Doctor Who_ Earthworld - Jacqueline Rayner [28]
The man in the ring had backed as far away as possible from the lion sounds.
Fitz stared down, and even from such a distance he could see the horror in the man’s face. He turned to Antarctica, his face impassive. ‘That’s not an android, is it,’ he said – statement, not question. ‘Everyone here is supposed to be androids, but no one is – not me, not you, not that poor man down there.’
She rolled her eyes in an exasperated but amused fashion. ‘Well, they’re androids, silly,’ she said, pointing to the golden giants just behind Fitz. ‘And the lion is, of course. Cutesy, cutesy lion!’ The last was called into the arena, as another gate thudded open and the magnificent beast prowled out on to the scattered sand. It didn’t look quite right – legs too long, and the tail was more like a horse’s – but the teeth were spot on.
The man in the arena raised the shaking trident. It didn’t look very effective.
Antarctica was cooing to the lion; Africa was leaning forward, eyes gleaming with bloodlust. The third triplet, Asia, cooler than the others, smiled slyly over at Fitz. ‘This is our world. They made us build it for them, but now it’s ours and we’re going to keep it. If people insist on coming in, they have to play our games. That’s the price of admission. So don’t try to rescue him. You’re not allowed.’ She gestured at the menacing golden robots.
And Fitz realised with a horrific sudden-stomach-collapse feeling that he hadn’t even been considering rescuing the man. Had it been the Doctor down there, now, then he would have jumped into the ring in a second and sod the lion and its huge teeth. But it just hadn’t occurred to him to risk his life for this weedy-looking stranger. Damn, there went his patting himself on the back in the TARDIS later on for all the heroic deeds done today. But – yes, of course –
surely the trips weren’t serious about killing this bloke. They wouldn’t be loony enough to commit murder out in the open like this, would they? Or – this was even more likely! – maybe the gladiator man was an android after all and they were just joking. Ha! A funny joke! That’s what it was! Or, maybe, just maybe, the man would win.
Killing Queens
53
But he didn’t.
The camera reluctantly panned away from the blood-soaked corpse, leaving the skinny man lying there, eyes wide open and staring, the look of disbelief and horror frozen on his face by death. The Doctor and Asia had watched the whole performance in silence; the other two hadn’t. Antarctica had been cheering for the darling lion; Africa had been letting out a series of almost sexual moans at each tear of flesh. Now she was panting, eyes shining, a grin of victory and fulfilment.
The Doctor asked casually, ‘Does she tear the wings off butterflies, too?’
‘My sister,’ said Asia, ‘finds enjoyment in many places.’
‘How odd,’ said the Doctor. ‘Considering she’s an android.’
Africa and Antarctica were suddenly silent, swinging round to face the Doctor.
‘What makes you think that?’ asked Asia.
‘I have a gut instinct in these matters. I’ve been watching you, watching that –’ he gestured to the screen – ‘and it wasn’t quite right. Ninety-nine per cent there, but that’s not near enough. Perhaps I’ve met too many androids before.’
‘Have you?’
The Doctor frowned. ‘Yes, I expect I have. Anyway, it seemed the sort of thing I’d do, if I were a mad teenager. The triplets were obviously brought up in a restrictive atmosphere, with a father who cares more about a distant planet than about people. Do you have a mother, by the way? I don’t mean you, of course – the circuit board’s your mother – I mean the real triplets.’
There was a stony silence. Then Antarctica burst into tears. ‘I see,’ said the Doctor. ‘Don’t ask about the mother. You really have been programmed with all the responses, haven’t you? They create their own tiny Earth here in the palace – madness often goes hand in hand with genius – and then are asked to engineer entire worlds, for real. Probably not asked, told.’ He began to pace up and down in front of the three. ‘They’d be