Out of Time

Chapter Nineteen

CHAPTER NINETEEN

 Professor Ida Givanny smiled to herself upon overhearing the discovery that Anna had escaped the prison but her jubilation didn’t last for very long, she kneeled down on the cold, glass floor, her eyes widening with horror as she balanced the time energy filter glasses on her long nose and observed the untempered schism beneath them poring with time energy but to her even greater alarm she noticed something else.

 “It’s shrinking…Raynor the untempered schism is shrinking…If it continues at this rate, then very soon the source of our experiments won’t ever have existed…Then there will be no way of stopping the time acceleration …Raynor?”

 Professor Raynor was in the room but he was in psychic communication with the ancient ones, he held up his hand, uninterested for he already knew this was happening. Raynor broke away and returned his full attention to Ida.

 “My creatures have brought me some interesting intelligence about the Doctor’s activities, it seems the Doctor and his allies have been searching for a time key that belonged to an alternative Universe in order to stop the time acceleration…” Raynor applauded to himself as though this was the best news he could ever hope to receive. “Such a device I could use to heal the Universe, then afterwards I could weld the key in this endless battle against time… The Time Lord will be redundant. ”

 Ida buried her face in her hands wearily, the effort of having to deal with a madman and facing the end of the Universe was beginning to take its toll.

 “Whatever you say Zan. But at the rate which the untempered schism is closing we won’t need to worry about your life’s ambition.”       

 Raynor’s face flickered with anger which was quickly replaced by fear as the ground beneath them began to shake and then the walls around them shuddered, the unthinkable was happening, the glass towers of Verdopolis were beginning to succumb to the effects of time and were beginning to decay. The eye of the storm, the planet of Verdopolis was no longer safe. Ida screamed and ran to the edge of the room as a great big crack tore across the floor, not helped by sharp fragments of glass raining down from above. It continued like this for a few minutes and then it suddenly subsided for the towers were nevertheless a remarkable feat of engineering. Ida opened her eyes, she was pressed up against the wall and there was no way out as Raynor was blocking the doorway. But there was nowhere to run to, with the time loop over, along with any immunity their planet once had from the time acceleration the two Professors exchanged varying looks of blame; they would both see this through to the bitter end as Ida smiled darkly.

 “Oh well my dear no need to worry about the end of the Universe it looks as though the towers will go down first with us inside it…”

 The Doctor and Ivana were clambering through a jungle, the vegetation thick and in some parts impenetrable; the heat was unbearable as the Doctor removed his jacket and loosened his bow tie. The Doctor held out his sonic screwdriver and there was a strong signal which encouragingly wasn’t too far away. The Doctor swatted his neck.

 “I really hope these mozzies aren’t carrying any fatal diseases, I mean the irony if we were to unknowingly bring a plague back into our Universe…”

 Ivana merely glanced down at her watch, it was taking them too long and as she held out her squareness gun she knew what she was about to do would was very wrong indeed but Ivana Steinway just didn’t give a damn as she yanked the Doctor to one side and opened fire…The jungle suddenly opened up in front of them, a square tunnel for them to run through, a direct path to their piece of the time key.