FICTION.

'The object of the obscene ceremonies was to invest the king with the necessary magical powers to combat the demoniacal forces threatening the kingdom: internal division and external attack.'Collier's Encyclopaedia, on the subject of tantra tantra.

Chapter 13.

This is true: On August 18, 1783, the largest meteor ever seen by the British Isles blazed an uneasy trail across the sky from the urban heart of Scotland, over the south-western edge of London itself and out towards the sea. At least, 'meteor' seems a good enough word: those who knew that science had proved such things to be impossible referred to it as a 'fireball', and the observatory in Greenwich later reported it to be a cl.u.s.ter of vivid, multicoloured lights, travelling in formation before finally exploding into a rain of fire somewhere in the vicinity of Ostend. Indeed, this being an age of such poor communications, it wasn't until the Gentleman's Magazine Gentleman's Magazine pieced together all the eye-witness reports that anyone even acknowledged it as a single phenomenon. Robert Blake painted a picture inspired by, it, pieced together all the eye-witness reports that anyone even acknowledged it as a single phenomenon. Robert Blake painted a picture inspired by, it, Approach of Doom Approach of Doom, which seemed so pertinent to the times that his brother William (himself a visionary artist, in contact with angels and monsters of various descriptions) insisted on making an engraving of it.

On the night of the Great Fireball, Juliette was standing on the iron deck of the Jonah Jonah and considering what it might mean to be and considering what it might mean to be part part of such an event rather than just a of such an event rather than just a witness witness to it. to it.

She'd positioned herself at the prow of the ship, with her pale hands on the black railings, and if it had been a ship of the navy then the spray would have been splashing against her face by now. She'd lost track of the time she'd spent here, with the lights of the world turning into greasy streaks of fire around her, with the air rushing past so fast that she could hardly even breathe out. It was, she knew, all part of the process. The ship was pushing towards the horizon, forcing itself against currents far more fundamental than those of the English Channel.

In fact, she only began to recover from this peculiar Shaktyanda Shaktyanda state when Sabbath joined her on the deck. Obviously, she had no need to actually state when Sabbath joined her on the deck. Obviously, she had no need to actually see see him emerge from his studies at the heart of the him emerge from his studies at the heart of the Jonah Jonah. This was his vessel now: it was an extension of his will, a part of his purpose, his body rooted into its metal walls just as he himself was rooted into the Earth. He only had to set foot on one of the decks and Juliette would feel him there. And not just because of his weight.

He seemed remarkably unaffected by it all, though. Juliette liked that.

'Well now,' he said. 'Where should we go first?'

Juliette forced the air out of her lungs, then sucked in more, letting the salt of the sea wherever the sea might have been located, in this mora.s.s of s.p.a.ce and time and G.o.d-alone*knew what else fill up her nose. She was sure she felt London flash past her, although whether the city was beneath her, or around her, or even inside her, she couldn't accurately tell.

'Hardly the question that comes to mind,' she said, politely but firmly. 'I'd rather know whether we'll be coming back.'

There was a half-smile on Sabbath's face when he spoke, she could hear it in his voice.

'Ah,' he said. 'Longings for home.'

'Please, don't mock me. We have unfinished histories here.'

Sabbath nodded, she was sure of it even though he was behind her and she'd by now closed her eyes to take her mind off the colours. 'We have unfinished histories,' he agreed. 'Not necessarily here.'

'We're rooted here, surely?'

'We have a certain attachment to the Earth. Not to our own time.'

'Here,' Juliette insisted.

He didn't answer her, but she was sure he was still smiling, even if she couldn't actually feel it in the humming of the decks. Eventually her curiosity got the better of her, and she turned, opening her eyes to him.

Sabbath stood close to the centre of the deck, next to one of the openings which led down into the vessel's stomach. He looked exactly as she'd imaged him. Greatcoat thrown loosely over his shoulders, head down but bright eyes raised, watching her carefully. There was, as she'd guessed, a smile on his face. If the storms of light and colour around the Jonah Jonah made any impression on him, then he didn't show it. One hand was planted nonchalantly in a pocket of the coat, while the other was idly scratching his chest: it had vanished under the coat and into his shirt, which reminded Juliette of something although she couldn't say what. From here she could just see the off-white bandages beneath the cloth, the big red stain where the scar on his chest had leaked a little. made any impression on him, then he didn't show it. One hand was planted nonchalantly in a pocket of the coat, while the other was idly scratching his chest: it had vanished under the coat and into his shirt, which reminded Juliette of something although she couldn't say what. From here she could just see the off-white bandages beneath the cloth, the big red stain where the scar on his chest had leaked a little.

