The alleyway which led to Wrack"s stateroom was brightly lit, and a guard of honour of buccaneers was stationed along it. It was not their drawn cutla.s.ses that alarmed Tegan, but the doors lying open ahead, and the music and conversation which drifted through to them. Wrack"s reception was obviously a large affair.
"I"m scared, Doctor," she said, hesitating slightly.
But the Doctor surged on eagerly, and it was Marriner who answered her. "You have no need to be," he said, and his eyes told her that she looked beautiful.
The Doctor was surveying the stateroom when she caught up with hirn. A hundred candles twinkled from great silver candelabra, gla.s.ses clinked and glittered, and the room seemed to be full of people, all talking and laughing together.
"Fascinating!" the Doctor said, surveying the crowd. "A complete cross-section."
"Who are they?" Tegan asked. There were Portuguese, wearing doublet and hose; there were Vikings, with long hair and rough beards; there were Chinese, in the stiff silks of the Manchu dynasty; there were people, it seemed, from every period of earth"s history, and from every part of the globe.
"The masters of sail!" the Doctor answered. His voice was admiring, but it suddenly changed. "Only they"re not, are they?" he said sharply. "They"re Eternals, like your friend Marriner. Who knows what their true shape is."
Tegan"s mouth dropped open. It had never occurred to her, until this minute, that the Eternals might not always be as they now appeared. "They can build ships from what they see in human minds," the Doctor continued. "Perhaps their human shape comes from the same source. Whatever they are, to them all this is just a game."
"To pa.s.s the time," Tegan murmured, her thoughts in a whirl.
"To pa.s.s eternity," the Doctor replied softly. And at that moment, Marriner appeared at their side.
"Champagne?" He proffered the tray he was carrying.
Tegan took a gla.s.s eagerly, longing for something to steady her nerves. "Orange juice for me," the Doctor said, helping himself. He did not drink it, however, but stood, looking round the room.
"Your friend isn"t here," Marriner commented.
"I"d noticed," was the Doctor"s laconic reply. But his eyes still moved methodically from group to group in search of Turlough.
"He isn"t far," Marriner interpolated. "I can sense his thought patterns."
The Doctor continued to look around and so did Tegan, until her gaze was held by an arresting figure. The crowd had parted for a second, and she caught sight of a woman, voluptuous in a tight-laced velvet gown, a ma.s.s of auburn curls falling to her shoulders. Even as she stared, mesmerised, the woman"s heavy-lidded eyes were turned in her direction.
"Who"s that?" she asked, fascinated.
"Your host. Captain Wrack." Marriner answered.
The woman was already moving towards them, two officers at her heels. "She"s beautiful," Tegan said, admiringly. "She is also an Eternal," came the Doctor"s soft voice, and he quickly put a hand over Tegan"s gla.s.s, just as she was about to raise it to her lips. Then Wrack was with them.
"The wine doesn"t please you?" she asked, smiling languidly. Marriner murmured politely that it was excellent.
"But we don"t have your remarkable const.i.tutions," the Doctor smiled back.
Wrack laughed. The sound was throaty and sensuous.
"You"re too modest, Doctor." She stared at him, frankly appraising. "You are remarkable in other ways. For an Ephemeral." Then she turned to Tegan and smiled at her.
"And you, my dear, are so intriguing, all my guests have been begging to meet you." She took the girl"s arm. "You"ll excuse us..." she murmured, and before either of the two men could answer, Tegan was led away to another group.
The Doctor sent her an encouraging smile, as she looked back in dismay, then quickly turned to Marriner. "What about Turlough?" he asked urgently. "Can you still sense his mind vibration?"
Marriner concentrated. A puzzled frown appeared on his face. "Not clearly," he said.
Turlough had reached the final rung of the last companion-ladder. He was retracing the way that Wrack and he had taken earlier. A minute later he stood in front of the door marked "Danger". If the secret of Wrack"s power lay behind that door, Turlough was determined to discover it. The party had provided him with the perfect opportunity. As the stateroom filled with guests he had slipped away, and in the confusion of arrivals and greetings, no one had noticed his departure. Cautiously he had descended ladder after ladder, and now his goal was in front of him. His hands trembled slightly with excitement as he set to work on the opening mechanism. There was a series of clicks and then the operation was complete. But the door did not open, He pushed it, but with no success.
Determined not to be thwarted at the last minute, he put his shoulders against it and shoved with all his might. The door gave suddenly, with no warning, and Turlough found himself hurtling through into the room beyond. It was dimly lit and empty, and the door swung back behind him.
Just in time he managed to recover his balance on the edge of an iron grille! And teetering there, he nearly lost it again, for he saw suddenly that the whole floor of the room was a grid, open to s.p.a.ce and he was looking down between the bars into infinity.
9.
The Grid Room.
"I"ve found him." Marriner spoke slowly, as if in some sort of trance. "Where is he?" the Doctor asked anxiously. There was a long pause. "He"s very faint..." the First Mate sounded faint himself, as though the effort he was making was draining his strength. "Concentrate," the Doctor ordered.
Marriner withdrew into himself even more, oblivious of the crowded stateroom, his inward eye searching for Turlough"s mind. "He is afraid," he said in a low voice.
