for exits and safe routes out if it all turned bad. Jack was using his amazing eyesight to see better than the others in the dark and was focused on making sure they never lost sight of Bernice.
They moved, unspeaking, barely even acknowledging each other was there, still part of that well-oiled machine.
—
After a while, the darkness gave way to a distant light.
‘This place is bigger on the inside than the outside,’ Bernice said.
‘Impossible,’ said Jaanson. ‘Transcendental engineering is a worthless dream and a scientific impossibility.’
Bernice sighed. The future of science really was frustrating here, if he was any example.
‘Well, I can’t be bothered arguing, Horace. Maybe it’s all done with mirrors.’
‘I imagine it is,’ the Professor agreed. ‘The Ancients were notoriously imaginative.’
‘You’re just making stuff up now, aren’t you? To sound more important and educated than you actually are.’
Before Jaanson could respond, Kik the Assassin put a hand up. ‘I need to check something back at the doorway.’
Globb turned open-mouthed, but the woman waved him away. ‘We have a deal, Globb; it’s not in my interest to abandon you. Without you getting what you want, I don’t get what I want. I’ll be back shortly. Bernice Summerfield will lead you forward.’
Bernice glanced back into the gloom.
Kik the Assassin leant in close so only Bernice could hear her. ‘Don’t worry, I won’t hurt them, especially the young pup. I just need everyone together. To make sure there are no tricks.’
And she was gone faster than Bernice could think of a reply.
The light was closer now and the edges of it illuminated the sides of what was a huge chasm, created like a well in the centre (well, near as dammit) of the pyramid.
‘Fascinating…’ Professor Jaanson ran forward, finally shaking off his fear as he reached the edge of the chasm and looked down. ‘There! There, there, there!!’ He pointed excitedly at a sort of stone altar, upon which was a lump of rough stone hewn into a pyramid, to echo the big one they were within.
Bernice realised the rock was what she had the fragment of – plain, boring, white crystal running through it.
Slightly more alarming was that surrounding this altar, creating a sort of inverted funnel, like a whirlpool sucking upwards to a point, and emanating from the rock, was misty energy, still moving, like it was caught in perpetual motion.
Or, Bernice realised with dread, a time eddy.
‘Who is that?’ Globb harrumphed quietly.
Bernice focused, stared. ‘Oh my god,’ she breathed. ‘There are people at the apex of that…energy.’
‘Chronon energy,’ Jaanson breathed.
Oh great,
now
he was acting like a scientist. And he wasprobably right. Especially as Benny had already guessed who was standing there.
It had to be her. Jack. Ruth. Peter. Caught frozen, being scattered through time and sending messages and postcards and whatever to get the Doctor to find them and save them.
But of course, that wasn’t going to be enough now. The vision of her future that she had spoken to was already disintegrating. It was up to her to get in there are save herself. Jump-start them.
Then maybe the Doctor would turn up, use his timey-wimey Gallifreyan whatnot to, oh who knows, probably take the Glamour away and chuck it into the heart of a supernova, make sure no one could ever try accessing the secrets of the Ancients again.
All of which might have been a plan except that suddenly sprawled beside her were Jack and Ruth, thrown some distance by Kik the Assassin.
In her other hand, she lifted Peter above her head – for the first time Bernice realised she had to be from Spyro – she had heard of the people with telescopic bones, but never seen one. But her arm was twice its original length and Peter sensibly wasn’t fighting back.
‘Please put my son down,’ Bernice said. ‘He’s not great with heights.’
‘We were just having a friendly
They moved, unspeaking, barely even acknowledging each other was there, still part of that well-oiled machine.
—
After a while, the darkness gave way to a distant light.
‘This place is bigger on the inside than the outside,’ Bernice said.
‘Impossible,’ said Jaanson. ‘Transcendental engineering is a worthless dream and a scientific impossibility.’
Bernice sighed. The future of science really was frustrating here, if he was any example.
‘Well, I can’t be bothered arguing, Horace. Maybe it’s all done with mirrors.’
‘I imagine it is,’ the Professor agreed. ‘The Ancients were notoriously imaginative.’
‘You’re just making stuff up now, aren’t you? To sound more important and educated than you actually are.’
Before Jaanson could respond, Kik the Assassin put a hand up. ‘I need to check something back at the doorway.’
Globb turned open-mouthed, but the woman waved him away. ‘We have a deal, Globb; it’s not in my interest to abandon you. Without you getting what you want, I don’t get what I want. I’ll be back shortly. Bernice Summerfield will lead you forward.’
Bernice glanced back into the gloom.
Kik the Assassin leant in close so only Bernice could hear her. ‘Don’t worry, I won’t hurt them, especially the young pup. I just need everyone together. To make sure there are no tricks.’
And she was gone faster than Bernice could think of a reply.
The light was closer now and the edges of it illuminated the sides of what was a huge chasm, created like a well in the centre (well, near as dammit) of the pyramid.
‘Fascinating…’ Professor Jaanson ran forward, finally shaking off his fear as he reached the edge of the chasm and looked down. ‘There! There, there, there!!’ He pointed excitedly at a sort of stone altar, upon which was a lump of rough stone hewn into a pyramid, to echo the big one they were within.
Bernice realised the rock was what she had the fragment of – plain, boring, white crystal running through it.
Slightly more alarming was that surrounding this altar, creating a sort of inverted funnel, like a whirlpool sucking upwards to a point, and emanating from the rock, was misty energy, still moving, like it was caught in perpetual motion.
Or, Bernice realised with dread, a time eddy.
‘Who is that?’ Globb harrumphed quietly.
Bernice focused, stared. ‘Oh my god,’ she breathed. ‘There are people at the apex of that…energy.’
‘Chronon energy,’ Jaanson breathed.
Oh great,
now
he was acting like a scientist. And he wasprobably right. Especially as Benny had already guessed who was standing there.
It had to be her. Jack. Ruth. Peter. Caught frozen, being scattered through time and sending messages and postcards and whatever to get the Doctor to find them and save them.
But of course, that wasn’t going to be enough now. The vision of her future that she had spoken to was already disintegrating. It was up to her to get in there are save herself. Jump-start them.
Then maybe the Doctor would turn up, use his timey-wimey Gallifreyan whatnot to, oh who knows, probably take the Glamour away and chuck it into the heart of a supernova, make sure no one could ever try accessing the secrets of the Ancients again.
All of which might have been a plan except that suddenly sprawled beside her were Jack and Ruth, thrown some distance by Kik the Assassin.
In her other hand, she lifted Peter above her head – for the first time Bernice realised she had to be from Spyro – she had heard of the people with telescopic bones, but never seen one. But her arm was twice its original length and Peter sensibly wasn’t fighting back.
‘Please put my son down,’ Bernice said. ‘He’s not great with heights.’
‘We were just having a friendly
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