Doctor Who: Terminus (18 page)

‘You don’t understand,’ Tegan began, but the Doctor wasn’t prepared to listen.

‘We’ll talk about it later,’ he said, and then he and Valgard went through into the liner.

Tegan looked after them, dismayed. ‘Why is it always the same?’ she said.

‘There’s a lot to do,’ Nyssa said.

‘There’s always a lot to do.’

Nyssa took her arm. ‘Tegan,’ she began delicately, ‘I have to tell you something.’

Valgard and the Doctor were already some way ahead. Tegan looked after them for a moment. She hadn’t yet told the Doctor about the complex sequence of events that governed the appearance and disappearance of the door to the TARDIS. Well, let him find out for himself, since he didn’t want to hear what she had to say. Turlough had already done the work of solving the puzzle, and when the maintenance drones had finished their repairs on the automated control centre then the launch sequence would resume and the doorway would return. She turned to Nyssa.

The Doctor, meanwhile, was discussing strategy with Valgard. ‘You need publicity,’ he was saying. ‘Get. rid of the secrecy that surrounds this place, and Terminus Incorporated won’t be able to do anything against you.

Forget the shame and the mystery, and emphasize the treatment.’

‘There isn’t any treatment without the Garm,’

Valgard pointed out. ‘You’ve seen to that.’

‘I took away the compulsion, that’s all. I’m sure you’ll have no problem if you invite him to co-operate.’

‘Co-operate?’ Valgard said with some incredulity.

‘The Garm? You’re joking. The Garm’s just a dumb beast.’

‘Then I think you’ve got a surprise coming,’ the Doctor said.

They were about to climb the stairs between decks, but a loud protest from behind made them stop. The Doctor looked back and saw Tegan, shocked and worried, pulling Nyssa forward.

‘Doctor,’ Tegan was saying, ‘Doctor, talk to her!’

Nyssa was looking at the ground, and she seemed a little embarrassed at being made the sudden focus of attention in this way. The Doctor said, ‘What is it?’

Nyssa looked up at him. ‘I’m not coming with you,’

she said.

And, deep inside, he’d known it. He’d known from the moment he’d seen her again, eyes blazing with righteous fury at the poor excuse for a caring process that she’d been put through. Lives were changed by such experiences, and there was no going back.

‘There’s the Hydromel to be synthesised, and I can do it,’ she added. ‘That’s what I was trained for. I don’t regret one moment of the time that I’ve spent on the TARDIS and I’ll miss you both, but I’m needed here and I’m not going to walk away.’

‘Please, Nyssa,’ Tegan said tearfully, but Nyssa wasn’t to be shaken.

‘My mind’s made up,’ she said. ‘Let’s not fall out over it.’

The Doctor said, gently, ‘I suppose you understand the commitment you’ll be taking on.’

Nyssa nodded. ‘Yes.’

‘And that life here’s going to be hard. Not to mention dangerous for a while.’

‘And interesting, and fulfilling...’

‘All right,’ the Doctor said, holding up his hand and smiling. He’d got the message. Nyssa was fully aware of what she was taking on, and she was determined.

With some pressure he might just be able to dissuade her, but he doubted it. And it would be something they’d both regret, for ever.

For Tegan, the enormity of the moment obscured all long-term considerations. ‘She’ll die here,’ she said, almost wailing.

‘Not easily, Tegan,’ Nyssa told her. ‘We’re both alike. Indestructible.’

And then they hung onto each other tightly for a few moments. The Doctor watched. It had happened before and it would happen again, and it seemed that the loss of every member of his ever-changing team took a little piece of him away with them. They were spread through time and through space, all of them reshaped and given new insights through their travels.

Their loss wasn’t too bad a price to pay... not when they gave him a kind of immortality.

He turned to Valgard. As he’d said, there was still a lot to be done.

Turlough groaned as he came around. Every bone in his body seemed to have been shaken and twisted.

Even the backs of his eyes hurt. He wanted nothing more than to lie on the hard floor of the console room, savouring the relief of not moving.

But the Black Guardian had other plans.

‘
Boy
?’ he was whispering. ‘
Wake up, boy
.’

Turlough tried to open his eyes, to lift his head. He made it on the second attempt, and was immediately sorry.

‘
The Doctor is returning
.’

He struggled to get the console room into focus. He could remember a blinding light, and the pain that had come with it. The blackness that had followed had been bliss, but it hadn’t lasted.

The contact cube was on the floor about a metre away. It was blackened and charred, useless-looking.

Turlough said, ‘What did you do to me?’

‘
You will recover
.’

But if the cube was ruined, how... Turlough still couldn’t think straight. ‘I can’t do it,’ he said. ‘Kill the Doctor yourself, I don’t care. I just can’t go on.’

Darkness filled his vision from side to side, and Turlough looked up in awe as his controller stood over him, the very spirit of evil set walking. The Black Guardian’s breath sent a chill across his skin.

‘
This is your last chance. I will not say that again. You will
kill the Doctor
!’

Turlough had failed once. It seemed he wasn’t to be allowed to fail twice.

• Front cover
  
• Rear cover
  
• Title page
  
• Copyright
  
• Terminus