Doctor Who: Space War (5 page)

The General nodded and hurried from the white office.

Jo peered again through the little grille in the bolted door. The landing on Earth had been smooth, hardly a bump as the great cargo ship settled on its landing pad.

‘What do you think they’re doing?’ she asked the Doctor. ‘We’ve been landed for ages.’

‘Twelve minutes to be exact, Jo. Just be patient.’

They waited in silence. From somewhere, probably the flight deck, they could hear a mumble of voices.

‘They’ve no right to keep us locked up like this,’ Jo said after a while. ‘We’ve done nothing but try to be helpful.’

‘Perhaps we’ll have a chance to explain that...’ The Doctor paused. Footsteps were coming along the corridor.

The bolts were pulled back, the door opened. A young Earth lieutenant stood in the doorway.

‘You two,’ said Lieutenant Kemp. ‘On your feet and outside.’

Jo asked, ‘Are we going to see someone in authority?’

‘Indeed you are,’ said Kemp. ‘Now get moving.’

Earth soldiers with drawn blaster guns waited in the corridor. As the Doctor and Jo were taken to the flight deck, the soldiers kept their guns trained on the prisoners.

‘Just one small question,’ the Doctor turned to Lieutenant Kemp as they made their way forward, ‘do you see me as a human or as a Draconian?’

Kemp replied, ‘Shut up!’

The Doctor smiled. ‘There’s nothing like a friendly discussion.’ He remained quiet until they reached the flight deck.

A transparent-topped table had been quickly erected and General Williams sat behind it. Flanking him were the two pilots, Hardy and Stewart, plus Captain Gardiner. As Lieutenant Kemp brought the prisoners in, he stood to attention and saluted General Williams. ‘The stowaways, sir.’ He turned to the Doctor and Jo. ‘You stand there.’ He indicated a place directly in front of the General.

‘Certainly, old man,’ said the Doctor genially. He addressed General Williams. ‘How very nice to meet you, sir. If you and I could just have a little chat—’

Kemp shouted, ‘Quiet! You are here to answer questions.’

The Doctor pretended to be apologetic. ‘Terribly sorry, old man. What is it you all want to know?’

The General spoke. ‘This is a special commission of inquiry under the Earth Security Order of the year 2539.’ He turned to Kemp. ‘Inform the prisoners of their legal rights.’

Lieutenant Kemp cleared his throat. He spoke rapidly and precisely. ‘Under the Earth Security Order it is the duty of every Earth citizen to answer all questions fully and honestly. There shall be no legal representation, and all decisions of the Court shall be final and binding, against which there is no appeal.’

Jo protested. ‘That means we’ve got no rights at all!’ The Doctor tried a gentler approach. ‘Why don’t we drop all these formalities, sir, and get on with the questions? We’re perfectly willing to talk to you.’

General Williams concealed a smile at the Doctor’s cheek. ‘Tell me, for what purpose did you board this cargo ship?’

‘For no purpose at all,’ replied the Doctor honestly.

‘Kindly answer my question,’ said the General.

‘It was an accident,’ said Jo. ‘We didn’t want to come on board at all.’

The Doctor took up her argument. ‘My spaceship and this one narrowly avoided a collision in hyper-space and somehow my ship materialised in the hold of your cargo ship.’

The General’s eyes narrowed. ‘What do you mean—materialised?’

‘It’s a thing the TARDIS can do,’ Jo began. ‘It can materialise...’ Her voice trailed off as she realised everyone was staring at her incredulously. ‘... just as it can dematerialise. Doctor, you’d better explain about that.’

‘I need no explanation,’ said the General. ‘This is scientifically impossible.’

The Doctor was indignant. ‘That, sir, depends on your kind of science! Earth science, even in this century, is very limited.’

‘Anyway,’ said Jo, ‘that’s what happened.’

‘I see.’ Clearly the General didn’t see at all. ‘And where is this so-called spaceship of yours now?’

‘The Ogrons took it,’ said Jo. ‘When they stole your flour.’

‘Ogrons?’ queried the General.

Captain Gardiner touched a document on the table. ‘It’s in my report, sir. Whatever nonsense the prisoners told me, I carefully recorded it.’

‘Yes, of course.’ The General had only glanced at the report since his arrival from the presidential palace. ‘So these creatures just picked up your spaceship and walked off with it?’

