The Coming of the Teraphiles

by Michael Moorcock

  as he could. As he'd suspected, all the passengers and several

  of the crew were assembled there.

  He removed his helmet and found Amy. She was still in

  her spacesuit. She was baffled.

  'They can't see us. What's happening, Doctor? Where are

  we? Who was that?'

  'You've met the Boys before. The Chaos Kids and Captain

  Abberley pulled us out of trouble. We're still in the Second

  Aether, running parallel to the ship's regular course but a

  scale or two over. We can't stay here much longer. Quelch

  knows about the Regulator, I'm sure. He might even have

  it. Or maybe he knows where it is and he's just biding his

  time. But we can't follow him - well have to leave it to the

  Bubbly Boys. They're after Force too. Those ships of theirs

  can morph and warp in this stuff, but we need to be back in

  the First Aether. I think we've just about survived the storm.

  Good. The kids are all right. We're there.'

  He signed to her to come with him as he made his way

  to where the captain and his officers were conferring. He

  told them quickly what had happened. 'I got us through the

  storm. We can go into Fall as soon as we're out of here. Is that

  OK with you?'

  'Fall? Are you sure we have enough thrust to pull us free

  once we're there?' The captain was studying hastily thrown

  up power screens.

  'I'm fairly sure.' The Doctor lost his balance for a moment

  and steadied himself.

  'We've leaked a lot of power, Doctor. There's colour

  dripping from half the tanks. Our protective shields are

  buzzing, which means they're working at half-power or less.

  How do I know there isn't a fleet of enemy ships back there

  just waiting to attack?'

  'Because there isn't. I have one friendly ship keeping

  an eye on us and there are some others that might not be

  particularly friendly but will probably support us because

  they don't like Frank/Freddie Force.'

  'Is that who attacked us?'

  'No. We were trapped in a space-time super storm, that's

  all. It shouldn't have caught us because it shouldn't have been

  in this region, but it did and that's all there is to it. Dark tides

  running. I told you. No other regular ship could possibly

  have survived. But this one lived up to her reputation.'

  'Can we still make it to Miggea?'

  'I hope so. Get the screens in place so we can see what's

  going on outside. As many as possible. The storm has to have

  passed us or we quite simply wouldn't be here any more.'

  'We're safe then?'

  'At least until another storm comes. We'll have to run ahead

  of that one if it finds us.'

  Amy said: 'If we're safe in the Second Aether, why can't

  we stay here?'

  'Because we're almost out of the Second Aether and we're

  not designed for it, Amy. Those Second Aether ships survive

  by constantly changing shape. Adaptation's the name of

  their game. That's the way they move. Not because they have

  enemies to deceive but because the rules of time and space

  are different here. Everything flows, remakes itself, alters its

  constituents. If, like us, it kept the same appearance the space

  would essentially harden around it, crushing it. Can't you

  hear that creaking now? They go with the flow. And look at

  those prediction charts! We're going to break apart if we stay

  in this area of space. In our own space-time we can probably

  limp on to Miggea, or another system if we have to, and get

  help there. It might be possible to put all the passengers off

  and then make a dash back to Desiree, where we could be

  decently patched up. As it is, we just about have enough

  food, fuel and equipment to make it to our destination.'

  Although the captain commanded a luxury liner now, there

  had been a time when he had been in charge of warships. He

  knew the Doctor was telling the truth.

  'So how do I do it? How do I get us out of one space-time

  continuum and into another?'

  'If you'll let me take over your controls, captain, I think I

  can do it for you.'

  'Be my guest, Doctor.'

  Either the captain trusted the Doctor implicitly or he had

  no options left. He stood back as the Doctor and his friend got

  into the high-speed elevator which would take them rapidly

  to the control deck.

  Almost everything the captain had believed was now in

  question. His first duty remained to his passengers and his

  ship. This strange man and woman in their retro costumes

  were now the only hope he had.

  Chapter 18

  Captain Cornelius, the Pirate

  'THAT'S IT, I THINK.' The Doctor leaned forward in his seat, slipping

  the sonic screwdriver back into his pocket and staring

  hopefully up at the screen. They had emerged in an area of

  space which was crowded with stars, rich with flickering

  golds and silvers, with quivering rubies and emeralds, with

  every kind of planet and satellite.

  'Looks beautiful, doesn't it? And now we've got to find

  our original sector. The storm will have passed by now. I

  love this part of space, don't you? We've shifted a fair bit

  from our original position, but at least we're almost out of

  the Second Aether.'

  'So what's happening, Doctor?' Amy was determined to

  get some answers. 'It's serious, isn't it?'

  'Oh, yes.'

  She waited, but he didn't elaborate.

  'So why is it serious, Doctor?'

  Like her, he had still not taken off his spacesuit, though

  neither now wore a helmet. He sighed, staring at the V on

  which pictures of outer space flicked and refocused.

