Doctor Who_ World Game - Doctor Who_ World Game Part 6
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Doctor Who_ World Game Part 6

The Doctor was still wrestling with his conscience when they turned a corner into a shorter dead-end corridor. There was a door at the end. It opened as they approached, revealing a small bare chamber. In the centre of the chamber stood a police box. The Doctor and Luco and their escort went through, and the door closed behind them.

The Doctor stood for a moment, beaming at the familiar square blue shape. Now he was reunited with the TARDIS, things would sort themselves out.

He gave the old girl an affectionate pat, and as if in response the door swung open. The Doctor turned to the two guardsmen. 'Thank you, gentlemen, we shan't need your services any more. A very smart turnout, if I may say so.'

The guards looked somewhat nonplussed. Prisoners didn't usually dispense compliments. Then again, since their duties were largely ceremonial, they very rarely had any prisoners.

They came to attention, saluted, turned and marched away.

The Doctor went into the TARDIS, Luco close behind him.

Sardon and Serena were standing by the console, but the Doctor ignored them. He froze, looked around the control room. Superficially everything was the same but different.

Things seemed more...streamlined, and the old, comfortable shabbiness was gone. Everything was gleaming and new.

He turned indignantly to Sardon. 'This isn't my TARDIS!'

'Well of course it isn't, Doctor. We could hardly send you on a potentially dangerous mission in an obsolete Type 40.'

The Doctor waved his hands. 'But but the exterior...'

Sardon smiled. 'We copied your quaint blue box-shape to make you feel at home, Doctor. But it's only temporary. In future the TARDIS will appear to be whatever you need it to be. This model has a fully operational chameleon circuit.'

'I was always going to repair the one on my TARDIS,' said the Doctor defensively. 'Things kept turning up somehow, and what with one thing and another...'

He swung around, scanning the control room. He seemed to be sniffing the air. 'I don't like it! It feels different, alien. A TARDIS isn't just a machine, you know. There's a telepathic link. One builds a relationship over the years. My My TARDIS TARDIS was an old friend.'

'Sentimental nonsense, Doctor,' said Serena crisply. 'This TARDIS is a newly designed, fully functional Type 97. A great improvement on your old relic.'

'I like old relics,' said the Doctor sulkily. 'I'm something of an old relic myself.' He marched over to the many-sided console and walked around it. 'The whole configuration of the controls is different! How am I supposed to operate it?'

'You have no need to operate it,' said Sardon. 'Lady Serena is fully conversant with this model. You have only to tell her where and when you wish to go.'

'This is absurd! If I'm not to be in control of my TARDIS '

'Ah, but as you yourself pointed out, Doctor, it isn't your own TARDIS,' said Sardon. 'It is ours.'

'It is equipped with everything you'll need, Doctor,' said Luco. He waved towards a monitor set into the console. 'A full record of the tempographs that alerted us to the interference. A complete and detailed archival chronography of Earth history...'

'Earth history as it is intended intended to be, that is,' said Sardon. to be, that is,' said Sardon.

'Without alien interference.'

'There is a complete wardrobe of Earth clothing, suitable outfits for every period. Also a variety of identification papers and various documents of authority. A generous supply of Earth currency paper, gold and silver, in the form of appropriate notes and coins.'

'All right, all right,' said the Doctor. 'Let's get started, shall we?'

'Have you decided on your entry point?'

'I have.'

'Very well,' said Sardon. 'Let me emphasise one thing, Doctor. Your mission is to observe any temporal interference and, if possible, to identify those responsible. That done, you will return and report. We We shall deal with the offenders. You are not to take any action yourself. Do you understand what I am saying to you?' shall deal with the offenders. You are not to take any action yourself. Do you understand what I am saying to you?'

The Doctor looked hard at him. 'Oh yes. I understand very well.'

'Then we will leave you. Goodbye Doctor, Lady Serena.

Goodbye and good luck.'

Sardon and Luco left the TARDIS, and Serena went to the control console. She turned to the Doctor. 'Where to, Doctor?'

'The South of France. A little town on the coast called Antibes.'

'And when?'

'1794, Earth time. August the 9th.'

'Certainly, Doctor,' said Lady Serena, her hands flickering over the controls. 'Morning or afternoon?'

Sardon and Luco were standing in the doorway of the chamber. Luco wasn't happy.

'With respect, I am not convinced of the wisdom of this scheme. An amateur and a renegade! Why not send one of our own people? Why not send me again?'

'And interfere in the process of human history? My dear Luco, what a shocking idea.'

