Doctor Who_ Toy Soldiers Part 28

She turned a corner, saw a doorway ahead, brilliant white light within. And a figure, crouching down against a ma.s.s of glittering optic circuitry. A small man in a linen shirt and fedora hat. Benny grinned broadly, accelerated to a trot.

Then she saw the second man. The one with the gun, pointing it at the Doctor. She stopped quickly, but not quickly enough: he saw her, started to turn.

She swore, flung herself against the wall. Why was nothing ever straightforward where the Doctor was involved?

The huge machine voice spoke again. Benny was close enough now to hear the words: 'I'LL NOW PROCEED WITH THE DESTRUCTION OF THE CERACAI.'

The Doctor had seen her now; she saw him wink, and close his hand around a piece of cabling that flickered with colour.

'How do you intend doing that?'

'THE INFORMATION IS CLa.s.sIFIED.'

The Doctor yanked at the cable. 'Uncla.s.sify it,' he snapped. 'Or you might find your transmat system disabled again. Permanently.'

Benny knew enough about the Doctor to tell that he was very angry. But she knew enough about machine intelligences to know that it wouldn't make any difference.

The Recruiter wouldn't even notice: it would only take account of the facts.

The man with the gun - whom Benny recognized with a shock as Charles Sutton - swung back to cover the Doctor.

Benny crept forward, keeping her body close to the wall. She saw other guards, a mix of Biune and Ogrons, saw them raising their guns. She heard metallic clicks behind her as the Q'ell readied their own weapons.

'Wait!' she shouted. She heard the Doctor shouting at the same time: they were both silenced by the huge voice of the Recruiter.

'DON'T FIRE PROJECTILE WEAPONS IN THIS AREA NOW. VITAL CIRCUITS ARE EXPOSED.'

As it was speaking, Benny reached the door of the room.

She took in the size and shape of the Recruiter, saw ports opening in the silver metal to reveal the characteristic fish-eye energy lenses of high-intensity lasers.

She glanced over her shoulder, saw the Q'ell with their heads tilted to one side. Obviously they were getting instructions again.

Their rifles swung to cover her, and the Doctor.

Benny shrugged. 'Never trust anyone who eats your friends, that's what I say,' she muttered.

The Doctor said, 'If they shoot me now, my weight will break the cable. If you shoot anyone else, I'll break it anyway.

And if you don't tell me what you're planning to do, I'll break it.'

And he's out of the field of fire of the lasers, thought Benny. She grinned again. Trust the Doctor to think of everything.

'I'LL EXPLAIN,' said the Recruiter suddenly. Benny's grin broadened. And trust a machine to be logical. No way out except to tell the truth.

'THERE WERE ITEMS IN TRANSIT WHEN THE TRANSMAT WAS REPAIRED. THESE ITEMS HAVE.

SUFFICIENT Ma.s.s THAT, IF THEY'RE SENT BACK TO SOURCE OUT OF PHASE, A LOT OF ENERGY WILL BE.

CREATED BY THE CONVERSION OF THEIR Ma.s.s. THIS.

ENERGY WILL BE ENOUGH TO LET ME TRANSMAT THE.

SOURCE PLANET, ALSO OUT OF PHASE, TO A.

LOCATION WITHIN ITS OWN SUN.'

Benny swallowed. Given the set-up of the transmat, the source planet had to be the Earth. Which was impossible.

The Earth couldn't be destroyed, or the whole of history would be changed. Maybe the Doctor hadn't got it figured out after all. Or maybe - The Recruiter was still talking. 'THE ENERGY CREATED BY THE CONVERSION OF THE PLANET'S Ma.s.s WILL BE ENOUGH FOR ME TO VAPORIZE ALL PLANETS WITHIN.

THE CERACAI DOMINIONS, IF FOCUSED THROUGH THE.

TRANSMAT SYSTEM AT A SUITABLE PHASE ANGLE.

THAT WAY I CAN DESTROY THE CERACAI DOMINIONS.

IN ONLY THREE POINT TWO EIGHT DAYS.'

Benny wondered how big the Ceracai dominions were.

How many planets the Recruiter was programmed to destroy.

Judging by the amount of energy it thought it needed, the answer had to be in the thousands. She glanced at the Doctor, saw that his face was pale.

'When does this start?' he muttered.

'IT'S ALREADY UNDER WAY. THE FIRST PHASE DETONATION WILL OCCUR ON EARTH IN FOUR POINT.

TWO MINUTES.'

The Doctor looked at Benny then. His gaze was steady, his blue-grey eyes were clear.

'There's only one thing I can do,' he said quietly. 'Sorry, Benny.'

He's going to pull the cable out, she realized. And then all h.e.l.l breaks loose. He gets shot. I get shot. And all the 'items in transit' get dead. Whoever they are.

