Doctor Who: The Fires of Pompeii (Target Collection) by Moran James

Author:Moran, James [Moran, James]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781473533196
Publisher: Ebury Publishing
Published: 2022-07-14T00:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER IX

Tempus fugit

In Lucius’s villa, despite the piping hot steam from the hypocaust, the atmosphere was decidedly frosty. It was bad enough that the Doctor and Quintus had been discovered breaking in, but they had also found the strange marble squares alongside the one Caecilius had constructed. Lucius was keeping secrets, and he did not look like the sort of man who would let them leave to tell the tale.

Quintus felt queasy, nervous at what might happen now. He’d never been in trouble before, not real trouble. Sure, there had been plenty of late nights, hanging around with friends, laughing, accidentally breaking things, singing too loudly, ‘borrowing’ street signs and falling into fountains. Nothing that teenagers hadn’t done since the invention of spare time. At the end of the summer, he’d have to think about his further education but, for now, evenings and weekends were for having fun.

The party was definitely over in this room, though. Quintus was worried for himself mainly, of course, but he was even more concerned for his family. Lucius was a powerful, dangerous man. There were more than a few rumours of people who had crossed him ending up in the foundations of new buildings. Some even claimed you could make out the shape of his ex-business partner in the outside wall of the villa and that, every time Lucius entered or left the building, he would pat the wall to greet him and laugh. This could mean very bad news for Quintus’s family.

Lucius glared. The soldiers stood watch, candlelight glinting off their sharp swords. But the Doctor seemed oblivious, happily diving into the awkward situation as if it was just a tiny misunderstanding. Quintus was fascinated at how casual he was; he’d never met anyone quite like him. Surely he must have some reason to be so confident, some sort of skills or secret knowledge? Nobody could just breeze through life like that otherwise.

Maybe he was just weird and lucky – or possibly unlucky, depending on how this went. Quintus guessed that he’d find out either way very soon.

‘Well, let’s have a looksee,’ said the Doctor, examining the marble squares. He grabbed one, swapped it around with another, switched another two, turned one upside down, and another sideways. ‘Put this one here, that one there, keep that one this way around, bish bash bosh, and what have you got?’

Lucius stared. ‘Enlighten me.’

‘Oh, the soothsayer doesn’t know something?’

‘The seed may float on the breeze in any direction,’ sneered Lucius.

‘Yeah, I knew you were going to say that,’ said the Doctor.

Quintus was amazed. He’d never seen Lucius so unsure of himself; the man was clearly bluffing. How could that be, when he had the gift of sight? There was something going on here. Perhaps he wasn’t the great seer he claimed to be.

The Doctor was still talking cheerfully. ‘Anyway, for your information, this particular circuit is an energy converter.’

‘An energy converter of what?’

The Doctor shrugged happily. ‘I don’t know. Isn’t that brilliant? I love not knowing! Keeps me on my toes.

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