The smell of salt probably came from the ocean, if indeed there was an ocean anywhere around them. It made Juliette think of blood anyway.

'What was wrong with the Doctor's heart?' she'd asked Sabbath, when they'd left the grand palace of the ape-world and headed back to the Jonah Jonah. Six months ago, now. Six months of watching the trained apes hunt down the wild apes, of listening to Sabbath while he taught his animals to perform the surgery and, later, while he recovered in the dim black-walled rooms below decks.

'Nothing,' Sabbath had told her. 'The heart was in perfect working order. It was only serving its purpose. Rooting him to his borne territory, the same thing it'd do for anyone. The problem was, his territory no longer existed. That was the cause of the poison.'

'History seems to have been playing on your mind recently,' Sabbath said, suddenly. It took Juliette a moment or two to follow his drift.

'I worry,' she told him.

'I see. You believe you've still got business to attend to here.'

It wasn't even disguised as a question. Juliette raised her head to him, a sign that she was ready to acknowledge her past even if she wasn't quite prepared to confront it. 'Can you blame me?' she asked.

'No,' said Sabbath. 'Do you worry what he'll think of you, now you're gone?'

'Of course.'

She didn't explain what she was really thinking. She didn't have to. When Sabbath had shown her how far the ship could travel, how far he'd expanded the borders of his 'territory', she'd known full well that such a journey would make her more than a simple human being. She'd be able to step outside her own time of residence, to look at the whole of her lifetime from the outside, to see the consequences of every action she'd ever taken. Soon the Jonah Jonah would go further, into the deeper realms, into parts of time even the would go further, into the deeper realms, into parts of time even the tantrists tantrists could barely imagine. One could barely see such things and still consider oneself to be a could barely imagine. One could barely see such things and still consider oneself to be a person person, as such. One could hardly go that far and not dwell on thoughts of history.

She often lay in the bunks in the depths of the Jonah Jonah, alone or otherwise, thinking of all the things she'd said in the presence of her colleagues at Henrietta Street. She wondered, sometimes, if she'd concealed too much and given too little of herself away. She tried to see herself as they they might see her, from the inside of time. As an innocent? As the guilty party? Would they look back on the things that had happened in her room, the secrets and the experiments, as the actions of a stupid little girl or of a female Iscariot? might see her, from the inside of time. As an innocent? As the guilty party? Would they look back on the things that had happened in her room, the secrets and the experiments, as the actions of a stupid little girl or of a female Iscariot?

'It's probably a good thing you've started thinking that way,' mused Sabbath. 'I think we can safely say that history's our profession now. Our employment, if you like.'

'We have our duty,' Juliette responded, and she was a little surprised to discover that she actually meant it. It sounded so much like the kind of thing that Sabbath would say... but then again, she'd set foot on this ship of her own free will, so she really shouldn't have been surprised that she'd become a part of it.

Sabbath nodded, and it took Juliette a while to realise that he was nodding at at something. She turned back, towards the prow, and the blaze of light that was fast approaching the front of the ship. Not just the streaks of brilliant colour, as the world flashed past below them or around them or inside them. A point of intensity, towards which the ship was being navigated by its unseen crew. something. She turned back, towards the prow, and the blaze of light that was fast approaching the front of the ship. Not just the streaks of brilliant colour, as the world flashed past below them or around them or inside them. A point of intensity, towards which the ship was being navigated by its unseen crew.

'It's happening?' she asked.

'Yes,' said Sabbath.

Yes. They were moving fast enough, they'd been travelling for long enough, they'd seen enough of the Earth pa.s.s them by. Standing there on the deck, Juliette felt her own heart pumping in time with the deck, in time with the great double-rhythm which she felt sure was being dictated by Sabbath himself. She knew, without question, that Sabbath had already decided on their destination. The apes had threatened to tear the Earth apart, and although the Doctor had pushed them away it was only a part of a larger problem. They were moving fast enough, they'd been travelling for long enough, they'd seen enough of the Earth pa.s.s them by. Standing there on the deck, Juliette felt her own heart pumping in time with the deck, in time with the great double-rhythm which she felt sure was being dictated by Sabbath himself. She knew, without question, that Sabbath had already decided on their destination. The apes had threatened to tear the Earth apart, and although the Doctor had pushed them away it was only a part of a larger problem.

