Out of Time

Chapter Twenty One

CHAPTER TWENTY ONE

 The Doctor stood by and watched dispassionately as the portal closed, squashing the creature that had murdered Ivana inside its walls, he hopped back as the creature’s clawed hand desperately lashed out, trying to escape the disintegrating portal and then it was gone. The Doctor closed his eyes for a moment and exhaled, he then fixed them upon the other portal, a bead of sweat running down his brow as he waited anxiously for Anna’s and Adam’s return, ready to reset the dimensional stabilizer and go and find them. Like an overprotective parent, he paced as the seconds counted down, twiddling with his bow tie but then sighing with relief as the couple walked through the portal which closed behind them.

 “Cutting it a bit fine you two…”  

 The Doctor chastised, reminding Anna of a maiden aunt though despite everything that had just happened he smiled, glad to see his friends in one piece. Anna hugged the Doctor and looked around noticing that Ivana was missing, she looked questioningly at the Doctor, who with a sad look and shake of his head answered her question. Anna held the Doctor a little tighter for a moment, while Adam awkwardly patted his back. The Doctor pulled away and picked up the dimensional stabilizer, Anna and Adam followed him inside the TARDIS.

 “So Doctor what now?” Anna handed the Doctor their piece of the time key.

 The Doctor was silent for a few minutes, Anna recognised that look; the Doctor was keeping his cards close to his chest though with all the guile of an exceptionally bad poker player…The Doctor had a plan forming. The Time Lord took the two remaining pieces and flung them listlessly over to the rest of the time key which was hovering patiently above the console. Anna’s eyes widened with wonderment, she had never seen the pieces joined together before. The Doctor moved over to the couple and removed Adam’s vortex manipulator, placing it around his own wrist he declared with a no nonsense attitude.  “Right…It’s time.”  

 “What is the Doctor doing?! Does he want the Universe to end?!” Raynor shouted, his voice carrying up to the lofty heights of the glass ceiling, fragments had fallen away and he could see the sky, the never ending darkness which was coming to claim them all.

 Professor Ida Givanny wasn’t listening to Raynor’s ravings anymore, she sat against the shaking wall with her knees pressed close to her chest, weeping for her part in the Universes’ destruction and waited for it all to end, wondering forlornly whether the Doctor had failed in his quest…Though she could not believe it as the Doctor would not be the same man from all those stories. Ida’s thoughts were interrupted by the two remaining ancient ones as they screeched, both Raynor and Ida looked up and saw that the much longed for Doctor was now standing in the middle of the room. The Doctor waved and smiled, the ground beneath him shuddered, the cracks deepening, the Doctor peered down with an exaggerated nervous expression on his face and then slid gingerly across to the edge of the room where Ida was sitting and beamed.

 “Oh hello Professor Ida Givanny…Told you I would be back. A bit later than planned but you know how it is.” The Doctor blew his fringe from his eyes and then set about stamping his foot, like he had terrible cramp or was a bandy legged horse ready to break into a trot.  “Hmm reinforced glass here…Should be okay...” The Doctor smiled vaguely to himself, giving every impression of making it up as he went along. “I hope.”

 “Doctor you’re finally here… Why are you carrying a bow and arrow?”  Ida frowned with bemusement, momentarily distracted while their mighty civilisation was falling down around them.

 “Hold tight Ida, it will all be over soon.” The Doctor uttered softly, patting her on the shoulder and then turning to Raynor and his creatures he raised his voice with carefully controlled outrage. “Well Raynor I hope you’re happy…A fine old mess you’ve gone and got us all into. I did warn you. No one can be the master of time.” The Doctor peered up at the black sky, time had raged and run on ahead and now the emptiness was reaching out to the far corners of the Universe ready to extinguish the last remnants of life. The Doctor glared across the room at Raynor, an unaccustomed hardness crept into his eyes as he surveyed Raynor. “And now we’re almost out of time.”

