“That?s very encouraging,” Benny chimed softly. ?Please don?t spoil the effect by adding ?until the air runs out and we asphyxiate? or something similar.”
The Doctor shook his head without looking up.
“Not all the systems have been shut down. The TARDIS is dormant, not dead,” he stated, with uncharacteristic simplicity. “All the essential systems are working perfectly. Oxygen.” He shot a wry glance at Benny.
“The lights are down,”Ace pointed out. She shivered. “And the heating.” “Yes, but the internal gravity?s on. We can live without light. We can?t live without the shell that keeps the vortex out. Or the failsafe that stops the TARDIS from erasing itself. And the heart, the basic life and mind of the TARDIS is being sustained.”
“Okay, it?s a black-out, but we?re alive. Why?”
“I don?t think,” Benny began slowly, glancing between Ace and the Doctor, “there?s anything wrong with the TARDIS. This is external. We?ve been nobbled.”
“Right,” the Doctor continued. “We?re still in flight. There?s an external force that?s moving us under its own steam, to its own destination.”
“Doctor,” Benny murmured.
“You?re saying it?s moving us?”Ace queried, ignoring Benny who was trying to catch her eye. “It must?ve bloody massive energy reserves, right?”
The Doctor shook his head vigorously. Manic light gleamed in his pupils. “Massive is an understatement. It would have to be the equal to the Eye of Harmony, at least. Which means,” he fixed Ace with a steely glare, “when we land, I want you to be polite to everyone you meet.”
“What? You think I wouldn?t?”Ace retorted, feeling reassured enough to try some honest sarcasm.
“Fascinating though this all is,” Benny purred, “I think the time rotor?s trying to attract our attention.”
Ace looked.
There was a small light burning in the heart of the column, flickering weakly like a dying candle.Ace automatically glanced upwards, at the lights set on the walls.
These remained dead. She looked back at the console. The light there had grown noticeably larger and brighter. Too bright to be the normal column lights.
“We?ve been reconnected?” suggested Benny.
“No,” the Doctor whispered, almost hypnotized by the light that tore deeper into the TARDIS core. “No,”he repeated, lending more weight to the syllable.
Then he went mad.
His fists slammed on the console top. Fingers smashed against all the buttons in reach. Levers were pulled, switches flicked, dials sent reeling, empty spaces thumped until they were dented. Fury was carved onto his face. Pure, near-bestial rage, caught in the now blazing light from the time rotor.
“This is my ship!” he screamed, staring into the glare. “My ship!”
The light screamed too. The delicate rods and instruments inside were drowned out by its brilliance. As the light grew more intense it sang. A simple, high-pitched harmonic, radiating out of the column, across the room.Ace found it almost soothing; Benny turned away, lost to the turbulence around her. The Doctor it drove into deeper fury. He still mouthed the same anger, but it came out silent, washed away by the music of the light. His face was caught in the golden-white light; he might have been weeping.Ace called to him, but even she couldn?t hear.
The light seeped from the console and burned into the room.Ace flung her arms in front of her face and turned away, the image of the Doctor still staring into the core of the agonizing light caught inside her eyelids.
The music reached a crescendo. The console room bleached out in a holocaust of white.
