Doctor Who: Festival of Death: 50th Anniversary Edition (18 page)

An overwhelming nausea suddenly swept over Romana. Her hand to her forehead, she swayed back against the desk. Around her, the office distorted as though heat-hazed. The paintings and sculptures disappeared as it transformed into the control room of the
Cerberus
, empty apart from two padded seats facing a bank of sophisticated instrumentation.

The room abruptly switched back to Metcalf’s office. He and Evadne stared at her, oblivious to anything untoward happening.

‘Romana,’ said Evadne. ‘What is it?’

The room transformed into the control cabin again, and then instantly reverted to the office. It began to flicker between the two, gathering pace, as though the two rooms were competing for precedence.

Romana slumped to the floor clutching her stomach. She could feel time wrenching apart around her.

The rate of the flickering increased until it became impossible to tell the two versions apart. The two rooms shimmered and coalesced, with a ghostly version of Metcalf’s office overlaid on the control room.

And then, the flickering stopped and Romana found herself lying on the carpet beside Metcalf’s desk.

She brushed her hair out of her eyes and got to her feet. As time stabilised, the feelings of nausea abated. She took a calming breath and turned to Metcalf. ‘Do you have a chronometer?’

‘A what?’

‘A timepiece, a clock.’

‘Of course.’ Metcalf indicated a small gold-lined screen set into his desk. ‘A quasar-precision timer, part of the original
Cerberus
instrumentation. A genuine antique.’

‘What year does it say it is?’

‘What year? What manner of spuriousness is this?’ sneered Metcalf.

‘Look at your clock and answer the question.’

Metcalf read from the screen. ‘It’s 3012,’ he said, raising his face to Romana and Evadne.

‘And now what year is it?’

‘I’m sorry, this is most foolish –’

‘What year, basic brain?’ Evadne said aggressively.

Metcalf checked the clock again. ‘I don’t believe it,’ he spluttered. ‘2815.’

‘And now what year is it?’ repeated Romana.

‘3012,’ said Metcalf.

‘And now?’

‘2815.’

‘Hang on, what does this mean?’ asked Evadne.

‘It’s perfectly simple.’ Romana strode to the centre of the room and smiled. ‘We are now existing in two different time zones.’

‘Almost two hundred years ago.’ The Doctor aimed his eyes first at Liesa, then Harken. ‘Does that date mean anything to you?’

‘Of course,’ said Liesa. ‘2815 is when the
Cerberus
…’

‘… got jammed in the hyperspace tunnel,’ finished Harken. He had done his research. Well, he’d hired
Cerberus – The Holomovie
. Well, his researcher had hired it, and given him a synopsis.

‘Exactly.’ The Doctor paced around the room, unpicking his scarf distractedly. ‘Forming the G-Lock, where we are today. The “Mystery of the
Cerberus
”. Harken?’

‘I can’t remember the details, but everyone knows the story. When they opened up the tunnel a month or so after the accident they found that all the crew and passengers had disappeared.’

‘Yes,’ said the Doctor, biting his thumbnail. ‘I wonder where
they
went?’ His eyes darted about the control room, as if they were hiding in it somewhere.

‘Doctor,’ said Liesa. ‘I still don’t see what this has to do with the zombies.’

‘Well, because it would be a massive coincidence otherwise and, in my experience, coincidences never, ever happen by chance.’

Liesa folded her arms. ‘So explain it, then.’

‘Ah, well, I can’t. But we are now in both 3012 and 2815. Whatever it is that has caused all of this must have a reason for bringing those two separate dates together.’ The Doctor peered out into the Great Hall. ‘The answer’s out there somewhere, but where?’

An electronic chime rang out. Twelve thirty. As Harken let his mind wander over the events of the last half-hour he shuddered. That poor lad Vinnie, he could still hear the screams. Which reminded him, he would have to find a replacement holocameraman.

Liesa let her hand trail over the necroport control panel. ‘Normally, at this time, we’d be reviving all of the subjects.’ She sighed and joined the Doctor at the window.

One of the lights on the control panel started flashing. Harken pointed. ‘Excuse me. What does that light mean?’

Liesa looked across at the panel, and her face filled with disbelief. ‘One of the subjects wasn’t turned into a zombie.’

‘What?’ The Doctor flurried over.

She indicated the flashing light. ‘Whoever it is, the necroport hasn’t affected them. They’re still down there, lying dead in their casket.’

