Doctor Who_ Companion Piece - Mike Tucker [38]
`Hardly any, sire. Those that haven't been shot are starting to get sick. The gas.'
`You'll have to abandon ship,' said the Doctor.
`How?' sneered del Toro. 'They'd blast the escape modules out of the sky.'
`I take it my TARDIS is aboard? If we can get to it — '
`W e have nothing to hold the enemy back with del Toro interrupted.
`Send the robots: said the Doctor.
`Robots?'
The Doctor crossed the bridge to a young, anxious-looking priest.
`Hello: he said. 'It's Father Paddy, isn't it?'
`I'm sorry?' queried the priest. 'I'm Father James Creggan:
The Doctor reached up to the priest, then suddenly gripped his ear and pulled, hard. His face peeled away in the Doctor's hand, revealing a featureless, translucent, black head-shaped shell.
`W hen did the Church start using robots as priests?' the Doctor asked.
Del Toro hesitated, then at last he spoke. 'It is an experimental project that the Inquisition is carrying out under the direct authority of the late Pope. Highly secret, of course.'
`Scandalous!' exclaimed the Patriarch.
`Necessary, said the Grand Inquisitor. 'Orthodoxy can be programmed in. No more rogue prelates wandering the backworlds spreading heresies
and blasphemies.'
`And I suppose it's more efficient than bugging confessionals?' said the Patriarch. 'I know what you and Agatho have been up to:
`The Good Shepherd project has not been a great success,' said del Toro. 'W e ordered the robots in kit form. The manufacturers sent us duplicate faces for a number of them:
`Stock memory-implants, too,' commented the Doctor.
`Quite. Two priests believed they were actually the same man. The Chief Executive of the company is currently in our custody.'
`How many robots are aboard?'
`About fifty. Most of them are out there.'
`And in here?'
`Six:
`Then send them out there, man!'
`They're not programmed to fight, Doctor.'
`And yet a robot killed Cardinal Runciman. I knew there was something strange about the faceless monk. W hen I was . . . disembodied .. . everybody was giving off some sort of energy signature — an aura. Everybody except the monk. He was a robot, wasn't he?'
`That was Agatho's doing:
Agatho? W hy?'
`To stop Runciman getting to Rome, no doubt; Julian cut in. 'You have been stirring trouble in the backworlds for months, del Toro, trying to tie the Cardinal's hands, prevent him from attending the conclave:
`I told Agatho that he had to be stopped as a matter of extreme urgency,' said del Toro. 'I never told him to kill Runciman. The man's unhinged:
`W hat did you do to him?'
Cat backed away from the fat, trembling cleric.
`I don't know. I was trying to erase his memory? Agatho replied. 'He's not human, do you see?'
`W hat's going on?'
`I'm trying to save my skin,' said Agatho. 'I've only ever done what the Grand Inquisitor asked of me! I won't go to Rome to be accused of murder!'
`I doubt we'll get to Rome,' said Cat. 'Can't you feel what's happening to the ship? Something's wrong: She started to make for the door. 'I need to find the Doctor.'
`Oh no, my dear. I can't let you go now, do you see? You've seen too much:
He moved to intercept her.
`Get out of my way:
`Forgive me, Lord,' said the Bishop, and his podgy hands extended towards Cat's throat.
A row of fresh-faced young priests loaded down with heavy weaponry prepared to break from the bridge and engage the enemies of God, whose gunfire could now be heard through the bulkheads.
Reprogramming them had been simple — the Doctor had been familiar with the type. 'That should do it said the Time Lord, patting the last in line on the head. 'W here are our visitors now?'
He turned to the giant screen, now displaying the images from hundreds of internal cameras, like a giant chessboard. Most of the corridors were silent and empty. Some were littered with the twisted or burned corpses of those who had got in the way of the invading forces.
The guard had been brave, but had no defence against the sheer destructive force of the