page NINE
I summon the raw energy, shape it with my anger, direct it
by my will. I flex, push and –
(Not so fast, Princess Party-Pants.)
--the psychic blast is diverted and rips into my son. Like a screaming meteor he flies and explodes against the distant wall.
(Wicked! Let's give him another one, Peace!)
(He's fighting us, Ace! He's strong but he won't win!)
My energies are summoned without my consent, but the control is weak and slippery. It is driven by their glandular anger, which is of the body, which is weak and uncertain. My righteous anger, which is of my mind, is strong and precise. I retaliate, almost gently, and my two little puppets stagger.
'I shot her through time? And you contacted the Professor through time? And did all those other things?'
'Is this relevant? Luuna rallies below!'
I rummage in my pack. There!
'Yes, it's relevant! If I can shoot a bullet through thirty-five years, what do you reckon I can do with this?'
'Ah.'
As I am distracted I see the Gallifreyan leap and roll to his feet behind the girl Ace. He draws the device from her storage pouch. I summon a strike that will explode his body from within.
'Ace! I know you can hear me! Everyone ate the psychic enhancer in the turkey but the antidote was in the potatoes! Use your anger! Fight her!'
He powers the device and the young ones attack.
'Dorothy on the mountain!' shouted the Doctor, 'I know you can hear me! Use it! Use it now!'
He presses a hidden button and I am pierced by grasping hooks of psychic vacuum. Desperate, I try to knit the attacking energy from the young ones to a new configuration. I feel my tactic succeed, my strength grow, as I feed their anger into mine. My unstoppable will focuses on the Time Lord.
(Oh, no, you don't! Eat this, turkey!)
I am rocked by an unexpected attack.
(Peace! Don't be mad! Hit him with this!)
I will not be imprisoned!
I press the hidden button, and the spirits on the mountain lend strength to the transference. Doubled in time, the device sinks its hooks into the mighty Luuna and pulls.
I am Luunaaa...!
The Lemurian, or Zillotian, whatever you please, is drawn through the Professor's device, through the intervening years, and into mine. It plays a fanfare and beeps. I regard it; such a small, unremarkable thing, but so much power within. Like Ace.
***
Finally, the Professor couldn't take my smug satisfaction anymore.
'All right, Ace,' he growled as he busied himself sending the remaining Stolings home, 'Will you please tell me what you and Peace did?'
'What do you think, Peace?'
'I don't know, Ace. He's not been too forthcoming with us, has he?'
The Professor frowned as he summoned the pilgrim's spirits back from the mountain. 'I've already explained why I couldn't tell you about Luuna, Ace.'
'Not everything. Tell you what. You answer, oh, three questions of mine and I'll tell you. Fair enough?'
He sighed, beaten. 'Fair enough. Now, if you two are feeling strong enough, we need to get these men out of this building. I don't know if you've noticed, but your nitro-9 and Smokey's flames have set the rafters afire. Come on now, one pilgrim each.'
At the bottom of the stairs, I asked him, 'So, what was Luuna planning, anyway?'
'Oh, the usual. He thought if he could plant colonies of pilgrims around the world, he could convince his fellow Lemurians to possess them en masse, creating an army to conquer the galaxy.'
'What a prat. That's a right boring plan.'
'He did fund it by means of tourism. That's pretty original, right?' said Peace.
After leaving the pilgrims to fend for themselves outside, I asked him, 'Who were those guys, anyway?'
'Oh, that was Ren Orion, Luuna's Stoling business partner, and two pet thugs. I believe Smokey meant for them to kill us, but they had other ideas. There are ancient families out there who still remember the Empire, and blame the Lemurians. Their thirst for vengeance, no matter how abstract, could have put a lot of money into Mr. Orion's coffers. Don't worry about the Lemurians. Ren and his cronies are in the mountain.'
'Well, that was properly illuminating,' I laughed.
Halfway there, I ask, 'Hey! Who cut the ladder leg?'
Peace said, 'I did! Or I will.'
'What?'
'Keep up, Ace!'
After trotting past the diner and into the alley, I asked, 'Hey, what happens now? What's Peace supposed to do?'
As he unlocked the TARDIS door, the Doctor said, 'Peace?'
She looked at me and then at the Doctor. He nodded. 'Well, I'm coming with you.'
'What? That's wicked! I think...' I was torn. It could be fun to have a mate in the TARDIS, but me and the professor were a team...
She smiled at me, understanding immediately. 'Don't worry, Ace. It's just one short trip.'
***
'And now we must part, Dorothy McShane,' said Smokey, and I
know it is so. I watch him trudge away. He turns once, sorrowfully, when I call
to him.
'Smokey! Don't be a berk! You did it! You made out okay!' He bows, but I think he's smiling, and he sinks into the mountaintop.
I look to the three other radiant beings and see the black rectangle has settled in the snow. It resolves into solidity and I laugh and clap. Her stars and flags have been removed, but the clear, glowing saucer still crowns Gamma's top. I run a wondering hand over her gleaming bonnet and smile at my three old friends, 'She's gorgeous!'
