Doctor. He made a tiny adjustment via the remote control.
The hum of the mounting power levels turned into a lazier throb, like a slowly cycling energy pulse.
‘OK,’ he said. ‘Ready? Hold on to your hats.’
‘I don’t have a hat,’ said Samewell.
‘You should get one,’ replied the Doctor. ‘Hats are cool.’
The Doctor pressed an activator on the control pad.
The light in the room around them altered quite dramatically. Not only did it shimmer and dim, the actual quality of the light seemed to change, becoming softer and less intense. It was like a scene change in a West End play. The effect was so odd, Arabel, Samewell and Amy all murmured in surprise.
Then they realised what they were looking at. They blinked. They saw what the chamber around them had very suddenly turned into. Their second murmur of surprise was much louder and more appreciative than the first.
The Doctor grinned.
They weren’t in the same room any more.
They were somewhere else entirely.
Rory wondered if he ought to risk some more soup. He didn’t really want any more soup. It was good soup, but he was full. However, having some soup was about the only thing to do apart from just sitting there, and he was fed up doing that. At least having some soup was doing something. It was an activity.
The assembly hall was very quiet. Vesta was snoozing. Sol Farrow was watching the flames crackling in the nearest firebucket. Sol had already been back for seconds and thirds of soup, and Rory was worried there might not be much soup left if Sol de
cided to go for fourths. Then there really wouldn’t be anything to do to pass the time except sit around and be bored.
The night wind was picking up outside, driving the snow against the windows. Rory could hear it pattering like grains of sand. It was a proper blizzard out there. Things were warm enough close to the firebuckets, but there was a wickedly cold draft blowing in under the main doors of the assembly, and odd, fluting wind sounds were coming from the chimney vents up in the eaves.
‘They’re taking a long time,’ said Rory.
‘Guide’s answers are often hard to find,’ replied Sol. He cleared his throat and leaned forward to warm his hands at the fire. ‘Particularly when… you know.’
‘It’s a problem you’ve never met before?’ suggested Rory.
Sol nodded.
‘Have you really never seen winter until now?’
‘Not until these last three years,’ said Sol. ‘We knew what winter was, of course. Knew what it had been like on Earth before, because of the records. And it always got a bit colder this season, regular. But we’d never seen white and ice before.’
‘Right.’
‘Vesta tell you that, did she?’
‘Yes,’ said Rory.
‘They have winters where you come from, then?’ asked Sol.
‘Yes, actually,’ said Rory. ‘Where I come from, they have them quite often. We’re used to them. But this is pretty fierce. It’s a bad winter. And, obviously, any winter’s going to be a bit worrying if you’re not supposed to have them.’
He got up and looked over at the doors that led into the Incrypt.
‘Maybe I should just go and see how they’re doing?’ he suggested. ‘I’m sure I could help.’
‘It’s not allowed,’ replied Sol. ‘The council voted.’
‘What are they looking at exactly?’ asked Rory.
‘Well, the words of Guide, of course,’ said Sol, sitting up and looking at Rory with a frown. ‘The covenant that Guide provides for us, as is held in the Incrypt. Guide knows an awful lot. More than any of us, and it usually takes quite a time and a lot of cleverness to sort of sift out what Guide is telling us.’
‘This is your Guide Emanual?’ said Rory.
‘That’s right,’ said Sol. ‘Surely you have the same in your plantnation?’
‘We’ve got tourist information points and a weekly free paper.’
‘What?’ asked Sol.
‘Never mind,’ said Rory. He paced a little. ‘I wish I knew where Amy and the Doctor were. I hope they’re OK. The Doctor always knows what to do. I keep trying to imagine what he’d say or do if he was here.’
‘Hello! Hello? Can anybody hear me?’ the Doctor’s voice suddenly boomed out across the assembly.
Sol and Vesta both leapt up in considerable dismay.
The voice seemed to come from directly behind Rory. He turned around very slowly.
The assembly hall was bathed in a soft yellow radiance, warm but bright, that was somehow shining out of the floor, the walls, and the ceiling. Glittering traceries of energy had appeared along the circular metal patterns inlaid in the wooden floor, and up the seams in the hall’s beams and roof posts.
The centre of the hall was no longer the assembly room at all. It appeared to have become, in the blink of an eye, part of a very modern-looking white chamber. The row of benches in front of the council rail had turned into what looked like a computer workstation complete with two high-backed chairs.
Rory was standing halfway inside the assembly hall, and half in the new, white room.
The Doctor, beaming from ear to ear, was right in front of him, along with Amy and two young Morphans that Rory didn’t recognise.
‘Doctor!’ Rory cried.
‘Rory!’ exclaimed the Doctor in delight. ‘Rory Williams Pond!’
‘Not my actual name,’ smiled Rory.
‘I was confident we’d make contact with someone,’ the Doctor said excitedly. ‘I didn’t dare hope it would be you!’
Dumbfounded, Amy rushed towards Rory so that she could hug him. He spread his arms wide to meet her.
‘How did you get here?’ Rory laughed.
The anticipated hug didn’t go according to plan. Much to their mutual surprise, Rory and Amy passed through each other like ghosts. They stopped in their tracks, turned and looked back at each other.
‘What just happened?’ asked Rory.
‘Why can’t I touch Rory?’ demanded Amy. ‘What’s going on? It’s spooky! I just went right through him. How can I not touch him if we’re in the same room?’
