6

We followed Wira through the twisting corridors and up the stairs to the grand entrance hall.

‘The Flamingo? That’s another Vegas place,’ I observed, hurrying to keep up with the newly motivated Wira. I could see the Doctor was having the same trouble.

‘It’s the most exclusive place on the Swathe,’ Wira said as she reached the massive front door. ‘Their chapel has the largest Imori stone ever found on our planet. Only elite families are allowed to use it.’

‘No doubt part of the Rani’s motivation in choosing her paramour,’ the Doctor muttered. ‘Go big or go home.’

‘Wira said the stones are divine. But I’m guessing not?’

‘No,’ he told me. ‘They’re an elemental combination found only on this planet. A similar one is found on Azzarozia, which they use as rocket fuel. Here, the Imori stones help provide energy to power the accelerated metabolism needed during the Koturian transformations. I’m sure the Rani’s obtained some samples for her research as well, but probably with less bloodshed – unless she decided to biologically manipulate a drill.’ He seemed pretty pleased with his joke, but my next question dimmed his enthusiasm.

‘What about the victims who were taken whole? Some may still be alive.’

‘I know,’ he said grimly. ‘And my guess is they won’t be once she’s decided to wrap up her research.’

Wira led us back to the crowded Swathe, and all of us were running by now, driven by the urgency of our task. Evening had fallen, and all the buildings had come to life with dazzling displays of light. We found the Flamingo and entered through its main door, cutting across a casino full of sequin-clad gamers and servers who glared at us when we had to push them aside. The layout was nearly as confusing as Evris’s house.

I was gasping by the time we reached the white marble doorway leading to the chapel. Leaning over, resting my hands on my knees, I discovered I’d torn this dress too. The Doctor came to a halt beside me, panting as well.

‘Looks like we may have to do more conditioning when we’re back in the TARDIS,’ he observed.

‘More?’ I asked. ‘As opposed to what we do now?’

Two servants in Evris’s yellow livery stood guard at the door. They seemed simply ceremonial, with no weapons, probably because no one expected a deadly villainess to show up at a wedding, let alone be a major player in it.

‘I’m sorry,’ one of them was saying to Wira, ‘but we can’t let you in – not when it’s already started.’

‘This is important!’ she exclaimed. ‘Jonos is in danger.’

The two exchanged uncertain glances, but the Doctor had no patience for anything more. He simply strode up to the doors and pushed them open. With an apologetic look at the servants, I quickly followed him and sensed Wira right behind me. I didn’t really know what we’d be walking into and had a horrifying fear of everyone turning to stare.

They didn’t because no one even noticed us. The ‘chapel’ was so huge and so vast that our entrance took no attention away from the drama unfolding up at the front. The room actually looked remarkably like a cathedral from back home, with pews and stained-glass windows, save that it was all done in more of those cringe-worthy colour schemes. Up where an altar would have been sat enormous urns of flowers, towering over those gathered below. A glittering purple rock that I assumed was the Imori stone stood between them, about the size of a kitchen table. Waiting on each side of it, their profiles to the audience, were Jonos and the Rani. He had lavender hair like his father and was as handsome as Wira had said. Some sort of officiant – dressed astonishingly like Elvis Presley – raised his arms in the air, and I just barely heard the word, ‘Commence.’ At the same moment, Jonos and the Rani reached for each other and held hands over the stone. I didn’t entirely know what was happening, but Wira did, and she rushed forward.

‘No!’

But it was too late. A piercing yellow light began to shine from where the couple’s hands were clasped. It grew and grew until it spread over the rest of the rock and over them. Soon, the entire front half of the chapel was too blinding to look at, and I put a hand over my eyes. It lasted for almost thirty seconds, and then steadily the light faded. I still couldn’t see right away, not after all that radiance, and I had to blink black spots away. When I finally focused on the couple again, I wondered if my vision had been harmed.

Because Jonos looked the same.

The gasps and startled reactions of the couple and the congregation soon showed me that I wasn’t the only one who’d noticed the lack of transformation. Wira, bold before, had retreated back to us. Her eyes were wide, her face pale.

‘It’s impossible,’ she whispered.

‘What is this?’ demanded the Rani, her angry words echoing. ‘Why didn’t you change?’

Jonos, looking as stricken as everyone else, examined his hands and then touched his face. ‘I … I don’t know. The stone came to life. I felt it. I felt the reaction begin in me, but then … it just didn’t work.’

‘The fault isn’t in you. It’s in your blushing bride,’ announced the Doctor, striding forward. His voice rang through the vaulted room.

Evris stood up in the front row. ‘Doctor! What are you doing?’

