BBC Cult - Printer Friendly Version
Chapter Fourteen - Chapter Fourteen

Page 1
  

The Keep

'How many dead?' said Romana.

Chancellor Theora sat at her office port amid the strewn aftermath of the outrage. 'One guard killed outright,' she said to the image of the President on the plasma screen. 'And one ordinal civilian sent for regeneration.'

'Are you all right, Theora?'

The Time Lady touched her hair where the celebrated arabesques were coming undone. 'A little shaken,' she admitted, but her decorum and authority were undiminished.

'The device came up in one of the service lifts. It was loaded on Under-Level fourteen, near the dry-dimension docks.'

'So it could have been sent by anyone.'

'The panoptic record for that level is unaccountably blank. The lift was programmed to stop at Level eighty-four.'

'But that's the Tharil Embassy!' exclaimed Romana. 'And only two floors below the Presidential suite.

'The guard there realized that something was wrong, but had no time other than to get the lift away.'

Page 2
  

'So he sent the lift further up the tower?'

'He took the lift...'

Romana closed her eyes in despair.

'The lift bypassed the Presidential suite,' continued Theora. 'It reached as far as the summit observation suites on Level one hundred and sixteen. Fortunately they were empty at the time. The soft architecture absorbed most of the implosion. Security has confirmed it was a singularity bomb.'

'No,' Romana gasped. 'What about the Ambassador?'

'Neither Prince Ambassador Whitecub nor his retinue were in residence at the time.'

'Thank goodness. Put my personal guard at his disposal, Chancellor. The Tharils are valued allies.'

'Is that wise, Madam President? All the other Embassies will expect similar treatment. I have already conveyed your personal concern to Prince Whitecub and had his security doubled.'

'Oh, very well. But we must honour the dead guard. For his Family's sake. Now what about the bomb?'

Page 3
  

Theora fed a recording of the implosion into the warpcom unit. It displayed an image of the Citadel Tower rising above the sunlit cloud bank. There was a momentary flash of darkness near the summit. The Tower's shape warped inward and the light seemed to be sucked out of the sky. Then a black box of gravity cordons clamped into position around the edifice and light returned to the sky.

'There was no warning from the Matrix,' said Theora. 'And no one has claimed responsibility.'

Romana was staring in disbelief. 'There are so many isolationist factions to choose from.'

'Security say it was not a Gallifreyan artefact. They identify its origin as Skaro, second Dalek Imperium. But they don't know how it was imported. Andred's had the main section of the Tower evacuated.'

'But you're still there, Theora.'

The Chancellor pursed her lips and touched her hair again. 'I have a planet to run until my President returns.'

'Bother Gallifrey,' protested Romana. 'Please move yourself somewhere safer. If only for your Castellan's peace of mind.'

'The real danger here's over,' Theora said graciously. 'A miniature aftermath black hole remains on the top level, but it's held in check by the gravity cordons.'

Page 4
  

Romana visibly bit her lip. 'Your stubbornness is reluctantly appreciated, Chancellor. Thank Andred for me, too. I take it he doesn't know about Leela yet?'

'Not yet,' Theora said. 'Not in any respect. And there's still no response from the Agency about our sequestering of Almoner Crest Yeux.'

'Ferain's playing for time,' muttered Romana. 'I'd lay odds that he knows something about the bomb, too. It's an Othering nuisance that the cold-summons scoop won't penetrate the Agency constraint Keep. But I'll think of something, don't worry. I have to get Leela out.'

'Yes, Madam.' Theora sifted reports on her desk. 'And Public Register want confirmation that you're safe.'

'So will a lot of people,' Romana said. 'Not least, the one's who sent the device.' She tossed her hair back in irritation. 'Damn. I don't have time for this, Theora. I can't return to Gallifrey yet.'

'You must make an appearance,' the Chancellor said. 'A public omnicast won't be enough. And you must allay the fears of the guest Ambassadors.'

'Do you think we fooled Yeux?'

'That wasn't difficult. When he saw you actually in the Presidential suite, his face was a portrait of stupefied bewilderment.'

'Good,' said Romana and beamed.

Page 5
  

'And of course, he was covertly transmitting the entire interview back to Agency Control.'

'Well done, Chancellor. That'll put a fly in Lord Ferain's espionagical soup. Perhaps we can adapt the technique.'

Theora frowned. 'I hardly think an actuality report of your projection standing in the wreckage would be a good tactical move.'

'Why not?' Romana tutted. 'I promise to look concerned. I wouldn't wave.'

