No Future by Paul Cornell

Author:Paul Cornell [Cornell, Paul]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Fiction, General, Science Fiction, Doctor Who (Fictitious Character)
ISBN: 9780426204091
Google: yZW2AAAACAAJ
Amazon: 0426204093
Publisher: London Bridge
Published: 1994-03-14T07:00:00+00:00

‘Well, yes.’ The Monk jumbled his fingers. ‘But we all have to make sacrifices, don’t we?’

Artemis smiled. ‘No. What favour would you ask of me?’ She touched another blood line with her toe. ‘Speak quickly, there are only four of these morsels left.’ A Silurian broke from its egg and spun around the pentagram, shedding skin in a blizzard of debris until it crumbled into fossilized dust. ‘And some last longer than others.’

‘I wish to ask you for. . . guidance,’ the Monk smiled benignly. ‘I believe that I have lost the path I once followed. I wish to begin a cult devoted utterly to your worship, you beautiful creature!’

‘Oh, please. . . ’ Artemis watched as the Mandrel lumbered around the chamber. ‘I do not require worship. All I require is food.’ She glanced back to the Monk as the ungainly creature vanished in a puff of Vraxoin. ‘And entertainment. It might be entertaining to set you to living your life in reverse. Or 158

to make you a woman. Or a human. Would you enjoy being a human, Time Lord?’

‘Oh, no, I doubt it!’ blustered the Monk. ‘I mean, their lives are so short, aren’t they? They’re like insects, gone in an instant, no time to think.’

The Dalek whizzed round the chamber shouting threats and exploded.

‘Look who’s talking,’ murmured Artemis, taking a step nearer to the cowering Monk.

‘Wait!’ he shouted. ‘I have much more to offer you!’

‘Hush.’ Artemis touched the final bloodline. ‘How many times have I been through this ritual? Always the same group of species, never any surprises.’

A handsome young man appeared at one corner of the pentagram and began to slowly walk around the chamber, unchanging. His lustrous dark hair reflected the fire that had erupted in Artemis’s eyes. He completed his circuit of the pentagram and, smiling mockingly, began another one.

The Monk raised his head and smiled. ‘It seems I do have the power to surprise you.’

Artemis flexed her hands, red nails shining ‘An Eternal!’ she whispered. ‘You have the blood of an Eternal! How?’

‘Gold,’ nodded the Monk. ‘Some of them are very partial to it. Oh, and I agreed to be the champion of one who calls herself Death. I’m not entirely sure what that implies, but I’m sure it won’t be too demanding. The one who’s circling you is called Vain Beauty, or Brett as he preferred to be known when I met him. He was playing Russian Roulette in a bar in Paris. He allowed himself to lose, and I helped to clear up some of the mess. We had a chuckle about it afterwards, I can tell you. He’s quite keen to learn how all this turns out.’

Artemis hissed, and for a moment the pentagram was a blinding flutter of thunderous wings, a huge strength struggling against the force around her.

The TARDIS walls vibrated with a bellow that eventually resolved itself into a human-mouthed cry. ‘What do you want?’

‘Your service. If you do well, I may let you go.’

‘Let me? Let me?!’

‘Something of a new concept, I know.

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