Time-Space vortex

‘Well,’ he muttered, after a moment, ‘it’s close...’

‘A space-time vortex, you said...’

‘Yes,’ he affirmed, nodding vigorously.

‘So strong it could only be at the centre of the Danger Zone, you said...’

‘It had all the appearances –’ he agreed, nodding fiercely now.

‘The Nexus of the Primeval Cauldron of Space-Time itself were the exact words you used...’

‘That’s a very apt turn of phrase!’ he exclaimed, imbued once again with enthusiasm for his own eloquence.

‘For this!’ squawked Peri, flinging out her arm in what the Doctor later considered to be an over-dramatic gesture but which nevertheless took in the full scale and majesty of Blackpool’s outdoor amusement park.

***

The Nightmare Fair, Chapter 1

***

‘Is that why you came here?’ repeated the Doctor, a terrible suspicion forming in his mind.

‘And they do so love playing games. All sorts of games...’

‘Have you come here for me?’ The question was now insistent.

‘My dear Doctor!’ The Mandarin swung round, the polite tone of voice now belied by the glint in his eye. ‘The last time we met you were the victim of your own intellectual conceit, which now seems to have developed into full-blown paranoia! At one time, it’s true, I held a passing interest in your... peregrinations... through time and space, but the idea that I should squat on this amusing but depressingly backward planet waiting for you to ‘drop in’ is egocentric in the extreme...’

The Doctor refused to be bluffed. ‘You set up the Space-Time Vortex,’ he accused, quietly.

‘Doctor,’ replied the Mandarin, fixing him with his eyes and replying just as quietly, ‘I am the Space-Time Vortex.’

That stopped the Doctor in his tracks. Either the man was truly mad or... ‘What do you want with me?’ he asked, his voice a little hoarse with what could have been genuine fear.

***

The Nightmare Fair, Chapter 5