Doctor Who_ Placebo Effect Part 26

The Doctor leaned back and slapped the side of the microscope.'Primitive thing. All they've done in twenty thousand years is add a few new b.u.t.tons and a holographic readout point.' He looked at Sumner, as if it was all his fault. 'Can't your Federation invent something better than this? I need my TARDIS.'

It had taken Sam and Kyle nearly fifteen minutes to get out of the tunnels (pausing to look at the mucus wall which Reverend Lukas and company must have prised away from the outside with bits of shrubbery, going by the devastated wood and piles of leaves scattered about). They had then managed to wave down a hovercar and hitch a ride back to Carrington City.

They were thanking the pilot when Sam saw the Doctor and a couple of other people leaving the SSS Administration Building. He was too far away to hear her shout, so she ran like h.e.l.l to reach him.

When he spotted her, he gave her a broad grin and held up his hand. 'I don't want to know, Sam, however exciting it is. Right now, I have to go to deal with the Foamasi, but you could help me.'

Sam was too out of breath to do anything other than try to attract his attention, but failed.

'Go to the TARDIS and get me the Lamerdine Spectral Bio-a.n.a.lyser from the lab, will you? See you back here in ten minutes.'

'But... but Doctor...'

'Oh yes, sorry. The TARDIS is that way, turn left, right, straight on and it's by the big green park.'

As Sam tried to pull herself together, the Doctor got into a Carrington Corp hovercar with the two other people he was with and it went off.

She dropped to her knees. 'Right. I've got to get back into my running habit.

I need to get fitter than this.'

'Hey,' said an angry voice behind her. 'I'm not made of credits and that hovercar cost me everything I had on me!'

Sam turned slowly and gave Kyle her patented 'Say one more word and you'll never need money again' glare.

Kyle shut up.

'The TARDIS; she finally said.'Now.'

Slowly - very slowly - they walked back to the ship.

The dining hall was dark, with just five candles illuminating odd corners.

Gielgud shuffled around, lighting the candelabra on the table, immediately casting a series of huge shadowy versions of himself on the wall behind him. Wherever he moved, briefly enlightened areas of brickwork become covered in shadow again, giving the whole room a rather Gothic feel.

Gielgud was pleased by this - it appealed to his flair for the over-dramatic.

As he finished lighting the last candle, he glanced over to the wall directly behind the head of the rectangular dining table.

'Will that be all, sir?' he asked in his cultured - but synthesised - English tones.

'Yes.' The voice came from nowhere yet everywhere. It was, however, unmistakably Green Fingers' voice. Gielgud was actually looking at a bizarre piece of Foamasi art that adorned the wall, but it certainly wasn't responsible for the reply.

'Very good, sir. When shall I return to clear up?'

'I will contact you. Please go.'

Gielgud bowed to his unseen master. He straightened the four jet-black, plastic, bowl-shaped seats, specially constructed to take Foamasi bulk, and shuffled out of the room, using his tail to close the heavy door behind him.

After a few seconds, a series of sections in each brick wall rotated on hidden hinges. Irregular s.p.a.ces could now be seen, within each of which was a Foamasi.

One stepped into the dining hall.

'South Lodge presents Patriarch One.'

Another moved in from the opposite section.

'Dark Peaks Lodge presents Patriarch Two.'

'West Lodge presents Patriarch Three.'

'Twin Suns Lodge presents Patriarch Four.'

The Patriarchs took the seats nearest them and sat, casting wary glances at each other, and at the empty fifth seat at the head of the table, with its green crest at the top.

No one spoke, until finally the Twin Suns Lodge representative spoke. As a scholar on twentieth-century, human, 2-D movie actors, he knew he sounded just like Al Pacino in Scarface . To the other Foamasi, he sounded frequently unintelligible and rather ridiculous. But it was not good foamasi nomers to say so. Besides which, because, in theory, they were all working against each other, but in a very well-ordered structure, to pick an argument with an opposing number while attending one of the rare Gatherings, was considered unacceptable.

'So,' said the Twin Suns, 'why is we here at dis crucial time?'

'Typtpwtyp has been murdered. He was one of your agents, am I right?'

