Doctor Who - New Adventures - 04 - Timewyrm 04 - Revelation by Paul Cornell

Author:Paul Cornell
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Tags: Science Fiction, General, Fiction
ISBN: 9780426203605
Publisher: Doctor Who Books
Published: 1991-06-14T07:00:00+00:00

12: Cruciform Blues

When I am dead, I hope it may be said: his sins were scarlet, but his books were read.

Hilaire Belloc.

Trelaw looked down at the sleeping figure of the Doctor on the altar, wondering who should concern him more, this man or Saul and Peter, both lost in trancelike mutterings.

The medallion gate was humming with power. And as Trelaw glanced into it he was amazed to see two tiny figures spin into view, growing bigger with each second amongst the maelstrom.

Emily leaped out, laughing, and grabbed the vicar's arms. "It was wonderful, it's all so strange, I never imagined . . .

She turned to look over her shoulder. "Wait a minute, I had the Doctor with me."

"I have returned him to his proper body," Saul chimed, and Peter woke, realizing that his mathematical dreams had been real. He clutched Emily to him and groaned with relief.

"We did it, love," she told him proudly, "we rescued them."

The Doctor was stirring. Trelaw looked down at him, concerned.

"Ace, I've had the strangest dream," the Time Lord muttered, blinking. He raised a hand to his face. "I dreamt that I woke up, and it's all true!" He sat up suddenly, and looked at his hands, as if searching for blood.

"No! No!" he yelled wildly. "That isn't right! Ace! Ace!"

Trelaw put a calming hand on his shoulder. "Doctor, you're back in the land of the living. What happened?"

The Doctor shrugged off the reverend's hand and sprang up, ignoring his rescuers completely. He looked round the church, still seemingly dumbstruck. "That was the game. I isolate the Timewyrm in my head using Ace as bait, then pull her out and use my mental power to crush it out of existence . . . and I got it wrong . . . I sacrificed her just as Ishtar said I would. I got it wrong!" He slammed his fist into the wall, and when he looked at it, there was blood on his knuckles.

"Doctor!" shouted Saul, and the Time Lord spun to see the dark form of the Timewyrm speeding towards the mouth of the medallion gate.

"No!" muttered the Doctor. "You're not getting out that way. Close!" With a roar that diminished as its size did, the medallion shrunk down to its proper size and the Doctor pocketed it.

"Please, Doctor," asked Emily sadly, on the verge of tears. "Tell me what went wrong. I thought I'd rescued her."

"You did your best." The Doctor collapsed into a pew and glanced back at Ace's comatose form. "The fault is mine alone. I thought we would all get out on Saul's carrier beam. I've had this escape prepared for a long time. I was aware that I was being controlled in my sleep. One of my other selves had warned me. A lot of them cropped up in dreams, telling me various things . . . and I recognized the inner landscape instantly." The Doctor stared down at his hands, flexing them, as if horrified at their lack of strength.

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