Part 6 (1/2)

'So your friend the Doctor is a Time Lord,' said Glitz thoughtfully.

'That's how he knew where to go.'

Peri looked puzzled. 'What do you mean?'

'They sent him, did they?' asked Dibber.

'Who?'

'The Time Lords, my dear,' said Glitz. 'As my friend says, he must be acting on their behalf.'

Peri shook her head. 'The Doctor seems to have broken off from the Time Lords. I doubt is he's acting on anyone's behalf.'

Immediately Glitz looked relieved. 'A freelance, eh?

Like myself...' He glanced at Dibber. 'Possibly we can reach an accommodation here my boy. Two rogues with but a single thought!'

The little procession was moving on its way. 'How long has the Immortal lived in his so-called Castle?' asked the Doctor.

Balazar said, 'Since the Fire.'

'Five hundred years?'

'I do not know, he was sent to save our lives many centuries ago.'

'And he never goes out and n.o.body goes in?'

'Only those young men who pa.s.s the Selection.'

'What selection?'

'To find the two cleverest youths. They go to the Castle.'

'Why?'

Balazar hesitated. 'It is said the Immortal eats them.'

6.

Meeting the Immortal The Doctor looked hard at Balazar for a moment, but it was clear that he was perfectly serious.

'Never believe what is said, Balazar,' said the Doctor softly. Only what you know.'

They continued on their way.

The Service Robot was square and ma.s.sive, shaped unpleasantly like a tombstone. The central section was black with a bright disc set into the top, like a single blazing eye. Two segments, one on either side, were picked out in yellow, and there was a servo-camera mounted on the top.

Huge and menacing, the Service Robot glided along the corridors, watched nervously on the monitor screen by Humker and Tandrell.

'Why are we doing this?' demanded Humker.

Tandrell glanced over his shoulder at the metal shape towering over them. 'Because Sir ordered it,' he said piously.

'It may be needed,' boomed Drathro, and all discussion was at an end.

Dibber rattled moodily at the wooden bars on the window of their prison hut.

One was already broken off, and the rest looked as if they would go without too much effort.

Of course, there were still the armed guards surrounding the hut...

'These bars remind me of home,' growled Dibber. 'I reckon I could bite me way through them.'

Glitz was stretched out, his back against the wall. 'Relax, Dibber, I'll soon find some way of winning the confidence of these simple peasants.'

Peri was even more restless than Dibber. 'I'd like to get out of here. That Katryca said something about choosing some husbands for me.'

Glitz smiled. 'There you are Dibber! Obviously the good queen is a romantic at heart.'

'So am I,' said Peri. 'But not romantic enough to want more than one husband.'

'Where we come from, a woman can have as many as six,' said Dibber conversationally.

Peri smiled, remembering the marriage records of certain Hollywood film stars. 'It can happen on my planet too - only they usually have 'em one at a time!'

'I should like to stand in the role of paterfamilias for your absent father and give you away,' said Glitz sentimentally. 'Unfortunately I always cry at these moments of deep sentiment.'

Dibber had taken a liking to Peri. 'I think we should help her to get out, Mr Glitz.'

'No, no, dear boy. We may need these brutish primitives.'

'Need them for what?' asked Peri curiously.

Glitz produced a folded map from inside his tunic. 'This shows the layout of the tunnel system, all hermetically sealed. If we can persuade Katryca's people to drive a shaft down into the centre of the system we can fill the tunnels with gas.'

Peri was horrified. 'Kill them? The people Katryca called underground dwellers? That would be ma.s.s murder.'

Glitz looked pensive. 'I'm sure my conscience will p.r.i.c.k a little.' He brightened. 'But where money is concerned, that doesn't usually last long.'