Doctor Who_ The Tomorrow Windows Part 12

As one, they turned to face the new arrivals.

Fitz awoke to find his eyes streaming. He blinked to clear his vision, which made no difference, and he realised he was surrounded by smoke. As he breathed in, his lungs burned. He dug into a pocket and located a handkerchief and, pressing it over his mouth, crawled into the swirling gloom.

Somehow, in the confusion, he had lost a shoe.

67.Oh G.o.d, Fitz thought. Why does this sort of thing keep on happening to me?

He struggled forward, not sure where he was going. Through his narrowed eyes he could make out the two headlamps of one of the robot creatures. Its motors whirred as its head rotated, searching, scanning.

Something gripped Fitz's shoulder as tight as a vice.

'Come on.' The voice had a electronic rasp. 'The Octobots. . . are everywhere '

'The what?' said Fitz, before he realised. Oct, eight. Bot, robot. The spider things.

The voice continued in monotone. 'We must. . . get away '

Fitz could make out the shape of a man, his arms and legs replaced with robotic limbs. Fitz then realised the hand that gripped him consisted of little more than a pincer.

'Who are you?' Fitz glanced back the way he'd crawled. The Octobot approached a burning cable and, with a whoosh, foam spurted from its head. It shuffled its body from side to side as it doused.

'My name. . . is Tadek.' Face to face, Fitz realised his companion was maybe twenty years old. He wore a startled expression, his eyebrows permanently raised. 'We must move.'

'OK, OK, OK,' said Fitz. 'One question, first. Why?'

'The Octobots. . . are after me. They think. . . I am a dissenter.'

Fitz brushed dirt from his jacket. 'Are you?'

'Yes, but that is not the point. The point is. . . I know how it was destroyed.'

'How what was destroyed?'

The television lit the faces of the Gabaks. They sat in huddled groups, their lips parted. It was almost, thought Charlton, as if they were gaining nourishment from it.

The eyes of the man on the screen were hidden beneath bandages. His fingers traced across Braille. 'The Aztale bombing raid destroyed section four of level double-green. Teriats are warned to stay away for their own safety.

The section is now prohibited. Octobots will attend to repairs.'

Charlton shared a worried glance with Trix.

'Gabak forces. . . have managed to repel the cowardly Aztale attack. . . All Aztale forces were defeated. There were no Gabak casualties.'

In unison, the Gabaks gave a moaning cheer.

'In other news. . . Gabak forces are now only a few hours from the Aztale stronghold of Terranaton. The Aztales. . . are offering only token resistance, with many of their soldiers abandoning their posts. There have been no Gabak casualties.'

68.There was another low cheer. Charlton looked around. None of the Gabaks had reacted to their presence since they had arrived.

The screen switched to a juddery image of boxlike tanks advancing through a desert, their gun turrets swivelling.

'We have received a broadcast from the Aztale leader. However, we believe it to be some months old so it is probable that he may have died in the meantime. The broadcast. . . shows him skulking in his nuclear bunker.'

'Are they going to tell us what he said said?' muttered Trix.

'He reiterated his lies about the progress of the war. According to him. . .

Aztale forces have already defeated the attack upon Terranaton!'

As one, the Gabaks in the shelter jeered. It was automatic.

'Meanwhile, a statement has been released by our courageous leader, Galvakis. . . from the safety of his nuclear bunker.'

The picture cut to a decrepit man, his neck held in a brace, a breathing unit wired into his chest. 'Teriats of Gabak! We must remain united. We are suffering, yes, but this must not weaken our resolve to defeat the Aztale evil.

We must not fear, because we are fighting a war against fear itself. Remember, teriats of Gabak! Suffering makes us strong!'

The teriats of Gabak cheered, 'Suffering makes us strong!'

The Doctor held his radiation detector at arms' length and checked the readings. He tapped the detector, rattled it, then turned to Charlton and Trix.

'Something very wrong is happening here.'

On the screen, Galvakis announced, 'Unity makes us free!'

'Unity makes us free!' rasped the man on television.

Fitz had slowed to a jog as they made their way along another pa.s.sage.

Pipes chugged overhead and cables slithered along the sides of the floor.

And televisions flickered every few yards. 'Very Orwellian,' muttered Fitz, checking behind them for the spider-things.

He halted and doubled up to regain his breath. Tadek had maintained a terrific pace, despite his injuries. The guy had robot arms and legs, for goodness' sake. Maybe that was why he didn't seem to get tired.

Tadek strode back to Fitz. 'I do not. . . understand the cultural reference.'

'Orwell. Bloke I met, wrote a book about double-think. War is peace, love is hate.' Fitz remembered the Penguin paperback. It had a single, staring eye on the front. 'Why are there TVs everywhere, anyway?'

'So that the teriats can be kept informed of the war effort.'

'Yes, but. . . '

'The teriats become troubled if they miss. . . any of the rolling news coverage.'

69.'Don't they ever show anything else? Sports, music, soap operas? Sitcoms about the amusing adventures of rag-and-bone men?'

