Doctor Who_ Warmonger Part 18

Chapter Thirteen.

Raid Peri was still sitting dreamily by the fountain when the Doctor hurried into the courtyard.

'There you are, Peri. Finished your shopping?'

'Not started,' said Peri. 'I got distracted. I thought you were busy bugging.'

'Lunch break,' explained the Doctor.

'How's it going?'

'Very well,' said the Doctor. 'Or very badly. Depends how you look at it.'

'Sorry?'

'The bugging itself is being pretty successful. There was some interference, but I managed to bypa.s.s most of it. The results are very worrying. The General isn't planning a peaceful alliance. He's planning to conquer the galaxy.'

Briefly the Doctor explained the results of the morning's eavesdropping.

Peri seemed reluctant to accept his conclusions. 'Are you sure about all this? You say yourself you only half-heard what was going on.'

'We heard enough,' said the Doctor grimly. 'There's still the afternoon session to come. We'll hear more then.'

'You'll hear what you expect to hear,' said Peri. 'You've already decided the General is guilty.'

The Doctor looked curiously at her. 'The evidence is more than sufficient, Peri. Anyway, I wanted to tell you I won't be free till much later. We need to hear the rest of the conference, then there'll be some kind of planning meeting with Commander Hawken.'

'Don't worry about me, Doctor. I've got a dinner date.'

'Who with?'

'With the General.'

'When did he ask you?'

'I met him on the way to the conference.'

'And where is this tryst to take place?'

'In his quarters, I suppose. He's sending an aide to fetch me.'

'No,' said the Doctor. As soon as the word was out of his mouth, he realised it was the worst possible thing he could have said. Peri looked at him coldly. 'I'm sorry?'

The Doctor was committed now. 'You can't possibly have dinner alone with the General, Peri. He's a dangerous criminal.'

'You've no proof of that.'

'There's more than enough proof. If you'd heard what we heard this morning...' Suddenly the Doctor remembered a s.n.a.t.c.h of dialogue. 'I'll give you a sample. When his henchmen were waiting for him to arrive one of them said, "How much longer's the General gonna be?" Then someone answered, "Sounds as if he's got his hands full by all accounts. Probably literally if I know him, he always was a fast worker." The first one said, "Well, can't blame him. She's a hot little piece right enough. Maybe he'll pa.s.s her round when he's done with her, he does that sometimes."' He paused. 'I didn't realise at the time, but they were talking about you!'

'So?' said Peri defiantly. 'Some of his a.s.sociates have got dirty minds and dirty mouths. What did the General say about me?' 'Only that he'd been detained,' admitted the Doctor reluctantly. '"Delightfully, detained", to use his exact words.'

'There you are then,' said Peri. 'Look, Doctor, it's only a dinner date. He knows I'm leaving soon, maybe tomorrow. He just wants to say goodbye.'

'No,' said the Doctor again. 'I can't allow it.'

'You can't stop me,' said Peri defiantly. 'You're not really my guardian, you know, we're just travelling companions. And I'm not a child, I'm a grown woman. You're just jealous. Just because you've never shown any ' She broke off, confused, not sure what she'd wanted to say, certain that she shouldn't say it.

She started again. 'It's just a dinner date, Doctor. We'll meet for breakfast tomorrow, I'll tell you all about it and then we'll leave leave for wherever you like.'

' If If we leave together, we'll leave for Earth,' said the Doctor. we leave together, we'll leave for Earth,' said the Doctor.

'I'll return you to your own time and we'll say goodbye. Unless, of course, you decide to stay with your new friend.'

Peri stared at him appalled. 'Doctor '

'The General and I are on opposite sides, Peri. You seem to have chosen yours.'

He turned and strode out of the courtyard.

Peri watched him go, her eyes filling with tears.

As he made his way back to the communications centre, the Doctor told himself he'd been a fool. He'd handled the situation badly. Of course a flat prohibition had provoked defiance. He should have reasoned with her, persuaded her. But would she have listened? She was a romantic and impressionable young girl, besotted by the General's formidable charm.

Incorrigibly reasonable, the Doctor told himself there was something in what Peri had said. She was a grown woman with a right to make her own decisions. He had no right to interfere. It would be wrong, morally wrong, against all his principles...

He strode into the communications room and found Hawken with a pile of sandwiches and a flask of coffee. He pushed both towards the Doctor.

'You're back early. Can't wait for the next instalment, eh?

Did you find your friend?'

'Yes,' said the Doctor grimly. 'Commander Hawken, I want you to do me a favour.'

'With the greatest of pleasure, my dear Smith. What can I do for you?'

