Doctor Who_ Companion Piece - Mike Tucker [39]
The guards had fought to the last man. The secular arm of the Holy Inquisition was severed and broken.
The Doctor suspected that, apart from those remaining on the bridge, there could be few of del Toro's forces left alive on the ship.
Down other corridors ran a host of warriors, protected within gassuits that had been daubed with rough and gaudy religious symbols and hung with the trophies of earlier battles — ears, scalps, the occasional entire head, grimacing in death. They carried an eclectic armoury of heavy projectile and plasma-beam weapons, hand-blasters and exotic blade weapons from all over the galaxy. A barbarian horde.
`W e should get the robots into position, said the Doctor.
The Grand Inquisitor nodded. At this signal, the doors slid silently apart and the priests filed swiftly through. The Doctor had programmed them all with a simple battle plan. Just enough to pin the enemy down, allowing them time to slip past and out to the storage bays.
`W e should be ready to go soon: said the Doctor.
`Good luck, Doctor: said Patriarch Julian, 'and may God bless you'
`W hat do you mean?' Del Toro's eyes narrowed.
`Don't worry, Grand Inquisitor, I'm not hatching some plot. I leave that to you. I'm simply not coming with you:
`You can't possibly survive here,' said the Doctor. 'But you know that, don't you?'
`I am an old man, Doctor, and sometimes the ideas and beliefs that one accumulates over a lifetime can blind one to the fundamentals of one's faith and to the truths of the present. I told Catherine she should be as a child before God, and I must do the same. The Church is in turmoil and I have turned my back on it, when I should be asking what any good child would ask — how can I help?'
`You can do nothing!' snapped del Toro. 'Look around you! All is chaos!'
`And the Holy Inquisition thrives on chaos. John Paul did nothing to check you, and now you can't risk the conclave uniting behind a single Pope with the power to stop you. Instead, you desire to be Pope yourself, at which point no one will be able to stop you. W hen did you realise the opportunity that the Doctor and I inadvertently afforded you? Before I did, I'll wager. A Time Lord — one of the witches of Haven — accused of murdering a beloved Cardinal, brought to a conclave already riven by fear and paranoia. The place would have erupted!'
`The conclave doesn't need my intervention: sneered del Toro. 'It's quite capable of falling apart on its own. I am the only one who can reunite it'
`W e shall see: said the Patriarch. 'Open a communication channel to Rome'
Cat had backed up just about as far as she could go. She'd dodged around crates and machinery, working her way towards the door.
`Philippor the Bishop had shouted. 'Shut the doors!'
The flagellant had ignored the Bishop, who had then broken off the chase to go over and kick him, hard, in the back. Thus spurred into action, the man had scampered to his feet, crossed to the entrance and hit a button. As the door slid shut, he turned and placed his back against it, his fists clenched in defiance.
`Hey, c'mon,' said Cat. 'I'm just a girl and he's a Bishop, and he's trying to kill me! That can't be right, can it?'
`Don't talk to the witch!' the Bishop panted.
`I can keep this up longer than you she taunted. 'You're three times my age and about twenty times my weight. You'll give yourself a heart attack!'
Agatho lunged, and stumbled. Cat sprinted across the hold. She passed the corpse . . . or whatever it was . . . of Paddy, and looked away. Crates were lined in jumbled rows against the far wall, towering towards the ceiling. Cat ducked into the maze, looking around for a way out, or somewhere to hide.
She darted between the towering