Free Death of the Doctor by Gary Russell Page B

controls, but the Weave seemed to be operating by itself, the power getting stronger, feeding…feeding off the memories!
    ‘What’s he doing?’ she screamed at Azure, but the big vulture was as confused as her.
    ‘I remember,’ said Sarah Jane beside the Colonel.
    ‘I remember,’ echoed Jo, next to Aureolin.
    And on their holograms faces, planets, creatures flashed by, like a speeded-up movie.
    Daleks. Cybermen. Ice Warriors. Sontarans. Morbius. Azal. Krillitanes. Karfelons. Autons. Arcturans. Arcateenians. Bok. Wirrn. Eldrad. Omega. The Master. Davros. The Brigadier. K-9. Mike. Harry. Draconia. Kastria. So many faces, so many sounds, so many smells, so many temperatures, so many memories…
    Karim pointed as the key, that had been so nearly solid, just melted into nothingness as these other memories poured out from the two women strapped into the Memory Weave.
    A squawk from Azure made the Colonel stare at her console. Smoke was seeping out from under it. ‘What’s happening?’
    Azure’s great wings began flapping. ‘The device is overloading. Too many memories. Too many –’
    Another cry – this time from Amaranth, because the Cradle’s strings had snapped, rending the instrument useless, and he staggered back from it, his talons flailing around in fear and bewilderment.
    Outside, the Doctor turned to the teenagers.
    ‘Come on, all of you! Help them!’
    Clyde was first to the door, yelling at the top of his voice. ‘Think of us, Sarah Jane! Remember Maria. And her dad! And all the stuff we’ve done. Slitheen, the Gorgon…’
    ‘And the clowns,’ Rani was yelling. ‘And the Judoon. And the Berserker! And the Mona Lisa coming alive!’
    ‘Just think, Gran,’ Santiago was shouting. ‘All the places we’ve been to. All the countries, all the people…’
    Inside, Jo was smiling as she thought about all the tribes she had visited, all the rivers, and mountains, and deserts and jungles she’d seen. With Cliff, her husband. And their children. And their children’s children…
    And Sarah Jane was thinking about Bannerman Road, finding Mister Smith’s Xylok crystal, creating the computer. Of the Bane. Of Luke. Luke, her son…
    And then the holograms just vanished and the console beside Jo exploded in a huge mass of sparks and flashes, throwing Aureolin backwards.
    ‘It’s blown a circuit,’ Sarah Jane said. The straps holding her arms and legs sprung open as the power drained away. She ripped the headset away and was across to Jo, pulling her free, ignoring the explosions around them, almost dragging Jo towards the door, to the Doctor, to freedom.
    But the door was sealed.
    ‘Doctor!’ Sarah Jane shouted. ‘Problem! The door’s sealed and this place is about to go up!’
    Jo glanced back. The whole place was a mass of smoke and flame and she drew Sarah Jane’s attention to the power cables leading into the floor. One of them was already ablaze – and when that reached whatever was powering this place beneath the floor…
    Colonel Karim saw this too and threw herself forward, preparing to yank the power cable out.
    Jo and Sarah Jane hid their eyes as an electrical flash lit up the room like a massive firework had silently gone off, creating a whole load of smoke that made them cough.
    Of Colonel Karim, there was no sign. Perhaps she had been completely vaporised by the power feedback.
    And the cables were both ablaze now.
    Sarah Jane was trying the sonic but it wasn’t working and she realised it had drained itself on the alien world. Getting them back here.
    ‘Where’s your sonic screwdriver?’ Jo called through the door.
    ‘In the TARDIS,’ the Doctor said back.
    ‘And we can’t get in because we stopped ourselves remembering the key, so it faded away.’ Sarah Jane smiled sadly at the irony.
    ‘Doctor,’ said Jo quietly, bravely ignoring the destruction around her, destruction getting closer to claiming them with each second. ‘Doctor, I just want to say…I’m so glad I saw