'Do you think the Doctor won't interfere?'

'Of course he will. He's incapable of doing otherwise.'

'Then surely the effect is the same.'

'Not at all. The Doctor's mission is strictly unofficial. As far as the cosmos knows, he is still a renegade on the run.'

'But the presence of the Lady Serena '

'If he fails an impressionable young person seduced into joining him.'

'And if he succeeds?'

'Our representative demonstrating that the operation was carried out responsibly, under proper supervision.'

'You think her presence will restrain the Doctor?'

Sardon shrugged. 'I doubt it. But if the Doctor interferes in human history, he will be doing so against my express orders. You yourself heard me issue them.'

'In the full knowledge that they would not be obeyed!'

'Precisely! I '

Sardon broke off as a pleasantly musical sound, a sort of crooning, humming filled the air and the TARDIS faded away before their eyes.

'The question has become academic,' said Sardon briskly.

'The Doctor is on his way.'

Chapter Seven.

Execution Day

The Governor of the fortress of Fort Carre in Antibes stared at his visitor in unbelieving horror. 'Citizen-Representative Latour, are you sure of this instruction?'

The Citizen-Representative, a tall, hawk-faced man in sombre black, said impassively, 'The orders of the Committee of Public Safety are quite clear, are they not?' He tapped the document on the table.

'But execution?!' stammered the Governor. 'I thought, we all thought, the Citizen-General had been cleared, and would soon be released. Now comes this order for summary execution.'

'Your expectations are quite irrelevant,' said Latour. 'All that need concern you is the decision of the committee.'

'But it is all most irregular. There has been no formal trial, not even a tribunal. And surely, in the case of such an eminent prisoner as the Citizen-General...'

'The Citizen-General has been tried in absentia in absentia in Paris. in Paris.

The sentence is death.' Latour tapped the document. 'As you see.'

'But why is the decision so sudden?'

'Fresh evidence has been discovered. Evidence that Citizen-General Bonaparte accepted a bribe of a million livres from the Italians to sabotage the Italian campaign. The Committee feels that an immediate example must be made to discourage the activities of further traitors.'

'I refuse to believe it,' said the Governor. 'General Bonaparte has always been a poor man, he cares only for his duty.'

'Perhaps General Bonaparte became weary of his poverty,' said Latour. 'It is the poor man who is most susceptible to the lure of foreign gold.'

'Not General Bonaparte.'

'There are other charges,' said the Representative wearily.

'I am tired of this wrangling, and I wish to hear no more protestations. I bring you a warrant for General Bonaparte's immediate execution, ratified by the Committee of Public Safety in Paris. Do you refuse to carry it out?'

'I cannot refuse,' said the Governor. 'As you know full well.' The Revolutionary Committee of Public Safety was all-powerful. To incur its disfavour meant death as Robespierre had recently discovered.

'Then proceed with the arrangements for the execution.

You have the necessary apparatus?'

'There is is a guillotine here at the fort,' admitted the Governor reluctantly. 'In the rear courtyard. It has not been used since...for some time.' a guillotine here at the fort,' admitted the Governor reluctantly. 'In the rear courtyard. It has not been used since...for some time.'

He meant, but dared not say, since the worst days of the Terror, when counter-revolutionary heads had rolled in the south, as they had all over France. 'It may be unserviceable,' he went on.

'Have it checked and if necessary repaired,' ordered Citizen-Representative Latour. 'We wouldn't want anything to go wrong, would we? I have certain other business in the area. I shall return as soon as it is concluded and I shall expect to find everything in readiness for the execution.' He paused at the door. 'I warn you, Governor, do not fail me.

Delay in carrying out the orders of the Committee of Public Safety could be seen as counter-revolutionary activity.

Nobody, whatever their position, is immune from the justice of the people.' He stalked out, leaving the Governor uneasily fingering his own neck. His cravat suddenly seemed too tight.

The strangely shaped device in the centre of the control console the Doctor supposed it must be a new design of time-vector generator ceased its smooth rise and fall and Serena looked up.

'We have arrived, Doctor.'

She switched on the exterior monitor and the Doctor found himself looking at a vista of fountains, flowerbeds and palm trees.

'Where are we?'

'A small park on the outskirts of Antibes.'

The Doctor rubbed his hands. Now that the adventure was beginning, his spirits were rising rapidly. 'Splendid. Let's take a look outside.'

'Not dressed like this,' said Serena. 'I propose to go and change. You had better do the same. This way, Doctor.'

She left the control room and the Doctor followed.