Doctor Who_ Full Circle - Andrew Smith [4]
'What?' The Doctor sounded almost disappointed. 'You mean to tell me that after going through all that, that the systems are still perfectly all right?'
'Not perfectly, master. The Adverb attributed was "normally".'
The Doctor assessed the information - or lack of it. Something had happened of which K9 had no programmed cognisance - something quite plainly violent, but which had left them apparently none the worse for wear. What could possibly - ?
'Doctor, we're landing.'
The Doctor turned his head to see that the console's central column was slowing to a halt. 'Indeed we are,' he said with enthusiasm, moving to the console and turning the lever which operated the wall scanner.
The scanner doors, opposite the Doctor's position, slid apart to reveal a grey, arid desertscape stretching as far as the eye could see. In the far distance a mountain seemed to float, magically, on a carpet of grey heat-haze.
'The wilderness of Outer Gallifrey,' the Doctor intoned. A smile-tic played around the corners of his mouth. He looked at Romana and saw her expression was one of total despair. 'Ready to go?' he asked with forced cheerfulness.
Romana released a dour sigh and leaned back against the console. 'If you say so,' she said, looking around forlornly.
'Oh, come on!' The Doctor's patience was all but at an end. If she was left to wallow in her own despair it would do her nothing but harm. 'It's not the end of the universe - we're home!'
Romana's head dipped lower. 'Sorry.'
'And don't apologise,' the Doctor barked at her. 'Just try and brighten up a bit.'
'I'll try.'
'You do that.' The Doctor pressed the door lever. The two huge entrance doors glided open with an electronic hum. Without another word, the Doctor marched out.
Romana sighed, looking around the room for what would probably be her last time, committing as much as she could to memory. So much had happened to her in this room. The smile prompted by her recollections gave way under a renewed surge of despair. She would have to get her things. She started for her quarters, but had not moved three paces when she heard the Doctor calling for her from outside.
There was something in his tone that made Romana run for the doors. Emerging from the TARDIS, she drew to an abrupt halt, mouth agape, staring in utter bewilderment at her surroundings.
The Doctor stood a short distance away from her, looking round. He turned to her with a serious expression. 'This isn't Gallifrey,' he said.
'It certainly isn't,' Romana concurred.
The TARDIS had not landed in the desertscape depicted on the scanner. It sat amid a verdant tapestry of magnificent sylvan splendour. Trees of breathtaking beauty grew majestically tall all around the two bemused time-travellers.
The Doctor was not yet aware that the TARDIS had set down on the planet Alzarius.
2
'I'm an Elite'
The three great men walked purposefully along the gleamingly immaculate starliner passageway, moving through what had once been passenger recreation areas, now study areas for the children of the community, towards Dexeter's science research area.
They were the Deciders. The three leaders of the starliner community, revered and respected by all citizens.
First Decider Exmon Draith was a staunch, hardy character, well suited to the position of having ultimate control over the lives of what were now thousands of souls. Despite this position of responsibility, however, his two colleagues, Decider Ragen Nefred and Decider Jaynis Garif, actually rated as his equals on most matters. Where a decision had to be made, democracy was the key. Any two Deciders could overrule the third, even if that third Decider was Draith. The only instance in which Draith could overrule the unanimous votes of his two fellow-Deciders was when the System Files came into play.
No one could view the System Files except the First Decider. They held information on the history of the starliner community, going back over its many, many generations, back to and beyond the time of the crash. Information