The Foamasi all stared at the empty chair, as if they could see someone seated there. That was custom.

The Twin Suns representative answered.'One'a da boys, yeah.'

'He was murdered by the Dark Peaks Lodge, who are employing human agents in the Stadium.'

The Dark Peaks Representative swivelled around slightly. When he spoke, it was in the soporific tones of a mid-thirty-fifth-century Chelonian politician, lots of elongated vowel sounds and little dramatic pauses between inappropriate word breaks. He even underlined his meaning by poking at the air with his right hand.

'What evidence do you have to back up this wild accusation, Mr Speaker?'

'It is my job as Amba.s.sadorial Representative to the Federation to know everything that goes on in Foamasi society. Especially on this world. You were told to stay away.'

The Dark Peaks representative shrugged. "The Dark Peaks Lodge opted to ignore that recommendation, and note it was a recommendation, not an order. I draw your attention to the answer given by our Patriarch at the last Lodge Gathering on liasici -'

'Don't quote Gathering minutes at me, Dark Peaks Representative.' The unseen Green Fingers was very angry now.'I was there. I listened. I noted.

And still, you were forbidden to attend. Why are you here?'

The West Lodge representative raised a hand.

When he spoke, it was in a deep growling voice, like that of a Shistavanen game-show host, a curious mixture of bouncy rhetoric mixed with snarling lupine savagery.

'We were promised...' He waved his hand towards the others. 'We were all promised that the Dark Peaks would not be here to interfere with our transactions. But no, they have infiltrated a number of our operations, confounded and confused them.'

'Not true,' put in Dark Peaks, but West ignored him.

'We table a motion that the Dark Peaks representative return home to Liasici and face charges of treason and contemptible behaviour.'

'Seconded,' said the Twin Suns.

The South Lodge representative nodded.

Dark Peaks looked as his fellow Foamasi, angrily. 'None of you have what it takes to be Foamasi any longer. Ten centuries have pa.s.sed since we last waged war against a common foe and tried to take a place in this galaxy that is ours by right. Since then the Foamasi have been content to pursue cheap and pointless theatrical crimes. Getting a reputation as the "bad guys" of the galaxy. Becoming something human mothers and Pakhar dames send their sp.a.w.n to bed with, threatening them that if they don't sleep, the big bad Foamasi will eat them. Eat them! We're a joke! The Dark Peaks Lodge was formed because we realised that the other Lodges were weak, with no real ambition. Gambling, drugs, prost.i.tution, oh yes, wonderful moneymakers.' He pointed to each of the Lodge representatives in turn.'But where is the fire in your guts, eh? Where is the drive, the ambition to rule that our people once had. The Foamasi of today are weak.

But next year sees the start of a new millennium and the Dark Peaks plan to ensure that the real Foamasi are ready to take control from the Federation. To acknowledge our birthright and -'

He never got any further as the heavy door opened and Gielgud shuffled in.

'What do you want, Twin Sunner?' snapped the Dark Peaks Representative.

'Just following my orders, sir,' said Gielgud and shot him dead with a single blaster bolt between the eyes.

The others watched in silence as Gielgud hobbled over, lifted the dead representative over his shoulder and carried him away. 'Apologies for the interruptions, sirs,' he called back, and then closed the door behind him.

'Fellow Representatives,' said the voice of Green Fingers,'! have either just qvieiied a rebellion or started a civil war. It rests with you to decide which it is. Does any of you have any other business?'

The South Lodge indicated that he had, and spoke, or rather sang, his speech like an eighth-century pop star from the pre-stellar Menaxan civilisation. 'Sir, there appears to be a new drug going around the compet.i.tors at the Olympic Games. We understood dial we had sole rights to drug supply on this planet.'

'Indeed,' said Green Fingers.'And I am investigating this breach of protocol.

My... sources suspect that there is an uninvited presence on Micawber's World which is being rooted out as we speak. I will call another meeting of the Lodge Patriarchs as soon as I have more news. Next?'

No one else had anything to say, so Green Fingers offered a few final words.