You had to see things on the grandest possible scale. Just as she intended to see her own lifetime, stretched out before her, as soon as the ship finally took them away from the world.

She became aware that Sabbath was behind her. Not close enough to touch her, but close enough that she could feel his breath on the side of her face, close enough that he could have put his arms around her if he'd wanted to do such a thing. They stood there together, watching the sky beyond the prow, the air around them full of the smell of salt and the light of elementals and the beating of three hearts.

'_____,' said Sabbath.

And in the very last moment that could be said to have been spent on Earth on Earth, Juliette thought of the Doctor.

Addendum The Future THE DOCTOR: It's impossible to give a definitive account of the Doctor's travels after 1783, mainly because he himself refused refused to let it be possible. He was, according to his admirers, a nigh-immortal being who could walk through time and even (occasionally) change his appearance: therefore, anybody could impersonate him with impunity. People claiming to be eighteenth-century occult 'charlatans' like Cagliostro or the Comte de Germain were crawling out of the woodwork as late as the twentieth century, so it's hard to know what to make of the numerous individuals who've claimed to be the Doctor since the Siege of Henrietta Street. Perhaps it's best just to say that he remains one of modern man's truly mythic figures, and leave it at that. to let it be possible. He was, according to his admirers, a nigh-immortal being who could walk through time and even (occasionally) change his appearance: therefore, anybody could impersonate him with impunity. People claiming to be eighteenth-century occult 'charlatans' like Cagliostro or the Comte de Germain were crawling out of the woodwork as late as the twentieth century, so it's hard to know what to make of the numerous individuals who've claimed to be the Doctor since the Siege of Henrietta Street. Perhaps it's best just to say that he remains one of modern man's truly mythic figures, and leave it at that.

EMILY HART: After Sabbath's apparent departure from Earth, Emily (who later returned to her given name of Emma) settled down in Naples with the British Envoy Extraordinary. She eventually became the talk of her native country in 1798, as the mistress of one of Britain's most noted Admirals, one of the new breed of naval heroes produced by the Napoleonic wars. It was exactly the lifestyle she might have hoped for, in her youth. Appropriately, one English newspaper satirised this scandalous affair in a cartoon called The Nightmare of the Nile The Nightmare of the Nile another parody of Fuseli's another parody of Fuseli's Nightmare Nightmare, its t.i.tle inspired by the fact that Emma's lover had recently won a victory at Aboukir Bay in which the Admiral was depicted as the little nightmare-goblin, sitting on Emma's chest and peeking under her nightdress.

THE COUNTESS OF JERSEY, 'THE INFERNAL': History doesn't remember her as a great ritualist, but as a great manipulator and seductress. She campaigned for the Whig party in the great London elections of 1784, became the mistress of the Prince of Wales (later King George IV), and may have been party to any number of diabolical Whig schemes throughout the 1780s and 1790s. As expected.

FITZ KREINER and ANJI KAPOOR: Neither of them reappear in historical archives... at least, not in the eighteenth century. There is is a record of one of them dying in the twenty-first century, but as records are notoriously bad at keeping track of elementals it may have been a different individual altogether. a record of one of them dying in the twenty-first century, but as records are notoriously bad at keeping track of elementals it may have been a different individual altogether.

JULIETTE: Unlike Sabbath she did did return to her own place and time, though as something of a changed woman. She's known to have spent some time on Hispaniola, perhaps consulting with emondeur and his brood. The last known record of her activities places her at Charenton Asylum in 1805, where she visited one of the inmates and witnessed one of the bizarre plays often staged by the lunatics for the benefit of society guests. She vanishes from history altogether after that date. return to her own place and time, though as something of a changed woman. She's known to have spent some time on Hispaniola, perhaps consulting with emondeur and his brood. The last known record of her activities places her at Charenton Asylum in 1805, where she visited one of the inmates and witnessed one of the bizarre plays often staged by the lunatics for the benefit of society guests. She vanishes from history altogether after that date.

