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By Root 509 0

it and echoing back upon itself in a complex web of sound. Sometimes the song reverberated in a single pure note loud enough to make the stairs beneath my feet tremble: moments later I could distinguish individual voices raised in sweet harmony. I had heard this before. I racked my mind trying to remember where, and then it came to me. Mrs Prendersly had repeated those words to the Doctor and I in her house in Deptford just before she had burned to death, having heard them from the lips of her husband. It was also what Maupertuis' mysterious hooded companion had been singing in the brothel in Euston.

I caught sight of a movement in the centre of the cave. There amidst the singing wise men, Maupertuis, Tir Ram, Colonel Warburton, Gloria Warburton and Smithee were making their way towards a raised dais which contained three ornate chairs. The gigantic Surd was following his master. I nudged Bernice.

'I'm way ahead of you,' she said. 'Look over there.'

She gestured to the bottom of the stairway, where the three Indians with their captors had just reached the ground. A fourth man had been waiting for them. He was holding the Doctor by the scruff of the neck.

'Now is the time for all good men to come to the aid of the party,' I murmured.

'What?'

'We have to rescue them!'

Bernice sighed.

'I'm open to suggestions,' she whispered.

By this time the Doctor, Holmes, Lord Roxton and Mr O'Connor had been dumped at the foot of the dais upon which Maupertuis, Warburton and Tir Ram sat. Mrs Warburton and Smithee stood behind the chairs. The Doctor, still clutching what was by now a rather battered umbrella, gazed up balefully at them. The other three prisoners seemed to be recovering from the effects of whatever narcotic drug the betel nut had been adulterated with. Holmes was pulling himself painfully to his feet, whilst the other two were holding their heads and groaning. Maupertuis leaned forward to stare at them.

'You have each tried to interfere in my plans,' he said. 'You have crept on your bellies into this country and followed me here to the country of my friend Tir Ram, ready to stop me in my grand venture.' His voice was as quiet as wind in dry grass, and yet I could hear him clearly above the background chanting.

Mr O'Connor removed a small notebook from his jacket and began making notes: of what I could not guess.

'I do not understand,' Maupertuis continued. 'My only aim is to extend British influence to the stars, bringing more dominions under the control of the Queen.'

He gestured to the regiments lined up in the shadows.

'My army, drawn from the ranks of the poor and the powerless in the slums of England's great cities, trained and commanded by my brave general...'

Warburton preened himself.

'. . . will march through the portal created by the wisdom of my ally, whose land is best placed to be the launching point for this glorious enterprise. . .'

Tir Ram smiled slightly.

'. . . and place this virgin territory, its goods and its chattels, its spices, oils and minerals, its people and their treasures, under British dominion. Yet you try to stop me. Why?'

The Doctor stepped forward.

'You will be spreading death and destruction across the cosmos,' he cried.

'The British Empire is based upon oppression and slavery. You offer not the hand of friendship but the jackboot of tyranny! I shall prevent your plans!'

'Ah,' said Maupertuis, 'a liberal. There are always those whose hearts bleed for the underdogs. You fail to understand: there will always be underdogs.

You cannot prevent it.'

He turned to Holmes.

'And you, Mr Holmes. What interest has a private detective in my affairs?'

Holmes grasped the lapels of his linen suit and stepped forward to stand beside the Doctor. His expression was calm, supercilious even.

'A number of books were stolen from a library in Holborn. A lady named Kate Prendersly was murdered in Deptford. A footman was also murdered in Euston. It is my intention to bring you to justice for those crimes.'

Maupertuis leaned back in his throne.