Part 13 (1/2)

Chapter 3.

Ace didn't need to see to tell that the pitch-black tunnel was damp. The cold air was clammy with vapour and the sound of dripping had increased. Her shoes, which she hadn't changed since she left Iceworld, were letting in water. She clung tightly to the Doctor's hand as they slipped and slithered their way along.

'Ancelyn's ancestors must have built this tunnel,' he was saying.

She kept on talking because she didn't want to stop and think about what she was doing. 'Professor?'

'Hmm?'

'Where does Ancelyn come from?'

'Another dimension,' said his voice. 'Sideways in time at a rough guess. A different universe.'

'Oh. Not a local boy then... ' She gave a gasp and swore as the floor slid under her and she sat in a puddle.

'Ace!' shouted the Doctor. 'Where are you?'

'I'm here!' She could hear him groping for her hand.

'Where? Why is there never light when I need it!'

There was a buzz and the tunnel walls gleamed with a tracery of phosph.o.r.escent green.

'Hey, Cavern Club!' grinned Ace. She turned towards the Doctor and gave a yell of fear as she saw the monstrous fish-head that loomed over them, its scimitar teeth bared.

Shou Yuing parked her 2CV in front of the Gore Crow.

Her morning had consisted of arguments with her parents for not having rung home the night before. In the end, she had walked out again and come back to find Ace and the Doctor. If they had left the hotel, she had agreed to follow them to the dig.

The army officer running up the drive towards her didn't look as if he should be running at all. Too old, like a General from the Old Guard of the People's Republican Government.

'I'm commandeering your car,' he said.

'Excuse me?' said Shou Yuing.

He held out a hand. 'Give me the keys.'

'What?'

The keys!'

She was too astonished to argue.

'Thank you.' he said and climbed into the 2CV.

Shou Yuing ran around the car and got into the pa.s.senger seat. 'Just a second, this is my car!'

'And I'm on urgent business, young lady. I'll ensure you are completely reimbursed for petrol and inconvenience.'

He jammed the gears into reverse and backed his way out.

She looked at his cap badge. 'You're with UNIT, right?'

'What do you know about that, miss...erm?'

'Li Shou Yuing. I met Brigadier Bambera.'

'Oh. really.' He turned the car on to the main road.

'Yes,' she said. She thought he would be impressed, but he kept driving.

'How did you get past the roadblock?' he said.

'Easy. They hadn't closed off the back lanes.'

He smiled and nodded. 'This Brigadier Bambera. I don't suppose she mentioned someone called the Doctor?'

The stone eyes of the fish gargoyle returned the Doctor and Ace's gaze. Its grotesque demon head blocked the entire end of the tunnel. Nostils flared in its painted snout, above a cavernous maw that teemed with steel teeth like swords. It was the medieval depiction of the gates of h.e.l.l.

'Just a portal.' said the Doctor. 'Clearly designed to frighten superst.i.tious people off.'

'It gives me the creeps,' complained Ace.

'It is a little overtheatrical.'

He started to feel round the edge of the mouth. 'No coded pattern,' he muttered.

'No hidden switch?' she said.

He shook his head. 'Much too complicated.'

'Then how are we going to get inside?'

He turned, smiled knowingly and tapped the side of his nose. Then he straightened up, cleared his throat as if he was about to begin a recital, and said, 'It's me. Open up!'

With a grating clash, the steel teeth separated and slid up and downwards into the fish's jaws.

'I refuse to ask how you did that,' she said, staring into the dark throat beyond. 'How did you do that?'

He looked rather self-satisfied. 'It occurred to me that this tunnel was built to Merlin's designs.'

'But everyone thinks you're Merlin.'

'Exactly. The portal's keyed to my voice pattern. Just the sort of thing I'd do.' He stepped through the jaws into the darkness.