Doctor Who_ Relative Dementias Part 23

'I know rather a lot for anyone, actually. And I'm not human at least not in the way you think.'

'Why are you here on Earth?'

'We're here to help a friend. What about you? Unless I'm getting confused and I must admit I've been doing rather a lot of that recently Earth isn't in the Annarene Protectorate, is it?'

The man looked at the woman, and Ace wondered if they were communicating telepathically. He looked back at the Doctor. 'We are here on a surveillance mission.'

Aren't you just! thought Ace, wis.h.i.+ng she could pull the Doctor to one side and tell him what she knew about the tweedies. Tell him that they weren't to be trusted; that they had some sort of coffin device that stank of rotting flesh and that- thought Ace, wis.h.i.+ng she could pull the Doctor to one side and tell him what she knew about the tweedies. Tell him that they weren't to be trusted; that they had some sort of coffin device that stank of rotting flesh and that- 'And who,' continued the Doctor, 'are you surveying, exactly? The house? Sooal? Perhaps you know a certain Miss Chambers that we're having difficulty locating.'

At the mention of Sooal's name, the two of them gave odd little jerks and glanced at each other again.

'Wouldn't it be quicker if we just talked,' the Doctor said tiredly. 'Having to read the nuances of your rather badly-practised body language every time I say something is going to become very wearing not to mention time-consuming.'

'Who sent you here?' asked the man.

The Doctor gave a sigh. 'You know, if I had a penny for every time I've been asked that.. Have you noticed,' he said, turning briefly to Ace, 'there's a very unhealthy sense of paranoia around here.' He turned back to the tweedies, grasping the handle of his umbrella with both hands. 'I haven't been sent here by anyone. I came to help a friend Doctor Brunner. I don't know if you've met her.' Their faces were blank. 'Oh well. As I said, she asked for our help and here we are. Now, what about you two three?' he added, glancing at the dog.

'Sooal is a war criminal,' the man said slowly, glancing at the woman as if seeking her approval. Ace was sure she saw a small, almost imperceptible nod. 'Four years ago, the Tulkan Empire was on the point of making a decisive strike against the Protectorate. But we succeeded in capturing the Tulkan War Council and sentenced them to have their memories wiped and to be incarcerated on a penal world.'

'Most merciful,' the Doctor muttered.

The man continued as if the Doctor had said nothing. 'But the s.h.i.+p taking them there was hijacked, stolen by Sooal and his followers. They fled to Earth. When the treachery of Sooal was discovered we followed them here.'

'I suspected something of the sort,' said the Doctor airily - although Ace suspected that he'd suspected nothing of the sort.

'And Sooal's been trying to revive their memories, has he? Not a very efficient mind-wipe you performed on them, was it? And With Eddie's memories revived, I have a feeling that this little drama is entering its final act.' He looked up at the house and pursed his lips. 'And I do so hate to miss final acts, don't you?

Who's buying the popcorn?'

And with that, he stepped neatly around the tweedies and set off for Graystairs.

Ace caught up with him, glancing over her shoulder to see the tweedies striding purposefully after them, the dog at their side. 'I thought Eddie's memory was still blocked.'

'That's what Eddie wanted us to think otherwise we might not have been so keen to let him go.'

'So they're ready to do... whatever it is that Tulks do, then?'

'Murder, conquer, enslave, brutalise? Oh yes, I imagine they're quite ready to do that. The only question is,' he lowered his voice as they walked, 'why they haven't already started it.

Why is it that they were so desperate to get Eddie restored?'

'Maybe they just thought it would be bad manners to start without him. Anyway these Annarene -'

'Careful, Ace,' the Doctor said, not looking at her.

'Remember: walls have ears. And so do they,' he added thoughtfully. 'Their fleshsuits do, anyway.'

'Fleshwhat?'

'The Annarene are skinny orange things with k.n.o.bbly exoskeletons like big, mobile Twiglets. Those two are wearing fleshsuits.' He came to an abrupt halt and turned to face her, smiling grimly at his own joke: 'Wolves in sheep's clothing, you might say.' He started walking again, hearing the footsteps of the Annarene close behind, as they reached the foot of Graystairs'

stone steps. 'The missing sheep, Ace,' he explained as he saw her puzzlement. 'Their regenerator must be malfunctioning, and they need a lot of replacement biomatter to keep their fleshsuits in good condition.' He muttered something else, but Ace was too busy remembering the stench of decay and the coffin device in the Orcadian tweedies' cottage. She felt sick.

'So they're wearing costumes made up of dead animals?'

'Frogs and snails and puppydogs' tails. Not to mention cats and sheep. And anything else organic that they can find.'

Anything else organic. And she'd left John and Alexander all alone. And she'd left John and Alexander all alone.

