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Lungbarrow - Chapter Thirty-four

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One Fine Day

The final ember of the sun of Extans Superior sank below the sea. Stars were already sprinkling the lavender-dark sky. The air was scented like passion-fruit.

Chris angled an arm out of his hover-hammock and reached for his glass. He drained the last of his Indigo Moonrise cocktail and made gurgling noises through the straw.

The Doctor hadn't touched his drink. The slice of magenta fruit garnishing the glass was starting to dry and curl. He sat in a deckchair, staring at the sea, absently turning a set of heavy keys round and round on their thick metal ring.

Chris laid back and tried to relax, to do all the summery holiday things that the lapping waves and rustling palms and beat of distant music told him he should be doing. Along the beach, the locals had started a bonfire. Their laughter and singing echoed along the sand. Chris clunked his glass back on the antigrav tray hanging in the air beside him and sighed in resignation. 'It doesn't work, does it? I thought it might have helped.'

Little birds ran back and forth at the water's edge. And the Doctor's keys turned over and over. Click... click... click.

'Doctor?'

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'It's supposed to be a release.' The Time Lord's voice sounded miles away, fathoms deep.

Oh Goddess, thought Chris, here we go. 'What's that?' he asked aloud.

The Doctor sighed. 'An old lullaby crooned by a skull-faced nurse. Death and the eternal peace of oblivion. That's how it usually ends...'

'Um... I suppose that's one way of putting it.'

'Except for Time Lords, when it just goes on and on.' Click... click... click.

Two of the locals, a girl and a boy, both with scarlet trumpet flowers in their hair, ran past waving. 'Come to the feast. The feast is starting.'

Chris waved back. 'We'll be along later.' He let his arm drop.

'You go if you want to,' said the Doctor. He stood up, folded his deckchair and headed back to the TARDIS. A little figure, still in his hat, silhouetted against the glow seeping from the police box door.

The palm leaves clacked overhead like applause in the warm breeze. A crab scuttled away across the sand, one claw waving its farewell. Chris took one last look at the sea and the rose-coral beach as they slid into the dusk. Then he hurried after the Doctor.

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It was cool inside. The Doctor had put up his deckchair again. He sat and watched the new TARDIS console, apparently waiting for it to react. Or was he just admiring the antique rosewood and tortoiseshell finish? Or wondering how to make the thing work? 'Shut the door, Chris,' he said and waved a hand. 'Things get in.'

Chris pulled an ivory lever and the door swung shut. 'Home again,' he said cheerfully. He picked his way through the debris that littered the floor and found a chair to sit on.

The overblown vaults of the reconfigured TARDIS dwarfed them. Wood and stone rose high in panels and buttresses, where once there had been the clean functionality of a white honeycomb.

'Home,' murmured the Doctor.

And it was like the Doctor's home. As if his ship understood the loss of the House and had compensated to fill the emptiness. Shadowy corridors, alcoves and stairways, a secret at every turn. Like being in the Doctor's head. Like his life, for that matter, the details of which were strewn like flotsam across the floor.

Chris wasn't sure how long he sat, feeling the purr of the TARDIS engines as they tried to ease his own aching heart. His head had cleared of other people's thoughts, guilt and stresses. In comparison, his own were easy to put in order.

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He thought of Roz, of how angry she used to get, her dark eyes flashing, her expression dour for days on end, and laughed at how much he missed her. He'd already fetched her towel from the bathroom and put it in his bag.

Click... click... click... The Doctor was turning his keys again, staring at a fixed point on the console... waiting.

'Where would you like to go?' Chris asked quietly.

The little man edged a sad smile across his face. 'Even more places than you, Chris.' He hefted himself out of the deckchair, took a few steps circling the console and sank backwards into an ancient armchair that creaked as it received him. 'Isn't it time you struck out on your own? Did your own thing? You'll have had enough of me by now.'

'No,' protested Chris.

'But...,' said the Doctor and waited.

'Well, I mean, yes. There are places I'd like to see.'

'I know there are.'

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'Before I'm so old, they all laugh when I walk in the door.'

'Would they?' The Doctor sounded shocked. 'They never laugh at me.'

'Um...' Chris looked across and saw the Doctor's eyes twinkle with laughter in the depths of the armchair. He gave up. 'You're just trying to make it easy for me.'

'I do try,' the Doctor agreed.

Chris suddenly brimmed with love for this strange, all-powerful, irritating, little whoever, whatever he was person. 'What about you? It's even less easy for you. I should be there.'

The Doctor shook his head. 'Talk to Romana. She'll sort out the transport for you.'

