Her worst fears were confirmed when they reached the circular chamber. It seemed like hours since she had slipped away to find Ace, but nothing had changed much.
Francis and Elaine were still huddled together. Both looked exhausted and ill. The blond bimbo, Britta, still seemed to be excited; her glittering blue eyes, Bernice thought, hinted at a sort of insanity. But not as loopy as the Lacuna woman, of course, who was standing in the shadows and favouring everyone in turn with her intense glare. Daak was unusually restrained, standing behind Ace with a hand on her shoulder and a puzzled frown on his face. And Ace was – expressionless. She’d greeted the Doctor with a grin and a thumbs-up. He’d smiled and nodded. Bernice had found herself resenting their casual familiarity.
She suppressed her anger, and concentrated on looking after Isabelle Defries. The OEO Agent had obviously been in continuous pain by the end of their long, slow hike, and Bernice was able to boost the feed of chemicals provided by Defries’s combat suit. Defries had made it clear that she hadn’t abandoned her intention to destroy the heart of the Spinward Corporation, even at the sacrifice of her own life, and Bernice stayed alongside her at least partly to prevent her doing something rash.
Bernice soon realized that the Doctor had, in her absence, come to some kind of agreement with Lacuna. The Doctor was striding round the centre of the room and giving a lecture, tripping over his words in his excitement as he expounded on the wonders of organic computers, the scale of Pool’s achievement, the potential capabilities of Pool’s data processing.
‘A ten followed by fourteen noughts,’ the Doctor said, ‘that’s the number of synapses in an individual human brain. Now try to imagine a ten followed, by thirty noughts. Can’t you see the difference? It’s not just a matter of quantity; the very nature of intelligence alters.’
‘But, Doctor,’ Ace interrupted, ‘this Pool thing’s completely hatstand, isn’t it?’
‘I beg your pardon? Hatstand?’ The Doctor clutched his own hat protectively.
‘Bonkers. Barmy. Out of its tree. Round the bend, out to lunch. You know.’
‘Well,’ the Doctor’s brow furrowed, ‘let’s just say that Pool is a little out of touch. There’s been long term sensory deprivation, so it’s not surprising. Symptoms that in a human might be termed neurosis and paranoia. There are hints of a multiple personality syndrome.’
Multiple personality, Bernice thought, you bet it’s got a multiple personality. It’s made of people’s brains. Has the Doctor forgotten? Or does he really not understand?
‘But,’ the Doctor went on, ‘I’m sure I can be of help.’ He turned to Lacuna. ‘Pool needs to get out more,’ he said, trying hard to slow his speech so that Lacuna would grasp his meaning. ‘Fresh air. Exercise. Travel. Meeting people.’
Lacuna’s lips curled into a sneering smile.
‘Listen to me,’ the Doctor pleaded. ‘I’m not being facetious. Well, not entirely. Pool has been too isolated. His development has become unbalanced. He needs contact, with other minds. I’m sure his fears about being discovered are unfounded. Earth won’t necessarily be hostile.’
Bernice glanced at Defries. Oh yes Earth will, she thought.
The Doctor had stopped pacing and stood looking up at Lacuna. ‘Please,’ he said. ‘Extend the link. Let Pool enter a few other minds, allow him to see through other eyes.’
‘Enough!’ Lacuna cut him off. ‘You pretend to offer assistance but you urge surrender. Your advice entails the abandonment of our entire project. Pool has an inkling of the great learning locked in your head, Time Lord. We suspect that your recommendations have little to do with Pool’s well-being, and much, to do with preserving the secrets of your people.’
‘Not at all!’ the Doctor protested, but Bernice didn’t think he sounded convincing. ‘I’m only trying to help.’
‘Thank you, Doctor,’ Lacuna said with exaggerated politeness, ‘but we don’t need your nostrums. There’s nothing wrong with Pool that can’t be cured with more processing power and more data.’ She turned, and a circle of light illuminated the TARDIS, standing isolated near the edge of the chamber. ‘We don’t need you, Doctor. We need only your blue box. You will provide access to it – now.’
‘No!’ The word sprang soundlessly to Ace’s lips, Bernice saw, and to her own. The Doctor’s protest echoed round the room. ‘Turn the TARDIS over to a paranoid, neurotic megalomaniac? Never.’
