Part 17 (1/2)

Roughly the giant shoved her away from the doorway in which he stood.

'Hey,' she started.

Then she saw.

The room was the Lady Lianna's. She was inside. By the far wall, next to the window. In fact, she was attached to the wall via the rather lethal-looking barbed spear that had been rammed through her midriff and skewered her to the wall.

Standing and holding the shaft of the spear, his hands soaked in Lianna's blood, was the Doctor. The look of complete and utter shock and horror etched into his face made Bernice s.h.i.+ver. Slowly his head turned and he seemed to notice Torg and her for the first time. His eyes locked with hers and she saw something she couldn't ever remember seeing there before.

She had seen anger, sadness, bitterness and hurt. She had seen joy and laughter. But never, ever had she seen total uncontrollable panic.

As Torg growled and moved towards him, he stepped back, blood dripping to the floor. He let go of the spear and it vibrated slightly as it took the full weight of Lianna's dead body.

Behind Bernice she was aware of people gathering but she didn't turn until a soft voice she recognized came from right beside her.

I don't believe it...' Nic Reece stepped forward. 'Lianna! No!' he roared and tried to run to the body. With an effortless gesture, Torg held him back with his other hand until a couple of guards pushed past and took charge of the apparently listless Doctor. Then Torg escorted Reece back to the doorway, where he seemed to see Bernice. 'Benny? What's going on?'

'I . . . I don't know. I just got here and saw . . . this.' She gestured towards Lianna.

Before anything else could be said, a wail came from behind the crowd and Atissa lunged through them and into the room. This time Torg made no effort to stop the intruder. Atissa was on her knees, moaning softly.

Torg wrenched the spear free of the wall, and concealed Lianna's body as he extracted the weapon, dropping it to the floor. He laid Lianna down and another guard scooped up a blanket and laid it over the body, covering it completely.

Bernice watched Atissa for a few seconds longer until she realized the Doctor had been led away. She scanned the gathering but all she saw were the Pels' eyes, some angry, some astonished, most distraught. She pushed her way to the back in time to see the Doctor almost being dragged away, unresisting.

'Hey,' she called. No one listened so she ran after them.

Behind her, two pairs of eyes followed her. Nic Reece blinked, breathed deeply and wandered off. Neither of them saw the Pakhar holocameraman Jav watching from a nearby recess. He stuffed a paw into a pocket in his shorts and brought out the black box he had found bleeping earlier.

Time for a little chat with your owner,' he said. Repocketing it, he wandered back to his own quarters.

Bernice caught up with the guards; they weren't particularly hurrying.

'Where are you taking him?' she demanded.

The guards exchanged looks. 'To the cells, miss,' one eventually replied.

Oh great, can I come?'

'No . . . Benny, you mustn't.' The Doctor looked over at her, his eyes reddened.

'But. . .'

The Doctor's voice grew a fraction stronger. 'Too much danger. I need you to keep an eye out.'

The guards tugged at him. 'Come on, you. No time to talk.'

As they pulled him away, he looked back. 'My quarters. The chess set.

Bring it to me later. Not yet. I've been checked!' By this time they were alongside the relic room. Sskeet was standing by the door but he lumbered round as he heard the Doctor's voice.

'Doctor,' he started, and then took in the situation. 'What is going on?'

'That's what I want to know,' complained Bernice. Abbot and Costello here aren't being very helpful.'

'No . . . wrong era entirely. . .' was the Doctor's muttered response.

And he's not much help either,' Bernice finished.

excuse us,' started one guard but Sskeet didn't budge an inch.

'There has been another robbery,' he hissed and waved his clamped hand towards the room.

The Doctor perked up slightly and even pulled away from one guard. He managed to get a look into the doorway. Of course,' he said as he was restrained once more. It had to be that. Only one to go.'

As he was dragged away, Bernice allowed herself a look into the relic room. Sskeet pointed at the far wall where the Lance of Aggedor had once been. Beneath it ought to have been the Crown of Sherak. Instead there was an empty s.p.a.ce.

It was half an hour later that Savaar finally deigned to join the party in the cell area. Bernice looked around her. As Savaar stopped, Sskeet seemed to glide up beside him, most un-Martian like, she thought. They can be swift when they want to, then.

The Doctor was behind bars, although a quick wash had removed the blood from his hands if not his sleeves and he was looking slightly more perky. King Tarrol and Chancellor Geban stood to one side conferring, while Alpha Centauri bobbed, jittered and changed colour every four seconds. Bernice thought he was going to have a seizure if he didn't calm down. Torg stood guard by the cell door, the barbed spear in his hands.

Of Atissa and Nic Reece there was no sign.

'Let the trial begin,' announced Tarrol.

'Trial!' Bernice jumped forward. 'What b.l.o.o.d.y trial? What the frag's he supposed to have done?'

'I should have thought that was obvious, even to a human female,' shrilled Centauri unhappily. 'The Doctor is to be tried for the murder of the Lady Lianna.'

'But he didn't . . . he couldn't . . . I mean you can't think. . .' Bernice desperately wanted to say something constructive. She suddenly realized that it simply hadn't occurred to her that the Doctor could have actually killed the woman. 'He just found her like that!' she managed eventually.

Savaar was behind her and rested a clamp on her shoulder. 'The only way you could know that for sure was if you had killed her yourself. Be very careful. Something is very wrong here.'

'Too b.l.o.o.d.y right it is mate,' snapped Bernice. 'Why aren't you helping protect him?'

'Why should I? I don't know the Doctor as you do, Shsurr. I have no evidence that he is innocent, any more than you do.'

Oh, get into the real world, Savaar.'

'Your loyalty does you credit, Shsurr. However, my security has already been compromised by the Cantryan boy. I can offer no reason why I should consider another of your party any more or less trustworthy.'

Bernice groaned inwardly - what had Kort done now? Still, that could wait - Savaar clearly hadn't executed him, but the Pels were quite likely to do so to the Doctor, according to Reece's descriptions of life on Peladon.

Atissa arrived.

If Bernice was expecting a grief-stricken daughter, tearful and gaunt, she was disappointed. Instead Atissa looked like the proverbial cat that had got the cream. 'By the ancient laws of Peladon, this man has committed a heinous crime. He must be punished. Aggedor demands it!'

Tarrol stood forward. 'Atissa, the Doctor will be questioned and tried. In the proper Pel way.'

Atissa turned on him, sneering. 'Pah! You think we care one jot for your Federation-tainted justice? No. Aggedor has proclaimed that he is to die.'