Doctor Who: Festival of Death: 50th Anniversary Edition (22 page)

Hoopy smiled, rocking on his heels. ‘You’re far out and gracious, lady.’

‘Quite.’ Romana noticed they were missing a box-shaped presence. ‘Doctor. What’s happened to K-9?’

‘Ah,’ said the Doctor, wiping his lips. ‘I’m glad you asked me that.’

‘Fifty minutes late. Fifty!’ Rochfort breathed stale wine fumes over Byson. ‘This is not good enough.’

‘Yes, sir. ERIC. Progress report?’ said Byson, his eyes locked on the controls. Above them, the two windows showed the entrance to the hyperspace tunnel snaking away, the circle of real space growing ever more distant. Spacecraft jostled for position behind them. The tunnel was barely two miles wide, with no room for ships to overtake.

>
Great news
! said ERIC jovially. >
We are now approaching the exit to the hyperspace tunnel. A few more seconds and then we’re into clear space and away
.

‘Thank the prophet for that,’ muttered Rochfort.

‘Wait a moment.’ Byson’s attention was drawn to a single warning lamp. ‘There’s some sort of malfunction. ERIC, appraisal?’

>
Sensors indicate a surge of geostatic stress
.

‘What? What does that mean?’ said Rochfort, his eyes darting left and right. Another lamp flashed, and another. Then the whole bank of warning lights lit up.

>
Anomalies reported in the dimensions of the approaching hyperspace–real-space interface. I recommend an immediate reduction in velocity
.

‘He’s right, sir,’ said Byson. The monitors all gave the same message. The computer-generated image of the tunnel exit was decreasing in radius. ‘The way out. It’s getting smaller.’

‘Don’t be ridiculous, that’s impossible.’

‘With respect, sir, it’s happening. The exit of the tunnel is closing,’
said
Byson.

>
Hey guys, I don’t want to tread on any toes here, but I strongly suggest we slow down fairly soon. This looks pretty dangerous
.

Byson reached for the deceleration control. Rochfort grabbed his wrist. ‘What are you doing, Byson?’

‘Slowing us down sir. At the rate the interface is shrinking, we won’t be able to get through.’

‘Nonsense,’ said Rochfort, his face gleaming with perspiration. ‘We can get through.’

‘What? Captain –’

Rochfort wrenched Byson’s arm back, twisting it, and knocked him out of the way.

>
I must say I think that’s rather unlikely. I calculate that the hyperspace interface will have insufficient span for egress by the time we reach it. We have got to reduce velocity now
.

‘We are not going to slow down.’ Rochfort punched the navigation controls. The engines of the
Cerberus
roared under the strain, and the control room began to shudder. ‘Full acceleration.’

‘What?’ Byson gripped the desk to stop himself from being shaken across the room. Rubbing his stinging arm, he checked the monitors. The width of the tunnel exit now barely exceeded the diameter of the
Cerberus
. ‘Captain, we can’t make it –’

>
Hey guys, listen to me! We’ve got to stop now! We’re not going to get through
!

Rochfort pulled back the energy booster lever, and the engines revved to a high-pitched whine.

>
Dimensions of hyperspace interface now insufficient for forward passage. I hate to do this, but I’m going to have to override you, it’s too dangerous
–

‘No override!’ yelled Rochfort. ‘We can make it!’

>
Please, you have to let me override, otherwise we’ll get stuck
–

‘I said no override, you cretinous computer!’

Byson stared in terror at the monitors. They were seconds away from the exit. It was only a few hundred yards across.

>
Please guys, I’m begging you, you’ve got to let me stop us
–

There was a stomach-churning grinding as the narrowing walls
of
the tunnel scraped against the outside of the
Cerberus’s
hull. And then, with a deafening crash, they hit the interface.

The passengers reeled about in confusion. Some grabbed wallrails and statues for support, whilst others careered across the floor. Chairs and tables toppled, smashing bottles and glasses. The warning siren sounded, drowning out the chaos of screams and shouts, and then the lights cut out and were replaced by emergency lamps. Everything went a satanic dark red.

Tarie had grabbed one of the window buttresses, and hugged herself to it as the
Cerberus
juddered. Across the room, she could see her mother pinned beneath a collapsed table.

She looked back through the window. More ships were pouring into the tunnel, clogging up all the available space.