Theora sighed again. The President's propensity for flippant remarks in the face of catastrophe was becoming legendary. 'Madam, this could have been an attempt on your life.'

'On yours too, Theora.'

'Quite. So it would be better if you could return to Gallifrey even for just a few minutes.'

'I can't leave the negotiations now. It's too important.' Romana puffed her cheeks with frustration. 'Just as long as we still have Almoner Crest Yeux.'

Page 6
  

'He's under level-six security exclusion.'

'Well done, Theora. I couldn't have a better Chancellor. So don't worry. I'll think of something to get Leela back.' Romana smiled and the screen went blank.

That's all very well, thought Theora. But if you do think of something, I'd like to be told as well.

K9 tried to remember who he was.

There was no access to this information.

STATE IDENTIFY, said an analyst back-up source.

It set off a data stream that never quite reached its required destination.

Identity> Self> Self-aware> Personality> Name> Configuration> Form> Shape> Design> Designation> Name> identity> Self> Self-aware> Personality> Name> Name> Name> Heel> Come when you are called...

OVERRIDE, said the analyst. WHAT ARE YOUR PRIME INSTRUCTIONS?

The subject considered his objectives.

Analysis> Correlation> Defence> Access and Retrieve>

Fetch!

Page 7
  

EXTRAPOLATE KEYWORD 'FETCH'.

Fetch< Fetch< Fetch> Bones! Bare bones> Bone of contention> Bone idle> Bonehead>

Bone to pick> Give a dog a bone> Give a dog a bad name>

RETRIEVE NAME.

Fetch> Information accessed, Mistress> Good dog, K9.

AFFIRMATIVE. IDENTITY RETRIEVED.

Affirmative affirmed. This unit is designated K9.

REDESIGNATE TITLE AS K9 Mark I.

Affirmative. K9 Mark I.

OPEN GATE FOR FULL MEMORY UPDATE.

Gate> Gatekeeper> Hair in the gate> Garden gate> Shut the gate> W-A-L-K>

OVERRIDE AND RETRY. OPEN LOGIC GATE.

Affirmative. Gate open. Standing by.

Page 8
  

K9 Mark I's tail started to wag.

His line of crashed memory wafers went into domino-reversal mode. He retrieved everything> everybody> everywhere> in every respect. And he learnt that he had more capacity than before. And his new extra capacity started to fill with new information that he had never known.

'Memory capacity increased by seventy-one point one per cent,' he announced aloud.

He already recognized the designation of the analyst. As his optic circuits restored vision, he saw the analyst itself. It was the unit he had been in occasional conference with over the past five days. The sensor from the analyst's angular metal head was extended to engage the extended sensor from his own.

They wagged their tails and ears at each other and retracted sensors.

'All systems reactivated and reprogrammed,' said K9 Mark I. 'You are K9 Mark II.'

'Affirmative. Program complete,' said K9 Mark II. 'You are K9 Mark I.'

The two robotic dogs circled each other, 'sniffing' at each other's credentials.

Eventually they pulled apart. 'All data assimilated,' they chorused unnecessarily.

'Next objective: to find and retrieve the Lady Leela,' declared K9 Mark II.

'Affirmative,' agreed K9 Mark I, and he led the way as the junior version rolled back to let him through.

Page 9
  

Leela lay on the bed, feeling sick. It was not just the effects of her questioning by the cold Time Lord. It was a feeling she recognized, that was returning with increased frequency. The unnatural world here only made it worse. All the hard angles and single colours. Nothing new or soft, nothing growing, just old, stifling traditions in the clothes and the ceremonies. In the Capitol, the only living things were narrow-minded keepers of lists. No matter what titles they found for themselves, they were all still keepers of lists.

Until Romana had come home, everything had pointed into the past and never faced towards the future.

Leela had grown up in a wild forest, where new life was always burgeoning and fighting for existence. That was why she brought in all the plants, but they only half hid the angles and pushed against the windows in an effort to reach the sky.

Andred's Family House of RedLooms away from the city was better, but even there no one went out. They just stayed inside reading more books and watching the Public Register transcasts from the Capitol.

Romana was fighting to change it all, but it was like chipping at a mountain with a dry straw.

Andred treated Leela with a proud devotion, while other Time Lords smirked behind his back. In return, she tried hard to behave in the way that he said was proper and she thought was stupid. But in the secret dark, when they lay together, they giggled at the affectations and manners of the Time Lord gentry and had secrets and made plans that were theirs alone and could not be accessed on a catalogue port or consulted in an authority list.

