Doctor Who_ Byzantium! - Keith Topping [9]
'You said that about the Aztecs once, remember?' replied Ian with a sly chuckle. The Doctor shot him a reproachful look.
Ànd I learned my lesson well,' added Barbara with barely a tinge of regret in her voice, as she continued to look at the clearing monochrome image on the scanner screen. The TARDIS had landed at an angle on an outcrop of sand and stone, beside a rock crevice and a steep incline. Beyond, in the shimmering middle-distance of a lengthy stretch of barren scrubland, was the glistening, pale azure majesty of the river meeting the sea. And beside it, a large settlement of towering domed roofs and spires and minarets - a town of white sandstone that rose vertically out of the desert like a mirage.
'Istanbul?' offered Vicki.
`Constantinople, not Istanbul!' replied Ian, reflecting that the girl's history could do with a bit of revision.
'Byzantium, actually,' concluded Barbara with a wink to a crestfallen Ian. It won't be Constantinople for another two hundred-odd years. The Imperial City. Gateway to the East.'
'Very educational. I'm sure,' noted the Doctor with seeming disinterest. Ànd now, I suppose, you want to go and have a look at it, do you, hmm?'
Barbara was suddenly thirteen again and trying to persuade her father to take her to the Tower of London. 'Oh Doctor,'
she said, almost pleadingly, 'we must. When the Greeks talked about stin polis, Byzantium was the model on which all others were based, including Athens. There's so much history...’
The Doctor's face was a picture. 'It is always like this whenever we land in Earth's past. I am lectured on matters of which I am already aware'
Ì apologise,' said Barbara, genuinely, clasping her hands over the Doctor's own, 'I know I can be a bit academic at times, but...'
`Yes, we can go,' sighed the Doctor. 'And, no doubt, some terrible fate will befall us. It usually does.'
`Where's your spirit of adventure, Doctor?' asked Ian.
This brought a scowl to the old man's face. 'It seems to have suffered a rather severe dent from all of the trouble you two keep getting me into,' he growled. 'I don't know why I continually allow you to persuade me to blunder into such hair-brained adventures.'
And, with that, he shuffled out of the console room, muttering to himself.
`He is joking, isn't he?' asked Vicki.
'I think so,' replied Barbara. 'With the Doctor, you can never tell'
Correctly dressed in suitable clothing for the period, Barbara stood beside the TARDIS food machine considering whether or not to give it a thump with the flat of her hand as the Doctor emerged from one of the numerous changing rooms adjusting his tunic and toga robe. ‘I wish you would get this contraption fixed,' Barbara offered. `This morning I wanted porridge and it gave me boiled eggs and toast.'
'Unreliability is a sincere virtue,' replied the Doctor, convivially. 'What would life be without a surprise every now and then?'
Ì'll remember that the next time you get a curry instead of chicken soup,’ noted Barbara. Then she returned her attention to the scanner and the city 'I can't tell you how excited I am about this.'
`So I've noticed,' replied the Doctor, flatly. He wore a worried look and drew Barbara closer, as if what he was about to say was a secret never to be repeated. `Please, be careful,' he said at last.
Àren't I always?' asked Barbara, offended. 'I mean, since Mexico I've...'
The Doctor impatiently cut into her by now well-rehearsed mantra. 'Yes, yes. That is not the issue, don't you see?' he asked, strongly. 'I know how much first-hand knowledge means to you, my child. I know, too, that you would never willingly endanger the safety of any of us.’
Barbara was both touched and surprised by this revelation. 'Thank you,' she said, a little flustered. `So, why the headmaster's lecture? Don't you think you should be giving Vicki a crash course in how time looks after itself?
You've drummed