Doctor Who_ Head Games Part 14

Benny looked on doubtfully. 'Isn't there any way we could get into the TARDIS? You had some control over fictional energy last time.'

The Doctor shook his head. 'That was in the Land itself, where there was plenty of it. Here, the energy is channelling exclusively through Jason, attracted to him by his experience at wielding it.' Benny watched as Mel clambered through the hatch. Her mind ticked, pondering their predicament.

'If we could get back to the crystal, would there be enough energy there for you to -?'

'Meet Jason on an almost even footing. Precisely. Better still, we can seal the rift before he arrives and deprive him of his powers.'

Benny smiled. The Doctor was three steps ahead, as usual.

Five minutes later, she was squashed into a plastic chair, her knees pressed against the one in front, on which the Doctor sat.

He was helping Roz, to his right, puzzle out the controls, which consisted in the main of joystick, accelerator and brake handle.

Benny suppressed the urge to scream that this thing couldn't possibly fly and they should get out before it fell over.

Beside her, the woman called Mel seemed intent on starting a conversation. Not the best thing for her nerves. 'How long have you known the Doctor?'

'Forever. You?'

'Long enough. I met him in his last regeneration.'

Benny was interested despite herself. 'What was he like?'

'Irascible and unpredictable. But I kept him in check.'

109.

'I bet you did,' she said, and meant it. The Doctor was suddenly in between them, squas.h.i.+ng her against the hull as he crawled awkwardly towards the hatch and dropped out with a clang. He had left Roz hunched over the stick.

'He's changed, even since the regeneration. He's become so secretive.'

'That's the Doctor for you.'

'Not my Doctor!' Mel nodded towards their pilot and dropped her voice to a whisper. 'He wouldn't have let someone like that in the TARDIS. A gun-toting killer!'

Benny bridled. 'Wouldn't he?'

Mel seemed oblivious to the edge in her voice. 'Which reminds me, what do you know about the Althosian System? I asked the Doctor about it and he changed the subject.'

'Oh, the Seven Planets.' Benny spoke casually. 'He helped a Time Lord friend of his destroy them, killed billions of people.

But that was all ages ago.' She chided herself for so enjoying Mel's reaction of horror. She leaned over Roz's shoulder on the pretext of asking how she was getting on, and deliberately turned so that Mel could see the pistol in her back pocket.

The Doctor scrambled back into his seat and announced: 'We'd better leave. I've just set off every alarm in the building.'

'You've what?'

'We need Jason to remember us. I don't want him for this fictional shuttle whilst we're out in s.p.a.ce.'

'But he'll come after us!' protested Mel.

'Then I suggest we hurry. Ready, Roz?'

'I can't work out how to open the bay doors.'

'I suspect they're automatic.'

'"Suspect" doesn't sound good.'

The Doctor reached for the dashboard and flicked a switch labelled BLAST OFF. Benny squealed as the g-force of sudden vertical acceleration crushed her into her seat.

The abandoned theatre was cold and damp. It was situated in a part of the city which subsidence had all but blocked off. A subterranean wind whistled through the openings which punctured its walls. It had been the rebels' first base, before 110 Mortannis had gained confidence and moved them to riskier but more hospitable locations.

In the shadows of its stalls now, Kat s.h.i.+vered and counted her friends by the scant light of four candles. All told, there were eighteen, including Christopher. They had been unable to find many of their friends. She wasn't sure who had escaped the initial purge and who had vanished in custody. She knew that her brother was amongst the latter. She didn't know what to think about Thruskarr. Deep inside, she was almost glad that he and Chris had not met.

'I wish they hadn't taken my gun,' said Chris. He was seated beside her on a gutted chair, alert for danger in every shadow.

'You carry a gun? Only the security forces have them here.'

'Yes, well, I was in their equivalent on Earth.'

'They must have been more benevolent.'

'Not really.' She detected a hint of bitterness in his answer.

'But you did something about it?' His expression remained solemn and Kat felt disappointed in him. 'Then how can you hope to change things on my world?' Chris shrugged. Kat sighed. 'Can't go home because they took our names, can't attack with so few people. I don't know why we bothered escaping. I thought you'd have a plan.'

'I'm trying to think what the Doctor would do.'

'And I thought you'd stopped holding him up as a role model!'

'He usually wins!'

Kat groaned and surveyed the demoralized troops. 'They're expecting me to take over. Where's my brother when I need him?' The rebels had gathered in small groups, some talking in low voices, others silent. They were awaiting her orders.

Mortannis's sister, their rescuer. What could she say? 'So what would the Doctor do now?'

Chris was uncertain. 'I suppose he'd gather the rebels together.'

'Done that. All eighteen. What next?'

'We need the others. We need your brother. And what about the people who escaped the round-up?'

111.

'They've probably run home where it's safe,' said Kat.

'Either that or they've gone over to Enros.'

'But they must still be willing. If we kicked up enough fuss, they'd join in, wouldn't they?'

'So what do you think we should do? Attack?'

'Maybe.'

'And die, like the lizards?'

