Out of Time

Chapter Twelve

CHAPTER TWELVE

 Anna took a deep breath, relieved to discover she could breathe again, not so happy to realise she was being restrained in a cabinet, hooked up to a machine monitoring her vital signs. She had no recollection of the journey through the vortex, in her mind it had been seconds from when she closed her eyes; Anna was glad that the monsters were nowhere to be seen. Though somewhat disconcerted to see a face leering in close to hers and examining her intently.

 “Oh you’re blue.” Anna croaked, her voice returning along with bodily sensation which included a hammering headache, it had been a while since Anna had met a humanoid which looked mostly human. “I’m guessing you must be Professor Raynor…” She was incapable of hiding her disdain. “The Doctor told me about you and your time experiments.”

 “Interesting the subject has made a quick recovery from the transportation. This would suggest prolonged exposure to the time vortex, a seasoned traveller.” Raynor spoke into some kind of recording device and then decided to acknowledge his “study”. “Hello my dear…” Raynor smiled and has Anna calmly observed it was anything but friendly, distinctly chilling with a touch of menace. “Where’s the Doctor?”

 “Oh he’s a little busy at the moment. But I’m sure he’ll be along later.”  Anna replied with a breezy nonchalance she had learned from the Doctor.

 Raynor’s eyes flashed with anger, he was under pressure at the moment but he liked a lively exchange, the Doctor’s companions, including former ones were famed for being feisty.

 “So did the Doctor explain about my revolutionary work, about changing the structure of the Universe, altering the blueprint of existence and taming time itself?”  

 The small blue man; bristled with arrogance and Anna also came to the calm conclusion that Raynor had long ago crossed the boundaries of sanity and was definitely entrenched in the insane camp.Although the seasoned traveller Anna had experienced too much to be intimated by this so called genius, a pale imitation of the Doctor.

 “The Doctor explained enough, although we were rudely interrupted by your pet dragons…As far as I understand it, you were trying to halt the progression of time on your planet and to a certain degree you have succeeded but at a terrible cost to the rest of the Universe, the side effect being that you speeded up time everywhere else and it’s spreading like a wound…”

 “Oh very eloquently put…I can see why he likes you humans.” Raynor sneered at Anna. “But in evolutionary terms your race has barely climbed out of the trees.”

 “You know you are a very rude man…” Anna stated matter-of-factly and raised an eyebrow, a defiant glint in her eyes as she offered some advice. “I’d stop if I was you; it makes you even tinier than you already are.”

 The professor smiled condescendingly and attempted to absolve himself of any blame from the chain of events he had set in place…

 “The Doctor didn’t tell you the whole story did he? He could help me, it doesn’t have to be the way it is…And instead, he chose to ignore the wonderful miracle I have set in motion…” Raynor was truly self-righteous but even he had to concede that not everything had gone to plan. “Of course there have been setbacks though as long as Verdopolis is safe…” The Professor turned away as if he was holding a conversation with an unseen figure but then he swung round violently to Anna again. “The Time Lord speaks of stopping me…Hah! Stop me, he doesn’t have the first idea.”  Raynor taunted and then probed, hoping he would goad Anna into supplying him with information of what the Doctor was up to. Though to Anna it sounded like a man on the edge hysteria.

 “The Doctor will stop you Professor…” Anna boldly defended the Doctor, though she did wonder what his plan was, he didn’t seem to have one before she was captured. “He’s working on a plan even as we speak.”

 “Hah! He even trains you to parrot his exact phrases.” Raynor mocked triumphantly believing he had the upper hand, his bullish face pushed close to Anna’s in an attempt to intimidate.

 “You really don’t know the Doctor do you?”

 Anna laughed darkly and wondered how many times the bad and mad had underestimated the Doctor, when would they learn? And even though she’d had to come to terms with the Doctor changing his whole appearance and personality, Anna had never felt closer to her friend and was unwavering in her belief that if anyone could save the Universe it would be the Doctor.

 “But look at this.”

 Raynor stepped aside and indicated with a sweep of his arm the view outside the window, the iridescent glass towers shimmered in the late afternoon sun and in the distance a glorious city with a population tentatively going about their business despite being assaulted by Raynor’s temporal experiments, Verdopolis was a world at the height of its powers.

 “Am I to stand by and watch all this decay to nothing, this beautiful world, my people and civilisation?

 “Nothing lasts forever. Time moves on and so must we all with it.” As Anna stated this universal truth, she was well aware of her own struggles of leaving the past behind and there was a part of her that wished time could stay still…Well just for a little while.

 “I cannot expect you to understand what I’m doing here.” Raynor scoffed, blocking Anna’s view again though she conceded to herself that it was the nicest place she had ever been held captive. “You have a very limited view of life, your race has only begun to explore the wider Universe.”     

 “Why can’t you just appreciate what you have now?” Anna retorted with exasperation. “How lucky we all are to be here at all. In your version of the Universe there would be no future…And from what the Doctor told me, unending existence for the chosen few worlds who you believe worthy. Everything staying the same forever?…” Anna shook her head with incredulity and then gave her damming verdict. “You’re unequivocally…What I call crazy!”

 “Bored now…” Raynor yawned and rolled his eyes. “You can go and join a so called friend of mine. And if anything unfortunate befalls you Ms Bailey, the Doctor will only have himself to blame. Raynor smiled cruelly as he pulled upon a lever. “Enjoy your stay in hell!”

 Anna glanced down at her hands and saw them shimmer, breaking up into particles, she relaxed, realising she was being teleported somewhere. To be fair she’d had enough of the arrogant Professor and his one sided lecture, it was like being back at University….Anna opened her eyes, she wasn’t restrained anymore which looking at the positives was good but on the other hand maybe she should have kept her big mouth shut and not upset the crazy Professor…Anna blamed the Doctor, until she met him, she never used to be so forthright in putting across her views nor did she used to stand up to bullies. Anna smiled sardonically and straightened her shoulders back as she surveyed the devastated landscape, a desolate rock with a crater laden surface which was reminiscent of a moon. At least there was a breathable atmosphere if a bit metallic. There was a fortress in the distance built from the foundations of the land, it was grim and foreboding and looked like some kind of prison. And she was not alone…but not in a good way. Anna shuddered, the wind blew forlornly but she was certain that something else was out there as she heard a long drawn howl coming from somewhere behind. It was best not to think about that… Anna began to walk towards the fortress, gathering up her strength and inner resolve, her sense of humour suitably black.

 “Oh well at least it’s not the job centre.”