Doctor Who_ Infinite Requiem Part 28

But not surprised.'

There was an awkward silence.

Cheynor cleared his throat. 'Well, Doctor, I think before long we ought to be getting back to Gadrell Major. If we're going to put things back on course, I have a peace treaty with the Phractons to negotiate.'

'All in good time, Darius. All in good time.'

Cheynor nodded. He turned to leave. 'I'll, er, be back in my rooms,' he said, and for a brief and meaningful second his eyes met Suzi's. She nodded softly, and indicated with the tiniest of glances that she wanted to talk to the Doctor for a while.

'Darius ' the Doctor began.

'Yes?' He turned back for a second.

The Doctor shook his head. 'No. Never mind I couldn't tell you, even if I wanted to.'

Looking slightly puzzled, Cheynor left.

When he had gone, Suzi sat down next to the Doctor. 'I'm . . . sorry I hit you,' she said. 'I suppose I don't learn. I can still do it, still cause pain.'

'It goes towards making you human,' said the Doctor. 'And it proved to me that you weren't a victim any more.'

Suzi's hands were restless in her lap. 'I've been thinking about what you said,' she ventured. 'About my not really accepting my guilt.'

'And?'

'And, well . . . ' She sighed, tapped the knuckles of her right hand against her left palm in a gesture of embarra.s.sment, awkwardness. 'I suppose it was wrong. Leaving Coim to die like that, just out of revenge. But there's nothing I can do about it, to make it better, is there? I mean, it's not as if I killed him or anything.'

The Doctor turned to her and gave her a brief, intense stare. She sighed.

'All right,' she said. 'I'll live with it. At least I can do that, now.'

214.

'You know,' said the Doctor. 'I often think the emotional violence humans can do to one another is the worst thing of all, worse than any of the planet-conquering madmen I've dealt with in my time. It's the most insidious, the saddest. But sometimes, just sometimes, one or two make a new start, and that's all that matters.' It was doubtful whether his words made complete sense to Suzi Palsson, at least not in the way that the Doctor intended them to.

'What a creature,' the Doctor said, looking up at the Sensopath. 'What an impressive creature.' He stood up, offered Suzi his hand to lift her from the floor, and seemed to snap back into the real world. 'You need a good rest, and then a good library to work in. I know the perfect place, actually. Shame it's about five centuries too early for you.'

She laughed, and strolled out on to the walkway, holding on to the Doctor's arm.

On the third day, Kelzen/Jirenal were p.r.o.nounced clinically dead.

The Sensopath pa.s.sed into what was judged, by Pridka science and by the Doctor, to be a coma. As the Sensopath's physical and mental const.i.tution remained a mystery, it was impossible to be sure exactly what had happened.

All that the Pridka healers could tell was that the vital signs had slipped away.

Autonomous life functions could have been artificially preserved, but the order came from the new director of the centre that they should be suspended.

215.

28.

No Other Way

Horst Leibniz stood before the wreckage of Banksburgh and nodded in grim resignation. All around him, the clean-up operation, comprising both Phoenix Phoenix crew members and the relief team from the crew members and the relief team from the Darwin Darwin, picked over the rubble, putting anything of note or of use into plastic containers.

There was a clattering sound from the foot of the hill of rubble, and through the dust, Leibniz saw Bernice Summerfield and the Doctor climbing up to join him on his cairn.

Bernice noticed that the Doctor had been strangely reluctant to talk about the events in the dream centre ever since he had returned with Suzi and Cheynor.

He seemed to have become even more moody and grumpy than usual, and as they made the trip from Banksburgh, he had hardly spoken, choosing instead to gaze out at the desolation, occasionally muttering a few syllables to himself.

Bernice tried not to look at the landscape herself. She'd had enough of the stark red rocks of the wilderness, the shattered spires and the bombed-out buildings of this phantom city.

Now, she stood amongst the remnants of homes, with a grandstand view of the torn chessboard of Londinium Plaza, as the icy winds stabbed at her body.

Benny felt a hollowness, a kind of intuition that none of this would ever be cared about, that Gadrell Major would never live again.

She thought of the burning rooftops of Paris, which she had watched not that long ago. Somehow, this was more desolate still. She had thought there was hope for Gadrell Major.