‘Well, because you’re not actually in the same room at all,’ said the Doctor.
Amy reached out her right hand to feel Rory’s face. She succeeded merely in pushing her hand through his head.
‘Um, OK, stop doing that,’ Rory told her.
‘That’s so freaky!’ Amy exclaimed.
‘Yeah, still, stop it,’ said Rory.
‘You must be in the assembly in Beside,’ said the Doctor. ‘Well done, Rory. That’s exactly where I needed you to be.’
Rory gave a no problem shrug as though he’d planned it all along. ‘Where are you?’ he asked.
‘We’re in Firmer Number Two,’ replied the Doctor, ‘which is one of the big mountains you would be able to see from the window if it wasn’t night-time. Actually, we’re deep inside it, so you wouldn’t see us anyway.’
He was speaking rather too loudly and rather too clearly, as though he was using a telephone with a poor connection.
‘Remember the mountains, Rory?’ he asked. ‘The strange ones that I didn’t think were mountains?’
‘I do, Doctor,’ said Rory.
‘Well, they’re really not mountains. They’re giant machines called terraformers, or terramorphers, or whatever you want to call them. They’ve been set up to change this world. To re-engineer its climate and make it more Earth-like.’
‘Earth-esque, surely?’ smiled Rory.
‘Touché, Mr Pond,’ laughed the Doctor. ‘So, it’ll take years to do. Centuries. It’s a long-term project. Anyway, we’re inside one of them.’
‘OK…’
‘Specifically,’ the Doctor said, ‘we’re in a telepresence communications chamber. We found it by accident. It’s part of a communications network that probably once linked all the Morphan communities.’
‘It’s like you’re here,’ said Rory, still not quite believing his eyes.
‘It’s conjury!’ Sol Farrow murmured. He and Vesta were rigid with fear. Their eyes were very wide.
‘Who’s that?’ asked the Doctor.
‘That’s Sol Farrow,’ said Rory. ‘And this is Vesta.’
‘Vesta Flurrish!’ the Doctor cried. ‘Alive and well! How fantastic is that? Very pleased to virtually meet you, Vesta. As you can see, I’ve got your sister and Samewell here with me. They’re perfectly safe. Well, they’re relatively safe. Well, they’re here with me.’
Vesta and Bel stepped forward and gazed at each other.
‘I was so worried about you,’ said Bel.
‘You look like you are made of light,’ said Vesta.
‘She is!’ cried the Doctor. ‘To you, she is! The telepresence system generates a live hologram field. It’s like 3D. I love 3D! Especially the cardboard red and green glasses. Anyway, it creates a hologram of you, where you are, here with us, and vice versa, so we all seem to be in the same room.’
‘It’s really freaky,’ said Amy, poking her fingers into Rory’s face.
‘Again, stop it,’ he said. He looked back at the Doctor. ‘What’s going on, Doctor?’ he asked. ‘There’s something really bad happening in this town. There’s this thing—’
‘With red eyes!’ Vesta blurted.
‘Yes, red eyes,’ Rory agreed.
‘That would be an Ice Warrior,’ the Doctor nodded, suddenly more serious. ‘I’m sorry to say, there’s more than one of them around. It is a real problem, Rory. They’re a threat to the Morphans, to all human life on He
reafter. We’ve got to work together to stop them. Throw a spanner in their works.’
‘How?’ asked Rory.
‘First things first. You need to get the Morphans ready,’ the Doctor told him. ‘The Ice Warriors are mobilising. They could strike at any moment.’
‘Is Elect Groan there, Vesta?’ asked Bel. ‘Can you fetch him? Any other members of the council… Chaunce, Old Winnowner, anyone? They have to hear about this.’
‘They’re all in the Incrypt, consulting the word of Guide,’ said Vesta.
‘Now that is very interesting,’ said the Doctor.
‘Go and fetch them, Vesta!’ Bel urged. ‘Hurry now!’
Vesta nodded, and darted away. Sol was still staring in wonder at the luminous figures.
‘Doctor?’ said Rory.
‘Yes, Rory?’
‘I – hang on. Amy, seriously, stop poking your fingers through my nose. Doctor, why are you talking so urgently?’
‘Am I?’ asked the Doctor.
‘Yeah,’ said Rory. ‘It’s almost like… you haven’t got very much time.’
‘Well, there’s no time like the present!’ the Doctor enthused. He really wasn’t very good at lying sometimes.
‘Doctor…’ said Rory, a cautioning note sounding in his voice. His take me seriously voice.
‘What?’ ask the Doctor.
‘What’s that high-pitched noise?’ asked Rory.
In the hologram field deep under Firmer Number Two, the Doctor looked back at the shimmering, life-sized image of his friend and shifted uncomfortably.
The noise of the focused sonic drill was steadily getting louder.
‘Hang on, Rory,’ the Doctor said. ‘Stay right there.’
He walked out of the glow of the hologram field and over to the open hatch. The noise was echoing down the corridor. The Ice Warriors were already cutting through the second of the hatches that the Doctor and his companions had locked in their path.
‘Samewell?’ he called.
The young man ran over to join him.
‘Keep watch here,’ the Doctor told him. ‘As soon as the Ice Warriors appear through that door down there, yell out so we know about it, and then lock this hatch. It’ll slow them down again.’
‘Guide is my witness, I understand,’ Samewell said.