Doctor Who_ Father Time - Lance Parkin [36]
‘I like a happy ending,’ the Doctor informed him.
‘It isn’t over, yet,’ the Deputy snarled at him. ‘There’s still much rebuilding to be done, there are still many wounds that must heal. The Prefect is a key figure in the reconstruction.’
‘If that’s keeping you busy, then why leave there to come here?’ Debbie asked.
The Prefect looked at her for the first time. ‘An intelligent question,’ he commended her.
‘And the answer?’ the Doctor asked.
The Prefect smiled. ‘The war, as with all wars, saw refugees. Even before that, to escape the political purges instigated by the Imperial Family, many people fled into the depths of space or –’
‘The depths of time,’ the Doctor completed. ‘People used time machines to hide in the safety of the past.’
Debbie wondered what the Doctor could be running from.
‘As their palaces and fortresses fell, some members of the Imperial Family fled into time. With her dying breath, my mother declared a blood feud on the Emperor and all his line...’
The Prefect drew a knife from his belt. It had a six-inch blade, slightly curved, with an ebony handle. The blade was rusted. It looked very old, but also very sharp.
‘A ceremonial weapon,’ the Doctor guessed. ‘You’ve tracked the Imperial Family. Hunted them down.’
There was a glint in the Prefect’s eye. ‘It was a system instigated by the Imperial Family themselves. The terms of the feud and the rules of engagement are clear – everyone of his blood is to die by that knife. Miranda is the Last One. The last of her race.’
Debbie gasped. ‘You want to kill her? You want to kill Miranda?’
‘I will cut her hearts from her chest as I did with the others. And then it will be over.’ There was a hint of regret in his voice, but not a flicker of doubt. He would do it, given the chance.
‘Hearts?’ the Doctor echoed.
‘Members of the Imperial Family have two hearts,’ the Deputy explained. ‘It’s how you tell their kind apart.’
The Doctor shook his head. ‘She’s a girl.’
‘Now, yes. But she will be a tyrant. It is inevitable, as inevitable as an acorn becoming an oak. You must help me find her and stop her.’
‘You’re asking me to tell you how to find a ten-year‐old girl so you can go round and butcher her?’
The Prefect nodded earnestly. ‘For the sake of the universe. To put things right.’
‘Whatever crimes her family committed, whatever wrong they did you, Miranda is innocent.’
‘I remember her starting school,’ Debbie told him. ‘I’ve watched her grow up. She’s never harmed anyone. She’s kind, and funny and clever and...’
‘She is evil,’ the Deputy stated simply.
The Doctor stood. ‘Can we have our coats back, please? This discussion is over. I will not be party to the death of a ten-year‐old girl, whatever her destiny, however inevitable it is.’ The Doctor hesitated. ‘I will do everything in my power to stop you,’ he vowed.
The Prefect nodded. But not at the Doctor’s request – he was giving a signal to his Deputy. Debbie glanced over her shoulder, and saw that the bald man had moved behind the Doctor. There was something in his hand. Something metal. He raised his arm.
‘Doctor!’ she screamed. ‘Look out!’
But it was too late. The Deputy stabbed down at the Doctor’s head, slapping something to it.
The Doctor’s legs buckled and he fell over, a glistening metal slug attached to his scalp. It wriggled into his hair.
He scrambled, trying to get it off. He fell to his knees, his arms swiping spastically.
When it started to bury itself in his head, the Doctor started to scream.
* * *
Chapter Eight
Prefect Timing
The Doctor’s body lay on the floor.
Debbie tried to revive him, but the Deputy pushed her away, then bent down to recover the metal thing that was attached to the Doctor’s head. He pulled it free of the long hair.
‘What have you done?’ she asked. She was shaking.
The Prefect was calm, clinical. He held up the metal slug, which wriggled. ‘This device is a mindeater. It extracts memories. If the Doctor knows where the Last One is, now we do, too.’
‘Extracts memories?’
The Deputy looked over at her. She could