Doctor Who_ Father Time Part 16

The Cortina was heading towards it.

The driver's door suddenly opened, and the Doctor flew from the car, his head and arms tucked close to his body. He hit the ground hard, rolling ten or twenty feet.

The Cortina kept going, clearing the edge of the hill, heading straight into the robot's torso like a missile.

The robot registered the threat and tried to swipe at the car with its hand.

The Cortina hit it in the midriff, then pivoted up, the roof smas.h.i.+ng the robot square in the face.

The robot staggered back, losing its footing.

Then the petrol tank in the Cortina went up. The robot was briefly visible, silhouetted in the fireball before it starting falling backwards.

Barry hurried to the edge. He watched the burning robot fall, following the furrow it had carved on its first descent. There was a trail of thick black smoke marking its progress. This time, there were smaller explosions rocking it, deflecting its course. By the time it had come to rest, there was very little left. There was no sign of the Cortina.

His wife hurried over to the Doctor. He was on his side, rubbing his face. There was blood on his s.h.i.+rt.

'You're cut,' she told him. 'Don't worry, it doesn't look serious. Can you move?'

The Doctor nodded, wincing a little as he sat upright. 'The robot?'

'In pieces.'

The Doctor nodded. 'Just as well I'd just run out of ideas on how else I could beat it.

He stood, a little shakily at first, and Deborah helped him over to the hillside. The Doctor peered down into the gloom, watched the column of black smoke rising over the burning remains. 'Shame. I would have liked to study it.'

'Do you think it will be able to repair itself?'

The Doctor bit his lip and looked over the edge again. There were still small explosions starting up. Barry imagined that all the missiles and bombs the robot was armed with were going off.

'Not in the short term,' the Doctor a.s.sured her.

'That Cortina was my pride and joy,' Barry told them. 'I'm going to kill you.' But he wasn't thinking about that yet: he was too busy watching the explosions.

'There's a queue,' the Doctor told him. He grinned, but the effort made him wince, which saved Barry the bother of punching him.

In their chamber the Hunters squirmed as they saw Dawkins's head lopped from his body, which just keeled over. The dark, hot blood and the cold, white snow did not go well together.

'I wouldn't want to get on the wrong side of that Deputy,' Rum told his partner.

'We are are on the wrong side of him,' Thelash reminded him. She pointed back into the hologlobe at a figure in a green uniform standing up. 'I thought the Prefect was a goner.' on the wrong side of him,' Thelash reminded him. She pointed back into the hologlobe at a figure in a green uniform standing up. 'I thought the Prefect was a goner.'

The Deputy was brus.h.i.+ng off the snow and helping the Prefect on to the remaining hoverdisc. The two sped off.

'Keep up with them, you flid!' Rum shouted.

Thelash struggled with the controls. 'Oh... I'll switch to Mr Gibson for a moment, let's see him tear that Doctor's head off.'

The image switched to a pile of burning metal, hissing and popping in a pile of snow and churned earth.

'When Mr Gibson gets going, he does some serious damage,' Rum laughed. 'It's a real grudge match.'

'Because the Doctor destroyed his planet?'

'No,' Rum laughed. 'Mr Gibson blames blames the Doctor, but that's not the same thing at all. The Doctor helped free the slaves on Mr Gibson's planet, he ended Mr Gibson's practice of throwing all his political opponents into the volcano he just happened to have under his palace.' the Doctor, but that's not the same thing at all. The Doctor helped free the slaves on Mr Gibson's planet, he ended Mr Gibson's practice of throwing all his political opponents into the volcano he just happened to have under his palace.'

'Why?' Thelash asked. 'What did the Doctor have to gain from doing that?'

Rum shrugged. 'Mr Gibson started to panic and set the volcano off by dropping a nuke down it. But he didn't check where Mrs Gibson was first.'

'Mrs Gibson?'

'She wasn't called that, I admit. It doesn't matter. His queen, his mate, the mother of his little metal children. She, they, all his allies were wiped out when the volcano erupted. The rebels won. It's a story with a clear moral: don't be such a psycho.'

Thelash nodded. 'Or if you are, then don't build your palace on an active volcano.' She looked back at the hologlobe and all the sc.r.a.p metal. 'Is the Doctor under all that, do you think?'

Rum was pale. He'd just seen a pair of shattered headlights staring blindly into the camera. 'Thelash ... that is is Mr Gibson.' Mr Gibson.'

Thelash looked at him. 'This is not good,' she concluded.

'Sit down,' Debbie ordered the Doctor.

The Doctor found a section of crash barrier that hadn't been twisted out of shape or hurled off the hillside and did as he was told. Debbie leaned in alongside him. Barry was still staring down into the valley, transfixed by the rising column of black smoke.

'It's a cold night,' the Doctor said, looking up at the stars. 'A clear sky.'

'Doctor...' she began.

'I can't remember,' he replied quickly. Then more slowly, 'There's obviously a lot I can't remember.'

'That robot said you destroyed its planet.'

'Yes.'

'You can't remember?'

'No.'

Debbie sighed. 'Does destroying planets sound like the sort of thing you do?'

