Part 25 (2/2)

'It is unfortunate that we cannot execute you twice, so I suppose once will have to make do for both crimes.'

The bodyguards dragged Ace over to him. She was strangely pa.s.sive, staring at the Doctor with a mixture of surprise and worry. Eventually she looked away from the Doctor and stared at her feet.

Marlock grabbed her chin between his thumb and forefinger and pulled it upwards so she was forced to look him in the eye. 'You really should stop pretending to be things that you are not. Such deceptions are always detected.' He chuckled; it was a chilling, throaty vibration. 'Had Lannic not been with the Exec, she might have had considerable difficulty getting to see the performance. But you will be pleased to know that I have arranged for you to have no such problems.' He raised his voice and threw the Doctor a quick glance. 'Or you, for this matter, Doctor.'

'Thank you, Marlock. Got us good seats, I hope.'

'The best in the house. Although I was not aware that you had another colleague with you.' He gestured at the other woman.

'My name's Benny,' the woman offered. 'But you can call me Professor Summerfield.'

Marlock nodded to her in mock grat.i.tude. Another insolent friend of the Doctor's. 'I think we can find seats for all three of you. But quite what I am to do with you after after the performance is another matter.' the performance is another matter.'

'Why not just let us go?' Ace suggested.

Marlock ignored her. 'As I said, Doctor, I have reserved seats for you. In the front row in fact. That should afford an excellent view of the play, which I am a.s.suming will go ahead with no problems.'

'Oh yes.' The Doctor patted the machine affectionately. 'No real damage done. The timer's set so it will start right on cue. All running according to plan. Tickety*boo.'

'Good. I've also ensured that you and Professor Summerfield will have an excellent view of the execution that will take place immediately after the performance, Doctor. I doubt you will want to miss that. Your friend Ace will of course have a somewhat more prominent role to play then. For that reason I fear that while yourself and the Professor here will be able to avail yourselves of the excellent refreshments service both before the play and during the interval, Ace will have to be restrained. I hope that will not be too much of an inconvenience and will not mar her enjoyment of this unique occasion too much.'

'She's a bit old for ice*cream and popcorn,' the Doctor observed. 'She'll live with it.'

Marlock waved for the Doctor and Professor Summerfield to precede him down the stairs. The bodyguards dragged the protesting Ace after them.

'I doubt it, Doctor,' Marlock said as they descended. 'I doubt it very much.'

Ace had rarely been to the theatre, but the seat she had was wider and more comfortable than any cinema seat she had tried. But then again, she had never been strapped into a cinema seat; her wrists tied to the arm rests and a leather band holding her round the waist. Even her feet were restrained. Coupled with the threat that if she did anything to disturb the performance whisper even then she would be shot somewhere painful but not fatal by the guard positioned three seats away for precisely this purpose.

The upshot of this was that Ace was not about to disturb the performance. Not unless and until she could get free. They would have to release her to get her up on stage to be executed at the end of the play anyway. And at that point she would be released from the chair, and she would have precious little to lose.

It had occurred to her that the Doctor had some master plan up his sleeve. But he was sitting, apparently sulking in the next seat. She reckoned he was just as stuck for ideas as she was. She guessed he had only prevented her from smas.h.i.+ng the machine because he realized Marlock was watching.

On the other side of Ace, Benny was looking back up the auditorium. 'I shouldn't worry,' she said, turning round to look at Ace. 'Something will turn up relax and enjoy the play.'

Ace glared at her. 'You try relaxing strapped in like this.'

'No thanks. Anyway, I must be off things to do. Right Doctor?'

The Doctor nodded without acknowledging in any other way that he had heard.

'Not staying for the historic performance? Who knows what that crazy machine will throw at us?'

Benny laughed. 'Not a lot, I think. It feeds on action mainly. Dialogue isn't its forte.'

Ace didn't follow. 'So what?'

Benny sighed and put on her professor's voice. 'All right, there's just time before I have to go, I guess.'

Ace pulled at the cord holding her right wrist. Then she caught the eye of the guard, smiled innocently and relaxed back into the chair. 'Don't feel you have to spend any time here on my account,' she told Benny.