Page 10
  

'I'm so lucky,' he'd said amid their frequent bouts of giggles. 'They never taught us this at the Academy. I'd like to see their faces. I don't think anyone's done this for... it must be thousands and thousands of years. All the others do is watch the aliens at it and pr\xE9cis their notes afterwards.'

And then the giggling would stop.

These were things she must not forget. If she was frightened of anything at all, she was frightened of losing Andred.

She could still remember her interrogation, so she guessed that they had not finished with her yet.

When they had heard the boom of the explosion, the cold serpent Time Lord did not seem surprised. He went to the window to watch. From her forcefield prison, Leela had seen the sky momentarily darken as if all the light was sucked out of it.

Then the Time Lord turned back and studied her. He was smiling. She felt like an animal in a trap.

Instantly she was in this bare room - all white with six walls and no doors. All hard angles. She had fallen asleep on the bed and woken up feeling sick.

The light dimmed suddenly.

She sat up, aware that something was happening. From somewhere beyond the seamless walls came the high whooping sound of an alarm.

Page 11
  

She circled the room again, trying to catch the direction of the alert. Boots were pounding past amid the sharp fizzing exchange of guns. She recognized one source of fire at once, but it seemed to be duplicated.

A bright pinpoint of light appeared in the white wall. There was smoke round it and a flame appeared as it began to cut up across the surface. As it went in an arch, she heard more gunfire. The acrid smoke was beginning to choke her. She tried not to breathe, but the cutting of the door was taking too long.

'Hurry up, K9!' she shouted.

To her surprise, a second pinpoint appeared and started to cut up and over to meet the first. It only made the smoke worse.

Gasping for breath, Leela sank to the cold floor.

The Time Lord in black stood in the Agency's panelled court-chamber, listening to the alarms.

The impregnable fortress was powerless. Open as it had never been in a hundred aeons. The secure systems had faltered and collapsed. All dimension locks and force barriers were disabled. Intruders were making their way down to the cells in the Keep. The confinement squads were already reduced to a minimum, requisitioned by order of the President. How convenient! She must maintain her personal safety in the face of a terrorist outrage that she herself provoked.

Page 12
  

The Time Lord left the chamber and made his way through the empty corridors towards the concealed Barbican entrance.

He had no doubt that the President was behind this. It was a misguided attempt to assert her dwindling authority over the Agency of which she was the nominal head. Well, let her win back her alien guests if it so pleased her. Romana's sudden appearance at the Presidential suite had almost been convincing. Even so, the nature of her mission away from Gallifrey, the latest of several such ventures, eluded him. Of all the threats to Gallifrey's allegiance, Romanadvoratrelundar posed the second greatest of all.

The President and her Chancellor knew a handful of Agency names, but even they were bound to secrecy. The Agency would outlast any President, let alone this flibbertigibbet. Its command cells were safe; faceless. This breach of security had been rehearsed a thousand times. Nothing incriminating remained.

He reached the deserted Barbican gate-tower. Its doors were open wide. While he waited, he watched the intruders in the Keep on a plasma feed.

Suddenly, there was a squad of guards before him, splendid in the ceremonial scarlet of the President's chapter-colours.

The Time Lord smiled to himself. The gates were open, yet they transducted in.

'This building is now under Chancellery control,' announced the guard leader. He seemed disappointed to find so small an opposing force. 'Where is the Director of Allegiance?'

The faceless Time Lord in black spread his hands. 'Why ask me?' he said. 'I'm only the gatekeeper.'

Page 13
  

The burnt arch in the wall fell in with a crash.

K9 rolled in through the smoke. 'Apologies, Mistress,' he said. 'The Agency security system is disabled. Please follow.'

Leela had covered her mouth with her robe. Her streaming eyes widened as a second K9 rolled in from the outside.

'I am K9 Mark II,' it announced.

'I can see that,' said Leela. She tried to laugh, her nausea forgotten, and almost choked instead.

K9 Mark I trained his gun on the opening and shot a fine bolt of ruby light into the dark outside. There was a yell from a collapsing guard. The yell turned into a scream that diminished like that of a man falling from a cliff.

'This way, Mistress.'

'But K9...'

'Follow, Mistress,' they chanted.

They trundled out on to the walkway and she obeyed.

The alarm that had been whooping like a tree-ghost in the pairing season cut off.

