Doctor Who_ Lungbarrow Part 48

Leela's head was only inches from the creature's maw as Dorothee jammed the barb into the back of its flower head.

It shrieked, turned and froze where it stood, its sleek muscles solidified.

'Impressive,' said Dorothee, cutting Leela's arm free of the white statue's tongue.

'Janis thorns. The Doctor forbade me to use them,' said Leela, holding her arm where bruises were already flaring.

'Same with me and explosives.' Dorothee pulled the cans of nitro-nine from her pocket.

'I think my wrist is broken,' Leela added.

Dorothee sighed. 'Something tells me you should be taking things easy in your condition.'

'Would you?' said Leela.

Dorothee stifled a grin.

'You are charged with consorting with innumerable restricted off-Gallifreyan species. You have interfered, without due cause or instruction, in their temporal development and evolution, far beyond the dictates of dutiful observation.'

'Oh, is that all?' sniffed the Doctor.

'Furthermore, there are allegations that you have transgressed the law protecting the preteritive time of Gallifrey, in that you did travel back into the history of the world, thus endangering the present reality in which we endure.'

Innocet glared angrily. 'Glospin? What have you been saying?'

'Nothing, Cousin,' he said.

'Don't forget Dorothee,' Romana advised the Doctor. 'They uploaded a copy of her mind into the Matrix.'

The Doctor's hands went up to his lapels. 'My Lord, I suspect that most of your evidence is coloured by the fanciful imaginings of a young and none-too-reliable child. Miss McShane is herself a convicted criminal, an arsonist ...

and an unGal ifreyan to boot!'

He ignored Chris's sharp intake of breath and stood defiantly before the inquisitor.

Glospin had edged up to Ferain. 'My Lord, I may have fresh evidence which wil further incriminate the accused.'

202.

'One moment,' interrupted Romana, and she drew Ferain aside. 'All this is only making a bad situation worse. The Doctor has already been tried on many of these charges and was granted a degree of independence.'

Ferain eyed her stiffly. 'You are also under formal arrest, Madam, despite the immunity afforded by your office.

Now, we both need to know the extent of the Doctor's guilt. I merely act for the good of Gallifrey. And to that end must also instigate an inquiry into your presence here.'

'As you wish, Ferain,' she said. 'But first these poor people must be got out of this House.'

'My Lord Ferain,' added the Doctor. 'I would ask for several further accusations to be considered.' He nodded towards the casket on the Loom. 'To wit that I did murder the deceased Ordinal-General Quences, Kithriarch of Lungbarrow, and subsequently condemned my own Family to entombment for six hundred and seventy-three years in this conveniently forgotten House.'

Redred, still laid out on the floor, gave a groan.

'And I a.s.saulted a Chapterhouse guard, who had previously been trapped in a transmat for the aforementioned duration.'

Several of the Cousins decided to lynch the Doctor there and then, and had to be held back by a line of agents.

'Stand aside!' Satthralope's voice cut across the Hall.

She stood by the clock, looking down on them from the lowest gallery. Her hair was in disarray. 'No one was invited here. These are Family matters!'

'I invited them,' called Glospin. 'They'll soon have us out of here.'

'Never!' Her movements were angular and exaggerated.

'All right, Satthralope,' called the Doctor. 'Have it your own way. I'm here. You have the wil . There's Quences, dead in his box. So what are you waiting for? Will you tell the House or shall I?'

The Drudge angled up to look at Satthralope. Not an easy movement, since it had no head.

'He's asleep.' She stared down at the brown skeleton. 'He's asleep!'

She turned and vanished from the gallery.

The Doctor turned to Ferain. 'The Housekeeper ordered the cover-up of the Kithriarch's murder herself.'

'The murder that the Doctor committed,' said Glospin.

'She thought the House would destroy them al if it found out,' continued the Doctor. 'But to convince the House, she convinced herself as well.'

Innocet was glancing up around the galleries. 'I don't believe that was Satthralope talking.'

'Meaning what?' said Ferain.

'Her role as medium between the House and Family has been subsumed.'

The Doctor groaned. 'We were talking to the House itself, not the Housekeeper. Satthralope's no longer there. And I never apologized to her properly.'