'No, no I insist. Now then, by the start of the twenty*third century, Earth and her colonies were getting pretty depleted in terms of technology and the recession was well under way. The Dalek invasion and the Cyber wars hadn't helped any. And all this had a serious effect on the theatre no money, no spectacle. And no spectacle meant the scripts had to be rather better and what action and excitement there was in the story had to be pretty basic and cheap.'

'Great. This'll be dead boring.'

'Probably,' Benny conceded. 'But follow me carefully, it may prove a comfort. Come Osterling's time mid to late twenty*third century drama had found a solution. It had reverted, broadly, to the Greek model.'

'Of course obvious solution.' Ace was not at all sure she was any encouraged by Benny's lecture.

'Absolutely. So, loads of dialogue and in*depth arguments going on. But the action all happens off*stage. In ancient Greece, Agamemnon goes off stage to be murdered and Clytaemnestra comes out afterwards to describe the scene in vivid detail. Same in Osterling's The Mercenary The Mercenary the whole play is about the battle, but the audience is stuck in a wood nearby with the women from the town and gets to hear reports from messengers. Great dialogue and description, but no action. the whole play is about the battle, but the audience is stuck in a wood nearby with the women from the town and gets to hear reports from messengers. Great dialogue and description, but no action.

Ace considered. 'This is supposed to make me feel better, is it?'

'Should do. What do think will happen if the dream machine brings the play to life? In the worst case some guy in armour will come over and shout at you about how terrible things are getting in the next room.'

Ace considered again. 'I can handle that,' she said.

'Good,' said Benny. 'Got to dash now. If I'm back in time, I'll buy you a drink in the interval.' Benny gave a cheery mime of raising a gla.s.s and an exaggerated point towards the refreshment area at the back of the auditorium. She aimed at the Doctor, but it was really for the benefit of the guard cradling a disruptor two seats away. Then Benny stood up and left.

The Exec scanned the audience below him, the theatre was packed. Only the front row was almost empty. By tradition it was reserved for visiting dignitaries from foreign worlds, and Marlock had accorded the strange Doctor and his companions that privilege. One of the women was secured by a seat restraint brought specially from the interrogation suites, and the other had already left. There was a guard watching the Doctor and the restrained woman. Three less people to worry about.

'That guard,' Lannic whispered in his ear, 'he has a disruptor, so he must be trustworthy. And he can see if there is any trouble.'

The Exec agreed. Then a thought struck him. 'He is one of Marlock's guards.'

Lannic smiled. 'So we have nothing to worry about.' The Exec nodded glumly. Of course there was nothing to worry about just a guard with a gun. In the theatre, where no weapons were allowed. Even Lannic had been scanned for energy sources. The detectors in the barrier had only been switched off for the Exec himself. Although Marlock had kept pace with him as they pa.s.sed through.

Lannic leaned closer and took his hand, patting it gently.

The Exec took the opportunity to admire her blouse. Above the simple black skirt she was wearing a low*cut blouse of tight black gauze. It showed off her figure to its best. Only the strategically placed patterns woven into the diaphanous material obscured the view. He examined one of the patterns closely it was identical to the others, a cl.u.s.ter of small leaves splaying out from a central branch.

The Exec looked back down at the audience, recognizing the tops of the heads of people whose brothers, sisters, parents and lovers he had had executed. He sat back in his chair and tried to think about something else. The performance would start soon. He had been looking forward to it.

Benny made her way back to the Doctor's room. She needed a few minutes to decide how exactly to achieve her objective. She would not be back in time for the interval she could not even start until the performance was well under way. Her action had to coincide with the climax of the play, that was the whole point.

Benny hoped her short lecture had soothed some of Ace's fears. She also hoped Ace would forgive her If they survived the evening after all, nothing Benny had told her was untrue. Two days ago she would even have believed it herself.

'Ace?'.

When he said her name the second time, Ace deigned to look at him. The Doctor was leaning towards her in a theatrically conspiratorial fas.h.i.+on.?'

'What is it, Doctor? Words of comfort from you too?'

'Sort of. Everything's under control, If that's what you mean.'

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