LISA-BETH LACHLAN and REBECCA MACARDLE: Lisa-Beth did indeed go on to handle the practical matters of the House. When Scarlette turned her mind to other interests in late 1783, Lisa-Beth ran the business almost single-handed. No record of Lisa-Beth exists after 1789, so perhaps she joined Scarlette on the barricades during the French Revolution... unlikely as it may seem. Rebecca's known history is longer, but vague. Like Lisa-Beth she worked in the House until at least 1789, and after that she seems to have found employment in central Europe as an agent of a government agency which saw a certain potential in her unusual talents. There's no reliable record of her death. The House eventually closed down in the women's absence, having served its purpose admirably.

THE MAN WITH THE ROSETTE: Nothing more is known about him, although at least one of those individuals claiming claiming to be the Doctor in later years stated that the strange black-clad man had returned 'in a most unexpected capacity'. There's room for plenty of speculation here. to be the Doctor in later years stated that the strange black-clad man had returned 'in a most unexpected capacity'. There's room for plenty of speculation here.

KATCHKA ('KATYA') NAKHOVA: Tragically, Katya died in September 1783. She was evidently the victim of a homicidal client, although the details were kept from the city watch on the orders of Scarlette. Scarlette's journal, in one of its last entries before the departure from Britain, records that the killer was 'dealt with in a reasonable fashion'.

DR NIE WHO: His shop in Soho was open until at least 1796. No explanation has ever been given as to what happened to him between the wedding ceremony of 1782 and the funeral in 1783: there's no record of oriental paG.o.das being part of the Kingdom of Beasts, so possibly his Chinese sense of 'no-time' protected him from the attentions of the King and the apes. Though Who doesn't appear to have been an important figure in eighteenth-and nineteenth-century occultism, the stereotype of the 'oriental wise-man' would live on long after his own era. It's interesting to note that the name 'Dr Who' later entered twentieth-century culture in a suitably exotic context: it was the name given to the mad scientist in the 1967 j.a.panese movie, King Kong Escapes King Kong Escapes.

SABBATH: The best guess is that he was seen on Earth only once more after 1783, at least during his own lifetime... but as with the Doctor, sightings in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries were common. Understandably, legends that someone someone is looking out for the safety of history itself are still popular today. Perhaps the most telling myth comes from the early twentieth century, when Sabbath was rumoured to have arrived in Europe in the years leading up to the Second World War. Typically, he was described as being utterly indifferent to the ma.s.sive conflict which was to come. is looking out for the safety of history itself are still popular today. Perhaps the most telling myth comes from the early twentieth century, when Sabbath was rumoured to have arrived in Europe in the years leading up to the Second World War. Typically, he was described as being utterly indifferent to the ma.s.sive conflict which was to come.

SCARLETTE, THE ADVENTURESS OF HENRIETTA STREET: What can be said about Scarlette, most legendary of all the presences presences of London, except perhaps for the Doctor himself? Stories are often told in ritualistic circles about the original 'woman in scarlet', most of them horribly distorted by time. She's said to have visited America after the Siege, despite the obvious risks, and to have confronted General Washington himself; to have been in Paris during the uprising of 1789, presenting herself as a Mistress of the Revolution; to have visited Egypt during the occupation of Napoleon; even to have witnessed the Battle of Trafalgar. All that can be said for sure, from the records which survive, is that she spent the months after the Doctor's departure finding herself a new 'apprentice' who had more than a little of Juliette's blood in her veins. Apart from that, it wouldn't be going too far to say that the stories are too numerous to recount here. of London, except perhaps for the Doctor himself? Stories are often told in ritualistic circles about the original 'woman in scarlet', most of them horribly distorted by time. She's said to have visited America after the Siege, despite the obvious risks, and to have confronted General Washington himself; to have been in Paris during the uprising of 1789, presenting herself as a Mistress of the Revolution; to have visited Egypt during the occupation of Napoleon; even to have witnessed the Battle of Trafalgar. All that can be said for sure, from the records which survive, is that she spent the months after the Doctor's departure finding herself a new 'apprentice' who had more than a little of Juliette's blood in her veins. Apart from that, it wouldn't be going too far to say that the stories are too numerous to recount here.