The Warrior and I looked helplessly at the body of the Omni-Voyant, lying on the floor of the TARDIS. He was clearly dying, but fought to say a few final words.
"Doctor.... they've merged... paradox engine... with.... D-Mat technology..." he gasped, urgently. "Plan to... remove Gallifrey..."
The Warrior's aged face was lined with concern. He was conflicted. His instincts as a doctor, as the Doctor, were to comfort this dying wretch. But he needed to press for more information, for the greater good as he kept calling it. Compassion gave way to necessity.
"Where are they keeping the weapon? On the saucer below?"
"Yes... the weapon... and the other... experiments... Doctor, let them... die.... this is.... no life...." With a final shuddering breath, he heart gave out, his eyes glassed over, and he fell still. The Warrior closed the man's eyes delicately, before standing to his feet.
"I knew him, you know." He said to me. "The Archivist, that was his title. He worked in the Panopticon library, in the Citadel of Gallifrey. I daresay we ran him round the bend with our childish antics, back in my Academy days. He always let us get away with it though. Must have recognized himself in us I suppose." He turned back towards the TARDIS console, putting his back to me, or hiding his face, I couldn't tell.
"But then the War came, and everyone volunteered to do their part. To fight against evil, and return to peaceful lives. Volunteers like the Archivist. Old men on their final regenerations. Mere children barely out of the Academy. How many of those brave volunteers have died? Would they be proud of their sacrifice? How many more like them must die, in the name of peace?" His voice was cracking under the weight of the suffering he bore.
"Doctor, I..." I stammered, trying to lend some sort of support, but failing to find the right words.
He spun around to face me, eyes misty and red, pointing at his dead kin.
"Not only death. Oh no, not in this Time War. Those brave soldiers are tortured. Mutated. Irrevocably changed and stripped of dignity. Mere death is a blessing compared to such monstrous deeds." He took a deep breath, his rage dissipating as he thought about his next actions.
"No more. This ends here and now."
Suddenly, he was his resolute self again, all trace of his outburst confined to our memories. If it was so easy for him bottle up such thoughts I wondered, how many other secrets did he hide. What horrors had he seen?
"So, what's first?" I asked, choosing to avoid discussing his outburst.
"Calling in the cavalry. We're good, but even I don't fancy taking on an entire Dalek control ship by myself." he said, while activating a screen on his console.
"Olistra? Are you receiving me?"
An old woman appeared on the Warrior's screen, dressing in the same scarlet and gold robed finery as the Archivist.
"Ah, Doctor. To what do I owe this unwarranted intrusion?"
"I need a squadron of Battle TARDISES, at these coordinates."
"Oh? Is my little soldier actually giving orders? What do you want them for? There is a War on, after all. I can't just send you a whole squadron if you're simply locked out of your capsule."
"Actually there's a cat stuck in a tree, Olistra. Complicated somewhat by the little fact that said tree happened to be located on a Dalek control saucer. One being lead by the Dalek Time Architect."
"That's a new one on me anyway. They do so love their titles." The pair were full of snark and snide as they talked, but the mutual respect they shared for each other was clear to see. They both seemed to enjoy such a back and forth.
"Turns out he's trying to merge a D-Materialisation gun with a Paradox Engine."
"My word! Not only would they be able to remove people or places from their existence within a time line... The Paradox Engine could enforce the altered timeline and contain any temporal fallout."
"Yes. We'd be unable to fix said timeline until the Paradox Engine was destroyed. Which leads onto the second issue. Time Lord POW's, mutated and forged into clairvoyant beings. Loyal to their Dalek masters and able to activate threats and advise appropriate countermeasures."
"In other words, an advance warning system to defend their paradox engines. If they were capable of firing such a weapon upon Gallifrey, we'd be powerless and o prevent our own erasure from existence!"
"Glad you see it my way, Olistra. Me and my temporary companion here have a plan to tack out the big guns. But we need someone to run interference. Let the squadron distract their remaining Omni-Voyants while we sneak aboard in the confusion."
Olistra looked troubled. Obviously trusting this man with actual military assets was not something she relished, or even trusted. Autonomous spirits such as the Doctor are dangerous on a battlefield, after all. Unquestioning obedience is preferred.
The Warrior disconnected the transmission without saying goodbye. He turned around to me once more, looking exceptionally pleased with himself.
"So, you actually have a plan then?" I asked him, brow furrowing.
"Not as such." He admitted, still smiling. "But we have a few minutes before our back up arrives."
No comments:
Post a Comment