Doctor Who - The Colony Of Lies Part 6

He and Billy Joe had been given temporary accommodation in what Hali had called an "emergency shelter".

It had been late when Hali"s group of riders returned to the Realist Camp and too dark to get any real sense of what manner of a place it was. Hali had asked after someone called Max and was told that he was already asleep. Hali sighed audibly, muttered something under her breath and then turned to contemplate Jamie and Billy Joe. She"d sent someone to find the emergency shelter and told them they would talk in the morning. The man sent to fetch their shelter returned holding a small package apparently the size of a pound of sausages. Jamie had seen some tiny tents in his travels with the Doctor and, of course, the TARDIS itself was remarkably bigger on the inside that it was from outside; nevertheless Jamie couldn"t see how he and Billy Joe were going to spend a night inside something as small as that.

Jamie said as much, but the man just laughed, pressed a small b.u.t.ton on the package and dropped it to the floor.

To Jamie"s astonishment, the package began to unfold and change shape, expanding like a balloon and growing impossibly bigger. Before their eyes it grew into a small cabin complete with door and windows. Hali rapped her knuckles on the top of the structure; it sounded both hollow and rigid.

"Memory-form plastic," she explained. "Just the sort of basic survival kit that the bone-headed Back to Basics Back to Basics doctrine forbids." Jamie and Billy Joe had clambered into their new home and found that two bed shapes had been formed inside from the same material as the rest of the structure. Hali threw two sleeping bags inside. "Sleep well." A couple of minutes later the little cabin was filled with the sounds of two snoring lads, dead to the world. doctrine forbids." Jamie and Billy Joe had clambered into their new home and found that two bed shapes had been formed inside from the same material as the rest of the structure. Hali threw two sleeping bags inside. "Sleep well." A couple of minutes later the little cabin was filled with the sounds of two snoring lads, dead to the world.

Jamie stretched and was surprised to find how well he had slept. His muscles felt as though they had been rested in a long, hot bath rather than lying on a solid mattress.

The person who had fetched their accommodation last night, a pale, thin-looking man who told them his name was Tylon, led them to a communal bathroom where they were able to shower and generally clean up. After that Tylon took them to a larger prefab building that proved to be an eating area. A rough-and-ready breakfast was available, a porridge-like substance, some toast and some fresh fruit, all of which Jamie and Billy Joe fell on with enthusiasm.

It was a considerably brighter and happier pair of newcomers that was ushered into yet another of the plastic buildings some time later to find Hali, Saro and a man they had not seen before waiting for them. Hali made the introductions.

"Max, this is Jamie and Billy Joe. Boys, this is Max Forde, my partner and co-leader of this breakaway group."

Jamie took a good look at Forde and thought he saw something of the Doctor in the man; he had an air of curiosity about him that was very familiar. For his part, Forde was looking intently at Billy Joe.

"Billy Joe? Can it be? When I left you were just a little lad."

"Doctor Forde?" Now it was clear that Billy Joe recognised the man too. "You look older too!"

Hali and Saro tried and failed to suppress a giggle; Forde shot them a quick look.

"Out of the mouths of babes..." he commented. Billy Joe flushed. I ain"t no babe, I"m sixteen. Nearly..." he added a little less stridently.

"Does your grandfather know you"re here?" asked Forde, a sudden suspicion hitting him. "Or did he send you perhaps?

Are you here to spy on us?"

"No, sir." Billy Joe hurriedly tried to explain himself. "I want to join you. I agree with everything you stand for. I don"t want to live in the past any more..."

Forde looked at him, weighing him up.

"Well, we can use all the help we can get. But I warn you: it"s a tough life. And it"s not getting any easier. If we don"t get some help from Earth Gov soon we won"t have much of a future," Max told them, looking serious.

Billy Joe shrugged.

"Loyalists may have more people but they"re in the same boat, if you ask me. Back to Basics Back to Basics is going to kill off human life on this planet unless things change pretty soon." is going to kill off human life on this planet unless things change pretty soon."

Billy Joe was pleased to see that the three Realists were nodding in agreement. He had been right - this was the right place for him.

