Genesis Of The Doctor - A Doctor Who Story

31 - Tower

As they both hurtled up the polished limestone staircase spiralling upwards within the Elizabeth Tower Clive did his best to keep up with Smith.  Smith seemed desperate to reach the top with no regard for their safety or for Clive's health.

"Do you think... there'll be anyone... up there?" asked Clive, punctuating his words with deep breaths as he struggled to keep up the pace.

"It would be a good place to hide," replied Smith taking each step with one stride effortlessly, "easy to defend, only one entrance - but with the Houses Of Parliament in flames next door it makes less sense.  It's only a matter of time until this place goes up too - it's leaning a bit already."

"Is it too late to say that I don't like heights?" asked Clive.  Deciding to ignore the foolishness of what they were doing he changed the subject, "So your friend... Jansky... You're taking a lot on trust aren't you?  If she was trying to send you a message that the Myriad couldn't understand ... why didn't she just write 'climb up Big Ben' in your language?  You don't speak English where you're from right?"

"They know what she knows and that includes how to speak my language I'm afraid, she had to write something cryptic that relied on how my mind works."

"Why Big Ben anyway?" asked Clive.  "Hey, it's not a massive rocket is it?"

Before Smith had time to answer there came a crashing noise from far behind them.  "I think we have company again," Clive remarked needlessly.  They both realised that the noise could only have come from the same solid oak door that they had forced open earlier to enter the tower. "You don't think it could be her again do you? Your friend?  She was out cold."

"We're built more robustly than you I'm afraid. She could easily have recovered by now, particularly if she has the Myriad hot-wiring her mind and her body."

A pleading voice echoed up the stairway from far below them, "Hello!  John.  What's the hurry?  I just want to talk to you; can't you just come back down?"

"That's her," Smith confirmed to Clive.  "At least it sounds like her, I doubt she's the one moving her lips though.  Come on, we have to hurry now!"

They had entered a brightly lit corridor, dominated by an enormous reversed clock face taking up one wall - the interior of the southern face of the most well-known clock in the world.  They continued to run through a door into a second identical room containing another clock face.  Smith spied a squat brown wooden chair to one side of the polished floor.  Taking it with both hands he turned and wedged it under the handle of the door through which they had entered, attempting to seal it shut.  They ran on through another door and into a third clock face room and finally into a fourth where again Smith repeated his efforts with another chair, barricading the door.

This was followed by another short flight of stairs and then they entered a much larger room.  This large, ornately decorated room contained the exposed uppermost parts of the mechanism of the giant clock.  In plain view were the smaller 'quarter bells' and 'Big Ben'; the giant bell itself which leant its name to the tower.  Adjacent to the bells a jumbled array of antique looking sound recording equipment sprawled over a low desk.

Smith glanced at his watch, "We're only going to have one chance at this," he said and from his pocket he pulled the electrode net that he had used to monitor the thoughts of Mike Davis - their captive in the van the previous day.  He threw this over the giant bell where it secured itself magnetically with a metallic clang.  A long wire trailed from the electrode net and to this Smith attached his phone.  He then grasped the phone with the little fingers of both hands and began typing furiously upon it with all of his other fingers simultaneously.