She craned round further. The ship immediately behind them, the
Montressor
, was growing larger at a frightening pace. It was heading straight for them.

‘Holy grief –’

Hann threw aside his paperback and pulled his boots off the dashboard. The leisure cruiser had been suddenly brought to a standstill, and they were rushing towards it. ‘They’ve stopped. What are they playing at?’

His cigarette clenched between his teeth, Skinner jammed on all the reverse thrusters, and yanked the joystick as far back as it would go. The engines screeched in protest, and jets of smoke billowed out of the ship’s ventilation slits.

Hann gripped the edges of his seat as the
Montressor
pitched upwards. Ahead of them, the cruiser was so close they could make out the faces of the individual passengers gaping in horror at the approaching ship. A young girl in a blue dress.

At the last possible second, the passengers dropped out of sight as the
Montressor
finally pulled itself into a steep ascent. The rest of the cruiser rapidly disappeared, and they soared into the narrow gap on the edge of the tunnel wall.

Skinner relaxed his grip on the joystick as he brought the
Montressor
to a halt a short distance from the cruiser. ‘I think we’re going to be all right –’

Something slammed violently into the back of their ship, flinging Skinner into the viewscreen and killing him instantly. Hann had the impression of an immense, splintering, crashing noise, and then it all went blank.

‘And then they threw K-9 into the hyperspace–real-space interface,’ said the Doctor, by way of a conclusion. ‘I’m sorry.’

He had recounted everything that had happened after they had got separated on the way to the Great Hall; his capture, the tourists being turned into zombies, and Hoopy’s subsequent revival. Romana had listened intently, whilst Hoopy sat perched on a nearby coffin, bored.

‘Poor K-9,’ said Romana. ‘I can’t quite take it in.’

‘I know.’ The Doctor looked as though he was going to give her a hug, but then thought better of it. ‘So tell me, what happened to you?’

Romana turned her back on Hoopy, who was gazing idly around the Great Hall. ‘I got caught up in the crowds, and after the power cut I ended up in the observation lounge.’

‘I don’t think I’ve been there yet,’ said the Doctor. ‘Go on.’

‘Well, that’s the strange part. Because you were there.’

‘I was?’ The Doctor was bemused.

‘Yes, and so was the TARDIS. You muttered something about how I’d been right about something, then said you were in a hurry and dematerialised.’

‘How very odd. Not like me at all. In fact, I’d like to say it wasn’t me, but what with recent events, I really can’t be too sure.’

‘Precisely. But then I met Evadne, and she claimed to have already spoken to me. She said something about us working for Intergalactic Espionage.’

‘Intergalactic Espionage!’ hissed the Doctor.

‘You’ve heard of them?’

‘No.’

‘The point is, the fact that she knew me means we have to go back in time, and visit the G-Lock again, for her to have met me.’

‘Did you hear Metcalf’s announcement about how I was to be captured?’

‘Yes, something about sabotage and an insubordinate manner.’

‘Insubordinate?’ At first the Doctor seemed offended, but then decided to take it as a compliment. ‘Yes, I suppose I am. But the point is, I’d never even met the fellow. So whatever it is I’m supposed to have done, I haven’t done it yet.’

‘So, as I said, we have to go back in time again,’ said Romana. She walked away from the necroport. The Doctor strode after her, and stood beside her, also facing the main doors.

‘And we still haven’t found out what we’re up against, or what this Repulsion thing is trying to do. Or what slyboots Paddox is trying to do. Or how I’m supposed to save the day, for that matter.’

‘So we have to go back again,’ said Romana.

‘Romana?’

‘Yes?’

‘I think we have to go back in time again.’

Romana trailed her hand over a nearby coffin. It was cold to the touch. ‘Which is why I saw you leave in the TARDIS. There’s been two of you running around the G-Lock at the same time.’

‘Two of me?’ The Doctor ruffled his hair. ‘A future me and a present me? Aha! Until such time as I become the future me, when the present me will become the past me and the future me will become the present me. D’you see?’

‘Naturally. Which also explains why there’s one of you here, and one of you down there.’ She turned and pointed to the necroport.

‘Yes,’ said the Doctor. ‘Ah. You said the TARDIS was down there as well?’

‘Of course, that’s it!’ Romana turned back to the Doctor, making a fist. ‘You must have travelled there from the observation lounge. Or, at least, you will do. That’s where you were going! It all fits.’

