The Colour of Darkness by Richard Dungworth

Author:Richard Dungworth [Dungworth, Richard]
Language: eng
Format: epub, pdf
Tags: Juvenile Fiction, General
Published: 2012-08-03T04:17:44+00:00

In The Library

Brother Jaxal heaved the next volume of the

trade register from his library trolley onto the

stone desk. He had his eyes screwed up, as

though the light by which the Doctor was reading

— the pale glow of his sonic screwdriver — caused

him pain. He retreated silently to the dark aisles

of stone-built shelving to continue his search for

further documents.

The Doctor dragged the massive tome across in

front of him. Like the previous volumes, its jacket

was made of thick slate, or something like it. He

lifted the heavy front cover, and touched the dark,

smooth slab within. Its blank surface instantly

transformed, becoming pitted with line upon line

of engraved text. The Doctor read this first page,

then tapped the slab again. The original engravings

faded as a whole new page of inscribed text appeared.

The registers made impressive reading. At one

time or another, the Darksmiths had crafted more

or less every variety of technological device, from

matter-transfer systems to supra-lightspeed engines.

Even the famous Mortal Mirror that the Doctor

had himself encountered... Their trademark seemed

to be the use of both ancient and highly advanced

technologies, often combined in a single project.

They had fulfilled contracts for many wealthy and

powerful clients, from many galaxies.

But like the previous volumes the Doctor had

searched, this one contained no mention of Varlos,

or the Eternity Crystal. His quest to find out more

about the strange Crystal — to understand why it

had been created, and how it had brought about the

bizarre events on Earth's Moon and the cemetery

world of Mordane — seemed in vain.

Jaxal approached again, with another hefty

volume on his trolley. As the Doctor looked up

at him, he saw the librarian glance anxiously at a

small stone door in the nearby wall. The third time

the Doctor had caught him doing so.

The Doctor closed the book and heaved it aside.

'Talk about heavy reading!' He looked back to

Jaxal. 'By the way, I meant to ask — since this is a

library, can I take something out?'

The librarian looked at him warily. 'What?'

'Well — you, actually...'

Before Jaxal could react, the Doctor raised the tip

of his sonic to the librarian's temple. Jaxal slumped

to the floor, unconscious. The Doctor checked

Jaxal's life-signs, then crossed quickly to the door

that the librarian had been eyeing nervously.

' N o w — let's see what y o u were so keen I

shouldn't see... '

But the door was locked. And like the one that

he and Lorton had encountered earlier, it was

unaffected by his sonic screwdriver.

'Maybe if I adjust the resonating frequency

manually... ' muttered the Doctor, fiddling with the

sonic screwdriver's settings. He scanned it slowly

around the door's edge again. This time, there was

the satisfying clunk of a heavy lock releasing. As the

Doctor leaned on the door, it swung slowly open.

The Doctor found himself in a small, bare room,

occupied by only a stone table and chair. A large

book, similar to the volumes he had already looked

through, lay on the table. He crossed to take a

closer look.

The book's cover was entirely blank apart from

the faint impression of a stylised black flame — the

symbol of the Darksmiths. When the Doctor tried

to open it, he couldn't.

Then he noticed a second,

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.