Doctor Who: BBC Past Doctor Adventures [038] - The Quantum Archangel by Craig Hinton

Author:Craig Hinton
Language: eng
Format: mobi
Tags: Science-Fiction - Doctor Who
ISBN: 9780563538240
Publisher: BBC Books
Published: 2001-02-13T23:00:00+00:00

Magnificat

Chapter Seven

What Have I Done to Deserve This?

‘No!’

Arlene dragged her attention away from Anjeliqua at the shout. It was the Master, his face contorted in terror at the apparition, as though he were looking at the devil. Then she caught a glimpse of the same expression on the Doctor’s face.

Was this something out of Time Lord mythology? Or some shared nightmare they had once faced? She suddenly realised that her blind obedience to the Master – something that had felt so natural – had evaporated. She was her own woman once more… and very, very angry. He had stolen her free will!

Before she could consider further, the Master made a run for it. Knocking a dazed Paul Kairos out of the way, he darted across the Dusk Nave towards the squat blue altar of his TARDIS.

‘Stop him!’ yelled the Doctor. ‘He’s our only way out of here.’ But it was too late. The Master skirted round the back of the marble altar and was gone. Moments later, modulated grinding and roaring filled the Midnight Cathedral as his TARDIS dematerialised, leaving nothing to show that it had ever been there.

‘He’s taken my TARDIS with him,’ the Doctor groaned.

‘All will be well.’ The unnerving voice echoed in their minds. The creature that had once been Anjeliqua had been watching the Master’s escape impassively; it now turned its haughty attention to the four who remained.

‘Who are you?’ asked Mel nervously. ‘What happened to Anjeliqua?’

‘Dear, sweet Mel,’ came the reply. ‘Your concern is unjustified. Nothing has happened to Anjeliqua. Nothing bad, that is. Part of me is still Anjeliqua, but I am much, much more. The fundamental force of the cosmos runs through me like lifeblood. I have become a goddess.’ Her face was calm and unemotional – if only Arlene could have felt the same.

‘But I am still your friend.’

Unsurprisingly, that did nothing to reassure Arlene.

Someone as spiteful, petty and bitter as Anjeliqua with the powers of a god? It didn’t bear thinking about.

‘Calm yourself, Arlene.’ It was Anjeliqua again. ‘Such concerns are now beneath me.’ She read my mind! ‘With the power I now wield, nothing is impossible. But with such power comes a great responsibility – a responsibility that I intend to uphold.’

She threw her arms outwards, as if to embrace the Dusk Nave. Her wings began to flare, expanding until Arlene had to avert her eyes. They filled the Nave, washing over Arlene, the Doctor and the others. But the light didn’t burn; if anything, it calmed Arlene, reassured her…

For a moment, she was elsewhere. The beginning of time to the end of time, spread across the universe… Then she was whole once again, racked with an overwhelming sense of loss.

It took her a couple of seconds to adjust to her new surroundings. The ubiquitous blue of the Midnight Cathedral had gone, to be replaced by a more familiar white. She was in the TITAN suite!

The chrome of the Array was back to its rectilinear configuration, the core at its centre.

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