Doctor Who_ Enlightenment - Barbara Clegg [33]
As he watched, one of them, a Spanish officer, was pushed forward between the two lines of buccaneers. There were jeers and guffaws as he was dragged to the edge of the plank and forced to climb onto it. He took a few trembling steps and tried to turn back, but a cutlass point prodded him on. Another guest was dragged into view to take his turn. And at that moment the Spaniard’s weight tilted the plank downwards and he started slipping. Screaming and slithering frantically, he fell. But as he went into space, the scream was cut short and the man seemed to vanish. The buccaneers lining the deck cheered and clapped, and so did Wrack in the wheel-house. Turlough, alone, was silent.
‘Does it distress you?’ asked Wrack, with a mocking glance.
Turlough was shocked, but it was amazement rather than distress that filled him. ‘What happened to him?’ he gasped.
‘He is out of the race,’ Wrack smiled.
‘But – but the pressure –’ Turlough stuttered. ‘It’s a vacuum – he should have disintegrated – exploded – he just – disappeared –’
‘He is an Eternal,’ Wrack answered. ‘Like me. We do not exist in Time, so there is no moment of time that can see us cease to be. We are beyond sequence.’ Turlough shook his head in bewilderment.
‘They will all survive,’ she went on in a bored voice.
‘Merely transfer. You Ephemerals are different. You die so easily.’
She turned to him with a smile. ‘Shall we see? One of the crew, perhaps?’ Turlough shook his head, unable to speak. ‘No?’ There was mocking disappointment in Wrack’s voice. And then a burst of shouting from the buccaneers below made him look down again. They were all staring up at the wheel-house, a sea of grinning faces.
‘Shall we join them on deck?’ Wrack asked, some secret amusement in her voice.
‘Why?’ Turlough stared at her blankly.
‘They’re waiting for you.’
The smile on her face was so evil that Turlough knew at once what she meant.
‘No! No – you don’t understand!’ he gasped. And before he knew where he was, Mansell and a second officer had grabbed him. He struggled violently, but they held him firm, and Wrack walked over and looked at him.
‘I understand very well,’ she said. ‘The Doctor was not the only spy.’
‘I wasn’t spying!’ The cry was wrenched from Turlough.
‘You forget – I can see into an Ephemeral mind. Even a murky one such as yours.’
‘But I’m on your side,’ he protested desperately. ‘I just wanted a share – just some of the prize.’
‘You wanted it all!’ There was contempt in Wrack’s voice. ‘Your mind is divided – confused – hard to read sometimes. But there is one thing clear in it always. Greed.’
She turned her back. ‘Take him away. He bores me.’
Turlough started struggling again, but he was dragged inexorably towards the door. ‘No – no, listen –’ he gasped, straining frantically to gain her attention – to convince her
– to make her change her mind. ‘I heard – When I was outside the ion chamber – I heard it – the Power that speaks to you. I heard – and I know the voice!’
Wrack turned and looked at him. And Turlough tried a last desperate throw.
‘He speaks to me as well,’ he gasped. ‘I serve him. As I will serve you.’
The men released him, and crumpling to his knees, he grovelled on the floor at Wrack’s feet.
11
Focus Point
‘I’m going to change’ Tegan said, crossly. ‘I’ve had about enough of this outfit.’ She glared at Marriner, swept into her cabin and banged the door behind her. She also bolted it, and then leant back against it with a sigh of exhaustion.
She wanted no more of Marriner prying into her mind and into her feelings. ‘He’s like a leech!’ she shuddered to herself. She thought about the Doctor and felt even crosser.
How could he imagine that Turlough was staying on that ship to stop the buccaneers winning? Turlough was simply out for his own advantage, and if the Doctor could not see that... Her thoughts broke off in a jangle, and she yanked fiercely at the fastenings of her dress.
In the passageway outside, the two men exchanged a look. ‘Women!’ was what the Doctor’s seemed to say, with puzzled affection. Marriner cleared