‘Ah yes, I must remember to do that,’ said the Doctor, with little
enthusiasm
. ‘Romana?’

‘Yes?’

‘There’s something you’re missing.’

‘What’s that?’

‘We know what happens to me. We know what has happened to K-9. But what about you?’

‘Me?’ Romana pretended not to understand what he meant.

‘I’m sure you’ll be all right, Romana,’ said the Doctor, but his eyes betrayed his worries.

‘And I’m sure you’ll be all right, too,’ Romana said, putting on a weak smile. ‘You know what they say. “However many ways there may be of being alive, it is certain there are vastly more ways of being dead.”’

The Doctor frowned. ‘No, I don’t. Who said that?’

‘Oh, no one you’d know.’

They stood in silence for several minutes. Romana glanced back towards the necroport. Where Hoopy had been sitting, there was now just an empty coffin. ‘Doctor. Where’s Hoopy gone?’

The Doctor whirled round. ‘What?’

Romana spotted a movement near the necroport. A short orange figure wearing a kaftan was standing next to the open entrance hatch. ‘Hoopy!’

Hoopy turned towards her and did a double-take, his mouth gaping. He took off his sunglasses and blinked. ‘Romana? But how…’ he slurred, taken aback. He took a few uncertain steps, his eyes rolling. ‘I think… I think I’m having some sort of Glycerat flashback –’

All of a sudden, there was an earsplitting explosion and the necroport was consumed in billowing flames.

The blast threatened to hurl Romana off her feet, and she braced herself against a nearby coffin, recoiling at the extreme heat. The Doctor covered his face with one arm, the rush of air whipping at his coat.

‘Doctor!’ exclaimed Romana. ‘Hoopy…’

Hoopy had been knocked to the ground near the necroport, his
clothes
smouldering, his skin blistered. He howled, rolling in pain.

‘Aah! I am alight! I am chargrilled! I am a sizzled freakster!’

The Doctor dived forward, his scarf over his mouth, fanning away the smog with his hat. Romana watched as he disappeared into the thickening smoke and then emerged, hat on head, Hoopy cradled in his arms.

The lizard looked dazed but grateful. ‘You saved me, Doctor. You saved my bacon from getting fried. You are the cattermost in the hattermost.’ His head lolled back as he lost consciousness. The Doctor heaved Hoopy into a better position, and headed for the main doors.

‘Doctor,’ said Romana, aghast. ‘What about Evadne and Harken? They’re still down there.’

‘It’s no good,’ said the Doctor. ‘There’s nothing we can do for them now.’

‘But we know they have to survive –’

The Doctor raised his voice. ‘This is the start of a chain reaction. In a few seconds this whole place will go up. We have to get out of here.’ Romana took one last look at the necroport. The Doctor was right; the blaze was sweeping through the power cables, shorting the electronics and creating crackles of sparks. The fire reached one of the coffins and it erupted into a fireball of terrifying intensity.

‘Romana, come on!’

A massive rumbling filled her ears. The whole hall shook, nearly knocking her to the floor. Huge cracks ran up the walls, blocks of masonry tumbling from the columns and ceiling.

Shielding herself from the falling dust, Romana followed the Doctor out of the Great Hall.

Two hundred years previously, the hyperspace tunnel was in chaos. At one end of the tunnel was the
Cerberus
, its prow caught in the collapsed interface, its engines still releasing occasional spurts of flame. Its stern had suffered repeated collisions and was now buried under a mass of crashed ships, all crammed together. Behind it, more spacecraft were still streaming into the tunnel, only to be brought
to
a rapid halt when the way ahead was blocked. Some attempted to reverse out, but the influx of new ships was too overwhelming. Within minutes every ship was snarled into the one in front, all gridlocked together, unable to escape.

Byson picked himself up, his bruises aching. He staggered across the control room, the floor rocking beneath him. ‘Captain Rochfort?’

Some of the control panels were smoking, and the whole bank of warning lights flashed on and off in unison. The forward monitors showed static. The aft screens showed the extent of the traffic jam: hundreds of ships, all hanging motionless in hyperspace.

Rochfort hadn’t moved from the control desk. ‘You all right, Byson?’

‘I think so, sir, thank you for asking,’ said Byson. ‘We didn’t make it, sir.’

‘I do realise that,’ snapped Rochfort. ‘Damn thing wasn’t quick enough.’