The Rani’s face twisted into a sneer as she removed her veil. ‘Of course. Of course you’re behind this.’

The Doctor came to a halt and casually stuffed his hands in his pockets. ‘No, actually. This was all you, I’m afraid. Lovely dress, by the way. I like the blue trim. Do you have something new and something borrowed tucked away as well? It goes without saying that you yourself have the “something old” more than taken care of.’

‘They said this would work without two Koturians!’ cried the Rani. She levelled glares at everyone, including her groom. ‘You all said it would. You said he’d transform even if he wasn’t marrying a Koturian.’

‘It’s true that your body doesn’t matter for his transformation.’ The Doctor looked like he was on top of the world, probably because he loved both an audience and one-upping the Rani. ‘But your heart does. Your figurative one, that is. Not your physical ones. The chemicals that churn through the body of someone in love are what the stone responds to, what spins up its energy cycle. But it needs two sets to drive it – and, alas, there’s only one person in love in this relationship. Only one person even capable of emotion, really. Considering the number of lacklustre marriages in the world, I’m guessing the stone has a pretty low bar for some type of regard, but you couldn’t even get that high, Rani.’

Jonos looked between his bride and the Doctor in obvious confusion. ‘My darling Lania … what is this about?’

‘Her name’s not Lania,’ said the Doctor. ‘And “darling” probably isn’t the best adjective. She’s Gallifreyan like me and hoped to take advantage of your Phasing for her own devices. What was it, Rani? Couldn’t glean enough from your prehistoric research team’s random sampling? Did you need someone who’d specifically transformed because of you and whose DNA would therefore reflect your influence?’

The Rani pointed accusingly at him. ‘Don’t act like it’s such a ridiculous idea, Doctor. You can’t tell me you haven’t wanted more control over the regeneration process. Most Time Lords are at the mercy of fate after death. But imagine if we could definitively control the outcome! These people are the best lead I’ve found. They not only control their transformations but also improve in mind and body. Surely you’d be interested in that?’

‘Is that another slight on my appearance?’ He gave a melodramatic sigh. ‘Fate’s been very good to me, thank you very much, and I’m quite content with that. Maybe we don’t have the control that they do, but we’re gifted with life many more times than others are.’

‘Fools are content with their fates,’ she snapped. ‘Those with sense seek to control and even change theirs.’

The Doctor was unmoved. ‘Well then, you’ll have to find another way. You will never, ever be able to influence a Koturian transformation, be it Jonos or some other poor soul whose life you would have warped – and then eventually ended. You cannot love. You cannot be a part of it.’

‘You’re one to lecture,’ she said, tossing her hair back. ‘Please, Doctor. Tell me more about your great experiences with love and sharing your inner feelings. For someone who always travels with others, you still seem remarkably alone to me.’

His smile tightened. ‘For you, we’ll have to start with something more basic. Like empathy.’

Jonos nervously took a couple of steps towards the Rani and reached for her. ‘We’ll figure this out. There must be some mistake. What he’s saying … it’s not true …’

He tried to touch her, but the Rani pushed him away. ‘Oh, be quiet. I’m so tired of your simpering. It’s no wonder you’ve never been married. Being free of your prattle doesn’t make up for the failure of one of my greatest endeavours – but it helps.’

Cries of shock and outrage followed. ‘Find some guards and seize her!’ exclaimed Evris. ‘She must be punished for the sacrilege she’s attempted.’

‘No,’ said the Doctor, holding up his hand as several men rushed forward. ‘Let her go. Let her go – as long as she tells us where she’s keeping the victims that are still alive.’

‘What?’ exclaimed Jonos and Evris in unison.

The Rani put her hands on her hips and laughed. ‘Thank you, but I don’t need any bargain of yours to get myself out of here, Doctor. As for where they are … Well, that’s one secret you’ll never know. Good luck searching once I’m gone.’

‘How about a bargain of a different sort?’ asked the Doctor. He reached into his pocket and held up the crystal storage device from the lab. ‘Won’t be much of a victory if you leave completely empty-handed, will it?’

The Rani paled. ‘How did you get that?’ she demanded, holding out her hand. ‘Give it to me!’

The Doctor set the crystal on the ground, his foot hovering over it.

She froze. ‘Wait!’

‘These are such contradictory little gadgets, aren’t they?’ mused the Doctor. ‘They can hold gargantuan amounts of data, but are so, so fragile. Such a shame.’

‘You wouldn’t dare. The results of all of my research are there! Destroy it, and it’s gone. All of it.’ For a few moments, she was all fury and outrage, and then … she faltered. ‘Please. Don’t destroy it. I’ve put in so much work here. Don’t make it all for nothing.’