 “So Doctor you return here without the mythical time key. Were all those tales of a powerful weapon to save the Universe a trick or are… You hiding it from me?…” Raynor walked across the room, the greed for absolute power, momentarily lit up in his lifeless eyes. “The time key which I could do so much with….So you return here to Verdopolis with nothing… No companions as you do appear to have lost them all and of course no TARDIS.” Raynor sneered, indifferent to the splintering ground beneath his feet as he taunted, his voice echoing around the shimmering but fragile room. “Come on admit it Doctor, you have failed. Time has defeated you as well. ”

 “If push comes to shove I’ll chuck myself in the schism I suppose…” The Doctor mused out loud, this piece of intelligence involving the Doctor’s self-sacrifice surprised the two Verdopolitan’s. The Doctor peered down tentatively and then grimaced like a bricklayer inspecting shoddy workmanship, the diameter of the untempered schism was now no wider than a tea saucer. “Although that would be somewhat tricky now.” The Doctor contemplated with a slightly mortified look on his face.  “Unless I discover how to compress my body mass to that of a curly wurly…” The Doctor glanced up to the two remaining ancient ones who were swooping menacingly above and then breathed out his words nonchalantly, though nevertheless giving the mad Professor one final chance. “Raynor I’d move to the outskirts of the room if I were you…”

 “What are you keeping from me Doctor?...” Raynor demanded, suddenly anxious that all was not as it seemed. The sound of thunder rumbling overhead filled the silence, signalling the elements being disrupted and a portent of the time acceleration that was coming to tear apart the world of Verdopolis. Ida glanced over at the Doctor, waiting for his answer.

 “As if you’d really think, I’d walk in here without a plan, with no companions and my TARDIS…Really what kind of an idiot do you take me for?!” The Doctor scoffed and then grinning he whipped out his sonic screwdriver and rested it against the glass floor. “You know you’ve really let this place go to rack and ruin!”  

 With the sonic screwdriver turned to just the right frequency, a vibration tore across the glass floor, the centre of the floor began to shake until the fragile surface could take no more assault as it finally gave way and the whole section of the shattered floor fell hundreds of feet below, except for some remaining ridges around the side of the room that remained precariously in place. Raynor ran across the disappearing floor barely making it to the entrance and almost tumbling to his death but the Verdopolitan’s tininess worked to his advantage as managed to stay on his feet, clinging to the doorframe. Suffering a terrible bout of vertigo Ida pinned herself to the edge of the wall and stared up in confusion at the Doctor’s actions. Though all would soon become clear as the Doctor whose eyes were glinting with scarcely concealed excitement, raised his sonic screwdriver and the TARDIS suddenly materialised, the blue box bobbing in mid-air.

 “Oh I wonder who that could be?!”  The creaking doors flung open, the Doctor waved and smiled as Adam and Anna peered around the doorway like a couple of meerkats, balancing over the threshold of the TARDIS doorway.   

 “It’s quite simple really Professor Givanny, I programmed the TARDIS to arrive a minute after myself.” The Doctor offered as a quick explanation. “Oh mind out.” The Doctor gallantly placed himself in front of Ida as the remaining part of the ceiling fell away, though it was undermined by his clumsiness as he misjudged the foot space and would have plunged to his doom if it hadn’t been for Ida grabbing hold of him. “Phew thanking you Ida. That could have been a potentially fatal and embarrassing incident.” The Doctor after a brief moment of awkwardness regained his balance and dignity. The hurricane suddenly tore into the circular room, buffeting the TARDIS as Anna and Adam clung onto the doorframe and the winged ancient ones were slammed against the wall. The Doctor raised his voice to compete with the storm as he shouted a somewhat unexpected and bizarre statement directly to Anna. “Bailey, from the class of 1991 and one time member of the under twelve’s Staffordshire county rounder’s winning team are you ready?”

 Everything happened very fast after that…