Trial Of A Time Lord _ Mindwarp Part 9

The Doctor reached his erstwhile companion. He regarded her for a long time without speaking. Then he gripped her arm, hard.

'Ow!'

'Mentor Sil fears conspiracy against the Lord Kiv. You are a spy for the Alphan terrorists!' Slowly the grip of the Doctor exerted pressure on her inner arm.

'What? Ow, stop that!'

The Doctor put his lips next to Peri's left ear. 'We can speak now,' he whispered. 'No one can hear.'

Relief lifted Peri's spirits. 'Oh, Doctor, I thought that transference pulse had made you crazy.'

'I'm your friend, you know that.'

'I began to wonder.'

'I only want to help you, Peri.'

The Doctor's voice seemed smooth and sincere. Peri looked down at the sea now swirling round her knees and tugged at the chains. 'How do I get out of here?'

'Easy.' The Doctor stepped away from an incoming wave.

'How?' Peri asked eagerly.

'By simply telling me who are the Alphans leading the unrest and how we can annihilate them!'

The Doctor's words sent Peri's heart tumbling down into despair. 'What?' her voice faltered. 'Alphans... I don't...'

The face of the Doctor was seized by a terrible rage.

'Answer me! Can you not feel the tide rising all around you. Unless you wish to add your despair to all those who have perished in the Sea of Sorrows I suggest you tell me everything!'

In the Tidal Control chamber, Sil, Kiv and Crozier watched Peri and the Doctor on a monitor screen. As the Doctor's last words brought terror to Peri, Sil cackled, 'Just like the old days. There is nothing more enjoyable than watching other people suffer!'

The mad giggle was only stemmed by Sil pa.s.sing a Marsh Minnow from a nearby plate to his mouth. Crozier watched the green creature wriggle on Sil's dark tongue and then turned away in disgust.

'Confess!' the Doctor demanded.

'To what?' Peri yelled at him, the water now around her waist.

'Your guilt, your bungling. Your Alphan friends, everything, you must help the Mentors; you must help me!'

'Doctor, what's happened to you?'

'I see my own interest, I place myself first!'

'What about me?'

The expression of the Doctor became even more malevolent. 'You are expendable. You have no value.

Tomorrow they plan to take the brain of Kiv and transfer it into my skull. He will possess my body. I will be no more. To prevent that I must please the Mentors, and if that means you must be sacrificed in my place that is how it must be!'

Then the Doctor raised his fist.

'Tell me everything you know!'

Peri tried to cower away from the blow that was coming.

She looked into the eyes of the Doctor and saw only manic rage. She braced herself to receive blows from the Time Lord she had once admired and loved.

Ten.

'Enough!' Crozier's voice crackled from a voice relay unit hidden in the mouth of the cave.

Just about to launch a savage attack the Doctor hesitated then called back, 'I won't kill her. Just a little a.s.sault and battery to help her memory.'

'You will not damage her. This exercise was as much to test you as her. Release the girl, Doctor, at once!'

Sullenly, the Doctor did as he was ordered. Taking out of his pocket a small key, he waded out into the water to unlock the metal clasp that held the chains.

Peri, feeling the links loosen and fall from her, tried to dash away but the tide hampered her efforts and allowed the greater strength of the Doctor to wade at a faster rate through the sea. He soon caught up with Peri and subdued her by twisting an ann behind her back. This accomplished, he began to march the wet and miserable girl towards the mouth of the cave.

In court, the Doctor jumped to his feet.

'It was never like that!'

'How can you be certain?' the Valeyard rose quickly to the challenge. 'You have no clear memory of the incident and the Matrix never lies.'

'I wonder,' the Doctor muttered.

The Inquisitor interrupted. 'May we continue? I grow tired of these constant interruptions.'

'I am at your disposal, Sagacity.'

The Valeyard bowed. His black gown hanging to the floor, made him look like a giant crow reaching to pull a worm up from the ground.

'It was never like that!' the Doctor yelled again. Even to his ears his cry seemed desperate; bl.u.s.tering; hysterical.

The Inquisitor took the same view. 'Enough, Doctor!

The Matrix does not lie, cannot lie. You are aware of that fact. Why persist in contradictory statements?'

The Doctor felt that all was lost. He could feel the jury of Time Lords staring curiously at him. They revealed the fascination that all juries are supposed to show for the demeanour of a person they have decided is guilty.

The Doctor opened his mouth to speak but no words would come. There was nothing for him to do but return abjectly to his seat.

'Proceed!' the Inquisitor instructed.

