Doctor Who - The Colony Of Lies Part 9

"We"ll take him up to our main ship as soon as we"ve got him stabilised," Veena explained.

"Will he be okay?" Freedom asked.

Veena shrugged. "I"m not a medic. But I know we"ve got the best staff and equipment for a dozen light years. We"re the best hope he"s got."

Freedom nodded, taking it in. A few hours ago the visitors from Earth Gov had been the worst thing he could imagine; now he was grateful for their presence.

Dee came over to him; she was carrying the silver badge Tam usually wore. She fixed it to his shirt.

"You wanted to be sheriff," she told him. "Now you are."

"But we should have an election," he began to complain, but Dee stopped him with a shake of her head.

"At a time like this? I don"t think so, Val. If anyone asks, Tam nominated you before losing consciousness. Isn"t that right?" she addressed the question to both the Doctor and the uniformed woman. They both nodded. Freedom swallowed hard. Dee was right: he"d always said he wanted to lead, and now he had his wish.

He glanced over at the p.r.o.ne figure of Tam, the savage red wounds on his chest all too visible, and shuddered. He wished it had happened a different way.

Just two hours later, Plymouth Hope was full of people again.

Some were colonists, drawn in from the outlying farms by the activity, but they were outnumbered by far by newcomers from the Earth Gov ship. Marines in battle armour were patrolling the streets, and searching each building. A group of diverse vehicles: some ground cars, some flyers, were parked at the edge of the town, dwarfing the buildings. A couple of prefabricated buildings had been erected and a security fence was being constructed around the entire town.

The strangers had moved in and taken over.

A town meeting had hurriedly been convened; Major Cartor and Acting Sheriff Freedom had wanted to address the concerned people of Plymouth Hope together. For now they kept the information about the new arrivals to themselves and concentrated on the attack and its aftermath. Cartor a.s.sured everyone that the attacker or attackers would be found and made to pay for their crimes. It was a.s.sumed by everyone that it must have been a Realist raid, although all agreed it seemed more desperate and more violent than any previous raid. Only one person raised any doubts about this theory, the only truly independent person on Axista Four: the Doctor.

"Are you really certain that some of your fellow colonists did this?" he asked the a.s.sembled townspeople. There was a general rumble of agreement before Freedom stood to put their thoughts into words. "Who else could it be, Doctor?

There"s no one else on the planet capable of an act like that.

There are bear like creatures in the mountains but we"ve never seen one down here. And there ain"t no one else on Axista Four."

The Doctor didn"t look convinced. "Well, that"s as may be, but I am here, remember?"

Freedom frowned. "Are you claiming responsibility, Doctor?

Your absent friend Jamie perhaps?"

"Well, of course not," frowned the Doctor. "I merely meant that if we we could come here then it"s not impossible that someone else did." could come here then it"s not impossible that someone else did."

The Doctor watched Major Cartor"s face carefully as he spoke. For all his agreement with Freedom about the likelihood of the attack being a Realist raid he didn"t seem nearly as dismissive of the Doctor"s counter-theory. "Don"t you agree, Major Cartor?" the Doctor continued. "We shouldn"t dismiss the possibility of a third, unknown party at work here..."

Cartor shrugged, keeping his face impa.s.sive. "There"s no evidence of any other force here..."

The Doctor frowned, frustrated. There was something Cartor wasn"t telling them, he was sure of it. Not that he suspected Cartor and his men of being behind the attack - that just didn"t seem likely - but he was hiding something.

"Would you mind if I took a look at the medical centre?"

"Looking for clues, Doctor - evidence of the existence of your mysterious aliens?" Freedom asked.

The Doctor smiled. "I just want to see what I can see, if that"s okay with you, Major?" he added, turning back to Cartor.

"Sure, Doctor, be my guest."

The smoke was long gone but the smell lingered. Whoever had attacked the medical centre had possessed a savage strength. The Doctor noted metal fixtures that had been torn and twisted from the walls, heavy cabinets that had been lifted and tossed like cushions.

Cartor"s people had installed emergency lighting and the Doctor was able to examine in more detail some of the marks that the intruder had left. What had initially appeared to be scratches made by some kind of sword or knife now looked suspiciously less even and regular; they looked like claw marks. The Doctor moved on - the ident.i.ty of the intruder was a mystery that could wait. The priority now was working out what had happened to Zoe. So far he had found no trace of her. The Doctor was relieved; there were no more bloodstains, which he took to be a good sign.