Romana sat perched on Metcalf’s desk, swinging her legs. She inspected a framed holophoto and hopped impatiently to her feet. ‘Well, we can’t stay in here for ever.’

‘Don’t see why not,’ said Evadne. ‘You haven’t explained to me about how we can be in two times at once yet.’

‘As I said, we can’t stay in here for ever.’ Romana approached the door, and her hand skipped across the control pad. The door slid open. ‘Come on.’

Evadne shrugged towards Metcalf. ‘What about the imbecile?’

‘I would find it most satisfactory if you would shut the door on your way out,’ he said, mopping his forehead.

‘He’ll survive,’ said Romana. She held her head high and strode out of the office.

Evadne cast a contemptuous glance back at Metcalf, and decided she would rather be with Romana than alone with him. Anywhere would be better than being alone with him.

She followed Romana and the door hummed shut behind her. ‘Where now?’

Romana looked up and down the corridor. ‘We have to find the Doctor.’

The Doctor stroked his chin. ‘Tell me about the resurrection process. Presumably they don’t just pop up like toast?’

‘An electric shock to kick-start heart convulsion, followed by full cerebral reanimation. It’s quite straightforward.’ Liesa gave the Doctor a hard look. ‘You’re not planning on bringing this one back to life, are you?’

‘Why not?’

‘Because it can’t be done. We’d have to reactivate the necroport first.’

‘Ah.’ The Doctor glanced down into the Great Hall. ‘But isn’t there some way of bypassing the necroport?’ he called over his shoulder.

‘In theory, yes. You’d have to disconnect the subject from the control circuit,’ explained Liesa. ‘But you’d have to be down there, resuscitating them manually.’

The Doctor turned and grinned. ‘It’s worth a try.’

‘But they’ve already been dead for half an hour,’ said Liesa. ‘Leave it any longer and it’s almost impossible to bring them back.’

‘I like doing the almost impossible,’ said the Doctor. He did a double take. ‘You mean this has happened before?’

‘Occasionally,’ said Liesa reluctantly. ‘We’ve had a few incidents where people refused to be revived. They seemed to prefer to remain dead.’

‘According to my sources, over thirty people,’ said Harken.

‘Forty-one, to be precise,’ said Liesa. Harken jotted down the number for future reference. ‘The point is, even if you manage to awaken this subject, what will it achieve?’

‘Oh, I don’t know.’ The Doctor ran his fingers through his hair. ‘It’s got to beat standing around wondering what to do next, though. Besides, I can’t just leave the poor chap or chappess there, can I?’

‘But how are you going to get down there?’ said Harken. He pointed to the barricaded door. ‘You can’t get out that way. And the G-Lock is crawling with zombies.’

The Doctor stretched his arms around Harken and Liesa. ‘Do you know, that’s a very good point.’ He patted them and started for the left interior door. ‘If I go through here, what’s the quickest way to the Great Hall?’

‘Straight down the corridor, right, left, left again, and then keep on going,’ said Liesa.

The Doctor repeated Liesa’s directions with accompanying gestures, and pressed the unlock buttons on the door. The door hummed open. ‘Well, I’m going outside now, but I’ll be back in a jiffy.’ He disappeared through the door, his scarf streaming after him.

Liesa tapped the keypad and the door hissed shut.

Romana and Evadne continued down another, identical, corridor. More bodies lay slumped against the walls, the ceiling was blackened with smoke, and in the distance sirens wailed.

‘Where do you think the Doctor is?’ Evadne asked, trying to stop her teeth from chattering.

‘You said you saw him in the necroport, so that would seem to be the obvious place to look.’

‘Hang on. Isn’t that the most dangerous place on the G-Lock?’

‘That’s another good reason why the Doctor is likely to be there,’ said Romana with a winsome grin. Suddenly her eyes closed in pain and she supported herself against a wall.

‘What is it? More time distortion?’

Romana nodded, and then recoiled in alarm at something over
Evadne’s
shoulder. Evadne spun round.

Two zombies stood motionless in the corridor. Two young women, dressed in swirl-patterned tunics, their eyes staring blankly ahead. But the most horrific thing was the black oil which seemed to be welling up inside them and bubbling out of their mouths, noses, eyes and ears.

For a moment, the two zombies blurred. Evadne blinked, and looked again.

