Part 22 (1/2)

Once Bernice's credentials had been established, Captain Tavistock moved swiftly into action. He communicated with soldiers already inside the Palace and ordered them to take no offensive action. There was little danger, after all: the staff had been all but evacuated and the Queen herself was not in residence - a fact which the Doctor had ascertained from the building's empty flagpole, and which Jason would no doubt learn at any moment.

Despite Roz's brief protestations, Chris had not been freed.

She would work on that as soon as the immediate situation had pa.s.sed. She crouched at the railings, eyes firmly fixed on the main entrance through the sights of her blaster. She held her breath as Dr Who emerged at last, striding towards the mangled gates with head down and hands behind his back, unmindful of the deadly ambush.

Three agonisingly long seconds pa.s.sed, then Jason appeared.

Roz cursed as she saw that he was clad in s.h.i.+ning, golden armour. She fired anyway, as did a dozen UNIT soldiers. Jason whirled, alarmed by the barrage, but the regulars' bullets glanced harmlessly of his protective clothing and Roz succeeded only in blowing a chunk off the building's stone facade.

Benny grabbed Tavistock and told him to cease fire. 'He's obviously prepared for us,' she insisted. 'We can't stop him, and if we don't get out of his way . . .'

The Captain was uncertain, but he nodded and raised his voice to give the order.

The attackers pulled back to allow Dr Who, nonchalant as ever, through. His companion came after, seamless armour clanking, and as he rushed past Roz, she heard him bawling miserably.

'It's up to the Doctor now,' said Benny quietly. 'I hope he got to Sheffield in time.'

171.

Mel barely registered that the train had started to move again.

She hardly cared that they might lose the all-important race. She was standing in the centre of the carriage, her back to the Doctor, hugging herself and mulling over what he had told her.

The more she thought about it, the angrier she became.

'Why?' she demanded finally, rounding on him. He looked hurt and she struggled to remember that she was the injured party here. 'Why did you abandon me?'

'It wasn't like that.'

'It sounds like it was! You influenced my mind, made me leave the TARDIS and go with Glitz - Glitz, of all people. I'm surprised he didn't jettison me straight out of the nearest airlock!'

'I thought it was best.'

'For who? Me?'

The Doctor stared steadfastly out of the window. His voice was strained. 'For everyone. I had my mission.'

'Oh yes. Your ”mission”. Bernice told me a little about that.

And I didn't fit in, I suppose.'

He shouldn't have chosen you.'

'Your past self, you mean?'

'Another of his mistakes.'

Mel's ire boiled over. She grabbed his shoulder and forced his head round to face her. 'The Doctor I first knew was a lot more human than you. He cared for people!'

The Time Lord's face contorted with disdain. 'He was halfway to becoming the Valeyard. He almost killed you, here on Earth, at Canary Wharf Tower in 1999. He would have sacrificed you to save his own soul!'

Mel pulled away and tore at her hair frustratedly. Inside, she was trying to deny his words. 'This is stupid - you're justifying yourself by saying that you used to be far worse!

We're both talking about your sixth persona as if he was a completely separate ent.i.ty!'

The Doctor clearly didn't want to be partic.i.p.ating in this conversation. 'Who's to say what defines self?' he mumbled, still avoiding her eyes. 'Continuity of body? Continuity of 172 psyche? I don't have either. Not even all my memories are intact. I'm not the man I used to be, Mel. I'm not any of them.

Thankfully.'

'You still haven't explained why you made me leave!'

'Fenric had sent Ace. I couldn't avoid my new responsibilities any longer. I had to take charge. I had to start the game. I thought you would be safe with Glitz. You didn't have a role in the mission.'

'You mean I wouldn't have agreed to your dubious methods - I might have stopped you from doing what you wanted!'

'Perhaps.'

Mel stared at him furiously. Then, trembling, she announced: 'You're right. You are a different person.'

For the remainder of the journey, nothing more was said.

Jason punched the TARDIS console. 'It's not fair!' he said for the fourth time. 'It works everywhere else, why not on Earth?

Why wouldn't people join our rebels? Why did they stop us from replacing their ruler? Why didn't we win?'

Dr Who put an arm around his shoulders. 'Not to worry, lad. I promise you, this isn't over yet.'

'But what can we do? The Queen's henchmen are everywhere, and she's run of and hidden from us!'

Dr Who smiled. 'Trust me.' He approached the wall and pulled open a roundel, revealing a storage cupboard in which he rummaged.

'What about Chris?' Jason asked. 'He was coming after us as we went into the Queen's house. He decided to join the good guys. We can't leave him with the baddies.'

'We'll come back for him,' Dr Who promised. 'Right now, I think it's just as well that he isn't here. He might still flinch from what we have to do.'

'What's that?'

Dr Who produced another of his futuristic contraptions. 'First, we use this portable Queen detector. Then we do something I had hoped to avoid.' He flicked a switch on the machine and it bleeped as the word 'SHEFFIELD' popped up in LCD lettering.

This time, Dr Who's hand left the cupboard holding the 173 biggest laser blaster Jason had ever seen: an insane agglomeration of chunky shapes and important-looking dials.

Conspicuous red letters spelt out 'ACME' down one side. 'I'm afraid there's only one way left to deal with this country's despotic dictator.' He brandished the weapon.

'It's megatomic death time!'