by Nick Walters
The Doctor looked away from her, hiding his feelings again.
‘This planet was a closed system, Peri. Stagnant for thousands of years. It was going nowhere. An evolutionary dead end. Even the beings it was created for were long gone.
Peri stared at the Doctor. Right now he seemed so alien, so cold. ‘But it was - it was so beautiful! And it wasn’t doing anyone any harm.’
‘I know, Peri. I know,’ said the Doctor gently. He sighed.
‘Even taking the long view doesn’t make things any better.’
He bent down and picked up a handful of ash. He opened his fingers and let the wind take the grey-white flakes.
Peri watched them flutter into the blank sky.
‘So much death, so much destruction. So... So pointless.’
She could hear the pain in his voice, see it in his face, however much he tried to hide it. Then he turned to her. ‘In the TARDIS you said you’d had enough,’ he said. ‘You wanted me to take you home.’ The brim of his hat hid his eyes from view.
‘So, shall we go?’
Without waiting for an answer he took out the TARDIS key and put it in the lock.
‘Wait!’ Peri touched his arm. ‘I don’t wanna go home... I was just angry.’
He turned round again. He was looking at her with an intensity that unsettled her, and Peri glimpsed a deep sadness within him that made her feel as if her insides were weeping.
‘Are you still angry?’
Peri shook her head.
‘Well, you sound and look very angry to me.’
Now he sounded like a little boy. A stray flake of ash settled on his nose and she reached up to brush it off.
‘I’m not angry, Doctor - not with you.’
He smiled, but uncertainty remained in his eyes. ‘You still want to stay with me?’
Somehow Peri knew that there was a whole lot riding on her answer. For the first time she wondered how many others had travelled with the Doctor. How many had left him, scarred by the things they had been through. How many - and this hit her with a cold shock - had died...
Maybe she would ask him. But then again, maybe she wouldn’t.
She smiled up at the Doctor and said, ‘Yeah. I’ll stay. The TARDIS is my home now - just don’t try to lose it again.’
The Doctor smiled, his relief abundantly evident. ‘I’ll do my best,’ he said, putting his arm around her shoulders. ‘Come on. Let’s go somewhere... uneventful.’
Peri smiled up at him. ‘That’ll be the day.’
Arm in arm, the two friends went into the TARDIS.
Moments later, the blue box excused itself from reality, leaving behind a square depression in the ash. A few more moments later even this was gone, its shape blown into obscurity by the sighing wind.
Acknowledgements
Writing is a lonely process - it is only when the book is out there being read that you reap the rewards of knowing that people are being entertained (hopefully) by your work. Proof of pudding in eating, and all that. But along the way, during the months of dreaming, planning, research, plotting, panicking and writing, there are people who help make it less lonely.
These are they:
Paul Vearncombe and Paul Leonard, whose insights made this a better book than it would otherwise have been, and whose friendship I truly appreciate.
Justin Richards, helmsman of literary Who, for guidance and encouragement, and for liking the book more than I dared expect.
Bristol Fiction Writers - Paul Leonard again, Christina Lake, Mark Leyland, Simon Lake, Mark O’sullivan, and - sometimes
- Jim Mortimore, for support and encouragement.
Bristol SF Group - far too many to list, but a special mention must go to Ken Shinn, Dr Who fan extraordinaire and dead ringer for Fitz, for voting me top Who writer of the year (bribery always works!) and for being there every Thursday night, even when I couldn’t make it.
All my friends and family.
And hello to everyone I met at Gallifrey One in LA this February, my fellow writers and. Doctor Who auteurs, and the fans, who were wonderful. Got a feelin’ I’ll be ‘going west’
again...
About the Author
Nick Walters lives in Totterdown, Bristol - location of the steepest street in Europe, fact fans. (Curiously, it’s called Vale street...) Thankfully for cyclist Nick, he doesn’t live on this street, though he has walked up and down it in wonder a few times. Superior Beings is his third Doctor Who book for the BBC. He has also written a New Adventure for Virgin (with Paul Leonard), plus many short stories, a few of which have found their way into various compilations.
Document Outline
Front Cover
Back Cover
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Chapter Seventeen
Chapter Eighteen
Chapter Nineteen
Chapter Twenty
Chapter Twenty-One
Chapter Twenty-Two
Chapter Twenty-Three
Chapter Twenty-Four
Chapter Twenty-Five
Chapter Twenty-Six
Acknowledgements
About the Author