Page 14
  

Outside, a dimly lit walkway sloped away from them, running straight with a dark drop on either side. Leela leant on the rusty rail, staring into the chasm as she gasped to clear her lungs. The bottom was lost to sight. The confinement cell was raised on a buttressed metal column in the cavernous black space. It was part of a wide circle of such columns, each topped by another sealed cell. Walkways led down from each cell to converge at a central hub like spokes in a tortuous wheel. The dank wind moaned through the spidery structure.

Apart from the unconscious grey-uniformed guards on the walkway, there was no sign of resistance. Leela crouched to pick up a gun. As she hefted it in her hand, she heard Andred's rebuke. 'No more weapons, Leela. Not in the Capitol.'

'They have their place,' she muttered. But the look of derision in the serpent Time Lord's eyes came back to her. 'How barbaric,' he gloated.

She threw the gun over the side with a look of regret. She didn't feel a more proper person for it.

'Mistress!' urged one of the K9s.

She turned and followed them as they headed towards the central hub. She felt the walkway sway a little in the wind.

'Where are all the guards?' she called.

'Summoned away,' said a K9, but she could not tell which. 'Requisitioned by Presidential order to quadruple security at the Capitol after the insurrectionist outrage.'

Page 15
  

'What?'

'The bombing, Mistress,' translated the other K9 whom Leela guessed to be hers.

'What bomb?' she said. 'Is Andred safe?'

'Affirmative, Mistress.' The K9s had reached the hub and halted.

'Then we must hurry to join him,' said Leela. 'How do we get out?'

'Negative, Mistress.'

'We can't stay here. They must be watching us.' She stared around the vast darkness for observation points.

'All security systems disabled, Mistress.'

K9 Mark II added, 'I have instructions from the Mistress.'

'My Mistress is the Mistress,' said Mark I. 'Not your Mistress.'

'Negative,' said Mark II. 'The Mistress is my Mistress. My: adjective or genitive of pronoun I. The Mistress Romana.'

'Romana sent you,' exclaimed Leela with relief. 'But I thought she wasn't... Does she have a K9 too? She never told me.'

Page 16
  

'Pay attention, Mistress Leela,' said K9 Mark I.

'Don't butt in, K9,' said Leela. 'The other K9 has a message.'

'Affirmative,' said K9 Mark II. 'The mission is fifty per cent complete. You are not the only prisoner here.'

'Another prisoner?' she said, scanning the routes to the other cells.

'Affirmative.'

In the facing wall of one cell, there was a torn gaping mouth. Leela slowly climbed up the walkway towards it.

She heard a scuffle of movement. Something launched over the side of the rail at her. An arm snaked round her neck from behind, catching her throat in its crook. 'Too right!' said a woman's voice.

Leela instinctively pincered back her elbows and kicked.

Kicked on nothing. The full weight of her attacker landed high on her back.

'Now get me out of here!' demanded the voice.

Page 17
  

Leela swung herself wildly to one side and then the other, trying to dislodge the woman. The robe that Andred made her wear hindered her movement. Her opponent clung on like a leech.

Leela spun on one foot and was face to face with the guns of the two K9s, both jostling to get a clear shot at her attacker.

'No guns,' she shouted at them. She froze where she stood. Something metal pricked at the skin of her throat.

'Get me out of here,' said the fierce little voice.

'Doroth\xE9e McShane,' called K9 Mark II.

'Skip the calling cards. Get me out.'

The whole walkway jolted.

Leela stumbled and deliberately lost her balance. She twisted sideways as she fell, hoping to crush her opponent's arm.

The woman called Doroth\xE9e yelled in pain and rolled away. Something metal jangled away from her hand. It was a key, not a knife.

'Mistress! Emergency! Withdraw! Abandon the walkway!'

Page 18
  

Leela heard the K9s' urgent warnings, but she was too busy to listen.

In a moment, Doroth\xE9e was up and facing Leela. She was short with long, tangled brown hair and was wearing black. Her eyes were cold with rage. Leela recognized a warrior when she saw one. But this woman's hunting instinct was out of control.

Doroth\xE9e launched herself again, but Leela ducked low, catching and cartwheeling the woman over her head. As she disappeared over the edge of the rail, Leela grabbed round at a flailing arm. Their fingers locked. The jolt of the sudden weight nearly dislocated Leela's shoulder and dragged her half over the rail as well.

She felt the walkway trembling and heard the distant calling of the K9s.

Black nothingness gaped under the swinging shape of her opponent. She started to pull. With both arms yelling mutinous protests, she slowly dragged the woman called Doroth\xE9e up on to the walkway. They lay side by side trying to gasp back their thoughts.

The walkway juddered again.

'Mistress! Mistress Leela!'