'Yes, but...' Chris was flustered. 'Romana? You mean we're going back?'

'Three days here in paradise is quite enough, thank you. Besides...' His mouth twitched nervily. '...running away again? It won't do, will it?'

'Suppose not...'

'No. It never does.' He rose again, walked up to the newly antique console and briskly adjusted the ebony dials. 'Straight back to where we left them, I think.' But his eyes were full of tears.

'Doctor,' said Chris gently. 'You're crukking wonderful, you know.'

'I know, I know,' he said with a watery smile. 'And if I didn't exist, you'd have to invent me.'

The sun broke through the clouds, and the wind had softened. Birds were feeding on the fish.

Innocet, walking on the springy turf of Mount Lung with Leela and Doroth\xE9e, suddenly stopped and took her shoes off.

'Of course, they got out,' Doroth\xE9e said for the umpteenth time. 'They always get out.'

They heard a call and saw Romana running up the slope towards them. Beyond her, the homeless Cousins resembled an animated jumble sale. People and guards were moving among them.

'Help has arrived from the Capitol,' she said. 'We've got provisions and medical aid. We'll soon get the Cousins moved to safety.'

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Innocet nodded graciously and fumbled with her shoes.

'And I've been talking to Captain Redred. He seems resigned, but I doubt the poor man understands what happened.'

'His Family will look after him,' said Leela.

'They're your Family too,' Romana reminded her.

'Andred's Family.' Leela looked in earnest at the President. 'What about you?'

Romana tossed her hair and smiled mischievously. 'Quite a lot's been going on,' she said. 'You'll see.'

Mum's the word, thought Doroth\xE9e. But she kept her mouth shut on that count. 'Still no sign of the Doctor,' she said.

'He'll turn up,' Romana said. 'Always when you least expect it. As things stand, I don't mind if he takes years...'

The others threw her puzzled glances.

There was a shout and someone came galumphing down the slope to meet them.

Chris looked surprisingly clean and rested. Somehow he'd found time to shave and have a bath. And change his clothes too.

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'How did you get out?' they asked. 'Is the Doctor safe? Where's the TARDIS?'

'The Doctor's fine,' he said after he'd hugged them all, including Innocet, much to her surprise. 'But he's had a hell of a shock.'

'So have we all,' said Romana.

Chris nodded up the mountain. 'Go up and see him. The company will do him good. And you won't believe what the inside of the TARDIS looks like!'

Chris watched the others tramping up the slope. Romana waited, suddenly looking serious, which made him feel awkward.

'Actually, I have to ask a favour, if that's OK.'

'Of course,' she said.

'Well, he and I have talked it through. I mean, it's not that I don't get on with the Doctor. I'll miss him terribly...'

'But he has been very much in your thoughts lately.'

'That's right,' said Chris. 'I think we've sort of needed each other. But now I'd like to strike out on my own. No ties. You know the sort of thing.'

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Romana smiled. 'Where would you go?'

'Well, for a start I've this friend called Bernice.'

'Bernice Summerfield,' said Romana. 'I've met her. She's an archaeologist. A rather good one. She could teach us Time Lords a thing or two.'

Chris grinned.

'If you like, I'll arrange a time ring,' she went on. 'But think first, Chris. Don't rush it. The Doctor might need you too.' She tapped his arm. 'Come on, we'd better join the others.'

Chris looked back and saw that a small and official party was following.

The little figure sat on the mountainside under a wind-bent tree. His eyes were closed in contemplation.

'This is where our hermit used to live,' said Innocet, quietly as the company approached. 'The Doctor would spend days up here. It used to infuriate Satthralope.'

'He'd enjoy that,' said Doroth\xE9e.

'There you all are.' The Doctor stood up. 'I'd put the kettle on only we're completely out of tea.'

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He looked exhausted and, although everyone stood around smiling, no one knew what to say.

'It's the shock,' he added quietly.

When he saw Romana, he produced the data extractor from his pocket.

'My House and Family,' he said. 'The essentials at any rate.' And he flourished a bunch of heavy keys.

'Good,' Romana said.

He passed the objects to Innocet. 'You're Housekeeper now, Cousin. Please look after these.'

He surveyed the group that had accompanied her up the slope. 'You've been busy, Romana. Are you still President?'

'Chancellor Theora?' said Romana.

A proud woman stepped forward, holding her labyrinthine hair sculpture steady in the breeze. 'Please tell Romana to come back to the Capitol, Doctor. Former Castellan Spandrell has spoken to the High Council in the President's favour. They are prepared to listen, if she will only come back.'