She looked at the bloodstained figure on the floor at Charles's feet, recognized it for the first time as Manda Sutton.

'Manda -' she said aloud, then stopped, unable to think of anything to say.

None of us are saved, she thought.

'Except the Earth, and history as you and I know it,'

supplied the Doctor, though Benny hadn't spoken aloud.

His grip tightened on the cable.

At that moment, a faint, familiar, roaring sound filled the air. Benny looked around as the noise quickly got louder, watched the blue cuboid that was the TARDIS slide into real s.p.a.ce right in front of her. She noticed several of the guards, and several of the Q'ell, turning their guns to cover it. Benny grinned. That won't do you any good, she thought.

The final thud of materialization was still echoing around the room when the door opened and Roz jumped out.

'Doctor!' she yelled. 'Thank the G.o.ddess!' She glanced at the armed figures in the room, yelled, 'OK, where are they?'

'Where are who?' asked the Doctor.

'The kids! The children! The ones we were supposed to be helping - they all got picked up about half an hour ago - unless - ' She looked over her shoulder. 'Chris, what time is it?'

Chris appeared in the TARDIS doorway, looking bewildered. 'I don't know. I wasn't steering it. It came here of its own accord.'

Roz turned to the Doctor. 'Has there been any transmit activity around here?'

The Doctor, Benny noticed, had gone even whiter.

'Recruiter!' he snapped. 'What were the items in transit that you're using as seed ma.s.s?'

'FIVE MILLION NEW RECRUITS FROM EARTH,' came the reply. 'BUT THEY ARE NO LONGER NEEDED HERE.

THE WAR IS OVER.'

'What's happening?' Roz's voice: she was looking at Benny.

Benny realized that there was no time to explain. The Doctor had crumpled to the floor. 'I can't,' he moaned. 'I can't.'

You have to, thought Benny. They're dead either way.

But she couldn't say it, couldn't quite bring herself to say it aloud. She remembered Zamper, remembered Roz's hand on the garage door. People who put themselves in the position where they decide whether others will live or die.

Roz. The Doctor.

'What the h.e.l.l's happening happening?' Roz yelled. 'I mean, what's the disaster?' Then Roz caught sight of Manda. 'Oh, s.h.i.t.

Chris - come out here and bring the medikit with you.'

'There's nothing you can do!' bawled the Doctor. But Chris was already hurrying out of the TARDIS.

'I'VE GOT A PROBLEM,' said the Recruiter suddenly.

'I'd noticed,' said Benny sourly. 'You're a megalomaniac weapons system trying to destroy half the - '

But her voice was drowned out by the Recruiter's.

'THE CONTROL UNIT FOR THE TRANSMAT SYSTEM ISN'T ON THE SOURCE PLANET ANY MORE. THE BEAM ISN'T BEING RECEIVED. THE LOCAL POPULATION DON'T HAVE s.p.a.cESHIP TECHNOLOGY, SO I THINK THAT THE UNIT MUST BE IN YOUR SHIP, DOCTOR. I MUST ASK YOU TO USE YOUR SHIP TO TAKE THE UNIT.

INTO A SUITABLE POSITION IN LINE WITH THE BEAM SO.

THAT I CAN COMPLETE THE OPERATION.'

'You really think I'm going to do that?' asked the Doctor. 'Now that I've got the transmat control I can pick up the children in the TARDIS whenever I want, without your help.' His grip tightened on the cable.

'IF YOU DON'T HELP ME I WILL KILL YOUR COMPANIONS.'

There was a pause. Chris and Roz were scrambling around Manda with the medikit. A holographic display glimmered in the air above the girl's torso. n.o.body took any notice.

'YOU HAVE TEN SECONDS. NINE - EIGHT -'

'I don't mind dying,' said Benny, though she doubted the Doctor could hear her over the racket of the Recruiter's voice.

She noticed that Roz hadn't even looked up.

'- FIVE - FOUR - '

The Doctor yanked at the cable.

At the same instant the wall behind the Recruiter crumpled inwards. For a second Benny thought that the Recruiter's transmat had exploded when the Doctor had disconnected it: then she saw the huge copper-coloured boiler of a ground-engine breaking through the ruins of the wall.

The ground-engine stopped, and the turret gun mounted on top of the boiler began to move, searching for targets.

Bricks clattered, steam hissed.

The Doctor said, 'Well, Recruiter. I think your little local war has come back to haunt you.' He raised his voice. 'Roz - Chris - get Manda into the TARDIS. Benny - get Charles Sutton in there.'

Roz and Chris had already lifted Manda up before the Doctor had finished speaking. But Benny froze, staring at the turret gun on the ground-engine.

It was pointed directly at her.

'Why?' she asked.

She dived for the ground, but it was too late.