‘You have no choice!’ Lacuna was enraged. ‘You are all prisoners. You have no power here. Pool cannot touch you, Doctor. You are maintaining your mental defences well. But your friends... All your friends, are within reach.’
It all happened suddenly.
Daak jumped back with an oath as Ace was surrounded by a shimmering aura. Enveloped in a curtain of golden gauze, Ace put her hand to her throat, and then clamped it over her mouth and nose. Her eyes were wide.
‘Her brain will become part of Pool,’ Lacuna said. ‘Or will you cooperate, Doctor?’
Bernice heard the Doctor’s voice saying ‘All right. You win.’ But the Dalek Killer was throwing himself at the golden cloud. And Ace had dropped to one knee, raised her arm, pulled back her sleeve and launched a sliver of a projectile from a harness strapped against her skin.
‘Ace! No!’ But the Doctor’s shout was too late. The golden glow faded as Daak stumbled through it, almost falling over Ace but staggering on, suddenly aware of the circling dart, trying to swat it with his fists as it closed in...
Bernice ducked her head. The explosion hurt her ears and flooded her closed eyes with red light.
When she looked up, Daak’s headless body was still stumbling forward, collapsing slowly and then crashing to the floor like a felled tree.
Ace was the first to move. She got to her feet and stood over the Dalek Killer’s body. She put her forearm across her eyes. Bernice could see her lips moving. Then she looked up. ‘Sorry, Doc. Accident.’
‘I know,’ the Doctor said quietly. ‘What a waste.’
‘I disagree,’ Lacuna said. ‘Pool did not require the material. The brain was not remarkable.’
‘Not remarkable?’ Ace’s missile launcher was aimed at Lacuna. ‘Listen, freak, that DK had more bottle than Express Dairies and if you – ‘ Ace stopped and lowered her arm. ‘Still, no point in banging on about it. You haven’t won yet.’
‘I think we have,’ Lacuna said. ‘I’m sure the Doctor is now prepared to let Pool occupy his blue box – aren’t you, Doctor?’
The Doctor looked horrified. ‘But I thought Pool wanted to investigate – you know; just a look round, Uncover all my so-called secrets and then – I didn’t think... Occupy? You mean, permanently?’
‘But of course, Doctor. The images in your friends’ minds make it clear that your TARDIS is very large. Not infinite, but big enough for Pool, we are sure. Your TARDIS will become our universe of pure thought.’
The Doctor lowered his head slowly until his chin was resting on his chest.
‘Doctor,’ Bernice said. ‘Doctor, you can’t...’
The Doctor looked up. Bernice had never seen such sadness in his eyes – in anyone’s eyes. ‘I have no choice, Professor.’
‘We’re just five people,’ Bernice said. ‘Pool can kill us, one by one or all together. But you don’t have to give in. Pool can’t touch you. Get in the TARDIS now, and go.’
‘That goes for me too,’ Ace said. ‘Get going.’
The Doctor shook his head. ‘It’s not just you,’ the Doctor said. ‘In the absence of access to the TARDIS, Pool will destroy the entire. Arcadia system. It will be a completely futile waste of energy and human lives, because the calculations are already going awry, but Pool will do it anyway. So I really have no choice.’
The Doctor turned towards the TARDIS. Ace stepped in front of him, blocking his path.
‘Ace?’ he said.
‘You can’t let this happen. It can’t end like this – you and the TARDIS, fighting the monsters, putting two fingers up to the M
aster. It can’t all end like this.’
‘It has to end some time, Ace. Nothing lasts for ever, even for a Time Lord.’ A brief, rueful smile touched his lips. ‘And Professor Summerfield would never forgive me if I permitted the destruction of yet another inhabited star system.’
‘It’s only a few million people, Doctor.’ Ace was being deliberately brutal. ‘With the power of the TARDIS, this brain soup character will be able to screw up the whole universe. It’s worth the sacrifice.’
The Doctor looked at his shoes. His voice was so low that Bernice could hardly hear him. ‘I know, Ace. I know. But I already have too much blood on my hands. I’m going to end it now.’