The Doctor shook his head. 'How are we going to get back into town?' he asked. 'We need to get to Miranda.'

Barry had come over. 'Too right. Or at least get to a phone to warn them.'

There was a car coming. Debbie found herself flinching.

'It's a Sunbeam,' Barry said, exercising his talent for identifying cars from their headlights.

The three of them stood in the road, waving their arms and hoping it wasn't so dark the driver wouldn't see them.

The car slowed down, and Debbie was surprised to recognise the owner.

'It's Kim Dawkins,' she said.

The Doctor was scanning the horizon. Barry was opening up the car door.

'What's going on here?' Mrs Dawkins asked. She had seen the column of smoke and the wrecked crash barrier. She looked haunted.

'We've run into some friends of yours,' Debbie said.

'They... they killed John,' Mrs Dawkins said softly. Debbie wondered if she was in the early stages of shock. It didn't look like she was safe to drive any more.

'Miranda?' the Doctor asked, coming over.

Kim looked at the blanket on the back seat. 'I drugged her. They're following me on discs.'

'I've got a good view, and there's no sign of them yet.'

'John hit one of the hoverdiscs. That will slow them down.'

Barry looked around. 'I'll keep watch,' he said.

'We know everything,' Debbie said. 'We've been aboard their s.h.i.+p.'

'We don't know everything,' the Doctor cautioned. 'We know one person's version of events. I doubt the Imperial Family were really as bad as Zevron painted them.'

Mrs Dawkins sighed. 'I imagine everything they told you was true. Miranda's people abused their genetic privileges. Their birthright gave them great powers and potential. To a man, every member of the Family used those gifts to satisfy their own l.u.s.t for power. For centuries, every one was a s.a.d.i.s.t, a pervert, a ma.s.s murderer ' She started to choke.

The Doctor was trying to keep her talking, trying to keep her focused. 'You're not her real parents, but you were on the Emperor's side during the civil war?'

Mrs Dawkins nodded. 'I was part of the Emperor's household, a wet nurse. John was a bodyguard. Miranda is the Emperor's granddaughter, last of that line. She was two months old when Zevron came for her. We couldn't let her die.'

'They're here!' Barry shouted, running over.

The hoverdisc was arcing towards them, barely visible in the night sky.

Mrs Dawkins had a gun in her hand. 'Take Miranda, Doctor. Keep her safe.'

Debbie opened the back door of the car and lifted Miranda out, keeping her wrapped in her blanket. She was surprisingly light.

Debbie ran for cover. Behind her, Mrs Dawkins was firing into the night, using the same sort of weapon the Hunters had had on the s.h.i.+p. She pulled herself down into a ditch at the side of the road. She had a good view out, but was well hidden.

The Doctor and Barry were shoulder to shoulder, waiting for the hoverdisc to arrive.

It was moving slowly, weighed down by having two men on it. The Deputy was piloting, the Prefect had something in his hand. As it swept past the car, barely four feet above it, something fell from the hoverdisc and clanked against the roof.

The Doctor shouted something and pulled Barry and Kim away.

The Talbot exploded. Before tonight, Debbie had never seen a car explode. Now she knew just what to expect tiny explosions, followed by a big whump whump as the petrol tank went up. as the petrol tank went up.

The hoverdisc came in to land. The Prefect disembarked, but the Deputy stayed put. Once the Prefect was on the ground, the disc was airborne again, and was much faster. The Deputy was swooping around, keeping Kim Dawkins and her ray gun away from the Prefect.

'Where's the girl?' the Prefect shouted at the Doctor and Barry.

Debbie ducked her head down, s.h.i.+elding Miranda from view.

'Stay where you are, Doctor,' the Prefect ordered. He was tall, powerfully built, but he was practically middle-aged.

The Doctor stood his ground.

'Here!' Barry objected, shoving himself in front of the Doctor.

'Mr Castle, don't,' the Doctor warned. 'The Prefect is '

Barry turned. 'Don't think I've forgotten what you were doing with my wife. I'll deal with you in a minute, once I've got rid of this '

The Prefect gave him a swift chop to the shoulder, and Barry sank to the floor.

'Now, Doctor,' the Prefect said, 'where is the Last One?'

Barry pulled himself up, pushed his way between them.

The Prefect elbowed him in the stomach, Barry doubled up.

Barry grabbed the man's shoulder, and pulled himself upright.

The Prefect turned to face him. 'The capacity for learning is clearly not one of your attributes.'

'You sound like her her,' Barry said, c.o.c.king his head towards Debbie.

The Prefect smiled, and starting heading towards her.

'Oh, well done,' the Doctor said scornfully. 'You've led him right to '

Barry headb.u.t.ted the Doctor, left him lying where he fell and ran up to the 'Prefect'.

Barry lunged to punch him, but his opponent was too fast, stepping out of the way and delivering a blow to Barry's shoulder as he went past.

'You're asking for it, now,' Barry warned him. 'You want a go? You want a go?'

The Prefect frowned at Barry, then lashed out. Barry fell to the ground, and this time had the sense to stay down.