‘Who’s rocking the boat?’ she yelled.
Another door opened, and Luis Cranmer tumbled out. ‘What’s going on?’
There was a loud, mechanical screech from deep below decks that Clara guessed could only be bad news. The Alexandria gave another bone-rattling shudder and the Doctor glanced back at her, his eyes wide with fear. ‘Astronic overload,’ he shouted. ‘The ship’s tearing itself apart!’
Chapter
5
Alarm lights flashed on the Alexandria’s flight deck and a warning klaxon filled the room with noise. The Doctor crossed to a bank of controls and stopped the klaxon as Clara followed him onto the flight deck, still struggling to keep her balance. Behind her came Marco and Tanya in rapid succession. They were all demanding to know what was going on.
‘Everybody sit down and shut up,’ the Doctor said firmly.
‘What’s happening?’ asked Raymond Balfour, staggering onto the flight deck.
‘Including you,’ the Doctor said. ‘Shut up.’
‘Hey!’ Balfour stared at him. The millionaire was wearing an elaborately patterned silk dressing gown and, like the others, had clearly rushed out of his cabin at the first sign of trouble. Trugg was with him. The robot took up a huge amount of space and towered menacingly over the Doctor. ‘You can’t speak to me like that! Trugg! Tell him he can’t speak to me like that!’
‘I’m afraid he just did, sir,’ said the robot.
‘Listen, if there’s any kind of emergency then the Doctor can probably help,’ Clara said in what she hoped was a calming and reasonable tone of voice.
‘If?’ echoed Balfour as warning lights around the flight deck continued to flash.
‘What the blue blazes is going on?’ demanded Tabitha Vent as she too came in. Behind her was Luis Cranmer, looking bewildered and frightened. Within the space of a few seconds the flight deck had become crowded.
The Doctor had joined Dan Laker by the astrogation couch, where Jem 428 was twisting and turning like someone caught in a nightmare. The hologram displays fizzed and jerked in the air around her.
‘What happened?’ the Doctor asked.
‘I’ve no idea,’ Laker said, his voice shaky. ‘One minute everything was fine – then she had some sort of seizure and started talking about voices in space. Next thing the ship went haywire.’
Clara pointed at the main holoviewer. Something was glittering at its centre, sending random shards of light flickering outwards. ‘What’s that?’
‘The wormhole,’ said the Doctor.
‘We weren’t supposed to reach the transition point for another ten minutes,’ said Laker.
‘The coordinates where the Carthage disappeared were approximate,’ Marco pointed out. ‘They matched the Phaeron map location but there had to be some room for error.’
‘No one’s blaming you, Spritt,’ growled Laker. ‘I just don’t know what’s happened. Neither does Jem.’
Jem’s eyes were wide open and her breath was coming in ragged gasps. The Doctor examined her quickly, checking her pulse and the connections to her augmentation ports. Saliva was gathering at the corners of her mouth as she struggled to speak.
‘She’s fitting,’ Tanya said, moving closer.
Clara had seen a boy suffer an epileptic attack at school; she remembered only too well how helpless she had felt then, and now was no different.
Laker was ashen. ‘I’ve never seen her like this before. What should I do?’
‘Hold the ship as steady as you can,’ the Doctor told him, and the pilot nodded, backing slowly away to take the captain’s chair.
Clara glanced at the hologram viewer again and saw a shimmering nexus of energy growing larger by the second. They were hurtling towards it.
Jem reached up and grasped the Doctor’s arm, white fingers digging into the dark material of his jacket. ‘I can hear whispers in the dark, like nothing I’ve ever heard before. Warning us. Telling us not to go on…’
‘We should abort,’ Laker said.
‘No!’ Marco protested. ‘We can’t! We mustn’t! Balfour, tell him! Tell him we can’t abort!’
‘You heard what Jem said!’ Laker began to operate the flight controls manually. ‘I’m turning us around.’
‘Stay on course!’ screamed Marco.
‘It’s the imperfection,’ Jem gasped. ‘The imperfection…’
‘What’s she talking about?’ asked Clara.