Surprisingly, the news seemed to please the Doctor. "That should sharpen the image," he said with satisfaction.
"Yes..." Marriner"s voice grew stronger as he homed in on his objective. "The grid room... I can see into his mind quite clearly... he is in the ion chamber..."
"Where"s that?" the Doctor asked sharply.
"Down... down as far as you can go..."
The Doctor threw a frantic glance after Tegan. She was smiling and talking to people, but Wrack was leading her further and further away all the time.
"Danger..." Marriner"s voice was still withdrawn and concentrated. "The boy"s in danger... It"s open to s.p.a.ce...
There"s a vacuum shield..."
Tegan was now nowhere to be seen, but the Doctor could hear her laughter from somewhere in the room. In desperation he seized Marriner"s arm, and the firm grip seemed to bring the First Mate to himself again, as if his mind had just returned from a journey.
"Look after Tegan," the Doctor said urgently. And then he turned and hurried from the room.
Turlough crouched by the grid, staring down into s.p.a.ce.
He had been frozen in the same position for minutes, as if mesmerised. The immensity of it had obliterated everything else; where he was and what he was doing there were totally forgotten. A sound brought him back to reality. It was the slam of a door. Turlough whirled round, panic-stricken, and flung himself towards it. But he was too late. He could hear the locking devices being clicked into position, but although he banged and shouted, whoever was activating them did not hear. In fact, it was one of the officers, who had spotted that the door was not properly secured and was now firmly fastening it.
Turlough would have been even more horrified if he had seen what the officer did next, before continuing his rounds. He turned off the vacuum shield. Had Turlough but known it, all he had left now was four minutes, the run-down time built into the mechanism as a safety precaution. After that, the energy barrier between himself and s.p.a.ce would cease to exist.
The Doctor was out of breath, but he dared not stop.
Marriner"s words still rang in his ears. Turlough was in danger. Down another ladder a race along a corridor then a junction. "Which way? Which way?" he muttered to himself. A glimpse of another ladder to the left and he dashed in that direction. "How much further?" he thought frantically.
With a last frenzied rattle at the handle, Turlough turned away from the door, almost in tears. n.o.body knew where he was, n.o.body would come to find him, he was trapped!
In despair, he pulled the Cube from his pocket. Frightened as he was of the Black Guardian, he was even more frightened of being left alone here. For ever, perhaps!
"Help me... please," he whimpered. And as though he had been waiting, the Black Guardian"s image swam faintly into view. "I warned you, boy!" The deep voice had a threatening note. "You failed me. You will die."
"No... No, please..." Even as the incoherent syllables tumbled from his lips, Turlough knew that they were useless. Prayers and entreaties would have no effect on the Black Guardian. Indeed, his cloaked image was already fading, leaving Turlough more alone than ever.
Marriner kept Tegan continually in view. As Wrack took her from group to group, he sauntered with them, a little distance away, but always within call. Wrack had been right her guests did find Tegan intriguing. Admiring glances followed her wherever she went. What Marriner did not realise until too late was that, under Wrack"s guidance, her triumphal progress was taking her nearer and nearer to an exit. He saw Wrack put a hand on Tegan"s arm as they paused near the door and then, just as he was about to step forward, a servant with a tray of drinks got in his way; a group of guests came between him and the two women; and when he looked again, Tegan had gone.
Turlough"s hands were bruised from battering against the door, and he was exhausted. Despairingly, he stepped back and onto the edge of the grid. For a second his foot wavered over one of the openings. It was almost as though something were sucking it down into s.p.a.ce, and the pull threw him momentarily off balance. He clutched at the door and pulled himself back. Almost immediately, a red warning light started flashing on and off on the wall by the door and blinking in and out with it were the words, "VACUUM SHIELD OFF." The yelps of an audio-alerting system sounded. Turlough looked at the grid beneath his feet with horror. There was a faint swirling motion between the bars, as the energy field started to close down.
The Doctor reached another crossroads. Then, very faintly from the left, he heard a distant siren, like a danger warning. "This has to be the way!" he muttered, and plunged down the pa.s.sage in the direction of the signal.
In the ion chamber the audio-alerting system now sounded one continuous wail, and "VACUUM SHIELD OFF"
glared a fixed red. Turlough was pressed against the wall, staring in horror at the floor. The whirlpool beyond the grid was now much stronger, and he could hear a rushing sound. He pulled the crystal Cube from his pocket and almost sobbed into it, "Please help me, please help me."
There was nothing except a distant voice saying "Die...
die... die..." and in the rushing noise a sound that could almost have been the Black Guardian chuckling. Turiough made his last effort. It was wrenched from him, without thinking. "Doctor!" he called at the top of his voice.
"Doctor! Help me!" The audio-alert was now one continuous scream and the chuckling, rushing noise grew louder and louder. Turiough shut his eyes. Then suddenly everything stopped. There was total silence. It was broken by the Doctor"s voice. "So that"s where you"ve got to," it said mildly.
The candles were guttering in Wrack"s wheelhouse as she led Tegan in. There were empty wine goblets left here and there, and silver platters of half-eaten food, but otherwise the room was empty.