It was unfair. Unfair and cruel. Joyce watched her sleeping mother and tried not to let herself cry again. Despite all Doctor Menzies' kind words about how Mum was responding to the treatment, her earlier outburst somehow seemed to erase all that, plunging Joyce back into a despair that she thought she'd left behind. But what she knew she could never leave behind were the things she'd said to her mum. Harsh words can never be taken Harsh words can never be taken back back her gran used to say. It didn't matter that Mum had been having 'one of her funny fits', that she probably wouldn't remember what her daughter had said. The words were said, the genie out of the bottle. her gran used to say. It didn't matter that Mum had been having 'one of her funny fits', that she probably wouldn't remember what her daughter had said. The words were said, the genie out of the bottle.

She watched her mother breathing slowly, occasionally, muttering in her sleep. Her eyes flickered around under her lids, but Joyce didn't want to know what dreams or nightmares were being acted out in her head. Her own were more than enough.

She wished she could summon up some joy, some grat.i.tude for this new lease of life that her mother seemed on the point of taking up. But she felt like a spiteful, ungenerous child: here Mum was, responding well to a treatment that might rid her of the Alzheimer's, and all she could think about was how she'd wished the heart attack had killed her.

The cellar kitchen in Graystairs seemed an unlikely location for the gathering that Sooal was currently presiding over. He stood, patiently, whilst the Tuiks trooped in, led by the confident figure that, for the last three years, had gone by the name of Eddie.

Some walked erect and proud, cruel, smug smiles on their faces as they revelled quietly in their restored memories. One or two still seemed slightly confused, as they sifted the memories of the last few years, shunting them aside sometimes almost reluctantly in favour of their original memories, their real real memories. And Sooal could still read disappointment in one or two faces disappointment that they'd been awoken from a dreamless sleep to find that their bodies had aged and shrunk, that their empire had been swept away, and that they were stranded on an insignificant world with only Sooal's promises to give them hope for the future. memories. And Sooal could still read disappointment in one or two faces disappointment that they'd been awoken from a dreamless sleep to find that their bodies had aged and shrunk, that their empire had been swept away, and that they were stranded on an insignificant world with only Sooal's promises to give them hope for the future.

But Sooal had no pity for them. They'd already lived lives over twice as long as he could expect to live. And it was their genetic science, their interference, that meant he'd be dead in less than five years. Without their unwitting help, of course. If any of them saw the sneer that he tried to hide, they didn't react.

He looked around them, gathered in an uncomfortable circle, leaning against the worktops, one or two perched on the benches.

'It is an honour to have served you,' he began, lowering his head deferentially. As he raised it, he caught sight of a couple of contemptuous looks. He knew that some there regarded him as dirt, an insect that had dragged itself above its station. He had to fight the temptation to remind them that, without him, they'd still be drooling in their beds, shouting at the staff and crying themselves to sleep in the middle of the night.

'Where is Megan?' asked Khamrain.

'I sent her to attend to a threat to your safety,' Sooal replied.

'She hasn't returned yet.'

'So the threat is not yet neutralised?' That was Harry.

Hamaeia, Sooal corrected himself. Always a cautious one, and no less so now that his memory had been returned.

Sooal hesitated. 'I have seen to it myself,' he lied. Now would not be a good time to put doubts and uncertainties in their heads. He needed them strong, confident and full of their own superiority.

'So...' Matrin a far cry from the hesitant, uncertain Eddie that had disappeared from Graystairs a couple of days ago let out a long sigh and gazed round the gathering, a satisfied smile on his face. 'We are complete.'

Sooal bowed his head again.

'You have done well, Sooal,' Hamaeia said. 'You have brought us out of the darkness.' There was a murmur of agreement from most of the others although Sooal noticed a pointed silence from one or two of them.

Khamrain gave a low growling laugh, quite at odds with her frail, white-haired appearance. 'And now we will lead the galaxy into an even greater darkness,' she said slowly, her eyes glittering bloodily in the orange glow of the fluorescent lights. There was an appreciative chuckle from the a.s.sembled aliens. 'The Tulkan Empire will rise again.'

'And it shall be greater and mightier than before,' Sooal said.

'Now, first things first...' From his pocket, he pulled his datapad and handed it to Hamaeia. 'The codes,; he said simply. 'If you would be so kind, we can begin our subjugation of this world.'

The datapad pa.s.sed from Tulk to Tulk, each of them keying in the segment of the code that, for so long, Sooal had coveted, worked towards. Only twice did they pause, obviously mistrustful of Sooal, despite the fact that he had rescued them, brought them to Earth and restored their memories.

When the datapad reached Jophan he paused and looked round the others. 'Are we sure that this... this pig-rat is to be trusted?'

Khamrain took Jophan's hand. 'How can we doubt it? Sooal has spent years of his life planning for this moment, putting himself in danger. If the Annarene were to find out about his support for us, his mind would be wiped as ours were. And without the weapons in the stasis chamber, we are powerless here: we cannot capture this world with a handful of pulse rifles.'

Jophan looked at Sooal, hovering obsequiously. 'We will attend the opening of the stasis chamber, naturally,' he said haughtily.

'Of course,' Sooal said. 'It will be necessary to remove it from the water first, but that will not be difficult.'

Jophan nodded and, still with a clear air of reluctance, tapped in his fragment of the code the code that would unlock the stasis chamber. And once it was opened, he would have access to the weapons that the Tulks never had a chance to use against the Annarene. As well as one other, very special device.

