Doctor Who_ Father Time - Lance Parkin [128]
Miranda hugged her father. ‘You’re all right,’ she said, smiling at him. ‘Sorry about your coat.’
He looked down at her. ‘I always seem to lose one fighting these people.’
They looked down at Ferran. ‘It won’t happen again,’ she assured him. ‘We’ve come to an understanding.’
* * *
Chapter Twenty-eight
The Next Generation
Miranda stood before the masses in the refectory, her father by her side. They’d improvised a little podium by stacking dining tables.
Behind them, Cate was keeping a suspicious eye on Ferran. Tarvin and Graltor basked in their new celebrity status. Mather and Mordak stood shoulder to shoulder.
Miranda faced the crowd. There was a good proportion of the crew here. She’d expected them to be in groups – guards and technicians in one corner, slaves in another, like boys and girls at the start of a school disco. But that wasn’t the case at all. The slaves and their former guards mingled, chatted. The uniforms were no longer uniform – a lot of the guards had changed into civvies, and most of the slaves were wearing strips of coloured material as bandanas, sashes or armbands, anything to express their individuality.
Ferran seemed subdued, which was hardly surprising. The crowd had booed him as he’d entered, bayed for his blood. Perhaps a few of them had come here expecting to see a lynching.
Miranda stepped forward.
‘I am Miranda,’ she declared. ‘l am the Last One, Empress of the Known Universe, President of the Supreme Council, and Commander-in‐chief of the Armed Forces of the Known and Unknown Worlds, Custodian of the Artefacts, Master of the Keys to the Four Gods. I am also now Prefect. In the absence of a united Senate, I also decree that I, and I alone, now wield the powers of the Senate, including access to the galactic computer co-ordination networks, trade routes and supply lines. I am also now Head of the Galactic Bank. Oh, and as of ten minutes ago, I’m the commanding officer of this ship. I have the power to do anything now, absolute power over every particle in the universe.’
‘Er... Miranda,’ her father said, nervously, from behind her.
She turned to look at him. His eyes were wide.
He’d gone very pale.
‘Don’t worry,’ she assured him, ‘this is going somewhere.’ She cleared her throat. ‘I now, perfectly legitimately, am the Supreme Being of the Universe.’
‘The Houses and Factions won’t stand for this. There will be anarchy...’ someone said, clearly far louder than he had intended.
‘Whoever said that, come here,’ Miranda commanded.
The culprit trotted forward. ‘I meant no disrespect,’ he apologised, nervously.
‘There will be anarchy,’ Miranda confirmed. ‘I give you that pledge.’
The murmurs in the crowd were louder, this time.
‘People need rules,’ Cate said softly.
Miranda smiled. ‘Anarchy doesn’t mean the absence of rules,’ she declared. ‘It means the absence of rulers. I grant myself supreme power to prevent anyone else from having it. From now on, there will be no more dictators, no more tyrants. Now, with the powers invested in me, I declare all slaves freed, and all soldiers free from their military commissions. Not just here, but throughout the known universe. If anyone tells you they are your master, then tell them that there is no master, that you will not obey them.’
Parts of the crowd started cheering and chanting her name.
Miranda held up her hand. ‘No! I want you to work with me, not to follow me. From now on, we’ll work to build a better society, not fight to preserve an unfair, violent one. So much of the Empire’s economy is spent simply ensuring the survival of the Empire – maintaining the intergalactic fleets, paying a vast standing army, shipping goods around that could be made locally. We can do better than that. We can dismantle the old way and use it as the foundations for something better.’
Ferran joined her. ‘It will not be easy,’ he told them all. ‘Not everyone in a position of power will renounce that power. But we will persuade them. If I can change, then so can they. Miranda cannot do this alone.