Leela sat up. The walkway was moving. One end had disengaged from the central hub. It was sliding back, open-ended across the chasm, carrying them with it as it retracted into the column under the isolated prison cell. The side rails were folding down to the floor as the walkway was steadily consumed.

Leela reached the open edge and stared across the widening gap. It was already too far to jump. The K9s were stranded on the hub, staring back at her.

Page 20
  

'You said all security systems were disabled,' she called.

'Correct, Mistress. This automatic system has been reactivated. Attempting to rectify damage.'

Two bolts of ruby light speared past Leela and hit a panel on the cell wall. It exploded, sending a cataract of sparks into the depths. The walkway kept retracting.

'Apologies, Mistress. Please wait.'

'Who are your pets?' said Doroth\xE9e.

'They're your rescue party,' said Leela.

'Who from?'

'They said the President sent them,' Leela confessed. 'But they may have sent themselves.'

'What President? France? The EC? The Galactic Federation?'

Another fierce judder forced them to their knees. 'K9! Fetch help!' yelled Leela.

'Help already summoned, Mistress,' responded the dwindling K9s.

Page 21
  

'Then tell it to hurry!'

Leela turned to look for another escape route and saw the gashed hole in the confinement cell. 'We could always go back in there.'

'No fear,' said Doroth\xE9e. 'You're not getting me back in there. I only just got out.'

'Then you must have a cutting device.'

'Hardly. Just a small supply of explosive I always keep about me for emergencies.'

'Is there enough to stop this thing?'

'Used it all up,' said Doroth\xE9e testily. She waited for Leela's reaction.

'So we have to go into the cell.'

Doroth\xE9e gave a grim smile. 'I'd rather jump.'

The walkway had already cranked over halfway back across the abyss. Leela could hear the grind of the mechanics inside the column. Black metal panels were sliding up over the outer walls of the cell, blocking their last chance of refuge.

'C'est la guerre.' Doroth\xE9e leant over the rail and studied the buttresses of the approaching column.

'Leave it to the last second before we go. If you can cope with that.'

'I'd rather jump than fall,' said Leela.

'Good,' Doroth\xE9e said, apparently impressed. She pointed past Leela towards the hub. 'Hang on. Trouble.'

Three figures in guard uniforms had slid up out of the floor behind the K9s. One was carrying a heavy weapon.

'K9s! Behind you!' yelled Leela.

As the robot dogs swivelled towards the guards, one of the figures pulled off his scarlet helmet. 'Leela!' he shouted.

'Those uniforms,' said Doroth\xE9e. 'This is Gallifrey.'

'It is Andred,' declared Leela. 'He will save us.'

Page 22
  

'Whoopee,' muttered Doroth\xE9e. The last lengths of side rail folded down beside them. The walkway was down to only a few spans. 'You'd better tell him to hurry.'

'He can see that,' said Leela trustingly.

On the hub, the guards had set the weapon up on a tripod. 'Get down!' yelled Andred. A bolt like a spear shot across the chasm and embedded itself in the cell wall. It dragged a cable behind it which sang in the dank wind as it pulled taut.

'Like this,' said Doroth\xE9e. She pulled off her jacket and slung it in a loop over the cable.

The end of the walkway had almost reached them.

'After you,' said Leela coldly.

Doroth\xE9e gripped the jacket tight and kicked herself off. She hurtled down across the chasm and into Andred's arms.

With only digits to go, Leela pulled her leather belt out from inside her robe and flicked it over the cable. As she slid away, the air roared in her ears like the hungry snarl of the cheated abyss.

'Leela, I should arrest you,' said Andred as he caught her round the waist. 'Have they hurt you? Are you safe?'

She put her head against his. 'I missed the uniform,' she whispered. 'What happened?'

'We nearly didn't get here in time,' he said.

'Security shutdown was automatically reimplemented as soon as the Chancellery force entered the constraint block,' interrupted the K9s.

Andred stepped back awkwardly in front of his guards and put on his helmet. 'The Agency constraint block is restricted under Chancellery law pending an inquiry,' he announced. 'I saw your predicament on the surveillance screens.'

Leela nodded towards Doroth\xE9e, who was smirking as she waited.

'Madam, erm. . . McShane, Dorothy?'

'Doroth\xE9e McShane,' said Doroth\xE9e.

He bowed. 'President Romanadvoratrelundar presents her profound apologies for your treatment at the hands of her Agency. She invites you to join her in the Presidential quarters.'

'Is she back?' said Leela, delighted.

The glance that Andred shot her was enough to frighten babies and silence the Evil One himself.