He waited until Ace shrugged and stepped aside, and then he walked steadily to the TARDIS drawing in his wake Lacuna, Britta, Ace, Francis, Elaine, Defries and Bernice. He stood in front of the door, staring at the peeling blue paint as if trying to imprint every detail on his memory.
What happens to a Time Lord who loses his TARDIS, Bernice wondered. The Doctor had covered his face with his hands. His shoulders were shaking, Bernice couldn’t imagine the messages that might be passing between the Doctor and his time machine. His ship. His old friend. She felt tears sting her eyes. Her fingernails sank into her palms.
The Doctor sniffed, blew his nose on his handkerchief, and straightened his shoulders. He unlocked the door, pushed it open, and stood aside. Lacuna almost leapt through the doorway, and disappeared into the interior.
Several seconds passed.
Lacuna appeared in the doorway, swaying. Her face was even more pale than usual, and her wild eyes were darting, back and forth.
She staggered out of the TARDIS and gasped. ‘The Net,’ she breathed. ‘Ah, that’s better. I am with Pool again. I should have realized that the connection would be severed. Did you think you might trap me in your machine, Doctor?’
‘No,’ the Doctor said. ‘To tell the truth, I hadn’t thought of it myself.’
‘I’ve seen enough to know that the place will be perfect for Pool. So much space. So much capacity. Such a wealth of data to absorb. Such power to process it, Your machine will double Pool’s abilities.’
‘Double?’ The Doctor looked offended. ‘Madam, my TARDIS may only be a type 40, but you–’
‘Silence, Doctor. All this remains theoretical. Pool cannot yet gain access to your machine. Its energy fields separate me from Pool as soon as I enter it.’
‘Oh dear,’ the Doctor said. ‘What a pity. Well, never mind. It was an interesting idea, but I never did think it would work.’
Bernice averted her eyes. She’d suddenly found herself staring at his hands, which were clenched together behind his back. The fingers of one hand were tapping frenziedly against the palm of the other, as if all the excitement in his body had to be expressed through the movements of one set of digits.
Glory be, Bernice thought. He’s up to something. He’s been bluffing all along.
She forced herself to stop thinking. Pool could read her thoughts. She concentrated on chess, remembering the moves of the last game, filling her mind with opening gambits and defences.
‘The problem isn’t insuperable, Doctor,’ Lacuna said. ‘Although I ceased to need the physical link some years ago, I still have the ability to use it.’ She stroked the cylindrical implant in the top of her head. ‘Britta, my dear. Fetch the link. Pool will be with me next time I enter this wonderful TARDIS.’
The chess game dissolved, Bernice’s mind was suddenly filled with a vivid memory: she was almost reliving the moment when she and the Doctor had been discussing the difficulty of tampering with the TARDIS. ‘Of course,’ the Doctor had said, and the memory of his voice was so real that she almost heard the words in her ears, ‘if anyone wanted to infiltrate the TARDIS with any kind of intelligence, from a virus to an entire computer, they’d only have to plug a cable into the socket under the console. The information would be downloaded in a trice. And nothing I could do would stop it.’
The memory faded, and panic struck. What have I done? Bernice thought. Pool can read my mind. I’ve just told it how to get into the TARDIS. Doctor, don’t just stand there smiling like an idiot.
Britta approached, bearing the link: a silver lance on the end of a thick bundle of cables. Lacuna took it, held it above her head, and started to slide it into the implant.
She stopped.
‘Pool has suggested another way,’ she said. ‘Everything that is Pool can be converted into electronic code. The code can be transmitted along the cable – and directly into your machine, Doctor.’
‘No!’ the Doctor said, and at the same time Bernice was trying to remember exactly when she had had the conversation that she had just remembered so clearly.
The Doctor had never spoken to her about sockets under the console. She was sure of it. The conversation had never taken place. And his last protest had sounded more than a little theatrical.
‘There are no input locations for cables,’ the Doctor shouted, as Lacuna dragged the link through the TARDIS door.
‘I’m sure I can find a suitable connection point,’ Lacuna’s voice replied from inside the TARDIS. ‘Beneath this hexagonal structure, for instance?’
‘Certainly not!’ the Doctor shouted, trying to keep out of his voice the amusement that was spread across his face.
Bernice exchanged a puzzled glance with Ace.