'There is nothing apart from the war.'

'That's a bit overkilly.'

'We need to be constantly reminded that it is. . . the cause of our. . . predicament.'

'Your predicament? You mean your. . . injuries?'

'The result of "nuclear carbonates" in the air. The after-effects of an Aztale attack, many centuries ago. You will. . . soon develop similar symptoms, Fitz.'

'Oh.' He turned back to the television. 'Ta, mate.'

A clanking sound disturbed him. Fitz looked down the corridor, to see eight long, spindly shadow-legs scampering across the floor. The shadows vanished, then reappeared.

An Octobot, approaching.

'Finally. I have heard reports of growing dissent. Remember, dissenters intend to undermine our way of life. Their opposition to the war gives comfort to the evil Aztales. The dissenters are not only apologists for the enemy. . . they support support the enemy. Indeed, we have reason to believe many of them are terrorists. . . acting for the Aztales!' the enemy. Indeed, we have reason to believe many of them are terrorists. . . acting for the Aztales!'

'So I remind you, teriats of Gabak, of your duty to eradicate all dissent, and support your government in all things.'

The people in the shelter cheered. Those that could raise their hands in a salute did so. 'Unity makes us free!'

'We must eradicate the Aztales!' yelled Galvakis.

'Eradicate!' shouted the Gabaks, their voices humming like chainsaws.

'Eradicate! Eradicate! ERADICATE!'

They had climbed stairwell after stairwell, rising through the bleak city, darting along corridor after corridor, cobwebs fluttering in the wind. Now the televisions and gas lamps were dead. No one had been here for centuries.

His chest aching, Fitz slumped against the wall. 'I see what you mean,' he muttered, '"Eradicate all dissent". Lot of you dissenters, are there?'

Tadek shook his head. 'I do. . . not know of any others. Our leaders claim there are many, but I believe that is to make the teriats suspicious of each other.'

'Yeah why spy on the people, when you can get them to spy on each other?'

'It also provides a scapegoat. What cannot be blamed upon the Aztales can be. . . blamed on their "sympathisers".'

'You're not a sympathiser?'

70.'I know nothing of the Aztales beyond what we are told. For all I know, their way of life may be better.'

'It's not impossible.'

'We are. . . not born. We are constructed. Our flesh is grown from cell cultures. We are programmed to obey from birth. We labour in the recycling foundries. We cheer on the endless war. We die. Nothing ever changes.'

'You're right, it couldn't be much worse, fair enough to you.'

'We fight. . . in the name of freedom when we are slaves.' Tadek turned away. 'When I am caught, I will be eradicated.'

'Why, if it's not a stupid question?'

Tadek looked away. 'I visited the Tomorrow Windows. I. . .

wondered whether there would ever be an end to the destruction.'

'And?'

'It exploded.'

'They have a habit of doing that.' Fitz laughed.

'This conduit is four floors above the Tomorrow Window gallery. Does that not strike you as strange?'

Fitz could only shrug. His shins had pins-and-needles, so he dragged himself upright and ma.s.saged some feeling back. 'Why have we come up here?'

'Because. . . no one else does. We are near the surface of our planet. These levels are prohibited.'

'Because?' Fitz asked, not sure he wanted to hear the answer.

'The level of radiation. According to our leaders, visiting this place is certain death.'

Fitz realised. Tadek had brought them here to die. Controlling his anger and panic and fear, Fitz inhaled. Oddly, the air did not taste poisonous. In fact, it seemed fresh, much fresher than it had done down below.

His eyes drifted across the corridor, to where a cobweb shivered in the breeze.

'Tadek,' Fitz began, 'those spider things aren't affected by radiation, are they?'

'No. They are. . . machines.'

'So we need to keep on moving,' Fitz felt his way along the corridor, keeping one arm outstretched ahead of him. His fingers. .h.i.t a horizontal bar, damp with condensation. He fumbled upwards, and found another bar, and another.

Feeling a mixture of elation and fear, he gripped the ladder, making sure it held fast.

Above him was a shaft and, at the very top, a crack of light and a grille.

A whirring sound caused him to jump. Fitz turned to see Tadek standing behind him.

'Climb,' said Fitz. 'We're going to the surface.'

71.The television shows a grim wilderness. Thunderclouds are smeared across the sky. Sandbags lie heaped against rubble. The mud has been rutted into islands sky. Sandbags lie heaped against rubble. The mud has been rutted into islands crested with snow and between the islands there is a misty ocean of ice. crested with snow and between the islands there is a misty ocean of ice.

Corpses are draped across barbed wire. Their helmets hang by their neck-straps. Snow gathers on their uniforms, collecting on their eyes and in their blue-lipped mouths. blue-lipped mouths.

'The last battle of Valuensis. Six hundred years ago, an all-out nuclear exchange between the Aztales and the Gabaks rendered the surface of their planet uninhabitable.' uninhabitable.'

'Doctor,' whispered Trix. 'What about Fitz?'

The Doctor considered and sighed. 'He has a habit of surviving. Usually.