The Doctor eyed Romana. 'No doubt you have something startling to pull out of your Presidential hat.'

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She nodded. 'Something monumental is happening on Gallifrey.'

'So l gather.'

She indicated a tall woman, robed in red. 'This is the priestess Charkesta.'

'You're the new Ambassador from Karn,' the Doctor said.

The woman made honour with her hands. 'The ages-long rift between Gallifrey and our Sisterhood is healed. There are many favourable portents.'

She turned and made honour to Leela, who had been busy sharpening her knife on a stone with her sound hand.

'Thought as much,' said Doroth\xE9e. 'I thought they'd know all the time.'

'Of course,' said the Doctor proudly. 'Curses can't last forever. Sooner or later, two people with the right potential were bound to get together. Congratulations, Leela. You and Andred must be very happy.'

'We will be when I have told him,' she said.

The Doctor bowed graciously to Charkesta. 'The Sisterhood's intervention is most welcome and timely. I hope Romana's grateful.'

The priestess nodded. 'Time moves in circles, Doctor. The omens for the President are also most propitious. Once again the female principle is restored to Gallifrey.'

'I don't think,' said the Doctor with a twinkle, 'that it ever really went away.'

Romana took a deep breath. 'The first child on Gallifrey in millennia. We must take care of you.'

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'Not too much care,' said Leela firmly.

'President Romana?' said the Doctor. 'Is this why I was summoned home?'

'Yes, that's right,' she said very quickly. 'I thought you should be the first to know.'

'Then don't look so glum. Anyone would think it was something dreadful.'

'Romana will get you home,' he said to Doroth\xE9e. 'I am sorry about your motorbike.'

He was sitting on the crumbling edge of a well, examining a scarlet-winged fly that had landed on his finger.

'Don't worry,' she said. 'I discovered two more stashed away in a stable.'

'Kadiatu Lethbridge-Stewart,' he smiled. 'Always prepared for any eventuality.'

'Doctor?'

'Hmm?'

'You know what you said about me going to the Academy?' She swallowed hard. 'Well, if you want me to enrol...'

'Ace. . . I mean Doroth\xE9e. You are breathtaking.'

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'I mean it.'

'I know. But only if you want to.'

She stuck her hands in her pockets and kicked a dead fish. 'Not really.'

'Then thank you anyway,' he said. 'Just go on being Time's Vigilante.'

'Thanks, champ,' she said and gave him a long hug.

When they finally pulled apart, Innocet was standing a little way off, looking awkward.

They watched the Doctor and Innocet walking together on the mountainside.

There were no words to hear. Just the angle and movement of their heads. The pauses in their steps. A moment when they stopped to examine a flower together.

The Doctor went inside the TARDIS, which they had hardly noticed, standing among some scrubby bushes. He emerged a moment later pushing a battered wheelbarrow loaded with books.

Innocet reached out and touched the Doctor's arm.

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The disgruntled Cousins muttered to themselves as the Doctor and Romana faced them. 'You tell them,' she said.

He took off his hat. 'Cousins of Lungbarrow, you will shortly be transported to the Capitol. President Romana assures me that you will be well cared for and recompensed.'

'Not enough!' shouted several of them.

'Furthermore, the excommunication of the House will be revoked and the Family reinstated in the Prydonian Chapter.'

'What about our House?' yelled Rynde.

'And there will be a new House, restructured from the original template, but without the temper. Anything else I can do for you!'

In one movement, they turned their backs.

'Goodbye, Lungbarrovians,' he called. 'Don't worry. I don't ask for your forgiveness. Time runs in circles. I have other families!'

He looked away across the slope to his companions. Close by, the Director of Allegiance was standing with several of his agents.

'If I keep my job,' Romana said, 'I'll have Lord Ferain suspended on a charge of misdirection of power. I'm going to have the Agency doors thrown open to Public Register Video for a full investigation.'

'What it is to have power,' said the Doctor.

'You'd know.' She grabbed his arm and tried to steer him away as Ferain started towards them.

The elderly man caught up with the Doctor. 'Has she told you why she summoned you yet?'

Romana scowled. 'Go away, Ferain.'

'Has she told you about the mission she's arranged?'

'I changed my mind,' Romana said. 'The Doctor's not involved.'

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'What mission?' said the Doctor.

'To Skaro,' Ferain said.

'Cairo?'

'No, Skaro.'

The Doctor shook his head. 'Is this some new Skaro? Or the one that I destroyed with the Hand of Omega?'

Romana flailed her arms. 'I said it doesn't matter!'

