Doctor Who MA27 - Speed of Flight by Paul Leonard

Author:Paul Leonard
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Published: 2011-07-13T02:22:26+00:00

* * *

‘Well,’ said the Doctor cheerfully, hammering the copper serving plate into position between the two pieces of cracked ceramic that he’d taken from the Old Gate fountain, ‘that’s the transionic polarizer taken care of. Now for the tricky bit.’ He took a chiming clock, from the bench, a delicate antique which featured a complex animated model of the Temple, with its Acolytes, Priests and Confessors. There were hundreds of brass gears and moving copper discs. The Doctor looked the model over briefly, then began, pulling it apart with a pair of heavy callipers, checking the distances between various points after every tug.

Eeneeri watched, uncertain and confused. This man seemed very sure that he was right, and in. Eeneeri’s experience such an attitude almost invariably meant that a person was wrong. Especially in the case of men. But then the Doctor wasn’t exactly a man, even if he didn’t have wings. His manner, the words he used, even the way he was dressed, all spoke of his alien origin. But did that mean Aapurian was right to trust him? Eeneeri wasn’t sure.

The alien looked up from his work and said, ‘Ah. Still there, are you, Eeneeri? Look, I need some copper cabling. About six inches of it.’ He spread his hands. ‘This much. And it has to be insulated.

Go and get me some, would you?’

Eeneeri nodded, turned to one of the guards at the door of Aapurian’s room. The old confessor himself had gone to a meditation cell to rest.

‘One of the bell cables should do,’ Eeneeri told the guard. ‘Bring it.’

The Doctor was still tweaking at the model he’d taken from the chiming clock Somehow he had contrived to make it into a dense tangle of copper wires and brass wheels, actually more complex than the original machine. The Doctor tapped it with a finger, and it began spinning. A flicker of blue light drifted between the moving parts.

There was a knock at, the door, and the guard returned with a piece of bell cable. He was followed by a confessor in full robes, who pointed a wing at Eeneeri and spluttered, ‘I demand an explanation for this! The chimes of Beecii are vital to the contemplation of –’

‘Sorry, old chap,’ said the Doctor without looking up, ‘but we’re trying to save the world.’

The confessor looked at Eeneeri. ‘What does he mean?’

‘Exactly what he says,’ said Eeneeri sternly.

135

Bewildered, the confessor retreated, flicking his wings and muttering under his breath.

Eeneeri met the Doctor’s eyes and, much to his surprise, found himself smiling.

‘Nearly ready,’ commented the Doctor. ‘With any luck, in a few minutes, Mr Epreto will get a nasty shock: I hope so, thought Eeneeri. I hope so, for all our sakes.’

Duboli breathed in the first stirring freshness of the morning wind, and wondered if the world beyond the Sky would ever be as good as the world below it. From the steering deck of the skyboat he had a clear view across the world. The sea stretched around it, a blue loop fading into a purple distance.

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