Part 30 (1/2)

'No.' Ben had saluted. 'No, sir. Thank you, sir. Very good, sir.'

Aysha had taken the details with the same calmness, and however much he disliked her, Ben admired her. Respected her. All a good CO could ask for really. After a moment she pointed towards the corridor and Nihmrod went out, looked around and returned, shaking her head. 'Good,' the Queen said. 'What about Tamora and Tensing? How was the test?'

Aall straightened her shoulders and made her report.

'Tamora's loyal to you, I'm sure.'

229.

'I hope so,' said Chosan. 'If she were working for Lotuss, by now the discovery of the bomb would be known and Lotuss would have to find another way.'

'Wouldn't have to if the Doctor hadn't saved your hides,'

murmured Ben.

'True, anthropoid-tom,' said Aysha. 'A fact that I have noted.' She looked to Aall again. 'And Tensing?'

'Difficult to tell exactly. By rights, she's well in Lotuss's pride. However, she was certainly as astonished by the bomb as us.'

Chosan took Nihmrod's device and poked at it herself.

'Interesting. Lotuss has a.s.signed her guard duty for you, Your Majesty. On the invasion shuttle.'

Aysha c.o.c.ked her head slightly and hissed a smile, her tongue caressing her teeth. Ben noticed how sharp they were. Very sharp. He would not like to think how quickly she would be able to disarm him. Literally. 'A shuttle that we won't be taking. Lotuss has made her move slightly earlier than I expected.'

'Excuse me,' piped up the Doctor, 'but Ben and I aren't really part of all your politics and catawauling.' Ben winced, but the Doctor continued. 'Couldn't we just go back to Earth?'

'Sorry,' said Aysha without any trace of apology. 'Sorry, but we need you here. For now. We need your TARDIS, remember?'

'Why?' Ben still had not figured that one out.

The Doctor answered. 'Because, Ben, Queen Aysha has a weird idea that I can take her back forty thousand years in it, to find the beacons when they were new.'

'But I thought they were more powerful in 1994.'

'Yes, but Fraulein Thorsuun saw to it that we couldn't find them.'

Chosan joined in. 'The ridiculous creature had forgotten where they were.'

The Doctor nodded. 'So it's better to get less of something than nothing at all. Hence the TARDIS.'

230.

'But don't they realize,' Ben laughed, 'that you can't control it? If you tried to get us back forty thousand years, we'll probably end up on Venus in a million years' time!'

The Doctor frowned. 'Thank you for your confidence.'

Ben was not giving up. 'Yeah, but I'm right, ain't I?

Haven't got me and Pol back to July '66 yet, eh?'

Aysha hissed. 'Is this true? Can you not pilot your own craft?'

The Doctor cleared his throat and shoved his hands deep into his pockets. 'Yes. Well. Ben puts it a little less tactfully than I'd have liked, but fundamentally, that's true.' He looked up and grinned. 'Sorry.'

Aysha stared for a moment. Then: 'Oh well, eject his TARDIS into s.p.a.ce, Chosan. I don't need extra weight on board.'

'What? You mean the TARDIS is here?' The Doctor almost jumped for joy. 'That's excellent.'

'While we were in Baghdad, Aall located it and transported it here. Why?'

'Because, Your Majesty, I can get in it with Ben and leave. Go away. Leave you behind.'

'Then what?' Chosan was frowning in that way that cats do, Ben decided. Cats always had that haunted look back aboard s.h.i.+p when they thought their food was late - a sort of disdainful glare that made their eyes look heavy and therefore wrinkled their foreheads. Chosan looked just like that now.

The Doctor smiled expansively. 'Then you can invade Earth in 1994 and try to find the beacons. You'd get about two miles into the atmosphere before they launched an all-out atomic strike and you'd be destroyed in about thirty seconds.'

'Like the Z-Bomb at the South Pole?' Ben asked.

The Doctor nodded. 'Exactly, Ben, but another eight years has made their cruise missiles and the like even more powerful. Mankind has developed some very impressive weaponry by this decade, Your Majesty. I doubt you'd find 231 the combined might of the USA and USSR quite as easy to kick aside as a few Arabian peasants.'

Aysha shrugged. 'We were safe in c.u.mbria. We could infiltrate slowly and cripple their world before they knew we were there.'

Ben started laughing aloud. 'Oh, come on. Overgrown p.u.s.s.ycats? You'd be spotted in an instant - if they didn't kill you, you'd be in a zoo.'

'Ben's right. A curiosity is all you'd be, Queen Aysha.

Prodded and poked by those you despise.' The Doctor waved his hand around the room, catching one of the silk drapes and nearly tugging it down. He extricated himself.

'You could say goodbye to all this.'

Queen Aysha looked at Aall. At Chosan. At Nihmrod.

Then at the blank screen from where the Pride Mother had delivered her plea. 'You're right, Doctor. I have no desire to lead my pride to death or dishonour. I thank you for alerting me to Lotuss's bomb. It seems only fair to allow you to leave peacefully - Nihmrod, escort our . . . friends to their blue box. Cargo bay 2.'

Confused but obedient, Nihmrod moved towards the bead curtain. 'This way, Doctor,' she said.

The Doctor bowed to Queen Aysha. 'Your Majesty, I sincerely hope you return home safely.'

'Thank you, Doctor. You are most kind.' She waved a paw at the curtain.

Ben let himself bow just enough to be polite and followed the Doctor out. 'What was that all about?' he whispered. 'We can't just leave!'

'Why not?'

Ben was appalled. 'Polly! What about Polly? You can't leave her stranded in 1994!'

Nihmrod called the lift. 'Oh, she'll be all right, Ben,' she said cheerfully. 'It's only about thirty years out of time.

She'll adjust in no time.'