"You realise there"s no going back?" Hali asked him. Billy Joe nodded. "You won"t see your grandfather again," added Forde. Billy Joe shrugged. "I said my goodbyes..."

The trio of Realists now turned their attention to Jamie, who had been standing quietly while Billy Joe had been interviewed.

"What about you? You want to join up too?" asked Hali.

"Aye," replied Jamie.

Max Forde crossed the room to look him in the eye. "I know everyone in that town," he began quietly. "I delivered most of "em. But I don"t know your face."

Jamie knew better than to try to lie in a situation like this.

"I"m new here. I"m a traveller," he explained. Forde and Hali exchanged looks, puzzled. Forde turned back to him. "Bit off the beaten track for back-packing, isn"t it?"

Jamie wasn"t entirely sure what he meant by that, but he got the general impression that visitors were rather rare on the planet. "I"m no tourist if that"s what you mean. I"m just a traveller. With my friends the Doctor and Zoe."

For the first time in the meeting Saro spoke. "You are from off-world. I thought so." Like all of the inhabitants of Axista Four, Saro had never met someone from another planet, although she had known since she was a child that there was a whole galaxy of life out there. She was a little disappointed, however, that her first "alien" had turned out to be a human male in a skirt.

"Aye," said Jamie, "I"m from Earth. Can ye no" tell from ma accent?"

Instantly Jamie realised that he had made a mistake. These may be humans, and they must have once originated from Earth, but it didn"t necessarily follow that they held the home planet in any great affection, and judging by the looks on their faces, a lack of affection for Earth was an understatement of their true feeling.

"Earth!" Saro almost spat the word out.

"No, wait! We did signal for help," Max reminded the women.

"Are you from Earth Gov, Jamie?"

Again Jamie hesitated. Should he say yes and try to talk his way into their confidence? If the Doctor were here Jamie knew he would. The Doctor had a knack for improvisation that could get him accepted in the most amazing places but Jamie had no confidence in his ability to do likewise.

"No, I"m nae from Earth Gov. Whatever that it."

Forde and Hali exchanged looks again. Forde looked back in the direction of Billy Joe. "Billy Joe, you go with Saro and Hali, they"ll find you some work to do." Hali nodded and she and Saro led the lad away. Jamie watched him go nervously.

"And what about me?" he demanded.

"You, boy, I"m going to have to think about." Max headed for the exit. "Until then I"m afraid I"m going to have to secure you in here. Please don"t try to escape. There really is nowhere to go." With that he left the room, securing the electronic lock behind him.

Max found Hali out with the horses, giving them their feed.

Without speaking he began to help her clean out the stables and store the saddles and bridles. For five minutes they worked together in silence, putting their own needs aside to see to the comfort of their main means of transport. Max knew he had to say something eventually, but he was unsure what.

"I"m sorry," he began, finally. "About Gathan and Chamick."

Hali shrugged, not meeting his eyes. "Went out with four, came back with four," she muttered bitterly.

"That"s not the point..." Max heard his own voice trail off.

What was the point? Another raid on the Loyalist base, and yet more casualties. The Realist group only numbered a hundred or so: not enough to be a viable colony. The ideological rift between the two parties had to be resolved or the request for external help had to be realised if any human colony was going to survive on Axista Four, and the sooner they all came to see that, the better. Max was tiring of seeing people he knew and cared about go off to forage on their behalf and come back hurt, or worse, not come back at all.

"Were they...?" he couldn"t bring himself to finish the question but he didn"t need to.

"Gathan was decorating the floor with his guts," Hali said harshly. "Not even a full medikit could have done much for him. I don"t know about Chamick"

Max nodded, aware of the depth of Hali"s feelings of anger and frustration over the botched mission.

"And what about the two you brought back?" he asked.

"The kid seemed genuine, and I figured he might be good leverage. If his granddad is still calling the shots up there."

Hali smiled cynically.

"And the other one. The stranger?"

Hali shrugged. "You know as much as I do, love. He"s an alien. How he got here is beyond me. He"s not from your mysterious bunker is he?"

Max shook his head. "No. Those aliens are a completely different species: some kind of canine humanoids. I don"t think this lad Jamie is anything to do with them. As far as I can make out they"re barely alive... I wouldn"t expect to see one of them walking about."

