‘Yeah,’ said Hobbo, who had ventured onto the flight deck for the first time to see what was going on. ‘Somethin’ that makes a joke out of time and space would be good.’
‘Mockery was the word I used,’ said the Doctor without taking his eyes off the planet. ‘But you can forget about my TARDIS. You don’t need it. We can get there in the Alexandria. All you have to do is run the secondary power elements through the hyperspace field coils and fire the engines up.’
‘What?’ said Mitch.
The Doctor looked at them as if the answer was obvious. ‘Don’t tell me you hadn’t thought of that?’
—
‘It’s stupid,’ declared Hobbo. She folded her arms and scowled to show how certain she was. ‘Impossible.’
‘Trust me,’ said the Doctor, ‘it’ll work.’
Mitch and Hobbo exchanged a look. They were standing in the engine room with the Doctor. He’d come down and scanned the generator units with some kind of portable diagnostic tool he kept in his jacket pocket. Its green light had played over the ion drive for a few seconds and the Doctor seemed happy with the result.
‘Your basic problem is a loss of drive power,’ he explained. ‘The hyperdrive generators will still function if they can be activated. Use the secondary ion drive elements.’
‘Can’t be done,’ Hobbo said. ‘Besides, I can’t find my ion bonder. It’s disappeared from my toolbox.’
‘You don’t need an ion bonder,’ Mitch said. ‘You can do it manually. It would be messy, but I think the Doc may have a point, Hobbo.’
She looked at Mitch as if he was mad. ‘Messy? I don’t mind messy. But this…well if it worked it would be…it would be…’
‘A miracle?’
‘Here,’ said the Doctor. He tossed the tool over to Hobbo and she caught it. ‘Sonic screwdriver. Try setting gamma alpha two pi and then restart the generators.’
Hobbo examined the screwdriver. It was heavy, with some sort of transceiver filament set into steel claws with a copper and ivory handle. She’d never seen anything like it before. She spun it in the air and caught it again. She shrugged. ‘Give us an hour,’ she said, and headed aft towards the hyperdrive generators.
‘Can she do it?’ the Doctor asked Mitch.
The old man laughed. ‘In her sleep. Most of what I’ve got up here –’ he tapped his head – ‘is obsolete. Hobbo’s the future.’
‘They say old space engineers don’t retire…’
‘…they just break down.’ Mitch shrugged. ‘Maybe so. I only came on this trip as a favour to Dan Laker. I was his engineer when he was a young, hotshot pilot in the Space Service.’
‘And Hobbo?’
‘Found her in the Vandelisco shipyards. She was just a station rat but she knew how to field strip an ion engine by the time she was 10. Self-taught. A natural. The authorities were gonna augment her an’ plug her into the service program so I took her with me instead.’ Mitch gave a sniff. ‘Never had much time for the authorities.’
‘Me neither,’ said the Doctor.
—
‘I don’t like the look of that planet,’ Marco said to Tanya Flexx.
They were standing by the main flight deck hologram, close enough to touch it if they could. In fact, Marco had reached out towards the tiny grey world as it revolved slowly in the air. It looked like a ball of coal floating in pool of ink. His fingers met the surface of the image and then passed through, as if there was nothing there.
Tanya shivered. ‘It looks so cold and dark.’
‘I doubt it will be a very hospitable,’ agreed Cranmer. He was checking the data display on a handheld computer. ‘I’ve downloaded the initial long-range scans from the Alexandria. The planet is small but dense, which means it will have sufficient gravity and possibly an atmosphere. But the air will most likely be poisonous. I’m getting ammonium hydrosulphide, water ice, methane ice…The surface will also be subjected to a dangerous amount of electron bombardment and radiation from the neutron star.’
‘We’d be jumping straight from the frying pan into the fire, then,’ said Tanya.
‘But the Doctor said we’d come out of the wormhole for a reason,’ Tibby argued. ‘That planet must be significant. It’s the only other thing around here apart from us.’
‘The Doctor said…’ echoed Marco scornfully. ‘I don’t put as much store in what the Doctor says as you seem to. And I don’t think Cranmer does either.’
Cranmer scratched at his beard. ‘There is no real evidence to support anything the Doctor has said so far.’
