Out of Time

Chapter Two

CHAPTER TWO

 The Doctor looked up and beamed with relief, ready to acknowledge his saviour. One of the natives, a middle aged female Verdopolitan, human like in appearance except for pale blue glistening skin and elongated limbs and features, bent over the assassin and meekly uttered, dropping their truncheon.

 “Sorry dear…But there’s been a change of plan. Your services are no longer required.”

 “Professor Ida Givanny… Aha!” The Doctor recognising a friendly face from earlier rushed forward and shook hands, giving her a quick hug. Before pulling away and then regarding her suspiciously for a moment. “What’s going on in these towers?”

 Ida could not look the Doctor in the eye nor did she know where to begin, her skin turning a deep shade of violet as she blushed with shame; fortunately they were interrupted by fast approaching footsteps. She took the Doctor’s hand and began to drag him away to the only place of refuge. For the Doctor was their only hope.

 “I need to get to my TARDIS…Where are you taking me?” The Doctor began to protest.

  Though it fell on death ears as Ida placed her hand against the wall, a hidden doorway suddenly appeared from nowhere which she then unceremoniously shoved the Doctor through and then sealed it behind them, it was so dark inside that the Doctor could barely see his outstretched hands.

 “You can’t go back to the TARDIS, we’re completely cut off and your time ship is being watched Doctor.” Professor Givanny whispered with great urgency into his ear.

 “Look I was on my way to visit a good friend, a very dear friend with some vitally important news…” The Doctor began to ramble resentfully although in hushed tones, mindful of the guards who were at the moment only inches away and on the other side of the wall. The Doctor paused and listened to the guards retreat into the distance; using his sonic screwdriver as a light he blew away his drooping fringe from his eyes and continued talking more forcefully. “The kind of news that changes lives and what I sincerely hope will make my friend very happy because there’s nothing else in the Universe at the moment that would please me more…” The Doctor raised his hand and paused for a moment, he was allowing himself to become distracted, he had to concentrate. “But there’s always a but; always something else which comes along…And this time it’s something of Universal magnitude. So to cut a long story short I was on my merry way to collect another friend and set two good people’s lives back on track when my TARDIS began picking up waves of time distortion and high levels of entropy which I then traced back to this galaxy and the origins of these disturbances were coming from your planet…So I decided to stop off on the way duty bound to find out what was causing it…But it’s much worse than I thought…” The Doctor suddenly stopped and drew a deep breath. “Could we have a bit more light please?”

 The vast room lit up magnificently, the glass towers certainly lived up to its name as every piece of surface shimmered with an almost supernatural brilliance. It was a place of work but it also passed as makeshift living quarters to judge by the bed and various personal artefacts such as books scattered around. Built into the far end of the wall was a control panel and another doorway, a curtain of shimmering light which resembled a waterfall but the Doctor knew what it was.

 “When it comes to time travel and harnessing the power of the time vortex your race were always highly advanced…” Ida awaited the Time Lord’s verdict as he glided his hand along walls and spoke softly. “But something has changed drastically…Life as we know it. These towers are so old but they look as brand spanking new as the day they were built but there’s nothing unusual in that Ida except the glass towers of Verdopolitan haven’t had any restoration work, they’re in exactly the same state as a thousand years ago. There are no signs of decay as though the effects of entropy and the passage of time have been utterly reversed…” The Doctor spun on his heel to confront his shamefaced companion, his whole manner suddenly sharp and alert, anxiety bristling below the surface. “Now I have to ask Professor… How is that possible?”