附录2 译文
“他跟你说什么了吗？”
“说什么？打扰我睡觉吗？”本尼 一脸疲倦，但还是强挤出一丝微笑。 “他看上去真是糟糕透了。”艾斯降低了声调，小声地说。
“刚才灯灭的时候，你应该也看到了他的样子。我跟他说是因为他没给仪表
盘吃饭我们才断电的。”
“然后呢？”
“他都没有笑。话说，你认为我们遭遇危机了吗？”本尼的语调听上去既紧张又兴奋。艾斯一点也不想回答这个问题。
“你觉得呢？” 本尼嘴里哼哼着回答说。 “我们应当感到恐慌才是。”
“现在先别，”艾斯摇头说，“还是留到后面吧。”
控制室陷入了瘫痪，整个房间一片漆黑，死气沉沉。控制台不运转了，中心柱也毫无动静。即便是柱子内部的微光也熄灭了。这些是塔迪斯的命脉，一旦它们停止运行，整个飞船亦然。
由于控制台停止运转，整个房间都显得空荡荡的。本来这是个很大的房间，现在却如同一个洞穴，也就是那种用来埋葬古老而又神秘的东西的坟地。艾斯感觉自己正在侵犯这片神圣的土地。房间中回响着他们的脚步声。
博士似乎没感觉到这种沉重的气氛，要不就是他很好地忽略了这一点。他走向控制台，艾斯和本尼则沿着房间外围小心翼翼地移动，观察博士的工作。平日里博士修理塔迪斯, 艾斯 总是指指点点，这一次博士终于可以完全自己做主了。本尼注意到博士分离机器零件就像医生一样得心应手。本尼每走一步都格外小心，动作十分生硬。艾斯注意到这时本尼离恐慌只有一步之隔了。尽管不情愿，但她也不得不承认自己也是如此。
她想，这一切都取决于博士怎么做了。
博士原本就瘦小，当他伏在控制台上研究坏掉的仪器时，身影又缩小了。他的头越来越低，快要缩到脖子里了。手电筒发出惨白的光，他的脸被反射在中心柱上，在曲面玻璃上变得扭曲。这种情况艾斯却觉得异常熟悉。就如同平常一样。博士在明亮的控制室工作，身子伏在控制台上，全神贯注，深深低下的头将他不断后退的发迹线彰显无遗。他先是伏在控制台上从说明书的最开始阅读，接着就从仪器的说明部分跳读，最后不想阅读了干脆全部都跳过了。这就是艾斯每天生活的一个真实写照。现在唯一不同的是周围无尽的黑暗和让人绝望的氛围。
博士工作比平日更迅速。他通常都是很仔细的，而现在只是围着控制台打转，
试图寻找还运转的机器，任何还运转的机器，然而一无所获。艾斯发现他越来越泄气。几分钟之后，博士突然直起身来，面无表情地盯着那堆机器。
几乎同时，她们也和博士一起盯着那堆机器。。
“所有的机器都不运转了。”博士轻声说。接着又伏在控制台上，拍打着控制台。这时他再次直起身，艾斯惊讶地发现博士居然在笑。
“不同寻常的力量......”博士的声音既缓慢又缥缈。
艾斯不自觉地笑了。真正的博士回来了，像以前一样神秘却真实。什么都解释，但这却是做好的证据。
“什么？”艾斯听到本尼的声音从远处传来。
“对不起，不可能.....”博士低声喃喃道。“这让我想起了曾遇到过的一个棘手的情况。也许是戴立克。不，这次不一样。”拜托，艾斯忍不住想叫出来，千万别说我们很安全。
“至少我们很安全。”博士接着说道。艾斯禁不住皱起了眉头。
“这还真是振奋人心。”本尼小声嘟囔。“可千万别再加上直到空气耗尽我们窒息而亡或类似的话。”
博士摇了摇头，并没有看她。
“并不是所有的系统都停止了。塔迪斯只是处于休眠状态，并不是不运转了。”他尽量简洁地说道。“所有必要的系统都还能正常的工作。比如说供氧系统。”说完他斜睨了本尼一眼。
“没有光。”艾斯指出。说完打了个冷战，“还有供暖。”
“确实，但是舱内的重力系统还能正常工作。没有光我们还可以生存。但是如果没有了护罩挡住时空漩涡，或者没有了阻止塔迪斯自我毁坏的故障保护功能，我们就无法生存。至少塔迪斯之心，也就是生命和思想还仍然存在。
“好，塔迪斯休眠了，但我们还活着，是吗？”
“我可不这么认为。”本尼扫了艾斯和博士一眼，缓慢的说，“塔迪斯肯定出了什么问题，这只是表面现象，我们不要被骗了。”
“是的。”博士接着说，“我们仍然在飞船上，现在有一个外部力量迫使我们顺着它的轨道驶向终点。”
“博士。”本尼低声说。