Doctor Who_ Full Circle - Andrew Smith [33]
'Perhaps they haven't let you in on the secret yet, Login. Shall we tell him, gentlemen?'
'Frauds?' Garif whined. 'Secrets? What is all this nonsense?' He attempted a laugh and it came out as an unconvincing splutter.
'Perpetual maintenance,' the Doctor reflected. 'The same old tasks going round and round, the same old components being removed and replaced...'
'No, Doctor,' Login cut in brusquely. 'You're too harsh. the preparations are necessary.'
'Preparations? Preparations for what?' The Doctor smirked. 'This starliner isn't going anywhere.'
'It - it must be made ready first,' Garif explained.
'Ready? Made ready?' The Doctor started towards the array of books immediately below the galleries. Just where he would expect to find located what he was looking for. Wrapping one end of his scarf around his fist, he shattered the glass front of the cabinet, reached in, and ripped the books from their places, throwing them onto the floor.
Reaching to the back of the cabinet, he wrenched out a flimsy, well-worn section of wooden panelling, and threw it after the books.
The Doctor regarded the back of the cabinet. He gave a knowing, humourless smile and stepped back, looking up to the Deciders.
Login leaned forward to enable himself to see the rear of the cabinet.
Neither Nefred nor Garif required to look to know what was there.
Login was startled to see, sitting at the back of the cabinet, a glittering, immaculate panel of intricate instrumentation, with read-out displays marked for altitude, thrust, telemetry and stellar proximity.
'This ship has been "made ready" for centuries,' the Doctor revealed to Login. 'It could take off in half an hour if you put your minds to it.'.
Login, infuriated by this, a second of the Deciders' lies exposed, rounded on his colleagues. 'Is this true?' he demanded.
Nefred ignored him. 'You accuse us of wilful procrastination, Doctor?'
'Yes. The wilful procrastination of endless procedure.'
'But... why?' Login asked. 'I don't understand.' 'Afraid to let go of the power structure you've created for yourselves here on Alzarius, perhaps?' the Doctor ventured. 'Am I warm?'
Despite the Doctor's revelation of their most well-kept secret - almost their most well-kept secret, Nefred thought to himself - Nefred managed to retain an air of dignity. 'You understand a great deal, Doctor.'
'Yes.'
'But not everything.'
'That's certainly true.'
Nefred waved an arm. 'We are standing in the Great Book Room. The galleries around you contain manuals on the repair and maintenance of every single item on this ship.'
'Everything is listed,' said Garif. 'Down to the smallest rivet.'
'Thanks to the manuals that have been passed down,' Nefred continued, 'we could take the starliner apart and put it together again perfectly.'
Garif hesitated. 'But there is one thing we can't do, Doctor. One secret our ancestors kept for themselves.'
Nefred looked the Doctor straight in the eye. 'Nobody knows how to pilot this ship.'
For a good few seconds there was total silence in the Great Book Room as both Login and the Doctor took in this staggering piece of information.
Vash, Tylos, Keara, Refnal and Gulner had been appointed as a maintenance crew under foreman Lazris Rok. They were equipped with manuals and with satchels of components, while Rok had their duty list, detailing the components which had to be replaced throughout their area of the starliner.
They came to a corridor junction and stopped by a wall power-point. Refnal and Gulner removed the power-point cover, Keara located the component from the instructions in her manual, Tylos removed the component and put it in his satchel, and Varsh replaced it with another, identical component from the supply in his own satchel. Refnal and Gulner replaced the cover and they moved on.
They had no way of knowing that the component they had just replaced had been renewed by another maintenance crew that very morning, and would be replaced again by yet another crew towards evening.
The Science Unit had been cleared