  'You know how we - my people, that is - can - could - live

  a very long time, don't you?'

  'You sort of explained it, but I didn't really understand.

  Kind of like some reptiles or insects...?'

  In spite of the seriousness of the situation, he grinned.

  'You make parthenogenesis sound so attractive.' He touched

  a screen to bring up another sector. 'Well, that form of

  regeneration is also what the universe does. In fact it's not just

  the universe but all scales of the multiverse. Some cultures

  have observed this without fully understanding it. They

  call it the Great ReCreation, the Conjunction of the Million

  Spheres - all sorts of fanciful names. At a natural point in her

  cycle, the multiverse begins a process of recreation to make

  herself afresh. There is an exchange, of sorts. Some matter

  becomes antimatter; Law becomes Chaos - everything - well

  almost everything - is "reversed": This happens so slowly

  most sentient creatures hardly notice it. Evolution. Some

  intelligences will often work out what's happening. It's not a

  secret. It's a constant, ongoing process and it guarantees our

  existence - multiversal immortality, if you like.'

  'So, it's not exactly immortality. Not the kind where we

  remember all that we've learned or all that's happened...'

  'Right. Not that kind. Even Time Lords couldn't recall

  everything
from a former existence. I certainly can't. Anyway,

  that's the fundamentals of life and regeneration in the

  multiverse. It's a fine equilibrium, regulated by what some

  people call the Balance, a semi-abstract visualisation which

  can be said to act like the beam, fulcrum and pans on an

  ordinary pair of old-fashioned scales to maintain everything

  in equilibrium.'

  'I'm still having a hard time getting my head around it.'

  'Well, to put it as simply as I can, somehow, through

  interference by something or somebody, the process of

  regeneration has been speeded up. Speeded up so much that

  parts of the process have not had a chance to develop and

  degenerate and therefore re generate naturally. It feels as if

  the Balance has been pulled apart. Instead of expanding and

  contracting, as it should, the multiverse has gone out of kilter.

  These storms are partly the result of antimatter "infecting"

  matter. Matter is corrupting antimatter. Law is infecting

  Chaos, and Chaos is infecting Law. We need to find out why.

  And we have to restore the Balance, otherwise the entire

  cosmos will become infected until it rapidly degenerates and

  collapses into inchoate matter - nothingness. The conquest of

  Death over Life. Anything remaining sensate long enough to

  witness this process would live that moment of dying for ever!'

  She shuddered. And what would have happened to the

  rest of us before it came to that?'

  'Hard to say... With the destruction of time comes the

  collapse of space.' He was still checking the screens as he

  spoke. 'Nothing pleasant. A few hundred years at most

  in which the multiverse will witness some really horrible

  permutations!' He looked up at the screens again. 'I mean

  really horrible stuff. Mutations that would make us mad just

  by glancing at them. Chaos and Law in their extremes.' He

  checked off figures on another screen. 'I can't help thinking

  Frank/Freddie Force has something to do this. Those Law-

  birds always believe they know better than the rest of us.

  It's in their nature to impose. Chaos prefers to go with the

  flow, like Captain Abberley and the Bubbly Boys. That's

  how they travel. Frank/Freddie and his lot don't mind about

  the damage they cause in the fabric of time and space. Like

  driving a straight, flat highway through forests and hills

  and towns, careless of whatever destruction is created. They

  make holes in the multiverse. Their ships shred it. Turn it

  into scrap.'

  'So why do you think Miggea's the key?'

  'Because Miggea is the only "rogue system" that still exists

  in the multiverse. Miggea is able to move in an eccentric orbit

  which passes through all aspects of reality somehow without

  being destroyed. If, while we're in that system, we can - I

  don't know - re-adjust the cosmos, restore the Balance, then

  we stand a chance of surviving. Of everything surviving.

  That system's as far as you get until you come directly under

  the influence of the black hole.'

  'So that's why we're heading for Miggea. Using the Re-

  Enactors as a disguise!'

  'Sort of. Yes.'

  'And you sent the TARDIS off on a false trail because you're

  afraid that whatever is trying to destroy the multiverse thinks

  you can stop them.'

  'I thought it was Frank/Freddie Force, but now I'm not

  sure. He's after the same thing as I am. Or seems to be. I

  suspect others are after it, too. See, this has been going on for

  a long time. Since your time, in fact When you and I first got

  the message. Oops! Look out!'

  The huge ship was suddenly spinning while also turning

  over end on end. From somewhere came the voice of the

  captain issuing rapid instructions. Alarms began to sound. A

  fierce cacophony.

  And then it stopped.

  They were drifting in space in what was surely the same

  area they had left when the time storm struck. Except that

  there were now no streamers of dark matter threatening to

  wrap themselves around the Gargantua. They were moving

  along peacefully while the distant suns glimmered far

  away.