He looked around the room that had been a ward. The destruction was at its worst in here - it was a real mess. In the corner of the room was a large free-standing cabinet with a heavy door. It looked a little like a ma.s.sive fridge freezer.

The Doctor hadn"t really registered it before - it was half-hidden under a pile of debris - but now his eyes were drawn to it. More specifically to the small row of lights that were flashing in sequence on a control panel above the door handle on the cabinet. Flashing green and red lights, denoting that it was active. But Dee had told him that she never used the high technology, hadn"t she?

The Doctor hurried over and began pulling the bits and pieces of debris away from the cabinet. At times like these the Doctor realised how much he was missing Jamie - the Scottish lad"s strength would have soon had the obstruction cleared. The Doctor wondered where Jamie was but then shook his head to clear it. One missing companion at a time, he told himself, as he pulled part of one of the beds away from the cabinet. Now he could get closer he recognised what the device was. An emergency cryogenic cradle for use with patients in extreme crisis who couldn"t be operated on or helped immediately; a way of putting critical cases on hold.

Decoding the security locks took a matter of seconds and the Doctor punched in the command to open the door. Even as the heavy door began to lift, releasing a cool mist, the Doctor was fairly certain what he would find inside. A moment later his hunch was proved right - inside the cabinet, lying upright, was Zoe - in a state of deep cryogenic suspension.

The Doctor resealed the cryo-cabinet and hurried to find Veena or Cartor. He found them both in the Command Centre that the ECSV crew had set up in one of their prefab buildings at the edge of the town. He explained his discovery and asked for their aid.

"The facilities here are rather primitive," he said, and the emergency cryo-unit isn"t designed for revival. But you must have suitable facilities on your ship?"

Cartor nodded. "My medical team is keeping pretty busy right now; Mr Kartryte has stabilised. Miss Willoughby is with him."

"But can you help Zoe?" persisted the Doctor.

Veena glanced at Cartor for approval and then said, "Of course. I"ll take her up myself." She smiled apologetically. "No offence meant but I get a little twitchy if I"m on a planet for too long. s.p.a.ce-born." she added as an explanation.

The Doctor turned his attention to Cartor.

"I"ve been examining the scene of the crime," he began.

"Would you care to take a look at what I"ve discovered?"

Val Freedom looked closely at the marks and frowned. He stood up and shrugged. "It"s hard to say. I suppose it could be claw marks but then again..." He trailed off, clearly not convinced or, at least, not admitting that he was convinced.

The Doctor turned to his other guest. "And what about you, Major, what do you make of it?"

Major Cartor gave the marks a cursory inspection. "Nothing conclusive either way."

Disappointed, the Doctor urged them further into the medical centre. "See here," he said reaching up towards a rip in the wall where a light had once been fixed. "How high would you say that was? What human could have reached up there to tear that light fitting down?" he demanded.

Val Freedom indicated the rest of the room. Whoever they were it looks like they were pretty mad. Anger can make a man do amazing things."

"I think that we"re dealing with something rather different from an angry man here," commented the Doctor firmly.

"What are you suggesting - some kind of alien creature?"

The disbelief was evident in Freedom"s tone. As before, however, Cartor was far less dismissive.

"It is... possible," he admitted.

The Doctor turned on him sharply. "Oh really, do you think so?"

Cartor kept his poker expression in place, giving nothing away. "It"s not impossible. It"s a big galaxy and there are a lot of alien races out there."

The Doctor picked up on a note of bitterness in Cartor"s voice.

"You have some experience with aliens?" he asked.

Cartor nodded curtly. "More than a little. They"re well named - aliens. They think different, act different. I don"t like them."

The Doctor was shaking his head.

"I"ve more than a little experience with aliens myself and I"m afraid I just can"t agree with you there. In my experience most intelligent species want the same things: security, food, a place to call home. A place to raise a family..."

Cartor looked unimpressed.

"You ever come face to face with a Dalek?" he asked sarcastically.

"More than once," admitted the Doctor, turning away.

"There"s always the exception that proves the rule." Not to mention the Cybermen, the Ice Warriors, the Sontarans, the list was endless, thought the Doctor, but decided his argument would get a better hearing if he kept quiet about them. Cartor brought him up short with his next statement.

"If there are aliens here they"ll have to be dealt with."

"How exactly?"

"Refugees from the Dalek Wars will be here before long; I don"t want people fleeing a war zone to find a battlefield on their new home. If we find aliens here," Cartor paused, considering his words, "then they"ll have to be eradicated."

Chapter Eight.