Hali looked over at him and he was surprised to see how tired she looked. Wordlessly she came to him for a hug.

"We"re going to be okay," he whispered, rea.s.suringly. But even to his own ears the words sounded hollow.

The first thing Lorvalan was aware of was the smell. The Tyrenian"s nose twitched, and sniffed the musty air curiously. Although he had barely begun to regain consciousness he immediately registered that something was wrong. The air wasn"t being processed; the bunker was not functioning normally.

Lorvalan tried to open his eyes and immediately winced as the darkness of his long, deep sleep was shattered by the sharp intrusion of bright lights. As first it was just a ma.s.s of colour and then, as he blinked his eyes into more normal activity, they resolved themselves into the emergency lighting of the Deep Sleep chamber. That at least seemed to be working properly. And the Deep Sleep cot itself also appeared to be functioning normally.

The Alisorti, wet and slimy as ever, trembled on his chest, reacting to his increased heartbeat. He felt the little creature release a fresh wave of stimulant directly from the tips of its multiple limbs. He shuddered, as his own body absorbed the nutrients and the adrenalin.

Still in the safety of the cot he stretched, his unused muscles complaining as they expanded and contracted for the first time in years. The symbiotic Alisorti had kept his body alive and fed during their long journey together but it would take a while for his limbs to regain their full strength.

He reached up for the support bar and sat up. Looking around the chamber, he noted that everything seemed to be in order. A couple of servitor droids were moving around the room, activating the revival sequence programmed so long ago. Lorvalan could see that his second-in-command, Zenig, who lay in the next cot, was beginning to revive as well.

But he had not forgotten the initial alarm, the wrongness he had smelt. He sniffed the air again, more aware of his surroundings now. He had been right: the bunker"s air processors were offline, and had been for some time.

Lorvalan wondered what had happened. But there was something else wrong: another smell, an alien presence.

Lorvalan closed his eyes and concentrated on the scent and then realised what it was. Humans. Humans had been in the chamber. He sniffed again: yes, humans, and recently too.

Unable to wait any longer Lorvalan hauled himself out of the cot and got to his feet. He quickly checked that Zenig was responding to the revival process and, confident that his companion would join him shortly, crossed to the nearest access point for the s.h.i.+p"s computer; he wanted some answers.

Finding a console in the next chamber, he sat and rubbed his wrist over the security panel. Although it had been offline for years, the computer instantly read and recognised Lorvalan"s scent and his status. The screen flickered into life.

Lorvalan began to find out what had happened since he had gone under.

If anyone had asked him, Tam would have been hard pressed to explain at which point he had begun to trust the stranger who called himself "the Doctor". Last night he had viewed him with suspicion, and maybe even a little fear, but in the clear light of day he had found himself re-evaluating the little man.

He seemed so harmless and clearly posed no threat. During breakfast he had chatted on, asking more questions than he answered, apparently fascinated by the day-to-day life of the colony and complementing Tam on his bacon sandwiches.

When it had been time to put the man back into the cell Tam had surprised himself and released him, after making him promise to keep Tam informed about his movements.

The Doctor had been grateful but his first concern was for his young companion, Zoe. He asked Tam how she was and Kartryte had to confess that he had yet to check up on her.

The Doctor had asked if he could go and see for himself and Tam had directed him towards the medical centre.

Out on the dusty Main Street the Doctor paused, taking the time to have a good look at the layout of the place. It really was a cla.s.sic Western town, although he suspected the style of the place was more down to the myth of the West and the cla.s.sic Western movies rather than any desire to be historically accurate. Of course there was no railroad, and after the initial pioneers had driven their wagon trains west it had been the railroad that became the main engine of development. That and gold, of course. But there was no railroad here (shame, thought the Doctor, who had a soft spot for steam trains) and no gold either.

