Steve Cole - Doctor Who - The Knight, The Fool and The Dead

‘A curious road this tailor travelled …’

‘Very curious, because as he continued along it, the tailor met Death. The tailor knew that Death treats all people the same, rich or poor, he doesn’t discriminate. And so, on the following Sunday, Death becomes the child’s godfather …’ Barbara broke off. ‘I’m sorry. It’s not a good story for—’

‘No, no, no,’ said the Doctor, his eyes bright as the firelight. ‘Go on, my dear. Do go on.’

Chapter Five

The Doctor stood at the glowing coral of the TARDIS console, trying to push from his mind the horror of the carnage left behind at the plaza outside the Tombs of the Ended. Bones and bodies, spread like so much Andalian manure. Small, nascent creatures rising from the remains, inheriting a world they would never understand.

Brian was making adjustments to an ornate device, like a retirement clock crossed with a sextant – his Snoop DNA tracker. In gloomy silence, the Doctor uncoiled a set of cables with crocodile clips to try to link the two technologies.

‘You are considering the end of the Andalian civilisation,’ Brian suggested. ‘I witnessed the same on the planet Perthanon and on Zoot in the aftermath of Fallomax’s sales drives. The Kotturuh bring an agreeable speed and efficiency to the mass murders they perform, do they not?’

‘Changing the natural order of the universe according to some half-baked doctrine they’ve invented?’ The Doctor shook his head, sickened. ‘To kill as they do is perverse.’

Brian looked at him steadily. ‘You have never killed?’

The Doctor became very absorbed in connecting a cable to the console. ‘Only when I’ve had to.’

‘And you have had to on many occasions.’

‘ Too many.’ The Doctor bit the plastic covering from the cable and separated the wires inside. ‘Just who are you, Brian? How did you end up in the Dark Times?’

‘With the help of this vessel.’ Brian gestured around it. ‘The interior has changed, but not the dimensional peculiarities.’

‘And I thought you were just playing it cool about the bigger inside than outside thing …’ The Doctor frowned, looked up. ‘Wait. You’re saying you stowed away?’

‘Not exactly. Our encounter with the true owner of this TARDIS was unpleasant.’ Brian’s head cocked to one side. ‘We presume you killed him and took his identity?’

‘I am him.’

Brian seemed smug as he petted Mr Ball. ‘So our presumption is confirmed.’

‘I don’t remember you, Brian. And I’ve not been this way before, so either you’re lying, or you’re from my future and don’t know me because I’ve changed …’ The Doctor spat out the word. ‘Well, that’s me. That’s the Doctor. Ever-changing. Always going on.’

‘Yes, you are, rather,’ Brian muttered.

‘I came here looking for peace, for hope. Time out. What do I find? A world that’s waited to end the minute I show up.’

‘Mr Ball suggests you have a somewhat overinflated sense of your importance.’

The Doctor glared. ‘Is this “Mr Ball” stuff some sort of dissociative disorder, or is there something in that sphere affecting your behaviour?’

‘We all must take responsibility for our own actions.’ Brian’s ornate gadget beeped, breaking the mood and the moment. ‘Connection made. Coordinates for the child of Destran’s current location are now downloading to this TARDIS.’

‘ My TARDIS.’ The Doctor looked over at Brian. ‘Is it fair to say that Chalskal wants us to find Estinee, hoping that wherever she is there are some working Lifeshrouds?’

‘Indeed. So that Mr Chalskal can outfit an army to repel the Kotturuh.’

‘A war where no one dies,’ the Doctor murmured. ‘It’s an improvement.’

‘Mr Ball would think it a nightmare.’

‘I don’t think he’d like what I’d say back to him.’ The Doctor studied the information loading up from Brian’s device. ‘These astronavigational calculations are like none I’ve ever seen. But they seem to lead somewhere called … Mordeela.’

‘A world sacred to the Kotturuh,’ Brian said gravely. ‘It is said to hold the gateway between their own dwelling-space and the cosmos they hold to account.’ He paused. ‘Mr Ball and I have heard many tales about Mordeela. About great leaders searching out the Kotturuh to bargain for the lives.’

‘And?’

‘It is a vale from which none have been known to return,’ Brian said. ‘Mordeela is a word from an old tongue: it means Judgement .’

The word hung between them for a while, like snow refusing to fall.

‘Perhaps those great leaders never arrived.’ The Doctor was engaging the long-range scanner. ‘Mordeela looks to be heavily shielded. A barrier that keeps surrounding space one picosecond ahead of the rest of the universe. But! Like on every other occasion, the Kotturuh’s Judgement is flawed.’

Brian blinked. ‘Do you wish me to ask In what way ?’

‘A phase-shift like that will keep out conventional ships and projectiles – but not a TARDIS. We should be able to slip past the Kotturuh defences without anyone knowing.’ The Doctor threw the take-off lever. ‘Let’s see, shall we?’

With a wheeze and a heave of improbable engines, the TARDIS dipped its toes in the local infinity.

Estinee sat alone on the rocky floor, at a junction of tunnels where she would hear anyone coming. Too afraid to close her eyes, she kept them fixed on the veins of light in the rock, let their pulse and glow wash over her. There were whispering and mutterings down here in the tunnels. Estinee knew what they were, what they meant, and she knew she should listen.

But she was so tired. So afraid.

It was the third time Estinee had been brought to Mordeela. The first time it happened, she thought she’d die there. Then Fallomax had found her, got her out.

‘ We help each other, kid. Deal? ’

It was only when Estinee had run away, when the pain had grown unbearable, that the Kotturuh found her again. Again, Fallomax had got her out.

‘ Don’t you ever try to leave me again! ’ She could see Fallomax’s furious face right up in her own, feel bony fingers gripping her shoulders. ‘ We have to stick together. We’re all each other has .’

Some nights, Estinee hadn’t been sure which was worse. The demonstrations with Fallomax, the pain of all that … or being left here in the tunnels with only them for company …

You have the crystals in your pocket , she told herself. Fallomax can still find you. She needs you. Hold on to the crystals .

Still Estinee wore the Lifeshroud. She wondered what the Kotturuh would do about that. But she knew the moment would come. The Kotturuh had a different relationship with time. They rarely responded to events; they shaped them. Their hearts beat and minds worked only according to their Design.

But sooner or later, she knew they would come for her again.

A voice, commanding but still fearful, carried faintly through the gloomy dark. ‘Your Excellencies … Great and noble Kotturuh … I thank you for granting me audience.’

‘A living one,’ Estinee whispered aloud, and like a mouse she scurried to see. Privileged creatures were taken here sometimes – viziers and kings and nabobs, gathered from far-off worlds. She liked to hear their voices, even with the shake in them. She liked to peep at them, though they held so stiff with fear. The weakness they tried to conceal proved they were alive.

The tunnel opened onto a kind of curving balcony. You could cross to its edge and stare out over the vast circular space that stretched upward into darkness and downward into dark red, pulsing light. The walls were scratched and painted with patterns, but Estinee didn’t look. She knew what happened if you looked. She lingered in the tunnel mouth, not wanting to be seen. There was a twisting promontory extending from the far side like an animal’s tongue frozen in rock. Estinee saw the figure there, a riot of scales and spikes – whether hide or battledress she wasn’t sure.