Hope (Doctor Who) by Mark Clapham

Author:Mark Clapham [Clapham, Mark]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2016-04-21T06:00:00+00:00

Chapter 10 Human Factors

‘Well, you look like shit,’ said Anji, her face underlit by the candle in the centre of the table. ‘Thanks,’ replied Fitz, staggering across the main hall to sit opposite his friend. He had escaped the Brotherhood’s lair only to find the entirety of Hope had lost power, with gas explosions puncturing the darkness. He had run through the dark streets, trying not to lose his footing and plummet to his death while avoiding the fights and looting that had broken out wherever the citizens had realised there was a crisis going on. The power failure had clearly been seen as a sign of weakness in the status quo, and like the roughly bred survivors they were, the people of Hope were trying to take full advantage of that weakness. Fitz didn’t want to get caught in the middle when old scores were settled and inequalities readjusted. So he ran, and dodged, and tripped and bruised himself along the way, but eventually he had managed to find the Silver Palace again, wave at Silver’s guards and stagger into its darkened hall. The hall was lit with scattered candles, and Anji was the only person left up and about, sitting alone.

Anji pushed a bottle and a glass across the table. Fitz left the glass and took a heavy swig from the neck. The liquor stung his throat, and burned away at a little cut in his mouth where he’d bitten the inside of his cheek. But the sudden, shocking pain seemed an improvement to the dull throb he felt throughout the rest of his body.

‘So, how was your day?’ asked Anji. She seemed slightly drunk, albeit neither overly happy nor morose. Perhaps she felt numb too.

‘Well, today I was taken into the confidence of a cult of dangerous religious fanatics,’ said Fitz. ‘When they took me into the depths of their lair, I caused a schism in the ranks and was only saved from becoming a human sacrifice by the intervention of their living god. What about you?’

‘Oh,’ said Anji. ‘I just watched Silver divert the city’s entire power supply

112 and blast it into space, thereby causing a complete city-wide power loss and the possible collapse of society into complete anarchy.’

They sat in silence for a while. Fitz felt his exhausted body begin to sink forward in his chair. If he didn’t go to bed, he’d probably just collapse on the spot.

‘Time to make a move,’ he said, dragging himself to his feet. ‘Hmmm, yeah,’ said Anji, swilling liquid in the bottom of the glass, watching the candlelight refract. She seemed lost in thought. Fitz hadn’t the energy to retrieve her, so he stumbled off to his room in the staff quarters. It was on the way there, halfway up a winding stairwell, that he encountered Miraso coming the other way, a gaslighter not unlike a zippo burning in one hand. He backed down the stairs to let her past, holding on to the railing, slightly apologetic. The

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