‘I’ve no idea,’ the Doctor said. ‘Something imprinted in the exotic matter of the wormhole perhaps, picked up by her etheric sub-senses…’
‘I don’t understand a word you’re saying, Doctor,’ said Laker through gritted teeth.
‘It doesn’t matter,’ insisted Marco. ‘Just keep going.’
‘He’s right.’ Jem looked at Laker, imploring him. ‘Don’t stop. Think of Chasima Orion!’
Laker’s hands froze on the controls. ‘But…’
‘We can’t stop now,’ Jem said. ‘We must go on.’
As usual, Clara found herself looking to the Doctor for advice, for confirmation, for leadership. But this time his expression was unreadable, his face stony, his eyes inscrutable. ‘Doctor?’ she prompted,
‘I don’t think we have any choice,’ he replied.
The ship shook again, deep into its core, and suddenly controls panels all around the flight deck exploded in bright showers of sparks. The holoviewer was alive with an unearthly radiance. Streaks of flickering, silvery light raced out from the centre of the hologram, increasing in speed and ferocity until there was nothing but an insane, strobing pattern and at the centre of this a tiny dot of blackness appeared.
Clara watched, mesmerised, as the black dot grew into a ball of dark matter. Light swirled across the surface, which was the deepest, glossiest black she had ever seen. Everything was reflected and distorted, as if the ball was a perfect, mirrored sphere.
‘The last road of the Phaeron,’ said Jem breathlessly.
‘Why’s it round like a ball?’ asked Clara.
‘It’s not,’ said the Doctor. ‘The transition point of a wormhole is a four-dimensional object, but the screen interprets images in three dimensions – and the best it can do is a sphere.’
The ball grew larger until it filled the screen. A strange silver shape appeared at its centre; Clara wondered if it was the reflection of the Alexandria. She thought she could see colours now, swirling across the surface, as darkly iridescent as oil on water.
The Alexandria had stopped its violent shaking, but there was a deep, insistent vibration running through the vessel. Occasional groans and creaks echoed through the ship as the superstructure reacted to unusual pressures.
‘Steady as she goes, Captain Laker,’ said the Doctor.
The glimmering darkness filled the screen. Brilliantly swirling colours bled away until the flight deck was once more in shadow.
Clara reached out and grabbed the Doctor’s arm, just to make sure he was still there. The brief flashes from electrical short circuits created snapshot visions of the people around her: Jem’s white face, painfully drawn; Laker watching her anxiously; Tanya rooted to the spot, apparently out of her depth; Tibby Vent and Balfour holding on to each other for support.
A terrible scream filled the flight deck, causing everyone to flinch. Laker was out of his seat in an instant and at Jem’s side. ‘What’s wrong? What’s happening to her?’
‘She’s having another seizure,’ said Tanya.
‘She’s never screamed like that before.’
‘Well she’s screaming like that now.’
The Doctor grabbed Jem’s wrists and held them fast. Her eyes bulged and there was foam on her lips as she threw her head from side to side. The Alexandria also rocked from side to side, the engines howling.
Clara clutched the astrogation couch. ‘Is she going to be all right?’
Jem’s back arched wildly and a horrible, coughing gasp blew out of her mouth as if she was trying to clear a blockage from her throat
. Her eyes were round and protruding as she turned to look at Dan Laker. There was nothing in her eyes now but fear and pain and the ship was shaking uncontrollably.
The Doctor glanced at Laker. ‘We have to disconnect her from the ship.’
‘We can’t do that,’ said Tanya. ‘She’s flying the ship straight through a wormhole. Unhooking her now could kill her.’
‘She’s locked in some sort of telepathic fugue state and it’s tearing the ship apart!’
‘I don’t want to lose her!’ protested Laker.
‘I know it’s a risk – but what choice do we have?’
The Alexandria was shaking madly now. More warning lights flashed on every control panel and alarms sprang into life all over the flight deck.
‘For god’s sake just get her out of there, before we all die!’ yelled Marco Spritt.
‘You’ve changed your tune!’ Laker bared his teeth at him but then turned back to the Doctor and shook his head. ‘I can’t, Doctor! It’ll kill her.’