Gladys beams. 'I'm sorry we could not be better acquainted, dear. But I hope you get on well. Be careful going down the mountain, now!'
Below my feet the mountain rumbles as ancient, monstrous gears struggle to turn. The mountain begins to iris open.
'What's happening?' I ask.
'The Zillotti are going home, dear. What did that Smokey say? 'Back to the cradle, back to the flesh,' or something like that.'
'You guys are going with them?'
'Oh, heavens, no.'
She points at the sky and the emerging stars.
'Not with all that to see.'
Jack helps Gladys into the car and catches me in a hug. I laugh.
'Jack, you're almost solid!'
'Yeah, I'm getting good at these stunts, right? Smokey says I'm his best pupil. Listen, girlie – thanks for everything. Keep watching the skies, maybe you'll see us looking back at you.' He kisses my cheek and enters Gamma. She purrs to life.
He leans out the window. 'Look at that, will you!'
Two by two, in an ever-widening V, the saucers abandon Shasta. I watch them a moment, impossibly huge, impossibly silent, something magical going out from the world.
I turn, feeling sadness, and the third figure stands there, arms open. She is insubstantial, like a faded memory.
'Didn't we just do this?,' Sally asks, 'or are we about to?'
***
We were standing on the edge of a straight mountain road, the Doctor and I by the Tardis doors and Peace a few paces away, studying the horizon.
'Didn't we just do this?' Peace asked, 'or are we about to?'
I wasn't sure.
'I don't know... I still don't understand why you have to do this!'
'Because I already have, Ace. If I don't, there won't be an anomaly and we'll never stop Luuna. It's...it's what happened, it's what will happen, and it's what's happening now.'
'Doctor! Didn't you say you can never meet yourself?'
The Doctor put his arm around my shoulder. 'There are certain circumstances...'
Peace laughed. 'And, really now, giving birth to yourself has to count as a certain circumstance!'
I didn't know whether to laugh or cry.
'But what do I call you? Are you Sally or are you still Peace?'
'Oh, Ace! I'm Sally and I'm Peace. I'm everything I am and everything I'll be. But really I'm just me.'
Far to the south a triangle of lights mounts the horizon. Sally squares her shoulders.
'Well, that's my cue! You guys had better get going, and I'll see you in a few years!'
She begins to lightly tread along the road, humming softly.
'Be careful!' I call out.
She stops and I hear her laugh, 'Stop worrying, Ace! I was a fun kid, it'll be fun to raise me! Besides, you know what? Just between me, you, him and the trees? Some of mom's girlfriends were pretty hot!'
The Professor chuckled at my stunned expression and pulled me inside, patting my shoulder.
'Huh! Live and learn! Right, Professor?'
'Speaking of learning, Ace, I seem to recall a deal involving three answers...'
***
'Did you ever tell him?' Peace asks, as we watch the last of the fleet vanish among the twinkling stars. The gears grind again and the mountain is silent.
(All locked up! Time to go!)
'You're taking him with you?'
'Yeah. Zillotti's not his home. Earth was, but not anymore. Where else would he go?'
'Just don't let him drive, okay?'
Peace laughs and gives me a ghostly peck on my cheek.
'Same old Ace.'
The Cadillac's engine races.
'Jack and Gladys are ready to hit the high way,' says Peace, 'so I guess this is good-bye for real, now. Thanks for everything, Ace. I love you.'
If I cry now my tears will freeze. It's going to be a long walk down in the dark. Don't need my eyes frozen shut.
'You'd better get going, then. Love you, too, Peace. I'm really glad Smokey saved you guys.' I step away and she enters the Caddy. The saucer atop glows and spins and lifts the car into the sky. They wave from their open windows, Jack honks the horn twice, and she shoots into the heavens. I wave until they disappear.
I haven't taken twenty paces down when the Space Cadillac swoops and lands in front of me. The window rolls down and Jack says, 'Where are my manners, kid? Need a lift?'
I'm not tempted for a second.
'Thanks, guys, but I walked up and I'll walk down. Quit wasting time here, you sods. You got places to go, and so do I.'
As Gamma lifts slowly into the air, I hear Peace say, 'See? I told you she wouldn't.'
***
An alien bazaar, one week later.
'Doctor... Look. It worked, but it's corny.'
'Ace, you promised. There might be something in it for you.'
He jingles a little pouch.
'See? I brought money!'
'Oh, all right. I'd better tell you now, because it's getting sort of dim.'
'Yes, the time anomaly is affecting your memory. Perfectly natural.'
Already my memory was breaking down. For decades I would have only the vaguest, puzzling recollections of my time in Shasta; only climbing the mountain brought them back.
'All right, then. You were yelling, "Use your anger, Ace" or some shite like that. Thing is, that monster was taking that anger from me and that other girl and adding it to his powers. I wasn't hurting him, I was helping him.'