Doctor Who_ Battlefield - Marc Platt [53]
‘So they translated it into terms they could understand,’
Ace went on. ‘And old frozen chicken becomes the King of the Britons.’
The Doctor’s eyes narrowed with concentration. ‘So the real King Arthur becomes the real Real Arthur...’
‘Doctor.’ said Lethbridge-Stewart.
‘No, Brigadier, this is important.’
The ancient sword lay beside its scabbard on the coffee table. Ace lifted the weapon. It was heavy again.
‘And since this is Excalibur...’ she said.
The Doctor snapped his fingers in triumph. ‘Then it must be the source of Arthur’s power. Why didn’t I think of that?’
Ace grinned at Shou Yuing. ‘And so it’s a vital control element of the spaceship under the lake.’ She raised the sword vertically with both hands and plunged it down. ‘It wasn’t stuck in the stone. It was plugged in!’
‘Yes, you could be right,’ the Doctor enthused. ‘That’s the trouble with parallel worlds.’
‘What?’
He shook his head. ‘They’re parallel.’
Ace held up the sword again. ‘I bet Ancelyn knows...
knew.’ She looked at the floor, embarrassed.
The Brigadier took his opportunity at last. ‘Doctor, Major Husak has taken a detachment to recover the bodies of Brigadier Bambera and Ancelyn.’
‘What good are their bodies?’ snapped Ace. She felt the Doctor’s hand on her shoulder.
‘UNIT looks after its own, alive or dead.’ The Brigadier looked down at the human shape that lay burnt against the floor. ‘And I want these ashes buried with honour.’
Ace went cold. She hadn’t realized what she was standing in the same room with.
‘Sorry,’ she said. She didn’t seem to have done much right lately.
The Doctor stroked her chin with the back of his fingers. ‘That was very clever, Ace, what you worked out with the sword.’
‘It was Shou Yuing too.’
‘Yes. But I can’t think of everything at once.’
‘Thanks, Professor.’
There was a blurt of sound as the Brigadier’s radio came alive. ‘Husak to Greyhound One. The Seabirds are still operational. I repeat, the Seabirds are still operational!’
Morgaine stood at the heart of the octogrammaton, a web of power surrounding her. At her feet, enfolded in her cloak, sat her son. The crystal sphere, window across the worlds, hovered before them in the dark air of the old priory. Images flickered within its shape.
‘The Knight Commander has failed,’ said Mordred.
‘Be not so harsh in your judgements, my son. This is Merlin.’
‘But he has Excalibur.’
‘Patience,’ whispered the Queen. ‘We have forestalled Arthur’s arising. Now we shall use more subtle arts against his fool conjuror.’
The grimoires and books of lore that she had studied since she was a novice spoke of the spirits that dwelt all around them. As her knowledge grew with her power, she learned to bind the spirits to her will. The trees and the waters. The fair and foul fiends that went by the names of their tasks: the Lightning, Winds and Mists; the Menders and the Healers; the Destroyer.
Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart spread the map across the coffee table and pointed to the road leading from the lake.
‘Husak found the car here. They’d obviously abandoned it, because he found Bambera’s beret further into the woods.’
‘Well, at least they’re alive,’ said the Doctor.
‘Yes, but Husak reckoned they were heading back to the lake.’
‘Towards the missile convoy?’
‘That’s where Bambera’s unit is.’
The Doctor squinted at the map again. ‘But if they lead Morgaine’s troops there...’
‘It’s a fully armed nuclear missile,’ said the Brigadier.
‘Don’t you have procedures for situations like this?’ the Doctor snapped.
‘The unit’s already on a Broken Arrow alert.’
‘Oh, very reassuring.’
‘I gather the next scenario is known as Bent Spear. I’ll have to check procedures.’
The Doctor finally lost his temper. ‘If there’s an accident, Brigadier... We have to stop any engagement. Is there a helicopter available?’
To the Doctor’s annoyance, the Brigadier smiled knowingly and said, ‘Much better than that, Doctor.’
He walked smartly out of the lounge and through the hotel hall into the open air.
The Doctor followed and was brought up in his tracks by the familiar object