Tibby gave an exasperated sigh. ‘But if there is a chance, any chance at all, of finding a clue to what happened to the Phaeron on that planet…then we should at least investigate it. We’ve come all this way…It would seem pointless to turn back now.’
Marco’s lips pressed into a thin line. He wasn’t happy. ‘Well, if that’s what you think, Professor…I’ll go along with that. But I still don’t trust the Doctor.’
‘What do you mean?’ Cranmer asked.
‘He’s keeping something from us. He knows more than he’s letting on.’
‘You’re imagining it,’ said Tibby.
‘Am I? Then why didn’t he tell them how to fix the engines earlier? Come to think of it, how did he know there would be a planet out here?’ Marco looked across the flight deck to where the Doctor had just returned from the engine room. He was talking to his pretty young friend. ‘They’re up to something, I tell you. They’ve got their own plans – and they’re nothing to do with us.’
—
‘Something’s up with Jem,’ Clara told the Doctor when he returned to the flight deck.
The Doctor went straight to the astrogation couch, where Jem was lying back in her seat, her eyes closed and breathing shallow. Laker was examining the couch instruments with a worried frown while Tanya looked over Jem.
‘I think she’s slipping into a coma,’ said Tanya.
The Doctor quickly examined Jem’s head. ‘Overload in the primary neural implant.’ He sounded angry. ‘What is it with you people? Always tinkering and fiddling with what nature gave you. If it’s not safety pins through your noses or studs in your tongues it’s cranial implants and cerebral hardwiring! Why do this kind of thing to each other?’
‘We need to remove the implant,’ Laker said. He fished in a drawer on the astrogation console and took out a slim metal box. Inside was a small array of metal rods. It looked to Clara like a cross between a set of surgical instruments and a tool box. He paused for a second and then handed it to Tanya Flexx.
‘The augmentation sockets in Jem’s skull interface with a superconductor matrix imprinted on the brain,’ the Doctor explained to Clara. ‘It should be possible to remove a socket without damaging the matrix.’
‘Right,’ said Clara, feeling none the wiser.
‘Listen, Jem,’ said Tanya softly. ‘We’re going to have to take out your primary neural implant, OK?’
She nodded once but her eyes stayed shut. She was clearly in pain.
‘I’ll be as quick as I can,’ Tanya said. She looked at the Doctor and Laker. ‘Can you hold her?’
The Doctor placed his hands on either side of Jem’s head to keep it still. Laker moved into a better position and held her shoulders. Using a tool from the box Tanya set to work. She appeared to be an expert. Clara estimated that it took barely a minute to unlatch whatever held the implant in place and slowly remove it. It looked like a small metal cylinder which extended a centimetre or so into Jem’s skull.
‘Thank you,’ whispered Jem.
Tanya handed the cylinder to the Doctor and deftly filled the hole with a blank from the tool box. ‘No problem,’ she said.
‘Is there anything I can do?’ asked Clara. Watching it was making her feel queasy and she thought it might help if she could get involved somehow.
‘Sure.’ Tanya handed her the box. ‘There’s an antiseptic beam and dressing in there.’
Clara checked the bo
x and found the right tools. The antiseptic beam looked like a small penlight and, according to the instructions printed on it, would destroy any germs in the affected area with a three-second blast. She busied herself with this while the Doctor examined the implant Tanya had removed.
‘Connection foil is burnt out,’ the Doctor said. ‘It’s useless now.’ He threw it away in disgust. ‘It was always useless.’
‘Jem never asked to be made like this,’ said Laker angrily, ‘but I’ve always done the best I can for her. It wasn’t me who did the augmentation.’
The Doctor said nothing. Perhaps he didn’t know what to say.
Jem opened her eyes and smiled at Laker. ‘It’s OK. Stop worrying.’
‘That’s easy for you to say.’
‘We’re still here. We’re still together. That’s all that matters.’
‘Yeah.’ He squeezed her hand and forced out a smile.
—
‘In ancient times, people used to give faulty tech a damn’ good whack,’ said Mitch. ‘Solid state electronics. It often worked.’
Hobbo was crawling into an access hatch on the big, shiny unit that housed the hyperspace generator coils. ‘Hurray for the old days.’