Leibniz seemed to confirm her fears. 'No,' he said, pouring a hot caffedeine for them both from his flask. 'No, Banksburgh's not going to be rebuilt. It seems the Colonial Office has other plans. There's an uncla.s.sed asteroid in the Magellani system almost a planet which they think is just ripe for terraforming, and the funds are going there.' He s.h.i.+vered, gripping his cup with both hands.

'Progress,' said the Doctor, hanging on to his hat with one hand while he sipped his drink. He offered no further comment on the word, and left an uncomfortable silence in its wake.

217.

Bernice felt her fringe kicked adrift by the insistent wind, and pushed it back. 'So it'll be left as it is?' she asked. 'In memory of an empty war, for a nonexistent purpose?'

Leibniz smiled. 'Well, not quite. There's going to be a forest planted, and some of the trees are going to bear plaques for the dead. It's a colonial tradition, going back to the Mars days.'

Bernice nodded. She knew her Martian history, probably better than Leibniz realized. 'So,' she said, with a fake jauntiness, 'how's the life of a parapsychic these days?'

He grinned. It was a bleak, stark grin, like bones left out to bleach in the sun. 'Mindless,' he quipped. 'I'm not sure I want to work for the Security Council again.'

'Then don't,' answered the Doctor, without looking round.

'Just ignore him,' Bernice murmured. 'He's had a hard century.'

The Doctor pivoted on one heel, came over to Leibniz and looked him up and down. 'It's not easy, is it?' he said. 'Lying to your superior officer. Caught between a rock and a hard place, between the devil and the deep blue sea.'

He sighed. In the distance, the crew members, picking over the rubble like grey vultures, were receding, as they moved on to a new quadrant of the city.

'Empirical presumption will always be a source of mistrust,' he told Leibniz.

'Even though Hooke believed in it, and Newton, and many twentieth-century scientists. And Jahn was ostracized for his work with the random event generator.'

'Yes,' answered Leibniz, 'I know.'

'Still, at least you're allowed to live. It could be worse.' The Doctor shouldered his umbrella. 'Best of luck, Trau Leibniz. You'll need it. Come on, Bernice.'

Benny, a little taken aback by the way the Doctor had started to stride off down the slope again, shrugged and smiled.

'Goodbye,' she said.

She wondered briefly what the Doctor had meant when he had said to Leibniz, 'At least you're allowed to live.'

Livewire looked around the shelter where she had made her first arrow. Memories painted themselves across her mind, lurid and dripping.

She shook her head. No more. This place had to be left behind. She was going with the Darwin Darwin to s.p.a.ce Station R8, and Trinket would be there too. to s.p.a.ce Station R8, and Trinket would be there too.

There was a lot of catching up to be done.

She knew she had seen a slice of an internal life which she never suspected, a taste of the power to create and to destroy. It did not feel particularly pleasant. Now, she was ready to face life on her own terms, even willing to 218 accept that Trinket existed, without bearing him a grudge. The two of them had work to do. There would be a colony somewhere with room for a couple of slightly jaded idealists.

Livewire went to the door. She breathed the musty air of the shelter for one last time, and then left.

Bernice found Trinket sitting in the wrecked Londinium Plaza, at the foot of the gla.s.sy, twisted tree which used to be a Phracton. Around the square, Phoenix Phoenix crew members were clearing up, and largely ignoring him. crew members were clearing up, and largely ignoring him.

'Strange kind of shrine,' Benny said. 'Don't you think?'

Trinket nodded, while chewing something. He was holding his ShockWave game in his hand, the screen dark. 'It's broken,' he explained. 'Looks like I won't be killing any more aliens.'

'Just as well.'

'Yeah. Maybe.'

There was silence between them. The square rang to the sounds of shouts from crew members and the clunk of wreckage being piled into hoppers.

'You never did really agree with Livewire, did you?' Bernice asked gently.

'About rebellion. Making your own rules.'

He shrugged. 'Problem then is that you have to keep them. And it's your fault if they turn out to be bad rules. At least if they're someone else's, you can blame someone else if things go wrong.'

