Doctor Who: Engines of War by George Mann

Author:George Mann [Mann, George]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi, pdf
ISBN: 9781448142699
Publisher: Ebury Publishing
Published: 2014-07-30T23:00:00+00:00

Chapter Thirteen

Cinder had been pacing the observation lounge for at least half an hour, and with every step her frustration was mounting. She wanted to do something. The Doctor had told her to remain here and stay out of trouble, but that simply wasn’t Cinder’s style. She’d never been comfortable staying still for very long, and she doubted she ever would.

With a groan of irritation she went to the window, peering out over the city.

Night had fallen, and with it, the stars.

The stars. She’d read about them, of course, understood exactly what they were – but she’d never seen them for herself. Not until now. All those years, growing up on Moldox, the night sky had always been tainted by the fluctuating auroras that, to her, described colourful dreams, drifting off into the ether as people slept. Of course, she now knew them to be caused by the temporal radiation leaking from the Tantalus Eye – the very same radiation that the Daleks were harnessing to power their weapons.

Somehow, that made it seem less beautiful. This, in itself, wasn’t anything new. Everything she’d ever loved, the Daleks had taken from her. Everything beautiful, they had spoiled. That was what the Daleks did. They took. They pillaged. And now they’d even tainted the sky.

Cinder was done with that, though. She’d found a way off Moldox with the Doctor, and she would no longer allow herself to be diminished, by the Daleks, or anyone else.

She stared up at the twinkling constellations. The stars were like pinpricks of light, holes in the fabric of the sky, through which she could observe the glow of distant universes. She’d never imagined there would be so many of them. She understood, intellectually, that the universe was populated with countless billions of stars, but seeing them shining overhead was something else entirely. It was startlingly beautiful.

She wondered how many people were out there, just like her, looking up to the sky and feeling hopeful. Perhaps she’d get to visit some of those places with the Doctor, once the war was over. She’d like that, and she could tell that he needed it too. It would do him good to get away from it all, to remember who he really was. She could tell that the War was eroding him. He’d become calloused, hardened to it, but she was certain there was much more to him than that – another man, buried away somewhere beneath the curmudgeonly exterior.

She sighed, glancing at the door. How long had he said he’d be? Surely it wouldn’t hurt to have a little look around? How much trouble could she really be?

Cinder made her mind up. Perhaps she could even discover something useful, something that might help the Doctor to persuade the Time Lords against deploying their doomsday device. She knew he would. She had to have faith in him. The alternative was unthinkable.

She crossed the door, half expecting it to be locked. It wasn’t. She opened it just enough to peer out. The passageway beyond was empty.

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