Jamie stumbled and had to be supported under the arms by his escort. The door to the prefab hut he had been a.s.signed was opened and without much dignity he was shoved through the opening. The door was slammed shut behind him as he collapsed in a heap on the floor.

Billy Joe, who had been dozing, jumped to his feet and hurried across to him.

"Jamie, what happened to you?"

Jamie managed to open his eyes. His vision was blurred but he could just about make out the face of his new young friend.

"They wanted to ask me some more questions," he said, slurring his speech slightly. What was wrong with him? His head felt as if he had been drinking but surely he hadn"t?

"Are you okay?" inquired Billy Joe in a concerned tone.

Jamie certainly felt ill. Suddenly he became aware of a hand on his leg.

"Hey, what"re you doing?" said Jamie, not so out of it that he could ignore the a.s.sault. Billy Joe pointed to something on his thigh - a tiny red mark.

"Did they drug you?" he asked, appalled.

Jamie managed a nod. "Aye, they said it would help me remember things. I think. I canna remember anything now...

I need to sleep..." Before Billy Joe could say or do anything else, Jamie keeled over and began snoring loudly.

"You drugged him!" Hali was clearly not impressed with the news. Forde looked away, avoiding her accusing eye. "I thought it was the right thing to do."

Hali snorted contemptuously.

"Just because we have the ability to do something like that doesn"t give us the right," she told him.

"We need to know who he is and where he came from," Max reminded her.

"He had already told us everything," she retorted.

"I didn"t believe it," Max confessed.

Hali sighed and sat back down beside Max. "Okay then - what did you find out?"

Now it was Max"s turn to sigh. Reluctantly he told her everything that he had learnt from the young Scots lad under the influence of the truth drug. It was Max"s medical opinion that the boy was some kind of congenital idiot. With his tongue loosened by the drug he had babbled incoherently about travelling through time and s.p.a.ce in a little blue box.

"But where is he from?" Hali asked.

"Oh, you"ll like this," replied Max, beginning to laugh.

"Apparently he"s from some place called Scotland - part of the EuroZone, isn"t it? But get this... he reckons he was born in the seventeenth century!"

"What!" Hali had never heard anything so ridiculous in her life.

It hadn"t been hard for the two Tyrenian warriors to locate the humans" base; simple tracking skills that were second nature to the aliens had quickly led them to the Realist settlement. Lorvalan was not entirely surprised to see that it had been constructed over the ruins of the Tyrenians" own base. He remembered how it had been at the beginning before the humans had arrived with their brutal battledroids.

His people had finally found a place to call home and then it had been invaded. In his memory he could still hear the screams of the pups as the relentless killing machines had bulldozed every single building. Revenge would have to wait, however; first they had to locate Dyselt - which was proving to be a difficult task. The skimmer he had taken had been damaged and was refusing to send a transponder signal.

Without that they couldn"t pinpoint its position. With Dyselt"s trail having gone cold, Lorvalan decided that they should concentrate on the human problem first. Finding a secure place of concealment, they had set about the task of surveillance and intelligence gathering, evaluating their enemy"s strengths and weaknesses in preparation for action.

After a few hours they had gathered a basic understanding of the settlement. It was small; there were no more than a hundred or so humans living here. There was evidence of some agricultural activity but a confusing array of technology was on display, some of it quite primitive but some more advanced. Despite first appearances, these humans were a s.p.a.ce-travelling people. But there was something temporary about this place, something impermanent. Zenig voiced this observation and Lorvalan had laughed. "That"s not surprising," he had commented. "We"ll be destroying this shortly!"

The pair of them had set up a long-range directional microphone to listen in to some of the conversations that the humans were having. The Tyrenian warriors were bred for aggression and strength but they were not a brutal race.

They were cunning and intelligent and capable of great patience. It had been a hundred years since the humans"

cowardly attack on their defenceless settlement, and that act of barbarism would be avenged, but it could wait a little longer. Lorvalan and Zenig were willing to be patient and to prepare carefully. The time for killing would come soon enough.

Jamie had recovered consciousness now and was telling Billy Joe about his ordeal. The boy was clearly shocked - he hadn"t expected the Realists to be so brutal and he was beginning to have serious doubts about his decision to come here.

Although he didn"t want to admit it in as many words, he was missing his grandfather. He had an ache inside of him, a horrible feeling that he might never see Tam again, almost as if something terrible had happened to him. Billy Joe tried to ignore the thought but once it had formed it wouldn"t go away. Try as he might to think about other things, the concern about his grandfather remained, lurking like an uninvited guest at a party.