The Doctor nodded. ‘It’s a very small spaceship,’ he explained.

By now the General was convinced he was faced with two lunatics or very cunning enemy agents. ‘According to the crew you sent signals to guide the Draconians, then aided them to board and plunder this ship.’

‘That’s quite untrue,’ the Doctor protested. ‘The testimony of these two pilots is totally unreliable. They’re suffering from deliberately induced hallucinations. They’ve simply incorporated us into the pattern of their delusion.’

‘You must listen to us,’ Jo pleaded. ‘There was this strange sound. It makes you see things, the things you fear most. I even saw a Drashig!’

‘A what?’ asked the General, more convinced than ever that these people were mentally deranged.

‘What my young friend is trying to say,’ said the Doctor, ‘is that this sound was transmitted from the Ogrons’ spaceship. It made your two pilots see us as Draconians, and when the Ogrons boarded they saw them as Draconians, too.’

Jo turned to Hardy and Stewart. ‘You thought
we
were Draconians first of all—remember? Now you say we’re human stowaways. Try to remember what really happened.’

The General turned to the pilots. Both men looked disturbed and angry at Jo’s insinuations. ‘Well?’

‘They’re lying,’ said Stewart. ‘We know what we saw.’

‘You saw what you expected to see,’ said the Doctor. ‘Do you remember the sound?’

For a moment Hardy and Stewart glanced at each other, and the Doctor had the impression that true memory was dawning in both of them. Then they avoided each other’s eyes.

‘We were attacked by the Dragons,’ Hardy insisted. ‘You were helping them!’

‘Then what about the air-lock door?’ asked the Doc-tor. ‘It was re-sealed after the attack. Wasn’t that odd?’ He turned back to the General. ‘The Ogrons wanted these two men to remain alive, to make sure the Draconians were blamed for the attack.’

General Williams smiled. ‘You put forward convincing arguments, whoever you are. But these arguments are based on fallacies. A spaceship that can materialise inside another, that can be picked up and carried away, and now talk of Ogrons... No, sir, this tribunal only deals in known facts. I suggest that the Draconians re-sealed the air-lock door to preserve the lives of their own two agents.’

‘If you’re going to adopt that attitude,’ said the Doc-tor, ‘there’s little point continuing this discussion. I’d better talk to your superiors.’

General Williams said, ‘Only the President is superior to this tribunal.’

‘Very well,’ said the Doctor. ‘Let me talk to him.’

This brought quizzical looks from the Earthmen. ‘Him?’ said General Williams. ‘Your masters didn’t brief you very well. I’d have thought the Draconian Secret Service was reasonably aware that the President of Earth is a woman.’

‘Then maybe she’ll have sense enough to listen to us,’ said Jo. ‘When can we see her?’

‘You won’t,’ replied the General curtly. ‘You’ll be taken to Security Headquarters for questioning. If you are Draconian agents, they’ll find out soon enough. The tribunal is closed.’

Jo shouted, ‘But this isn’t fair! You’ve taken no notice of us. You’re so unreasonable!’

The Doctor and Jo were seized by Earth guards.

As the General stood up he turned to Jo for a parting word. ‘Young woman, once you’ve been inside Security Headquarters you will think of me as the most reasonable man you’ve ever met.’

Half an hour later General Williams found himself defending his actions to the President.

‘Draconian agents? Are you sure, General Williams?’

‘What else can they be, Madam President? Their story is obviously nonsense.’

‘But why did the Draconians leave them on the cargo ship after the attack?’

‘Perhaps they hoped we would accept them as simple stowaways,’ said the General. He had not given much thought to these possibilities. ‘The punishment for stowaways can be as little as a hefty fine. They thought these two would soon be loose within Earth society to spy for them.’ He knew there were many holes in this argument, so quickly went on to the central issue. ‘The fact we must face, Madam President, is that the Draconian Empire is preparing for war—’

She raised her hand. ‘So you presume, General. There is still no proof.’

‘The continued attacks on our cargo ships are no way of establishing friendly relations, Madam.’

She knew there was no answer to that. ‘If you are right in believing these two humans to be Draconian agents, the sooner we confront the Draconians with their duplicity the better.’ She had a sudden thought. ‘Have the prisoners brought here.’

‘To your palace, madam?’ The General was amazed.

‘I want to see them, and I intend to bring them face to face with His Highness, the Draconian Ambassador.’