The Doctor held his gaze. ‘Marco is an unspeakable idiot but he’s got a point. If we don’t disconnect her now, the ship will be destroyed and we will all die.’
Laker looked at Jem, aghast. Her face was contorted in pain, and the entire ship was starting to groan in sympathy.
The Doctor gripped him by the arm. ‘If I take some of the telepathic strain,’ he said, ‘it might increase her chance of survival.’
‘It’s too risky, Doctor,’ Tanya said.
Clara looked hard at the Doctor. ‘Wouldn’t that be dangerous for you, too?’
‘What choice do we have?’ he replied.
The ship bucked wildly and sparks flew from several control panels. The hologram displays zigzagged insanely around the astrogation couch as a hot burning smell filled the flight deck and fresh alarms rang out.
The Doctor turned to Laker. ‘It’s now or never, Captain!’
Laker screwed his eyes shut and gave a mute nod.
The Doctor moved instantly. He placed the tips of his fingers around Jem’s face and closed his eyes. His lips moved silently and his eyebrows drew together in a knot of concentration. Suddenly Jem seemed to sag lifelessly into the couch, her arms flopping loose on either side.
‘Do it now,’ hissed the Doctor.
Tanya began to disconnect the wires connecting the astrogation couch to the sockets in Jem’s head. She moaned every time one came free, the Doctor flinching in unison. One by one the fizzing holograms winked out of existence until there were none left at all.
Then there was a sudden, unnerving movement, like a lift dropping straight down a shaft, and an intense blackness filled Clara’s vision. It felt as if her eyes had simply been switched off and for a second she panicked, thinking she’d gone blind. Then she saw the faint glow of the control consoles all the others looking around in horrified relief and knew they had experienced exactly the same sensation. Finally, the Alexandria settled and the engines stopped their screaming.
‘That’s it,’ Tanya said at last. ‘Pulse is weak and she’s barely breathing, but at least she’s alive.’
The Doctor gasped as if he was coming up for air after a long swim underwater. He looked even more gaunt than usual, with deep shadows under his eyes and creases all over his face like a crumpled paper bag.
Clara helped him up. He suddenly seemed old and frail. ‘Doctor! Are you all right?’
His normally bright eyes struggled to focus on Clara. ‘Never…felt…better…Sarah.’
‘Sarah?’
‘I mean Clara. It is Clara Oswald, isn’t it? You look terrible, by the way.’
‘Hey, you don’t look so hot yourself.’
‘I’m 2,000 years old and my brain’s just absorbed a huge dose of psychic feedback. What’s your excuse?’ The Doctor suddenly held a finger to his lips. ‘Shh! Never mind. Listen.’
‘I can’t hear anything,’ said Clara.
‘Exactly.’
An eerie silence had fallen all over the ship. Laker checked more of his controls. ‘The engines are dead. We’ve lost all motive power.’
‘Look,’ said Tibby, pointing at the holoviewer.
All the screen showed was a deep, impenetrable blackness that seemed to flood in and fill up the space around them. The only illumination came from the blinking console panels and monitors.
‘We’ve left the wormhole,’ said Laker.
Luis Cranmer was checking an instrument panel. ‘It’s gone – the wormhole has collapsed!’
They all looked at the holoviewer again and saw only darkness.
‘There’s nothing out there,’ Tibby said, her voice strangely hollow. ‘Absolutely nothing.’
‘Will someone please tell me what’s going on?’ asked Raymond Balfour.
‘We’re adrift in deep space between the galaxies,’ the Doctor said. ‘Like a mote of dust floating in the dark.’
‘Adrift is right,’ said an old, rangy man in overalls and a baseball cap who had just walked onto the flight deck. He stopped in his tracks when he realised the room was full of people and they had all turned to look at him.
‘Everyone, this is Mitch Keller, my chief engineer,’ said Laker. ‘If he’s left the engine room and come up here then things must be bad. Let’s hear it, Mitch.’
Mitch pushed the cap back on his head. ‘Well, I dunno what the hell happened just now but the hyperdrive is shot to bits. Hobbo’s doin’ her nut.’
