Doctor Who_ Infinite Requiem Part 1

INFINITE REQUIEM.

by Daniel Blythe.

Prologue.

The Wanderers We are three.

No, we are one.

No the She the He the Other. I feel the loss of the He first and then the breaking of the Other.

The splintering, the unimaginable pain, is both now and a distant memory.

The same thought is in our Unity, our mind, as it becomes minds minds; something is happening. This is not how it was meant to be. I am conscious of it happening in what might be described as a millisecond, and yet I am allowing these thoughts to carry me through that shaft of time To drift, and finally to master our path through this whirl of possibilities, was the choice we took. The choice we made when faced with the unknown, or death, was to become voyagers.

And now it seems we are to die after all.

I feel them slipping away from me.

I am Kelzen.

I am KelzenJirenalShanstra.

Like fragments of flotsam, they are gone and I am alone, and now the reality, the mere three-dimensional, h.e.l.lish being, is constraining me again.

I am Kelzen.

I am falling falling.

Part One

A PHOENIX HOUR.

The 'Plan' of Nature I detest.

Compet.i.tion, and struggle, the survival of the strongest and of those with the sharpest claws and longest teeth. Life feeding on life with ravenous, merciless hunger every leaf a battlefield war everywhere.

Robert Ingersoll (1893) You cannot step twice into the same river, for other waters, and yet other waters, go ever flowing on.

Herac.l.i.tus (6th century BCE)

1.

Dreams Burn Down.

Gadrell Major Dominion Common Era 2387.

When the final wave of flamers climbed the rise, Captain Cheynor knew he had to be running or dead.

Silver tanks, like giant woodlice, sparkled in the battle-fires, living machines lit by the destruction they had wrought. From across the devastation there was a deep and animal roar. In the battlefield twilight, a tide of liquid flame ate up the mud and poured into the city ruins.

They must all have fired at once. He rolled again and again as the thought kicked in like a stimulant. Monstrous heat scalded his back and there was a noise just a hundred metres from him of spectacular demolition.

Behind the wall of what had been the government building, Darius Kieran Cheynor slammed a new cartridge into his pistol, and faced for the thousandth time his own bewilderment that he had ever returned to front-line colonial service.

And he saw the city, the intact city, laid out before him to touch, what seemed like an eternity ago. like an eternity ago.

The hologram had glittered in front of Captain Cheynor, turning on its axis.

The general clicked her pointer here and there on the image, making streets and buildings glint in relief as if under moonlight. buildings glint in relief as if under moonlight.

The general, her face impa.s.sive, had told Cheynor his Survey Corps experience would be highly valuable in this kind of a.s.signment. would be highly valuable in this kind of a.s.signment.

'In any case,' she had said, 'there's talk of harmonizing the Earth-controlled inst.i.tutions more. Lots of you chaps working with the Office of External Operations. And naturally, the Colonial Office was full of praise for you, Darius.' inst.i.tutions more. Lots of you chaps working with the Office of External Operations. And naturally, the Colonial Office was full of praise for you, Darius.'

Cheynor, who had wondered whether 42 might be late for such a career swerve, had started to feel rather more optimistic. In the six years since taking command had started to feel rather more optimistic. In the six years since taking command of his own s.h.i.+p, the of his own s.h.i.+p, the Phoenix Phoenix , he had come up against ever more situations requiring the logistical skills of a battle commander. In the end, he had realized it , he had come up against ever more situations requiring the logistical skills of a battle commander. In the end, he had realized it was what he was best at, and a transfer to s.p.a.cefleet had been forthcoming. was what he was best at, and a transfer to s.p.a.cefleet had been forthcoming.

5.Gadrell Major, a still uncertain colony, had been facing repeated threats due to its uncanny richness in minerals, including especially large deposits of porizium. its uncanny richness in minerals, including especially large deposits of porizium.

It seemed the medicinal ore was needed by more than just humans.

And this only got through to the Colonial Office, Cheynor had noted wryly, when the first advance fleet of Phractons had been detected. when the first advance fleet of Phractons had been detected.

'You did a good job,' said the general, 'convincing them we had to go.'

'Yes,' he said. 'I hope it's not too late.'

It was, of course.

'Cheynor to base.'

They had only gone to monitor the situation, having detected vast energy output from the citadel of Banksburgh. Just before all the sensors on board had gone well, he was still not quite sure what had happened to them.

Halfway across the plain, Cheynor's skimmer had encountered the globe of an airborne Phracton unit: s.h.i.+mmering, two metres across, packed with circuitry at the heart of which crouched, like a demon, the cyborg creature itself.