The Doctor’s eyes widened in mock surprise. ‘My goodness. It appears I was wrong. You are capable of feeling emotion. Admittedly, it’s only for cold hard data purchased through the blood of innocents, but, well, it’s a start. Perhaps we’ll make a starry-eyed romantic of you after all.’

‘Doctor,’ she growled.

All levity faded from him. ‘The victims. Tell us where they are. Not in your TARDIS, surely?’

‘That rabble? Of course not.’ She fell silent, but as her eyes returned to the crystal under his foot I could see fear playing over her features. ‘Fine. There’s a derelict casino seven blocks from the house. I have them taken there for experimen– examination. It’s where my servants roost.’

The Doctor’s foot still hovered above the crystal, but his eyes flicked to Evris. ‘Send someone there immediately. A medical team.’ The Koturian man nodded to a couple of servants who scurried away. ‘And maybe a very large flyswatter.’

The Rani’s gaze never left the Doctor. ‘There. I told you what you wanted to know. Now prove you’re the alleged man of honour you play, and give me the crystal!’

‘Gladly.’ With hands as nimble as a magician’s, the Doctor picked up the crystal and tossed it towards the Rani who caught it with equal deftness. ‘Now, Evris, it’s all up to you.’

The guards Evris had summoned earlier began to advance. For a second, the Rani squeezed the crystal, relief flooding her face. Then the haughty look that seemed to be her trademark returned. ‘I don’t think so.’ She shot a glance to the opposite corner of the room. ‘Stop them!’

The contingent of lizard-men who’d seized Wira and me surged forward and intercepted the guards. In the clash and confusion, the Rani was momentarily forgotten, and I watched her slowly back away from the fray, a triumphant smile on her face.

‘You might regret not helping me with this one day,’ she called over to us. ‘Your next regeneration may be sooner than you think.’

‘Doctor –’ I began.

‘I see her.’

He started towards the Rani when suddenly she disappeared into one of the giant urns. That was soon followed by an all-too-familiar sound. The urn vanished.

‘It was her TARDIS.’

The Doctor nodded, his expression a mix of resignation and envy. ‘My kingdom for a chameleon circuit.’ He sighed and then switched into jovial mode. ‘I’m guessing she had it standing by there to spirit Jonos off immediately for experimentation once he’d changed. Probably not the exciting wedding night he’d had in mind.’

‘I can’t believe we were all so fooled,’ said Evris morosely.

He’d come to stand beside us, and I took a moment to survey the scene. People were on their feet, anxious and confused, but there were no real injuries or damage. The Rani’s minions had been subdued quickly, simply by sheer numbers – as she’d known they would be. I recalled what the Doctor had said about them before, how they never had a fighting chance.

‘Don’t beat yourself up,’ the Doctor replied, patting his friend on the shoulder. ‘She’s a clever woman – a very clever woman, which makes it all the more tragic that she uses that intellect with so little morality.’

‘Poor Jonos,’ said Evris. ‘Having his heart broken like that. How will he ever find love soon enough for his Phasing?’

I glanced back up towards the Imori stone. An obviously miserable Jonos sat on the floor while Wira knelt beside him, clasping his hands and doling out comforting words that I couldn’t quite make out.

‘Maybe he’ll find it in an unexpected place,’ I said.

Evris followed my gaze and frowned. ‘A serving-girl?’

The Doctor scoffed. ‘That’s your concern? Come now, you’re a civilised man. Let go of your silly and archaic classist ideologies and try focusing on the fact that that nice girl cares about your son – and isn’t an unscrupulous scientific mastermind.’

‘Compelling argument,’ Evris admitted. ‘Excuse me while I talk to my son.’

We watched him walk away, and I hoped Jonos and Wira might truly make things work in time. For now, he was too devastated to even notice her presence, but surely someone deserved a happy ending here. It was a cheering thought, but one that soon faded as I turned towards the Doctor.

‘You let her keep her data,’ I said. ‘Maybe she’ll try some new tactic with the Koturians.’

He smiled. ‘Not likely. I erased the crystal back in her lab.’

I gaped. ‘She was already pretty upset about her plans falling through here. When she realises what you did to the crystal, she’s really not going to be happy with you.’

‘She never is,’ he said solemnly. He held out his arm, and I linked mine through it. ‘Now then. Since we’re here, shall we go try our luck in the casino while the others sort this mess out?’

I laughed as we strolled out through the confused Koturian congregation. ‘Luck? I thought you said earlier that it was skill.’

‘As long as you don’t run out of it, it doesn’t matter what you call it.’

‘And you’re not worried about that happening?’ I asked.

‘Not in the least, Peri. Not in the least.’