  Captain Snarri joined them. 'I'm not sure where you

  qualified, Doctor, but that's the finest bit of navigation I've

  ever witnessed. And with no further damage to the ship.'

  'Thanks, captain. I suppose you noticed that only a few

  of your hull plates look strong enough to sustain a long trip.

  One section has sprung completely. You'll need to get some

  repair bots outside as well as in.'

  'I'm already on it. I'm surprised there weren't more

  casualties. Our hospital was twisted, lost some plates, but

  we've done our best to patch her up.'

  Somewhere out in the shadows a darker shape moved

  gracefully, turning slowly, as if against a wind, and Amy had

  a sinking feeling deep in the pit of her stomach that she had

  seen that shape before, either in the distant past or in her

  dreams, she could not be sure which. Why she was alarmed

  she couldn't tell. But when she looked away for a moment

  and looked back the shadow was gone.

  The Doctor was busy with some calculations. More screens

  picked up interior scenes on board. The passengers were

  unwinding, obviously relieved and only just realising they

  had survived. Bots bustled everywhere on the huge liner,

  repairing what they could. Mostly they concentrated on the

  triple hull, their r-guns pulling plates together, resealing any

  cracks, aligning Vs both outside and inside, straightening

  tubes, tightening nuts.

  In a moment, carrying their suits and helmets, Mr TrYr'r

  and some of his officers joined the Doctor and Amy. They

  stowed their protective clothing and crowded around the

  Doctor asking for advice. Only then did Amy mention what

  she had seen on the screen. She pointed, but whatever was

  there had not returned. Maybe she had imagined it. After

  all that business with the Chaos Kids, she would not be

  surprised. She felt stupid when she pointed and there was

  nothing there.

  'Oh, I'm sorry,' she said. 'I must be hallucinating. I wonder

  if that's not what I'm doing all the time these days.'

  But the Doctor had learned to trust her senses, even if she

  didn't. 'What did it look like?'

  'Shadows,' she said. 'Just a lot of shadows. Probably

  nothing, just marks on the screen. Sorry.'

  'Well, let us know if you see it again,' he said. He turned

  back to the second officer. 'Where did you say that pinhole

  was?'

  Amy concentrated on the screen where she had seen the

  shadows. A glint of silver, nothing else.

  She heard the Doctor ask the captain a question and the

  captain answer: 'Never had any use for them. We had strong

  defensive screens, of course, but those generators were all

  damaged. We were sure we'd need nothing else. We're too

  big and we never carry any cargo of much value. So why do

  you ask, Doctor?'

  The Doctor scratched his unruly
head. 'Because we're

  looking vulnerable. We sustained a lot of damage in that

  storm. How many were injured? Was anyone killed?'

  One of the ship's doctors had blood on his white uniform

  coat. He was unhappy. 'I've been trying to find out. Several

  of our elderly passengers had serious heart episodes when

  we weren't there to treat them. We never expected to lose

  patients in this day and age. Quite a few resurrection caskets

  are out of commission. Most of our instruments rely on the

  power supply. When that went out, we were pretty helpless.

  I feel like a fraud, calling myself a doctor.'

  'I know what you mean.' The Doctor looked away. 'Have

  you managed a count yet?'

  'I think it's at least forty people. We've frozen them now,

  but probably too late for a few of them. The 200-year-olds

  are all right. We had some youngsters with bad injuries.

  No chance of helping them until we get back to civilisation.

  Which isn't likely to be Miggea. Ships usually wait for us or

  some other big liner to turn up and take their troubles to us.

  We're well ahead of them, certainly in technology. They're

  pretty primitive. My sister did a year there for her interstellar

  service job. She said it was like going back in time.'

  W.G. Grace came in carrying her treasured bow-case under

  her arm as if ready for a fight. The other players had laughed

  at her because throughout the entire storm she had never le

  go of it. She had speedskin over a big gash in her arm but

  she reassured everyone that no muscles needed replacing

  'Back in time?' She laughed heartily, her big beard wagging

  'That's no problem for the Terraphiles.'

  She did not know until they told her that they had lost th<

  whole of the Second Fifteen, sucked out of the ship when two

  triple-fitted plates in their quarters blew. The heroes who

  had tried to go back in to that section and save them had

  been outstanding players - Donna Bradmann, one of their

  best fielders, and Shanasakar Greeb, the Second's skunkoid

  archer. The other casualty, a Judoon, had not died like the res

  of the players but had been found in another section and was

  caught in some sort of hallucination, drinking colour from th< leaking fuel tanks, thinking it was Vortex Water. Unrefined

  colour wouldn't kill you if only a little was ingested. But this

  was powerful extra-refined super and had to be contained in

  special vats. Mr TrYr'r came up to inform them that no other