‘Hey. Don’t judge me by my face. These are laughter lines, that’s all.’
Mitch was leaning on one of the engine blocks to watch Hobbo work. The engine block was worryingly cold. In truth he was sceptical about the Doctor’s idea – but they had to try something and it was important to keep Hobbo busy.
A flickering green glow lit up the inside of the hatch and a trilling whine could be heard every time Hobbo used the Doctor’s screwdriver. After a few more minutes, Hobbo’s voice echoed from deep inside the coil unit: ‘This is the coolest thing ever.’
‘Is that you being positive about somethin’?’ Mitch asked. ‘Cos if it is, you should give me some warning. I’m too old for shocks.’
‘I thought it was astronic radiation that turned your hair white?’
‘Watch it, kid.’
Hobbo wriggled back out from the access hatch, her hair more messed up than ever and a big smudge of oil on her face. The screwdriver was clamped between her teeth and she let it drop into her hand so she could speak. ‘Are you just gonna sit there and watch?’
‘Hey, I’m in charge around here. You do all the dirty jobs and I sit and watch. That’s the way it works.’
‘Since when?’
‘Since forever. When I was your age I was knee-deep in sump fluid, tryin’ to stop astronic reactors goin’ into thermic collapse every five minutes. I didn’t see daylight for three weeks on one ship.’
Hobbo smirked. ‘Must’ve been hard in the olden days.’
‘Now you’re lookin’ all cheerful again. Get back to work.’
She flipped the sonic screwdriver over in her hand and disappeared back into the hyperspace generator. ‘At least we’ve finally got somethin’ to do aboard this ship!’
—
Clara had taken the Doctor to one side. ‘Stop being so hard on Laker,’ she said quietly. ‘He’s doing his best for Jem.’
‘I think she’s suffering more than he is,’ said the Doctor, tapping his head meaningfully.
‘I seem to recall it was your idea to reconnect her to the ship.’ Clara looked at the pilot and Jem as they held hands. Laker was chewing his lip in consternation. ‘Anyway, sometimes it’s harder watching someone you love suffer. Will she be all right?’
‘She’s weak,’ the Doctor said, as if he needed to fill the silence that had sprung up between them. ‘But Laker keeps her strong. She’ll survive.’
A deep whine filled the room and lights flashed on all around the flight deck. Everyone looked at each other in sudden, hopeful surprise. The whine deepened and a faint vibration swelled through the ship.
‘Please tell me that’s the engines starting up,’ said Clara.
More lights came on across the flight consoles. Laker turned in his seat and began operating the controls. ‘Power’s back in the hyperdrive generators. They did it! Ladies and gentlemen, we’re flying again.’
There was a series of claps and small cheers. Raymond Balfour looked as if he was about to cry with relief and Tanya actually hugged Cranmer. Jem was smiling at Laker as he busied himself at the controls. He seemed to be sitting straighter, a look of calm focus on his face as he slipped back into the routine checks and preparations for his trade. The whole flight deck felt suddenly brighter.
The doors opened and Mitch and Hobbo sauntered in to a small round of applause. Hobbo wore a weird half-smile half-frown. Mitch was wiping his hands on a rag.
Balfour crossed the deck to greet them. ‘Well done,’ he said. ‘Absolutely marvellous! I knew you could do it.’
‘Well, we’re under way, an’ that’s all that counts now,’ Mitch said. ‘But it’s the Doctor an’ Hobbo you should be thanking. It was his idea, an’ she did the donkey work.’
‘Hey, Doc,’ said Hobbo. She threw the sonic screwdriver across the deck and the Doctor snatched it out of the air. ‘That tool is freakin’ awesome.’
‘I prefer “multi-purpose”,’ replied the Doctor, ‘but thanks anyway.’
‘Next time you don’t get it back.’
‘OK, everyone,’ announced Laker. ‘We’re officially a spaceship again. Where to?
The Doctor pointed to the hologram of the planet. ‘I think we all know the answer to that.’
‘Maybe we should vote on the matter,’ suggested Cranmer. ‘If we’ve got power then we shouldn’t waste it.’
‘Well that’s just the thing,’ said Mitch. He tipped his baseball cap back and scratched his forehead. His tone was serious enough to get everyone’s attention. ‘We’ve got the ion drive back online so we can move again. But we’ve had to divert all power to the engines.’