‘What does that mean, for goodness’ sake?’ asked Marco impatiently.
‘It means no engines,’ Mitch replied. ‘We’re dead in the water.’
‘Dead in the water?’
‘It’s an old seafaring expression,’ said the Doctor calmly. ‘It means no wind in the sails; no way to move. The ship is at the mercy of the ocean.’
Balfour stepped forward. ‘Mr Keller – if you can find any way at all to get the Alexandria moving, there’ll be a substantial bonus in it for you.’
‘I guess I can save you some money, then,’ said Mitch. ‘Cos this baby’s going nowhere, no matter how much money you throw at it.’
‘But there must be something you can do!’ Marco Spritt said eventually. There was an edge of panic in his voice. ‘For all our sakes!’
Mitch gave him a sour look. ‘You think I like being stranded out here with you?’
‘Are we really stranded, Mr Keller?’ asked Tibby.
‘I’m sorry, miss,’ said Mitch. He took off his cap and held it awkwardly in both hands. ‘I don’t mean to distress you.’
‘You’re distressing us all,’ said Marco hotly. ‘Money or no money, the ship’s engines and function is your responsibility, Keller. I suggest you get on with it.’
‘All right, Spritt, that’s enough,’ snapped Laker. ‘I give the orders round here, not you.’
Marco folded his arms and looked away. Mitch glared at him for a few seconds longer and then sat down heavily in one of the seats. ‘No point in givin’ any orders if we don’t have any engines.’
‘I just don’t understand it,’ Balfour said. He looked genuinely confused. ‘I bought the best ship, the best crew, the best engineers…I don’t understand how it could go wrong.’
‘Perhaps you forgot to buy the best of luck,’ said the Doctor.
Balfour looked up sharply. ‘What do you mean by that?’
‘You can own the galaxy’s biggest fortune, but still not be fortunate.’ The Doctor thought for a moment and then, turning to Clara, said, ‘I should write that one down.’
‘You don’t seem particularly bothered that we’ve lost all engine power,’ Balfour noted.
The Doctor looked puzzled. ‘No, I’m not bothered by that. I can fix that easy-peasy.’
‘Well what are you waiting for?’ interrupted Marco. ‘Get on with it, man!’
The Doctor gave him an icy glare. He pointed at the holoviewer, which still showed nothing but a deep and unending blackness. ‘Look out there. Nothing but vacuum and dark matter in every direction. At a rough gue
ss I’d say we were halfway between Earth’s galaxy and the next. That’s about one and a quarter million light years of empty space that way – and one and a quarter million light years of empty space that way. Even if we had engine power it would take us years to get home.’
Clara swallowed. ‘You mean it’s like being stuck in a rowing boat in the middle of the ocean. With no oars.’
‘But if the engines can be fixed,’ Marco said, ‘surely we could just turn around and head back through the wormhole…’
‘The wormhole has collapsed,’ said the Doctor. ‘That’s why we’ve ended up here, in the middle of nowhere.’
Silence fell across the flight deck.
‘I’m sorry,’ said the Doctor, ‘but engines or no engines, there is no way back.’
Chapter
6
Clara took a deep breath and forced a smile onto her face. It was time for some positive thinking. ‘Right then,’ she started brightly. ‘This isn’t a problem; it’s a challenge. What do we do next?’
‘We think,’ said the Doctor. ‘Question: why did the wormhole collapse?’
Blank faces stared back at him.
‘I’m not about to deliver a punchline,’ he warned. ‘I want the answer.’
‘Jem said something about an imperfection,’ Clara said. ‘Could that be anything to do with it?’
‘You did say the wormhole was manufactured rather than natural,’ said Luis Cranmer. ‘Maybe it was just too old – imperfect.’
‘You mean the negative energy density could have dissipated over time?’
The Doctor began to stalk around the flight deck.
‘Yes, that’s possible, even likely, given the state of the exotic matter it contains, but if that was the case our entry into such a fragile wormhole would have triggered the collapse almost instantly. It brought us this far, though. Why?’
‘Maybe it had done its job?’ Clara asked.
Deep Time Page 5