"I thought you were taking me to meet someone," Tegan said, suddenly wary.
"They seem to have gone." Wrack answered with plausible charm, but Tegan felt her suspicions growing.
"Shall we return to the party, then?" she said firmly, and turned towards the door. Wrack raised no objection.
"Whatever you wish." She sounded perfectly agreeable, but she paused, as though on an afterthought. "First " she said, and then broke off. "What?" Tegan wanted to know. Wrack smiled at her.
"Have you heard of time standing still?"
Tegan was puzzled and thrown off her guard. "Well...
yes..." she said. "It"s an expression... it means..." But she never got any further.
"... exactly what it says," Wrack went on, and moved her hand in front of Tegan"s face in a soft gesture. The girl stood like a statue, her lips slightly parted on the next word, as though turned to stone in the middle of speaking.
Wrack looked into her eyes, and then stepped back and surveyed the motionless figure with satisfaction. "You will remain frozen in time until I have finished with you," she said. "Foolish Ephemeral!"
Turlough opened his eyes at the sound of the Doctor"s voice. He could have collapsed with relief as he saw the Time Lord standing in the doorway. "Vacuum shield!" was all he managed to get out, in a sort of croak. "I re-set it," the Doctor answered calmly, and stepping into the room, he closed the door firmly behind him. Why the knowledge that he was safe should make him feel like pa.s.sing out, Turlough could not understand. Reaction, he imagined. "I thought I was going to die," he heard himself saying feebly.
"Not yet." The Doctor"s voice was kindly, but he seemed more interested in the grid room than in Turlough. "What are you doing in here?" he asked rather absently, as he prowled around looking at everything. "Something Wrack told me," Turlough managed to get out. "She said this place contained the secret of her power."
"Did she?" The Doctor sounded interested, but he still went on with his examination. "It is part of the ion drive system, of course."
"Why is it open to s.p.a.ce?" Turlough asked. He thought with horror of that gigantic vacuum in which he had so nearly disintegrated. The Doctor"s reply was brief and to the point. "Better reception" was all he said. And then suddenly he stopped dead, looking at something on the grid at his feet. He looked next at the ceiling overhead, and gave a low whistle. "What is it?" Turlough asked. There was an urgent note in the Doctor"s voice as he answered.
"Wrack uses this place as a receiver for something else as well. Something quite different." "What?" Turlough"s curiosity was so strong that he crossed over to the dreaded grid again without even hesitating. "Look at that." The Doctor pointed to the floor where they were standing.
Unlike the squared pattern of the rest, the girders at that point formed the shape of an eye. The Doctor pointed directly overhead. In the ceiling above them was a small eye-shaped. aperture, a crystal at the centre of it like a pupil from which a dim light filtered. "Know what it is?"
he asked.
Turlough was nonplussed. "It looks like an eye," he said, hesitantly. The Doctor"s voice sounded grim. "Only in appearance" he replied. "It functions as a ma.s.sive amplifier."
Turlough had a moment"s sudden clarity. "That"s what Wrack uses to destroy the ships!" he exclaimed. The Doctor nodded. It was almost with a feeling of disappointment that Turlough went on, "So that"s the secret of her power!"
"Not quite," the Doctor"s voice sounded grave. "This is only part of it. We still have to locate the focus."
"What d"you mean?" Turlough asked.
The Doctor spoke slowly, as though thinking aloud.
"Wrack is only a channel for the power. And she must have something to focus it on. A focus aboard every ship she plans to destroy. Otherwise it wouldn"t work. Now how do you think she manages it?" And he looked at Turlough as though expecting some sort of answer.
Wrack unlocked a small heavy coffer on one of the tables.
She lifted the lid and looked inside, then looked at Tegan, standing immobile at the other side of the room, the light shining on her tiara. From the coffer she lifted a large jewel, a cabuchon crystal. She looked again towards the girl, and her amus.e.m.e.nt was not a pleasant thing to see.
The Doctor was still staring at the eye of the amplifier. It reminded him of something, but he could not think what.
Then Turlough interrupted his train of thought. "How big would this point of focus have to be?" he asked. The Doctor indicated a size between his thumb and index finger. "No bigger that that," he said, and immediately it came to him.
"Of course!" He could see it in his mind"s eye. "The clasp!
That"s why it was out of period!" And he made for the door.
Turlough followed him. "What are you talking about?" he demanded. The Doctor did not even pause. "Critas the Greek," he said, his hand on the opening lever. Turlough still did not understand. "You mean the first ship that blew up?" he asked. "Yes!" The Doctor finally did stop, in exasperation. "Wrack gave him a jewelled clasp. As a present. It must have been from her. And somehow she worked the same sort of trick with Davey."
"She did!" Turlough exclaimed. He had a sudden vision of the cutla.s.s blade swishing past his ear, and the hilt with the star sapphire. "She gave him a sword! There was a jewel like a crystal in the handle!"
"That was it!" the Doctor said, triumphantly.
Turlough had a sudden sick feeling. "Will she try the same thing with Striker?" he asked.
"I shouldn"t think so!" The Doctor still sounded pleased.