He pa.s.sed the datapad on, and one by one the Tuiks added their individual segments of code. Soon they had finished.

Sooal thanked them. 'Now, I think, we should drink to our success.' There were nods and murmurs all round, as Sooal gestured that they should all go upstairs. One by one, they trooped out of the laboratory, through into the kitchen.

'Oh, one more thing,' Sooal said suddenly as Khamrain reached the door to the stairs. 'I forgot to give you this.'

Puzzled, they all turned to see the slim, sleek shape of the energy rifle he held, trained on them.

'Long live the Tulkan Empire!' he whispered, his face cracking into a grin.

And then he fired.

Chapter Seventeen.

'Stasis chamber. .' whispered the Doctor, apparently to himself.

'Stasis chamber! And I've been looking for a woman called Stacy Chambers!'

At the foot of the main staircase, sheltering in the darkness, the Doctor turned to Ace, his face painted with horror. In the distance, they heard the sizzle of the energy rifle and the screams of the Tulks as Sooal gunned them down. Ace turned to the Annarene, just behind them: their expressions were unreadable, but she felt sure she could see the faintest twinkle of glee in the eyes of the woman.

'What's a stasis chamber?' asked Ace.

'The ultimate in safe-deposit boxes,' he whispered through gritted teeth. 'A bubble of damped s.p.a.ce-time, frozen and impenetrable.' He turned away from her, eyes narrowing. 'This,'

he said after a moment, in cold steely tones, 'has got to stop now.'

And before she could stop him, he strode boldly into the laboratory.

Joyce stood on the dark landing, listening to the gentle, homely sounds of snoring, wondering why her own home never really felt like one. She shook her head: she knew she was just being maudlin, reacting to the events of the last couple of days. Mum, Michael's sudden appearance and revelation, everything that was going on around her. Weirdness was what she did for a living but that had always been other people's weirdness, weirdness she could approach with a detachment that she hadn't had to try too hard to cultivate. Now she found herself struggling against clicking back into that detachment, scared that if she managed to turn it on, she'd never be able to turn it off again. It was like her comfortable, familiar UNIT labcoat instead of her tweedy skirt and jacket practical and eminently sensible, but just not appropriate right now. She wondered what had happened to the Doctor, and whether Sooal would continue her Mum's treatment. She didn't trust him an inch, but Mum was responding to the treatment, G.o.d d.a.m.n it. And she wasn't about to see her mother's future vanish in a puff of her own self-righteousness.

Sooal surveyed the carnage before him with quiet satisfaction.

Piled into the tiny kitchen, like the remains of a macabre bonfire, were the smoking, blackened bodies of the Tulks, one or two of them still twitching feebly, still clinging to life. He fired again just to be sure.

The door to the back stairs opened cautiously. He raised the gun again, and lowered it when he saw that it was just the human woman Joyce? who'd been rescued from the processor. He wasn't sure what she was doing down here, but it was only a minor irritation. At the moment nothing could spoil his triumph.

'Well?' he said, when she finally looked at him.

She was clearly speechless. It occurred to him that she'd probably never seen death on this scale before and certainly not in this manner. Perhaps he would be doing her a favour if he shot her now, added her body to the carbonised pile.

'If you're going to be sick,' he said wearily, 'there's a sink over there.'

But she just stared at him, her eyes glittering with tears. 'You monster,' she said. 'You absolute monster.'

'I've been called worse,' Sooal said.

'Oh, I'm sure you have,' said a voice from behind him. Sooal whirled to see the Doctor standing in the doorway to the laboratory, a look of intense sadness on his face.

'You must be the Doctor,' he said graciously. 'Nice that you could come back to us.'

'Unfinished business,' the Doctor replied frostily. His gaze swept over the bodies at his feet. 'Was all of this really necessary?'

'Don't shed any tears for the Tulks, Doctor,' Sooal sneered.

'Ogrons in dinner jackets. Animals, every one of them.'

The Doctor stared at him with the coldest, most withering look that Sooal had ever seen. Behind the Doctor were the girl and two old people. At their feet was a scruffy black dog.

'I see the cavalry has arrived,' he said. 'That is the correct phrase, isn't it?'

'Too right, you sc.u.mbag!' growled the girl. 'You are so so going to pay for all this.' She glanced at the two old people behind her, as if looking for confirmation. There was something odd about them, thought Sooal. Not their faces more the way their faces hung going to pay for all this.' She glanced at the two old people behind her, as if looking for confirmation. There was something odd about them, thought Sooal. Not their faces more the way their faces hung on on them. Like fleshy, saggy masks. He had a bad feeling. them. Like fleshy, saggy masks. He had a bad feeling.

'What about my mother?' It was the woman again.

'What about her?'

'Her treatment... what about her treatment?' The woman was almost trembling, although whether through anger or fear, Sooal wasn't sure. And, frankly, didn't care.

'I'm sorry, Doctor,' she said softly, looking past Sooal at the man in the cream hat. 'You understand, don't you?'