The Doctor Of War ³

Hell Bent pt.2

"Exterminate me!" Clara slips past, only to have an arm grabbed by a Cybermen. The Doctor pulls her free

"Keep away from them! The Matrix can use them as a defence. It means the secret exit must be close."

"What's to defend in a crypt?"

"It's not just a crypt. More like a stone circuit board. This is the Matrix database" they arrive at an area with a glowing interlocking circle pattern on the floor without actually noticing. Clara stands in the middle of it.

"Database? What do you mean, database?" the Doctor and I realise where Clara is standing.

"Oh" I say.

"Oh?" Clara asks.

"Oh."

"Oh?" Clara looks down "oh" the Doctor starts clearing the dirt with his foot.

"Looks like the primary service hatch. Just have to work out the key" I say "oh. When Time Lords die, their minds are uploaded to a thing called the Matrix. This structure, it's like a living computer. It can predict the future, generate prophecies out of algorithms, ring the Cloister bells in the event of impending catastrophe. The Sliders, they're just like the guard dogs, the firewall. Projections from inside the Matrix itself. The dead, manning the battlements."

"Was I supposed to understand any of that?" Clara asks.

"The Time Lords have got a big computer made of ghosts, in a crypt, guarded by more ghosts."

"Didn't hurt, did it?"

"Tiny bit" I kneel down running my fingers around the curved grooves.

"Why would a computer need to protect itself from the people who made it?" Clara asks.

"All computers do that in the end. You wait until the internet starts. Oh, that was a war!" the Doctor says "a long time ago, there was a student at the Academy. He got in here, disappeared for four days. Showed up in a completely different part of the city. Said the Sliders talked to him, they showed him the secret passage out. And we just need the code" the Doctor gets out his notebook.

"What, and the kid told you the secret?"

"Ah, no, he didn't tell anyone anything. He went completely mad. Never right in the head again, so they say" I reply.

"Ok, that's encouraging."

"The last we heard, he stole the moon and the President's wife."

"Was she, er, Was she nice, the President's wife?"

"Ah, well, that was a lie put about by the Sheboygan's. It was the President's daughter. We didn't steal the moon, we lost it."

"I'd know you two anywhere."

"We were completely different people in those days. Eccentric, a bit mad, rude to people" the Doctor says.

"Look at me again," Clara says.

"Sorry, what?"

"In the eye. Look at me. Just do it" the Doctor and I look at Clara.

"What? What is it?" I ask.

"How long has it been for you two since you last saw me?"

"Oh, we're not sure."

"How long?"

"We were stuck on a place. They..."

"They what? Who? Who are we talking about?"

"They wanted something from us. Information. It really doesn't matter" the Doctor says.