Impeccable logic, thought Bernice, although not really what she'd hoped for. She wondered what thoughts were going through his young mind, and what would be the best thing to say to him now.

'Don't go soft in your old age,' she said eventually. 'Whether rules are good or bad depends very much on who's making them. Don't end up being worse than them, by trying to be better. But don't ever let yourself be trodden on, either. I'd read Animal Farm Animal Farm if I were you.' if I were you.'

Trinket shrugged again. 'I don't bother much with books,' he said.

'Maybe you should. There's a whole library here going to waste. Pack a few before you leave.'

Trinket looked up at her, and saw her impish smile. 'You mean loot them?'

'No,' said Bernice, 'no one else will be using them. I've got it on good authority that this colony's being officially closed.' She held up a handful of disks. 'And besides, I got them for you. Indefinite loan from the archivist. It beats killing aliens, any day.'

Trinket grinned.

'Got to go,' said Bernice. 'The Doctor's waiting.'

219.

Cheynor had spent the morning in neutral territory the remains of Banksburgh's Guildhall, one of the few buildings still to have four walls with senior Phracton officers, working out the best approach for taking their relations on to a new diplomatic footing.

There had been much twittering and buzzing in the Phracton ranks, and Cheynor wished he'd had the Doctor there to translate the parts which were not meant for human ears.

The main problem was the existence as the late Commandant had been only too aware of a strong undercurrent in the Swarm, a faction or pressure group, who were totally opposed to any deal with human beings. Naturally, everything possible was being done to arrive at an amicable Swarm consensus, but all views had to be taken into account.

Cheynor had told them not to worry, saying he thought the Phractons had much in common with humanity.

There was a new purpose, a new fire in Darius Cheynor as he left the Guildhall with his pilot and his bodyguard. For once, he was doing something positive, something that would make him more than an also-ran as far as Earth's authorities were concerned.

He strode down the ramp of the Guildhall to his skimmer, and told his pilot and bodyguard to travel with the remainder of the entourage, as he had promised he would give someone a lift.

Suzi Palsson, with a spring in her step, joined him in the skimmer five minutes later. 'At the controls yourself, Captain?' she said.

Cheynor grinned. 'Well, I sent them all on. I wanted to talk to you about where you want to go.'

She shrugged. 'I'm not staying here with my books and disks for company, living to a ripe old age till I die a well-educated fossil, if that's what you mean.'

'Good.' Cheynor set the skimmer controls, and began to lift it gently on to its cus.h.i.+on of air. 'So, tell me. What do you want to do?'

Suzi smiled. 'I wouldn't mind a lift to Station R8.'

'How lucky,' Cheynor answered, deadpan. 'That's where the Phoenix Phoenix is going.' is going.'

The Doctor placed his hat on the time rotor again, and rolled up his sleeves, ready to program the TARDIS for a new destination.

Bernice strolled in from her room, having changed from her borrowed Phoenix Phoenix uniform into her former attire of waistcoat, baggy silk blouse, white trousers, and black boots. She settled herself into the wicker chair with a sigh of contentment. 'So,' she said, 'back in the main console room, then?' uniform into her former attire of waistcoat, baggy silk blouse, white trousers, and black boots. She settled herself into the wicker chair with a sigh of contentment. 'So,' she said, 'back in the main console room, then?'

'Yes. The others do have their uses, though. I expect we'll need them again.'

220.

He sounded tired and grumpy, she thought. 'Anything wrong, Doctor?' she asked.

'Hmm? No, I was just thinking about Kelzen.'

'Ah.'

'When Shanstra died, you know, Kelzen could have given her the extra energy she required to overcome the wound. But she knew what it would mean for her, and the rest of the cosmos.'

'Becoming a lump of pineapple in Shanstra's mental trifle,' agreed Bernice.

'Far less. A single grain in a sprinkling of hundreds and thousands.' The Doctor sighed, leaning on the console, and closed his eyes. 'So she let herself die. She let them all die, because she finally learnt what it meant to have a responsibility. And through that they achieved a kind of grace.' The Doctor's eyes opened. 'Perhaps we might learn something from that.' He threw the dematerialization switch, and the TARDIS pa.s.sed from Gadrell Major into the vortex.