There was a pause while he let the words sink in.
‘So is there a problem?’ asked Marco.
‘All power,’ repeated Hobbo with heavy emphasis.
‘We can move,’ Mitch said, ‘but everythin’ else is gone. There’s no power left over. That means the life-support systems are all offline. That means no more air, food or water.’
‘We’ve got enough to last us, surely?’ asked Tibby.
Mitch shrugged. ‘I’m sorry, miss. Food and drink on this ship is only generated when it’s needed. We can’t do that now. And as for how long the air will last – I just don’t know. We’re in a sealed system and there’s eleven of us all breathin’ the same air.’
‘So this is no longer a spaceship at all,’ said Cranmer. ‘It’s a flying coffin.’
Chapter
8
‘We either suffocate in here, or land on a planet where the air is toxic,’ said Marco Spritt. ‘Is that supposed to be a choice?’
The Alexandria was en route to the lost planet, travelling at full speed. Laker had estimated that it would take them no more than an hour to get there.
‘We have spacesuits,’ said Balfour. His voice was shaky, as if he was struggling to take in the enormity of the situation. ‘State-of-the-art environmental survival suits. I ordered them especially. The best on the market. They’ll keep us alive.’
‘Yes, but for how long?’ asked Tanya Flexx.
‘Each suit has enough air and filters to last seventy-two hours,’ said Laker. ‘Food and water is the problem.’
‘So we have a maximum of three days living in a spacesuit,’ said Tanya, throwing her hands up in the air. ‘Fantastic.’
‘I can’t think of anything else,’ snapped Balfour.
Clara felt sorry for him. Not even Trugg could help him out of this; and no amount of money could save them now. But there was something. She and the Doctor had an ace up their sleeve. She turned to him and gave him a meaningful look.
Typically, he just raised his eyebrows and said, ‘What?’
Clara mouthed the word ‘TARDIS’.
The Doctor didn’t look happy. He rarely looked happy, but now ther
e was a particularly strange look in his eyes beneath the furious brows. The Doctor didn’t throw the doors of the TARDIS open to just anyone, but Clara knew that in a matter of life and death he wouldn’t hesitate. The TARDIS was the ultimate sanctuary, after all. Plenty of room and the power to disappear in the blink of an eye. It could take them all to the dark planet, or back to the space station, or back to Earth itself. For one giddy moment, Clara even remembered the pile of marking that awaited her at home.
But if the Doctor seemed reluctant to mention the TARDIS, Mitch Keller had no such qualms. He’d already reached the same conclusion as Clara.
‘What about your ship, Doctor?’ he asked. ‘The blue box.’
‘Are you nuts?’ said Hobbo. ‘It’s nowhere near big enough. Eleven of us, remember. That thing couldn’t hold more than four or five at a push.’
‘And that’s not including Trugg,’ said Balfour. The robot gave a mute whirr but said nothing.
All eyes were now on the Doctor. ‘Well, I’m sure we could all squeeze in,’ he said with a dismissive flick of his fingers. ‘But that’s hardly the point.’
Marco exploded angrily. ‘Hardly the point? If you’ve got a lifeboat on board then take us to it! I don’t care how much of a squeeze it is.’
‘I agree with Marco,’ said Cranmer. ‘Let’s get out now if we can.’
‘You see?’ Marco said triumphantly.
There was a brief clamour as everyone tried to speak at once, but the Doctor’s voice rose above all the others. ‘Shut up, all of you. Especially you, Marco.’
‘Now look here…’ Marco began, but the Doctor glared at him and held up one rigid finger for silence. Marco fell quiet.
‘Yes, I do have a space-time capsule aboard the Alexandria,’ said the Doctor. ‘It’s called the TARDIS, and it is miraculous but there is a good reason why it can’t be used now. Tell them, Mr Cranmer.’
Cranmer looked startled as everyone turned to him.
‘Come on, man, you’ve been using your computer to run scans on the planet ever since we found it. Density, atmosphere, radiation, the lot.’ The Doctor raised his eyebrows. ‘Tell everyone what else you’ve found.’
Deep Time Page 7