On closer inspection, the Doctor could see that much of the paintwork was cracked and peeling, and that the many repairs to doors and window frames were very much patch-up jobs. There was a feeling of tiredness to the place. The Doctor had already heard enough about Back to Basics Back to Basics to know what was going on here and it was clear to him that this was a failing colony. And from what he had seen of the colony s.h.i.+p it seemed to be full of materials and resources that they could use, if only they could be persuaded to overcome their prejudices. to know what was going on here and it was clear to him that this was a failing colony. And from what he had seen of the colony s.h.i.+p it seemed to be full of materials and resources that they could use, if only they could be persuaded to overcome their prejudices.

Carefully avoiding stepping on anything too smelly, the Doctor crossed the road and made his way into the building Tam had pointed out to him earlier. It was the sole exception to the Western theme that was so religiously adhered to elsewhere: a prefab building that, he guessed, had been one of the first shelters the colonists had constructed outside the broken colony s.h.i.+p. Inside, in stark contrast to the rest of the settlement, he found high-tech medical equipment, much of it looking forlorn and forgotten. The Doctor suspected that in the early days the Back to Basics Back to Basics rules had been a little bit more flexible, particularly when it came to matters of health. rules had been a little bit more flexible, particularly when it came to matters of health.

Moving past rooms dark with dust and disuse, he found Dee attending to Zoe in a large room that was evidently the main sick bay for the colony. The half-dozen beds were currently empty, save for the one in which Zoe was sleeping. Dee looked up as he entered and put a finger to her lips. Moving quietly, she stepped quickly across the room to join him.

"How is your patient this morning?" he asked.

"Sleeping peacefully. Her temperature"s still a little high; she may have picked up some kind of virus in the s.h.i.+p," Dee reported. "The water gets trapped up there and breeds lord knows what. It isn"t just ideology keeps us out of that place.

It"s dangerous in more ways than you could imagine."

The Doctor looked grim. "I wouldn"t be so sure about that if I were you. I"ve quite an imagination."

Dee took the opportunity to have a good look at the mysterious stranger. "Tam tells me you"re not a medical doctor," she began, crossing to a table where a bowl and jug awaited.

Shame." She poured water from the jug into the bowl and began to wash her hands.

"I understood that you looked after people"s medical needs round here," said the Doctor, skipping quickly over to the bed and placing a hand on Zoe"s forehead.

Dee turned, wiping her hands on a towel. "I do my best.

"I"m sure that"s more than enough," said the Doctor kindly.

Dee decided that she liked this Doctor, whatever he was actually a doctor of: he was strange and somehow indefinably alien, but he had the wonderful knack of making you feel that things were better than they were. She felt as if she could trust him, even though she had only just met him.

"Would you care for a cup of coffee?" she found herself asking him.

The man smiled and looked a little apologetic. I don"t suppose you have tea?" he asked with a shy smile.

Lorvalan reached for another of the energy bars the robots had brought to him and tore the wrapper off with his teeth before devouring it in two quick bites. He would need to be fighting fit as soon as possible. The computer"s account of their situation was far from satisfying.

Zenig appeared, still naked, his hairy body trembling with the shock of revival, his chest smeared with the slimy mucus that the Alisorti used to connect their bodies during Deep Sleep. Although Zenig was clearly disorientated Lorvalan was pleased to see that he didn"t attempt to ask any foolish questions. Instead, like the good soldier he was, he stood to attention, waiting.

"There was an error in the revival timetable," Lorvalan said, looking back at the screen. "We"ve been asleep a hundred years."

Zenig gasped, but managed to restrain himself from commenting. His commander hadn"t finished. "The humans have been here," he continued.

This time Zenig couldn"t stop himself. "They survived?"

"Apparently." Lorvalan began to fill his lieutenant in on what the computer had just told him. After the retreat (and the desperate decision to enter Deep Sleep to preserve the pack) a hundred years ago, the emergency overrides had cut in, preventing an immediate revival. They would still be in Deep Sleep now but for the Planetary Defence System reacting a few hours earlier to the arrival of a ma.s.sive s.p.a.cecraft in orbit.

"Reinforcements? Or new colonists...?" Zenig speculated wildly.

"Perhaps," Lorvalan replied. "Until we see what the humans have done with our planet, we won"t know. It may be that they have tens of thousands living here now."

"Squatters," Zenig spat. "Shall I revive a full complement of warriors?"

Lorvalan considered for a moment and then shook his head, his ears flapping.