Leela and Chris and Doroth\xE9e were drawn in by the sound of the argument.

Ferain stood smugly back while the Doctor and Romana argued.

'No, Doctor. I'll get someone else to go.'

'If it's the Master's remains, then I should be the one to fetch them.'

'It's too dangerous!'

'What could be worse than facing my miserable Cousins! Filling in forms with Lethbridge-Stewart? Lunch with the terrible Zodin. . .?'

Ferain said, 'But it's true. The Matrix predicts a ninety-six percent chance of fatal injury.'

The Doctor closed his eyes and said quietly, 'Then that leaves me with a clear four per cent margin.'

'Don't be so Otheringly flippant!' snapped Romana.

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The Doctor laughed. 'You should see yourselves. The President and the CIA locked in your eternal skirmishes. One side always tilting at the other.'

'That's how the balance of order is maintained,' said Romana.

The Director of Allegiance smiled grimly. 'It has been that way on Gallifrey ever since the Intuitive Revelation.'

'But you must be so bored,' said the Doctor. 'Buried in a state of perpetual Harmony, no wonder you play these games.'

'And what will you teach us with your manifold wisdom?' said Ferain. 'Whoever you are or were?'

The Doctor met the old man's eye. The wind stilled.

'What do you want, Ferain? What do you want me to be? Shall I reveal my blazing power? Might that not fry you to a crisp? Shall I sweep away evil and chaos? Reorder the stars in their courses? Banish burnt toast forever?'

He paused.

'Well, I won't. I wouldn't if I could. Who do you think I am?' He thumbed his chest. 'I'm me. The Doctor. What I have been, someone might have imagined. What I will be, how can I tell? I'm not immortal. I shall go to this Skaro, collect the Master's remains and bring them back to President Romanadvoratrelundar.'

'With such backing,' said Ferain, 'how can she fail?'

The Doctor's eyes flashed. 'Be quiet, my lord. And remember your place!'

The birds had stopped singing.

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Ferain was silent.

Romana cleared her throat. 'Please be careful.'

The Doctor eyed her sternly. 'The Daleks. The Master. Romana, who have you been talking to?'

Innocet sniffed the books one after another. The musty smells of the pages and covers had their own stories to tell.

One faded volume contained a picture of a tubby creature floating under a dirigible surrounded by a cloud of beatitude flies.

The words were unintelligible to her. A telepath translator could do the job instantly, but that would deny her years of painstaking work. Something to savour while the new House was nurtured and grown. She and her House. She hoped the Doctor would come to their wedding.

She looked round for the Doctor, but he and his companions were nowhere to be seen.

They stood in a line beside the TARDIS.

'Please,' the Doctor said, 'I didn't ask to be seen off.'

'Tough,' said Doroth\xE9e. 'You'd better have these.' She fished her last battered box of teabags out of her pocket. He took them and hugged her tight.

He looked fondly at Leela for a long time, peering into her eyes as if he recognized something there.

'This love thing,' he mused. 'Interesting. A father from Gallifrey and a mother of Earth stock. That's an unusual pedigree.'

She pushed back her hair and said awkwardly, 'I don't have anything for you, Doctor.'

'Just call him after me.'

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She looked startled and then nodded.

'Who exactly is the terrible Zodin?' butted in Chris. 'Some sort of Galactic megalomaniac emperor?'

The Doctor's eyes went misty. 'Zodin was a celebrated sword-swallower at the Grand Festival of Zymymys Midamor. She had an amazing trick with a scimitar.'

Chris grabbed the Doctor, lifting him off his feet in a monstrous bear hug.

'Roz bet me that I'd never dare do this,' he said. Eventually he put the Doctor down again and picked up his hat for him.

'Give my love to Bernice,' said the Doctor, squeezing Chris's hand.

'And ask her if she wants to lecture at the Academy here,' said Romana.

She turned to the Doctor.

'I know. I'll be careful,' he said.

'I want you to have this.' She slipped a metallic object into his hand. 'It's my sonic screwdriver.'

He smiled. 'Thank you, Madam President. I shall see you soon. Back at the Capitol.'

He walked to the TARDIS, a small figure clutching his presents. He turned his key and went inside.

One by one they moved away.

'Will he come back?' said Leela.

'Dorothee!' The Doctor's head re-emerged from the door. 'I just remembered. I haven't been Merlin yet!'

He vanished and the door closed.

'What?' chorused the others, as Doroth\xE9e began to laugh.

The light on the TARDIS flashed like a bright idea.

A flock of startled birds rose from the trees as the TARDIS grated out of existence.

Then they were alone on the sunny mountainside.