The first blast brought them to a cras.h.i.+ng halt on the red dunes, sending up great fountains of sand into the air. Cheynor yelled an order and they scattered.

The Phracton attacker had banked and wheeled before doing the run again.

The globe had soared high above them twice, dissecting the skimmer with its fire, and Cheynor glimpsed, within the unit, a blur of the part-organic warrior, shrouded in cables, hunched over its controls.

'Cheynor to base, come in!'

The untranslatable screams of the ether tore themselves out of his radio.

On the incline, the flamers thundered onwards, a former apartment block smas.h.i.+ng to rubble beneath the combined advance.

And then, at last, salvation. His comlink.

'Darius? What the h.e.l.l's happening?'

'Horst, I need backup, or I need an immediate vacation. Get me out of here!'

'The importance of Gadrell Major cannot be exaggerated.' Cheynor had heard his own voice echoing in the conference room, and wished he had brought the his own voice echoing in the conference room, and wished he had brought the cooler to pa.s.s from one sweaty palm to the other. 'Its mineral wealth is almost cooler to pa.s.s from one sweaty palm to the other. 'Its mineral wealth is almost as important as its strategic value.' He saw one or two familiar faces exchange as important as its strategic value.' He saw one or two familiar faces exchange knowing glances at that 'almost'. Well, he wasn't going to let Corporation reps knowing glances at that 'almost'. Well, he wasn't going to let Corporation reps get to him. get to him.

'The situation is this,' he said, and he folded his hands on the table in front of him. 'That one fleet, two days away from the colony now, is enough to wipe out him. 'That one fleet, two days away from the colony now, is enough to wipe out every settlement.' every settlement.'

'Captain Cheynor?' He nodded respectfully to Veronique Hagen, from the Guild of Adjudicators. Her unblinking eyes, with their glittering points of brightness, of Adjudicators. Her unblinking eyes, with their glittering points of brightness, met his gaze across the table. 'We are told repeatedly we were told it just now met his gaze across the table. 'We are told repeatedly we were told it just now 6.that we are free from the tyranny of wars in this period of our expansion.' Hagen raised her voice, and looked around the a.s.sembled council. 'And yet one colonial raised her voice, and looked around the a.s.sembled council. 'And yet one colonial incident after another has reared its ugly head since the Cyberwars well, since incident after another has reared its ugly head since the Cyberwars well, since much earlier than that, I don't doubt.' Her voice took on an edge which Cheynor much earlier than that, I don't doubt.' Her voice took on an edge which Cheynor almost tasted, like the coldness of steel. 'You must prove, Trau Cheynor, that almost tasted, like the coldness of steel. 'You must prove, Trau Cheynor, that this skirmish is any more deserving of attention than the scores of others already this skirmish is any more deserving of attention than the scores of others already under way.' under way.'

'Krau Adjudicator,' said Cheynor, raising a hand, 'I have seen the holovids of the famine on Tenos Beta. And of the storms in the Magellani system. All current the famine on Tenos Beta. And of the storms in the Magellani system. All current situations have been taken into account. We must act to preserve Gadrell Major, situations have been taken into account. We must act to preserve Gadrell Major, and we must act now.' and we must act now.'

Horst Leibniz scanned the readouts in front of him. He saw his own face s.h.i.+mmering in the dials, his pale skin flickering with coloured lights like some alien infection. His face, although young, was naturally thin and drawn, as if his skin and bone were made up entirely of crisp vertical lines. His eyes were red-rimmed and his face was topped with a brush of spiky white-blond hair.

He manoeuvred the skimmer, a dartlike vehicle with a strengthened bubble-hatch on top, and brought it in over the splintered ruins of the citadel.

Leibniz winced. His scans cut through the haze of smoke below him, revealing the destruction in colour maps and infrared images. Still standing tall at the centre of Banksburgh was the library. Its shape was an elongated pyramid, skewering a globe of black gla.s.s at ground level. Its surface telegraphed the destruction around it. Somehow, this fragile pinnacle of learning had escaped the bombardments while all around was reduced to rubble.

Any rea.s.surance that Leibniz could gain from this was shattered by the sight of the rest of the city. The streets, laid out in the Wheel of Life pattern typical of many colonial outposts, were burning. The Wheel, Leibniz thought wildly, the Wheel itself was ablaze.

One of the scans tracked over the ruins of the governor's home, which he understood had been bombed to a ruin early in the conflict. Now, even the ruins were being destroyed. A gaping fascia, like a chessboard of soot-black and h.e.l.lish red, was all that remained.