The Doctor and Jo were taken from the cargo spaceship in what Captain Gardiner referred to as a ground-transporter. This was an ultra-streamlined coach with seating for up to thirty passengers. It had barred windows and a heavily locked door, and the word
Security
painted along both sides of its black body. It did not, however, have any wheels. When the driver touched the starter control, the coach lifted a few inches off the ground and glided forward. The driver and the four guards who arrived with the coach wore distinctive black tunics and helmets also bearing the word
Security
. They were all armed with blaster guns; batons, handcuffs and personal radios hung from their heavy black belts. They treated Captain Gardiner with the same indifference afforded to the Doctor and Jo.

The coach sped fast through almost deserted city streets. Occasionally they caught glimpses of crowds of people in metallic coloured tunics on escalators, or in piazzas between the high buildings, and sometimes vehicles flashed by in the opposite direction, huge buses packed with people, but there were no small individually driven cars, as Jo was used to in her time in history. Most of the buildings were identical in design and colour, and so tall it was impossible to see the sky from the Security coach.

The driver turned into a narrow street that ended in high gates, which slid open as it approached. The coach went through, the gates shut behind it, then stopped in a square, concrete courtyard.

One of the guards positioned himself by the coach door. ‘Out! ‘ she shouted. The Doctor and Jo shuffled forward, down the step on to the concrete. ‘Forward march!’

Flanked by guards, the Doctor and Jo marched towards a plain metal door set in the windowless wall. They passed through into a wide, low-ceiling corridor, and the door slid shut behind them. At the end of the corridor was another metal door. Inside a black-uniformed man sat at a desk.

‘What punishment?’ he asked as the party entered.

Captain Gardiner stepped forward. ‘These people haven’t been convicted. General Williams just wanted you to hold them,’ he paused, ‘and to interrogate them.’

The man behind the desk gave the shadow of a grin. ‘With pleasure. Who are you?’

Gardiner produced his credentials, a plastic card carrying his photograph and identity number.

‘That’s in order, Captain Gardiner.’ "The Security officer handed back the plastic card. ‘Right, first we starve them a little, then we interrogate. Take them to cell 302.’

‘About turn! ‘ shouted one of the guards.

The Doctor and Jo were marched out, back down the corridor, through another metal sliding door, to a row of cell doors. A guard kicked the Doctor in the back as he entered the cell. The door slid shut.

Jo looked round the cell. It had two concrete bunks, nothing else. ‘There’s no place like home.’

‘It could be worse, Jo.’

‘It could be my own bedroom with dean white sheets and a stereo in the corner and colour television and a hot bath, if your rotten TARDIS didn’t keep going off course! ‘

To her surprise the door opened. Captain Gardiner entered and looked round the sparse cell. ‘I didn’t think it would be as bad as this.’

Jo said, ‘Come to taunt?’

‘Not exactly.’ The Captain lowered his voice. Guards stood outside the open door. ‘I didn’t like this business about starving you. When did you last eat?’

‘A thousand years ago,’ said Jo.

‘My young friend means we haven’t eaten for some time,’ the Doctor quickly put in. ‘But there’s something more important than that. I’ve got to get a message to your President.’

The Captain shook his head. ‘Not a chance.’

Jo walked up to him. ‘Why don’t you listen to reason for a change? Hasn’t it occurred to you that we may be telling the truth?’

Gardiner looked uneasy. ‘I don’t want to get mixed up with Security. It isn’t healthy. But I might get them to feed you.’

The Doctor grinned. ‘That’s jolly decent of you, old chap.’

‘I’ll do what I can.’ Captain Gardiner backed to the door. ‘But let me give you some good advice. You’re going to tell them everything sooner or later. They’ll use the mind probe, I think they always do when treachery is suspected. So make it easy for yourselves, tell them everything before they set to work. Meantime I’ll try and get you some food.’ He went back through the door and a guard closed it.

Jo turned to the Doctor. ‘I didn’t like the sound of that. What did he mean—mind probe?’

The atmosphere in the President’s office was tense. Standing before her was the Draconian Ambassador. To one side stood the space pilots Hardy and Stewart, dressed now in smart grey uniform tunics, to the other side General Williams. The President could feel the hatred emanating from the two pilots towards the Ambassador.

‘You’re quite sure it was a Draconian battle cruiser?’ she asked Hardy, addressing him as the older of the two men.