'Representatives, the Dark Peaks Lodge gains much power at home. We must decide to ally our own Lodges with it or against it. If civil war does break out, let it be known for posterity that it started here. I leave it to your own boards to decide their course of actions. Oh, and one last thing. Any Dark Peaks Foamasi are fair game. It'll give your a.s.sa.s.sins something to do until this drug business is sorted out.'

Muttering their thanks, the surviving Foamasi returned to the holes in the wall from which they had emerged. These led to small tunnels underground that in turn led to their respective bases - the locations of which were unknown to each other but had been set up by Green Fingers.

After a few moments, the heavy door opened and Gielgud showed Green Fingers and his guests in.

The Doctor crossed to where he had seen the Dark Peaks Representative die, while Ms Sox and Coordinator Sumner just looked at where the walls had reseated themselves, widiout a mark.

'Foamasi technology is very advanced,' Green Fingers said to their admiration. 'You can never spot exactly where we come in and out of a building.'

The Doctor frowned at him. 'Was the death of one of your people entirely necessary?'

'It is our way, Doctor. I did warn you that you may see things this afternoon which would alarm you.'

'You said the Dark Peaks were targets now,' added Ms Sox.'Can you be sure that Micawber's World won't become a blood bath?'

'a.s.sa.s.sins are very discreet, you know, Ms Sox. You won't even be aware of it happening. Now, everyone, with Commandant Ritchie's problem solved and my internal dispute solved in one fell swoop, let us concentrate on this drug business. It's really not on,you know...'

'Yes! I know what it must be!'

Ms Sox and the others stared at the Doctor. 'We know Sam has your sonic screwdriver, Doctor,' she began but he hushed her.

'I think I know what else is in those pills. Something so small that it's almost undetectable. My Spectral Bio-a.n.a.lyser will confirm it, but I think our little recorder has the details.' He fished it out of his pocket.

++h.e.l.lO, DOCTOR++.

'Right. You believed there was something else in those drugs, right?'

++CONFIRMED++.

'Do you still have the a.n.a.lysis uploaded into your memory?'

++CONFIRMED++.

The Doctor sighed with relief.'I think it's a genetic code. It's the only thing small enough to be worth hiding in the pills. If it were a disease, then why hide it so deeply. If it were a series of mental commands... well, again we know our enemy is telepathic, so why bother? It has to be genetic. Using those parameters, can you speculate what it might be?'

++CONFIRMED. PLEASE WAIT++.

' we don't have time,'shouted the Doctor. T need to know now?'

++GENETIC DECODER. THE TRACE ELEMENTS ARE MUTAGENIC IN.

ORIGIN. A COMPOUND PARASITE WHICH CAN RESTRUCTURE DNA AT THE MOLECULAR LEVEL++.

'How fast do you think it can work?'

++INGESTION, THUS ABSORPTION INTO THE BIOSYSTEM OF MOST.

CREATURES ON MICAWBER'S WORLD, WOULD TAKE.

APPROXIMATELY TWO MINUTES++.

'Oh no,' said the Doctor, his face suddenly ashen. 'Whatever's in that tunnel system, they're turning everyone taking part in the Olympic Games into alternative versions of themselves. Let's go!'

The three Foamasi a.s.sa.s.sins who had killed Chase Carrington and his driver a couple of nights before were in a small bar watching the opening parade come to its close on the holovid.With them were twelve humans from the Stadium workforce - the ones who had silenced 'George Sanders'.

The a.s.sa.s.sins were splitting their share of the profits.

'Where is our cut?' asked the dark-skinned man.

A tubbier man, George's contact, was more forceful. 'You better not have backed out, scale-face.'

'You were paid by Typtpwtyp,' said the Foamasi leader.

"That was on behalf of the Twin Suns Lodge. Killing him was on behalf of your lot, the Dark Peaks. So we want payment from you, too.'

The leader of the a.s.sa.s.sins thrust a self-elongating knife straight through the heart of the fatter man, also skewering two of the others standing behind him. Before the blade retracted and the three dead humans. .h.i.t the floor, the other two Dark Peaks a.s.sa.s.sins had slaughtered the remaining nine. It was over in less than two seconds.