'Arrest Peri,' said the Doctor.

Hawken stared at him in astonishment. 'Arrest her?

Whatever for?'

'Anything you like. Dropping litter. Loitering with intent.

Just so long as she's locked up and under guard between the end of the conference and breakfast time tomorrow.'

'Very well,' said Hawken. 'If you say so.' He summoned an aide and issued instructions.

Peri would never forgive him, thought the Doctor. But then, if she came to harm at the General's hands, he'd never forgive himself.

Sometimes you just have to choose between bad and worse.

They waited until the conference reconvened, Hawken puzzled and the Doctor silent and abstracted.

The bugging soundtrack came to life again as the General reappeared and the conference resumed.

The afternoon session was much like the morning's. Plans of attack, troop movements, the a.s.semblage of s.p.a.ce fleets.

Possible allies, possible enemies...

It wasn't until the end of the conference that another subject came up one that made the Doctor lean forward in eager attention.

'And your promise, General,' said a gruff voice. 'Eternal life for all that serve you loyally. That still holds good?'

'Of course,' said the General. 'The raid on the Temple of the Flame starts any moment now. We'll capture their stocks of Elixir and take them with us when we leave.'

'There won't be enough for all,' said another voice.

'Of course not,' said the General. 'But there will be enough for those of us here. And what do you imagine the Sisterhood will do when their stocks of Elixir are gone?' He answered his own question. 'They'll manufacture more, of course, and stockpile it. And when we're ready we'll come back with an army and take that too. When we take over the planet, they'll manufacture the Elixir to our command.'

An aide rushed into the communications room.

'Commander Hawken, soldiers from the peace conference s.p.a.ces.h.i.+ps have broken out of the castle. They killed the gate guards.'

'On their way to the Temple of the Flame,' said the Doctor.

Hawken nodded. 'The General must have had troops hidden on his s.h.i.+ps.' He jumped up and turned to the aide. 'Turn out the garrison. Take a squad and follow the General's raiding party and help the Sisterhood to defend the Temple. I'll take the rest and arrest the General and his entourage. If you'll excuse me, Smith, there's a lot to do.'

They rushed from the room and the Doctor was left alone.

He sat quite still for a moment, thinking hard. The General's men had a good start by now it was by no means certain that Hawken's men would catch them up in time.

The Sisterhood, of course, was not without resources. If they were warned in time... The Doctor put his head in his hands and concentrated furiously. .

In the Temple, old Maren sat studying the sacred flame. As always it flickered and dimmed and then rose again. She watched it anxiously. Sometimes it seemed to her that it was weakening.

She glanced briefly at the recess beside the altar, where row upon row of sealed stone phials were safely stored. There was enough to meet demand for years to come. Yet if the Flame died, she and the Sisterhood would die. They had cheated death for so long that the thought of it was very terrible to them.

Something plucked at the edge of her consciousness. A demand, a message...

A warning!

Maren opened her mind and the thought-impulse hit her like a hammer blow.

' Danger attack defend yourself. Danger attack defend yourself. ' '

Somehow she recognised the mind-touch. 'Smith,' she thought. 'The one who calls himself Smith.'

A strange, enigmatic character with many secrets. But in this instance, at least, someone to be trusted.

She rose and came out from behind the gates that s.h.i.+elded the flame.

'Sisters! Form the circle.'

Obediently, black-robed figures gathered around her and the chanting began.

Slowly a vision formed in Maren's mind.

A vision of grey-clad troops trudging along a mountain pa.s.s.

She raised her voice. 'Concentrate, sisters, focus your minds.

Speak to the mountain, the mountain is our friend.. '

The commander of the General's raiding party died a happy man.

He was a Gaztak mercenary called Spiros, veteran of many a b.l.o.o.d.y campaign. Like all professional soldiers, he liked things easy when possible, and this a.s.signment was a killer's dream.

Raid some old temple and steal supplies of Elixir, the only opposition a parcel of women. That wasn't fighting, it was fun.

It was a pity the General had ordered that the women shouldn't be harmed but where was the harm in a bit of friendly rape? They'd be doing them a favour. Just the young and pretty ones of course...

His mind on the pleasures ahead, Spiros didn't notice faint rumblings from high above. He noticed when the rumblings got louder and louder, but it was too late by then.

He looked up and saw a black-robed figure looking down at him. It was the last thing he saw before a sizeable chunk of the mountain fell upon him and his men, obliterating them completely.

Chapter Fourteen.

Break-out The Doctor raised his head and rubbed his eyes, his face haggard with the strain of concentration. He was pretty sure his warning had got through.