'Commander.' Ferain indicated the Doctor and Romana.

'Escort these prisoners back to the Capitol.'

As guns were levelled at the Doctor, there was a yel from across the Hall.

203.

The ma.s.sive hulk of Badger had pushed through the Cousins and was bearing down on them. It knocked aside two agents like ninepins.

'No, Badger,' instructed the Doctor. 'They're not hurting me.'

'You are not leaving,' said the huge s.h.a.ggy robot.

'Don't worry. No one's leaving,' the Doctor said. 'Not yet.'

Ferain turned angrily to the commander. 'I want the whole House evacuated now!'

As the commander lifted his wrist unit, his arm was seized in a wooden fist. The Drudge snapped off the device and crushed it in its fingers.

A crash resounded through the House as dozens of doors slammed themselves shut. The crowd of Cousins parted to let the diminutive figure of Satthralope through.

'n.o.body leaves,' she announced, 'until Quences is woken.'

The Doctor stepped forward. 'Satthralope, is that you?'

Getting no response, he turned to the gathering. 'Cousins and guests, in the absence of substantial evidence concerning the alleged murder of Ordinal-General Quences, I wish to call a surprise witness.'

He gently guided Satthralope to a chair.

'I call one of the oldest living ent.i.ties on Gallifrey, the House of Lungbarrow itself. Let it be both witness and judge.'

'You've got to tell Andred sometime,' said Dorothee.

The forest of oversized furniture in the attic went on forever, with no sign of any route higher. The furniture moved and shuffled. It was like walking through a herd of restless cattle.

'It isn't easy,' Leela said, her arm in a makes.h.i.+ft sling. 'I don't know who to tel . I don't think they'll understand. Not even Romana.'

'I bet you she already knows.'

A look of bewilderment crossed Leela's face. 'I have told no one.'

'It's pretty obvious.' Dorothee ducked under a table. 'The Doctor. Tell him. I bet he'd make a bril iant midwife.'

But Leela looked distinctly uncomfortable.

'He's very young,' Dorothee continued. 'Andred, I mean.'

'That's another problem. While I get older, he stays the same.'

'Where I come from that's cal ed Cliff Richard. Didn't anyone say anything when you first got together?'

'I chose Andred. He had very little say in the matter.'

I can believe that, thought Dorothee. She stopped. Ahead of them, a ladder led up to a skylight in the sloping roof branches.

'Probably as good as anything,' she said and climbed up.

204.

She turned and looked back down at Leela. 'We'l speak to the Doctor. He'l know what to do about you know what.'

'The killer was...'

Chris couldn't remember the last time he'd had to stand up in a court of law. Roz had always done the talking then.

He glanced at the Doctor, who nodded his rea.s.surance.

'He was elderly with swept-back white hair.'

'Did you recognize him?' the Doctor continued.

Chris paused. He did not like the way Satthralope was looking at him.

'Was it the Doctor's first generation?' said Glospin.

'Yes,' he said. 'I've seen. . . I saw a picture.'

'Told you,' said the Doctor.

Ferain shook his head. 'A mere vision, however accurate, is not conclusive evidence.'

'Good,' the Doctor said. 'Remember that, Glospin.'

Innocet stood up. 'I saw the first Doctor leave Quences's room just before I found the body.'

'Interesting that.' The Doctor turned back to Chris. 'You say that Quences recognized the killer.'

'Definitely. But I couldn't hear what he said.'

The Doctor looked towards Romana, who had been talking quietly with Redred.

'By this point the House was shut off,' she said. 'Did any Cousin regenerate close to that time?'

'I did,' said Glospin. 'Satthralope was with me. She personal y nursed me through the change.'

'No,' said the Housekeeper.

The watching Cousins muttered and shuffled.

Her voice had darkened with a new strength. 'Not through the moment of change. He sent Housekeeper Satthralope away. Not even the House sees a rebirth. It is a private moment.'

'Yes, that's true, of course,' said Glospin. 'And I changed into my third generation as you see me now.'

'It seems your plea of guilt is wel founded, Doctor,' said Ferain.

The Doctor nodded. 'So it would appear.'