There was a laugh from within the TARDIS, and a scrabbling noise. Then silence.
A long silence.
A growing silence.
Bernice. craned her neck, trying to catch the barely-audible echoes before they faded. Everything was becoming quieter.
There had been, for a long time, a buzzing in her head, she realized, like hundreds of whispering voices. It was disappearing. It had gone.
The space station, like every space station she’d ever been on, had had its own almost imperceptible vibration and hum. They had ceased. The lights were fading – the lights had all gone out. The only illumination was the oblong of light that spilled from the open doorway of the TARDIS.
And then, just as the silence became absolute, and Bernice could hear nothing but the beating of her. own pulse, other noises started. Distant creaks and groans echoed eerily along dark corridors and seemed to expand into the circular chamber. Bernice heard a far-off crash and, a little later, the shriek of tearing metal. The floor shuddered.
Lacuna appeared, a tall silhouette in the TARDIS’s doorway. Her arms were raised, her head was held at a strange angle, her body was rigid but trembling. Her mouth opened and closed several times before words emerged.
‘What have you done?’ Her voice was slow and flat. ‘Where is Pool?’
The Doctor threw back his head. Bernice heard his huge sigh of relief.
‘What could I have done?’ he said, casually, ‘Pool is inside the TARDIS. Perhaps –’ He hesitated, and continued in a vitriolic tone. ‘Perhaps Pool doesn’t need you any longer.’
The gaunt figure reeled, clutching at the doorframe for support. ‘No!’ she screamed, and lurched from the TARDIS, wailing.
Britta ran forward and caught Lacuna in her arms. The tall woman struggled and continued to call out, until Britta stood back and administered a stinging slap to her face.
The hysterical shrieks subsided into sobs, and Britta put her arm around Lacuna, comforting her and leading her slowly towards one of the doors in the perimeter of the chamber.
‘Britta,’ the Doctor said softly, and the girl looked over her shoulder. ‘Can you find a secure area of the station that is part of the original structure? A part with a self-contained energy supply and life support system?’
‘I know just the place, Doctor. Down below. The old solar energy unit. I’ve been planning for this, too, over the last few days. I just never thought it would happen. Thank you.’ Britta turned away and continued her slow progress across the chamber, murmuring encouragement to the bowed figure in her embrace.
Better not to interfe
re, Bernice thought. Everyone has her own definition of contentment. I wouldn’t want to be either of those women. But perhaps they’ll come to some sort of understanding. She watched them disappear into one of the corridors that radiated from the chamber.
Swirls of dust swept across the floor. The whistling of winds mingled with the hiss and rush, of escaping air. Cracks appeared in the wall of the chamber. Pools of viscous liquid started to spread across the floor. The gusts of air carried a stench of decay. The lumps of stonework that had remained standing now crumbled. Parts of the ceiling collapsed.
‘Well,’ the Doctor said brightly, ‘all into the TARDIS, I think.’ He seemed very pleased with himself.
One after another, the Doctor, Ace, Francis, Elaine, Defries and Bernice stepped over the thick cable and into the TARDIS.
The lights were as bright as usual. There was the customary hum. Everything was back to normal. Bernice noted that the door into the interior had been restored. She had never seen the time machine looking so ordinary.
‘Excuse me, Doctor,’ she said. ‘I’m sure I’ve missed a crucial piece of information, but my understanding is that the TARDIS has been infiltrated and taken over by Pool.’
The Doctor gave her one of his innocent, enigmatic, infuriating smiles. He yanked the cable from the socket under the console, threw it out of the TARDIS and closed the door. ‘Pool’s used to sensory deprivation,’ he said. ‘It probably hasn’t realized yet that anything’s wrong.’
Ace looked up from her perusal of the controls. ‘The Zero Room,’ she said. ‘You’ve routed the link straight through to the Tertiary Controls in the Zero Room, haven’t you?’
The Doctor sniffed. ‘Well, thank you, Ace. I had hoped to build up a little more dramatic tension before revealing the details of this particular sleight of hand, but yes. That’s it. Precisely. And I’ve disabled the Tertiary Controls, of course. All the circuits are completely scrambled. A pity. I’ll eject the Zero Room into the Vortex as soon as we dematerialize.’
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