The Doctor moved along the corridor, his body hunched. As he approached the entrance to the Great Hall, more and more corpses littered the floor. Sections of the walls and ceiling had collapsed, exposing ducts and cables.

He reminded himself of the directions. ‘Right, left, left again, keep going.’

He turned a corner, and immediately ducked back. A zombie blocked the corridor ahead, its clothes and body soaked in black drool.

‘Romana, what’s happening?’ asked Evadne.

Where the zombies had been standing, there were now two elderly men. Their pallid skin was drawn tightly over their bones and their eyes had a hungry, desperate look. Through their torn shirts, she could see their ribcages.

A second later, and the two zombies were back. And then they flickered back to the two emaciated men. They shimmered between the two states, each a ghostly image overlaid on the other.

Romana straightened up. ‘Well, I think we know why the two time zones have been brought together.’

‘We do?’

The Doctor popped his head back around the corner. Instead of the zombie, there was now a woman in her twenties. Her dress was as faded as her skin, and her body was wasted. She seemed utterly petrified.

A refugee from the
Cerberus
, guessed the Doctor. So that was why the time periods had been combined. The necroport was being used to bring its surviving passengers into the present day. Which is why the rescue teams had found the Cerberus empty. All of the survivors had been evacuated two centuries into the future.

The Doctor walked up to the woman, beaming his friendliest smile. ‘Hello. Can I help you?’

The woman shrank back.

‘Don’t worry, I’m not going to hurt you.’

‘What year is it?’ she whispered.

‘3012.’

The woman heaved with relief. ‘It worked. It saved us!’

The two ragged men had permanently replaced the zombies. They tested their limbs, tensing and untensing the muscles, acclimatising themselves to their bodies. Gradually their expressions turned to joy. They turned to each other and grinned.

One of the men spoke. ‘We did it. We’re alive!’

The other wiped tears from his eyes. ‘We survived. We survived!’

‘If you don’t mind me asking, what saved you?’ the Doctor asked.

‘It promised it would let us escape into the future. The –’ the woman began. Her face spasmed, as if something was forcing her to remain silent. ‘The – the –’ Her mouth opened in a howl of pain, her head shaking from side to side. ‘No! Let me go!’

‘What?’

Clutching her throat, the woman fell to the floor. ‘Please, leave me alone!’

‘Go on then. Who are they?’ whispered Evadne.

Romana considered explaining that they were the missing passengers from the
Cerberus
, but stopped herself. She recalled that Evadne hadn’t known where the passengers had vanished to when she told her and the Doctor about the ‘Mystery of the
Cerberus
’.

‘I don’t know,’ Romana lied. She held Evadne’s arm and began to
lead
her away from the two elderly men.

Suddenly the men screamed, their bodies shaking. Their eyes rolled back in their sockets, and their hands scrabbled at the air.

One of them reached for Romana. ‘Help us. Please!’

The woman looked up at the Doctor. Her eyes and mouth were completely black. Her voice was suddenly as deep as the grave, echoing like a death knell. ‘No, you are my life now! Through you I exist, I feel, I breathe. Now I live. The Repulsion is alive!’

The woman rose to her feet like an uncoiling snake and extended two claw-like hands towards the Doctor’s neck.

He twisted away, and looked behind him. The entrance to the Great Hall was a few metres away, its two great doors wide open. He decided to make a run for it.

The two men slowly turned their heads to Romana and Evadne. Their eyes and mouths were utterly black. They spoke together, like automatons. ‘The Repulsion is alive!’

Romana turned and fled, pulling Evadne after her.

The Great Hall was as dark and silent as an abandoned tomb. The short stairwell to the control room was still occupied by the undead – about twenty in all – their faces reflected the window light. Within the control room, the Doctor could make out some shadowy movement, but the faces were too indistinct for him to recognise.

He approached the coffin of the remaining tourist, his footsteps crunching on the rubble-strewn floor. The life monitor showed two horizontal lines, one for brain activity, one for heart. Beside it flashed a lamp marked
Immediate Reanimation Required
.

The coffin contained a short reptile wearing a multicoloured kaftan. Its face, half-obscured by the framework of the headset, lay in contented death, its eyes hidden by circular sunglasses.

The Doctor investigated the surrounding wires and connections. The headset was linked to a cable leading to the necroport and another set of wires led to the life monitor. Beneath the monitor
was
a row of switches.