He flicked a few controls as he came in over the fringe zone, and traced Cheynor immediately. The captain had a clear run towards safety.

The hatch of the skimmer folded behind Darius Cheynor as the Phractons'

flamers ate their way into the chequered Londinium Plaza. Horst Leibniz turned and grinned like a ghoul. Cheynor collapsed into the seat, a man at the end of his strength.

'This is madness,' Leibniz said, the grin intact. 'n.o.body will blame us if we don't act sane in dealing with the Phracs.'

7.Cheynor felt his body aching with exhaustion, with the sudden release of latent tenor. He closed his eyes against the rus.h.i.+ng landscape. 'They will,' he said. 'That's the problem.'

Rivulets of dust trickled from the roof of the reading hall. Disks lay scattered like dead fish in a polluted river, and consoles were cracked or overturned.

A young woman with quicksilver-glossy hair and a round, intelligent face was stuffing as many of the disks as she could find into a denim haversack, occasionally glancing at her wrist.w.a.tch. Now and then the building would be rocked by more nearby explosions and more unwanted patterns would etch themselves into the floor and ceiling.

She snapped the haversack shut, looking around with nervous, sharp eyes.

They were green and had pupils ringed with a haze of yellowish orange. After satisfying herself with her owlish scan that the coast was as clear as it could be, she swung open the hatch leading down to the stacks, and lowered her athletic body on to the ladder.

She got halfway down before she had a mental picture of those vast underground vaults of information being sealed off forever with her body slumped and rotting between Ichthyology and Iconography.

Suzi Palsson, Chief Archivist and Librarian of Gadrell Major, bit her lip, weighed the preservation of history against the preservation of her life, and, opting for the latter, ascended the shaft again rapidly.

She hefted the rucksack, zipped her tunic and slipped the protectors over her eyes. At the gallery, Suzi paused, leaning on the rail. As she looked out again at the devastation of what had been Banksburgh, she wondered and doubted if the Phractons had ever heard of Alexandria.

8.

2.

Some Days Are Better Than Others

Bernice Summerfield sometimes wondered how soon it would be before she became history.

Sometimes, wandering the corridors of the Doctor's complex, still almost magical TARDIS, she would think she sensed the ghosts of long-departed friends there in the dim light of the roundels, transient souls who fluttered like mayflies through the Doctor's near endless days. She shuddered at those times, a future echo of what she might become. And she sometimes wanted to speak to them, to reach out, and to ask: have you felt what I have felt, have you seen the same unresolved anguish of the years ahead and behind?

On such occasions she had the strongest yearnings to leave the TARDIS, to get the Doctor to open his box of tricks and places and times once more. For it occasionally called to Bernice Summerfield, that sense of empty loneliness. It called to her like the vastness between worlds, like the calm on Heaven before the deaths, like the sound of distant oceans. It was a kind of subconscious chill that made her wonder if she had now, inescapably, become a part of something too great for one human being from one world. It called her like the sense of an ending.

The lights were dim and Benny was running her hand along the rows of a.s.sorted clothes in the TARDIS wardrobe. In the less-than-perfect mirror, she saw herself, and sighed heavily.

It was just her now. Alone with the Doctor. With Ace's departure had come an onerous feeling of responsibility.

'What if something goes wrong now?' she said out loud. 'After all we've been through?'

Her fingertips pressed against those of her image. Dark eyes looked into dark eyes. She was stylish but not conspicuous today, in a hand-dyed velvet waistcoat over an aquamarine s.h.i.+rt of raw silk, and ultra-white pleated trousers tucked into high, black buccaneer boots.

'Don't ask me,' said her reflection.

Benny jumped. She stood there aghast, looking at herself. The mirror-Bernice had her hands on her hips and wore a stern expression.

The mirror warped. Her image fell like a cascade of water, and in a second she was looking at the small, white-suited figure of the Doctor. He smiled, 9 beneath the lines of suffering on his impish, alert face. 'I thought I'd surprise you,' he said.

She shook her head, drew breath. 'Maybe I should count myself lucky. You don't normally think first.'

'Oh, really, Benny, you say the kindest things. It's a simple interactive hologram, nothing more.' The rectangular outline of the mirror wobbled, turned into smooth globules like mercury, and became a tiny silver pyramid in the hologram Doctor's hand. 'I've been meaning to give you this for some time, actually,' he said, gazing at the small prism. 'Ace would have had it, but . . . '

'But I'll do.' Bernice folded her arms. 'Do I really need another one of you?'

'Didn't you ever watch broadcasts, and wish you could talk back to them so that they would hear you?'