Part 47 (1/2)
'No? I have here enough expert witnesses to have him vaporized.'
Leela angrily wrenched free from the group. 'You'l pay for that!' She floundered in the air, ignoring their calls.
They were already sliding into the void beyond her reach.
Somehow, anger drove her at Glospin. He turned to escape and leave her stranded, but she clutched at his ankle.
The others heard her voice clearly in the dark.
'Travel home, snake tongue. I cannot kill your soul, but I shall hunt you down until you howl for mercy!'
The darkness consumed them al .
They awoke in the circle. Innocet and Romana and Dorothee and Leela with them.
A circle of guns was trained down on them.
The Doctor sat up sharply. His hand went to his face. 'What do I look like? Have I been dead?'
Chris groaned and put his hand up to the veins that stood out on his temples.
197.
A figure in black stepped between the guards. 'Welcome back, both Presidents,' he said with a smile.
'And my two escaped guests as well. Thank you for leading us here.'
'Do I know you?' said the Doctor. 'Didn't we meet in the trenches of Skaro?'
'Ferain,' said Romana. 'Director of Allegiance at the CIA.'
'You put a trace on us,' scowled Dorothee. 'We were allowed to escape from the Capitol.'
'Indeed,' said the old man. 'And you are all under House arrest.'
198.
Chapter Thirty-two.
No Trespa.s.sers
'You're on the mend,' said Chris.
The Doctor gripped the young man's sleeve. 'I had a bit of a clearout.' His legs flailed over the drop.
The exhausted group had been silent as they were marched through the House. When they were forced into single file over the lagoon bridge, the Doctor staged such a corny routine of nearly falling off that Dorothee wanted to laugh.
'I've jettisoned my subconscious,' he mumbled as they struggled to pul him up.
'Was that wise?' said Romana. 'All energy, even artron energy, must go somewhere.'
'It was worth it if it helped Chris.' He kicked his legs and said, 'Oh dear, I'm stuck!' loudly for the benefit of the Agency guards.
Chris nodded. 'Thanks. My head's a lot clearer.'
'Good. The rest of you can look after the memories for me.' In the water below, something white was circling.
'Get him up,' shouted Ferain from behind. The agent commander tried to scramble past.
'I'll do it,' said Dorothee, pus.h.i.+ng in precariously. She leant up to his ear. 'How deep is the House buried?'
'Why?'
'G.o.d, you're a weight!' she announced. But she muttered, 'Remember that nitro-nine you were always confiscating from me?'
'Couple of cans,' he said. 'Left outside pocket.' She rummaged as she grappled with him. 'Doctor, I know you never clear your pockets out, but this stuff is lethal.'
The cans were sweaty and rusting.
She looked directly into his eyes. 'Are you all right, now?'
His bottomless eyes, like Gallifrey, had their own time.
'It was a lot to take in. But I'm glad you were there to share it.'
He suddenly vaulted up of his own accord. 'Come along, get frogmarching,' he said to the agent commander. 'I want to find my Cousins, before they get up to any mischief.'
The House had never seen an Otherstide like it.
Glospin, newly returned from a sojourn of his own, smiled disdainful y as yet another squabble broke out. The floor of the Hall was already strewn with piles of books, clothes and other ephemera. Captain Redred had been trying to keep a tally, but the newly returned and emaciated Cousins were sifting through the booty from the Doctor's s.h.i.+p like a plague of sweeper weevils.
Beside the Loom, the two Drudges still stood immobile, staring down at the revealed corpse of Quences.
199.
A shout came from the far end of the Hall, just as Rynde and Owis emerged from the TARDIS with fresh armfuls of clothes.
Uniformed intruders were approaching, but through them, unstoppable in his fury, came the Doctor.
'Mine!' he yel ed, s.n.a.t.c.hing items away from astonished Cousins. 'Get away from my TARDIS! Get away!'
His eyes blazed as he bunged the stuff back inside the door and turned to scoop up more. 'This is my s.h.i.+p! How dare you all?'