Doctor Who_ Empire of Death - BBC Worldwide [95]
Without seeing this realm for myself and with Master Lees already dead, it seems we must accept this truth - however painful it may prove'
The Doctor stepped forward. 'Your Majesty, I believe there is more at stake here than whether or not that portal leads to an afterlife. The general is correct when he says there is a grave threat present here, not just to your good self but to all of mankind.'
`How so, Doctor?'
`Before I can tell you, ma'am, there are some questions I must put to the general, with your permission' Victoria nodded her approval. The Doctor turned to Doulton. 'How long were you on the other side of the gateway?'
Ìmpossible to say. There were no days or nights. It could have been just a few hours, or slightly longer.'
`So it would surprise you to learn that two days have passed since you and I entered the rift together?' The general nodded, stunned by this revelation. 'How many times have you been back and forth through the portal?'
Ònce when I entered that hellish place and again on my way back. Why?'
`Your Majesty, we have seen the general make two return trips through the gateway. He went back into it again not long before you arrived,' the Doctor said.
Vollmer confirmed this, adding that Doulton seemed a changed man after arriving at Corra Linn. The Doctor had another theory.
`The general did become a changed man - but only after his first return from the portal. At first I thought he was suffering from decompression sickness. I now believe the true Doulton was held prisoner beyond that rift while a doppelganger came back in his place'
À what?' the general asked.
The Queen cleared her throat. 'It is from the German, a legend about the ghostly duplicate of a living person'
Èxactly, ma'am,' the Doctor said. 'General, did you see any of your own men on the other side of the rift?'
`Yes, I was held captive with close to a dozen of them.
Clark here was among them,' Doulton replied, pointing at the lance corporal. 'Come to think of it, how did you get back here before me? Where are the others?'
Clark smiled as he raised his rifle and aimed it at the Queen. 'Nobody moves or else I execute your monarch' The lance corporal made an unearthly noise through the side of his mouth, somewhere between a whistle and a bird of prey's cry. Soldiers rushed into the tent, quickly disarming the Queen's three guards and Vollmer.
`So, you have been replacing the general's troops with your own kind,' the Doctor said. 'But the doppelgangers have only entered into this world after the men they duplicate have travelled through to your side. At an educated guess I would say you can't pass freely through the rift to this dimension -
you need to replace someone who has already travelled to your realm'
`Doctor, what are you talking about? What is happening here?
If this is a mutiny, you shall all swing from the gallows for your treason!' the Queen warned Clark.
He stepped closer to her and pointed the end of his rifle at her forehead. 'Be silent or you shall join your beloved consort in the spirit world sooner than you expected.'
The Doctor was still thinking out loud. 'No duplicate of Nyssa or myself, I notice. So it's fair to surmise the doppelgangers can only adopt human form. The people of Traken or Gallifrey seem to be outside their repertoire. But what about James Lees -
he went through the rift and came back years ago - does that mean he was also a duplicate from beyond the rift? If so, where is the real James?'
À small boy called James helped me escape,' Doulton whispered.
Àll of you - be silent!' Clark commanded.
`But why keep him alive?' The Doctor sighed. 'Still too many questions...'
Ì said be silent!' Clark smashed the butt of his rifle against the back of the Doctor's head. The Doctor crumpled to the ground, blood throbbing from the wound.
`Why did you kill those men? They had done nothing to you!'
Nyssa was being dragged through a rose garden by Tremas, but she knew this creature was not her father.
`We did not want this,' it snarled back. 'We did not begin this.