'No!'

'What, then?'

Chris buried his face as though the effort of thinking was too much. Kat pulled one of his hands away and stroked it tenderly.

She hadn't meant to vent her frustrations on him.

'I think the Doctor would have found their weaknesses,' he said finally. 'He would have marshalled your troops in the most efficient way possible and attacked the rulers at the optimum moment. I'm not him. I'm sorry, I don't know how much help I can be. I'll try.'

'I shouldn't expect miracles,' Kat said. 'This is our fight, not yours.'

'But there must be a way to win. The Doctor would have found it!'

'Perhaps he considers people expendable?'

'We've got somewhere, at least!' said Chris. He sounded angry. Was he still feeling defensive about the man who had betrayed him? 'So long as we're free and alive, there's hope.'

'Excuse me,' interrupted a small voice, 'aren't you Mortannis's sister?'

'Ryallen?' She recognized the new arrival, even in the darkness. His angular features were distinctive and Kat remembered Mort introducing him at their first rebel meeting.

Suspicion crept over her. 'I don't remember seeing you in the cell block.'

'They're behind us,' said Roz. She punched up a rear view on the main screen: the police box sh.e.l.l of the TARDIS, spinning on its axis as it hurtled through the black smear of hypers.p.a.ce.

'Vandal!' the Doctor spat. 'Joyrider! The old thing isn't designed for those kinds of stresses.' He shook his head in 112 annoyance and turned to Roz. 'Press the "normal s.p.a.ce"

b.u.t.ton.'

'This s.h.i.+p is unbelievable!'

'So long as one person believes it . . .'

She did as he bade her, and suddenly they could see stars again. 'As simple as that,' she said, impressed.

'At this speed, we're only ten minutes from Detrios.' The Doctor inspected the surrounding constellations with satisfaction. 'That's the advantage of having a fictional vehicle.

Performance is improved no end when reality isn't a constraint.'

Roz had set the scanner onto a rotating search pattern. It was with a dull acceptance that she greeted the sight of the TARDIS again. 'They're out of hypers.p.a.ce and closing at three o'clock.'

'They can't be trying to ram us!' exclaimed Mel.

'Looks like it,' said Benny.

'Not b.l.o.o.d.y likely!' vowed Roz. She allowed the box to come a measured distance closer, then she slammed the joystick and sent the shuttle into an upward spiral. As it levelled out, the instruments showed that the TARDIS had pa.s.sed beneath them.

'I can do that all the way to Detrios if necessary.'

'Not if my stomach gets a vote,' Benny said weakly.

Roz avoided a second attack run, ignoring the queasy protests from behind. She couldn't help but think of her partner: Cwej would have been in his element with these manoeuvres. She hoped he was all right. They were not often separated for so long and she knew that he needed looking after.

'I think they've given up. They're just following again.'

The grey sphere of Detrios was in view and approaching at a phenomenal speed. A point of bright light beside it marked the Miracle's location. The Doctor allowed himself a grin. 'I think this might work.'

Just like that, things fell apart.

Ryallen had his left arm around Kat's throat. His right hand was holding a long, curved, ornamental knife and Chris knew it would only take one flick of his wrist to kill her. Kat knew it too; she was keeping as quiet and still as she could.

Her captor backed towards the exit. The other rebels had 113 become aware of the situation, but none dared move. Chris followed Ryallen, careful not to appear threatening. 'What do you want with her?'

'She is required by the Undying One.'

'And you'll do anything for him, I suppose?'

'His is the lifespan of the cosmos. When he dies, all die.

When he is obeyed, then order prevails.'

'You believe that? I mean, "Enros". It's not even an impressive name, is it? Hardly born to G.o.dhood.'

His attempt to distract Ryallen from Kat'lanna failed. 'You will believe,' the cultist said, his grip as strong as ever. 'You will both see the light.' He had almost reached the arched doorway. Chris swallowed as two cloaked, hooded figures appeared behind him. Fear rippled audibly through the rebels. A glance confirmed that the other entrances were similarly occupied.

Chris cursed his own short-sightedness. Kat had told him that many of her colleagues had defected, particularly in the wake of the lizards' destruction. They would know of this place, and of all the rebels' secrets. With the rulers in Enros's pocket too, his followers would soon have been appraised of the escape.

In a burst of clarity, Chris knew then what the Doctor would have done. He would have moved against the cult, swept Enros from power and brought this whole society cras.h.i.+ng down. As simple as that. But too late now.

'I suggest you give yourself up,' said Ryallen. 'If you fight, this girl dies.'

'And so might you. There are twenty of us.' Chris knew that was an exaggeration. He doubted too that the others would commit to such a hopeless gesture.

'We do not fear death. We have been promised an afterlife.'

Ryallen traced a line across Kat's skin with the knife point. 'But if the uninitiated perish, then they burn in the fires of his wrath.'

Kat closed her eyes; not before Chris saw fear in them.

'This need not concern your comrades. Enros wants you and the girl. If he can't have you alive, he will settle for everyone in this place dead.'