Stealthily King Yrcanos and his Equerry, the Wolfman, Dorf, had made their way back towards the heart of the Mentors' underground complex. Once they had outrun the guards they had circled around the maze of tunnels and now found themselves entering a pa.s.sageway that seemed occupied by a series of small cells barred from ceiling to floor.

They were about to explore further when the Lukoser whined a warning that sent them both into hiding. They watched as towards them came the Doctor, Peri and two guards, one of whom began to unlock a cell.

'The Doctor,' Yrcanos breathed.

'Do we attack?' the Lukoser asked.

'Of course. That dreg is my enemy. Let us advance.'

Baring his teeth the Lukoser began to pad along the pa.s.sage with Yrcanos dose behind. Oblivious to the danger bearing down upon him, the Doctor started to push Peri into the cell.

'What's happened to you, Doctor? Why do you hate me so?' Peri really wanted to understand. She scanned the Doctor's set expression of cold hostility.

'I must do what I think is best,' was the flat reply.

Peri felt the tears within her. 'I thought you were different, that you cared for justice, truth, good.' Her eyes began to fill with tears. 'Oh, go away; I can't bear to look at what you are now!'

'Peri...' the Doctor started to speak but was interrupted by a ferocious war cry.

'Sohraantaap!'

With the impact of surprise Yrcanos and the Lukoser wreaked havoc on the group. Although the guards put up some initial resistance they were soon overcome. Holding out a phaser weapon taken from one of the guards Yrcanos aimed after the Doctor, who, at the first inkling of who the attackers were, had run away with great alacrity.

Just as he was about to squeeze the activation panel, the weapon was swept from the hand of the King.

Angrily Yrcanos turned on the saviour of the Doctor. It was Peri.

'What have you done, my lady? Because of you that vermin still lives!'

'I... I couldn't help it.' Peri's voice faltered. 'The Doctor what you say about him is true, but he wasn't always like that.'

'We had better leave here...' Yrcanos said grumpily. 'The Doctor will no doubt alert our enemies as soon as he can.'

'Yes,' Peri agreed dolefully and tagged along with the Lukoser and his master who strode ahead, occasionally turning a puzzled look back at a girl foolish enough to spare someone who was so obviously her enemy.

'Toady! Coward! Turncoat!'

The Valeyard lashed the Doctor with the words. All the Doctor could do was shake his head in dumb denial.

'You were afraid that Crozier wanted to transplant the brain of Kiv into your head. You said as much yourself.

That thought, Doctor, sent you into a blind panic!'

'I've told you it was a ploy. I... I wouldn't want to harm Peri, would I?'

'You have no clear memory of events on Thoros-Beta, have you?'

'I can recall some of it. Bits are beginning to bob back into my mind.'

'Oh, really? And does any of your convenient and sudden recall agree with anything that the court has already seen?'

'No... I mean... yes... but the emphasis is wrong.'

'What does that mean, Doctor?'

'The events took place but not quite as we've just seen them.' The Doctor frowned perplexedly. It did not make sense what he seemed to be saying. What was he saying?

What had happened to his sense of recall?

The Inquisitor decided to break the lengthening silence in which the Doctor was marooned. 'Doctor, it occurs to me that your current mental condition makes it very difficult for you to defend yourself. I would therefore suggest that this court be adjourned.'

'No!' the Doctor protested. 'I want this trial to continue.'

'Then might I suggest you engage a court defender...'

'No!' the Doctor said in a voice so determined that the Inquisitor did not pursue the matter further but noted on a pad before her that the proposal had been made but that the accused had rejected the offer of proper representation.

The Valeyard smiled thinly as he addressed the Inquisitor. 'Might I suggest that we go no further into the distressing aspects of the Doctor's guilt. I suggest you give your judgement now. I submit that the Doctor forfeit this and all his future lives in retribution for his crimes on Thoros-Beta.'

The Inquisitor considered the Valeyard's request for some time, Then reached a decision. 'Request denied. You have not yet furnished the court with sufficient evidence.

Proceed!'

'That is to become my new body?' Kiv looked down into what could have been a coffin. Laid out inside the rectangular box was a near replica of himself.

Crozier joined Kiv in looking down at the donor. 'The coastguards found him adrift among the Isles of Brak. He is of the same branch of mutation, almost certainly from your home mire, my Lord.'

'He does look like a younger me.'

'Not quite so handsome, Magnificence.'

Sil had joined them. 'Be quiet, Sil.' Kiv could feel the onset of another crushing attack of pain while Crozier was pointing at the tip of the donor body.

'He has retained the primeval sting. His tail contains venom enough to kill.'

'Fascinating.' Kiv frowned as a stab of torment struck at the base of his skull. 'I could perhaps sting all my incompetent a.s.sistants to death.'