Doctor Who_ Interference_ Book One - Lawrence Miles [62]
Once the guards had gone, Badar tried to talk to him again, although he didn’t seem very receptive.
‘Hurts,’ the man said. He flapped his good arm around, the fingers jerking in strange patterns.
‘We have to finish the world,’ Badar told him.
The man stopped flapping, but his fingers still shook.
‘Tell me,’ said Badar. ‘Tell me about the rules. The rules of your people.’
‘What… do you want to… to know?’
Badar thought for a moment. ‘Why did you come here?’
‘To stop… to stop Guest.’ The man’s head was still shaking, so the words were broken, difficult to make out. ‘He was trying to… supply equipment… to the British. Alien equipment. Torture equipment. The… Cold…’
Badar didn’t know who Guest was, but he didn’t ask. ‘You wanted to stop him selling arms? To the British?’
‘Yes. Arms. Stop him. Couldn’t let it… couldn’t let the British have… that kind of technology. Alien. Too much power. Too much power. Could have ruined… everything.’
‘I understand. The British… their government… it’s like my government? They torture?’ Badar had heard about such things, but he wasn’t too clear on the details.
‘No. No. Not torture. They sell tools of torture. They don’t… don’t have many principles, I’m afraid.’
‘They’re corrupt?’
‘Yes, I suppose they are. Corrupt. That’s it.’
‘Then you should stop them. You should stop them being.’
Badar heard a choking sound from the man’s throat. He had to cough out his next few words. ‘You mean… the TARDIS?’
‘Your advantage. You should move through time. You should bring down this government.’
‘Can’t. Can’t do that.’
‘Why?’ Badar asked. ‘You said. The truth. You don’t interfere, because you’re afraid. But they’re killing you, here. Nothing to lose. Not now.’
The prisoner laughed. A single laugh, almost lost in the middle of all the choking. ‘Not very logical. If I could get to the TARDIS to change things… I could escape.’
‘No,’ Badar insisted. ‘No, you’re wrong. The ideas. The ideas are all that matter. Forget about escape.’
The next noise from the man sounded almost like a sigh. ‘All right. Theoretically. You’re asking me… you’re asking why I don’t bring down the British government. Or any other government, come to think of it. Is that it?’
‘Yes. You’ve brought down governments before, in your TARDIS. On colony worlds. You said.’
‘Yes. Yes. Terra Alpha. Varos. Proxima Two.’ The man shook his head. ‘Earth… is different. Britain is different. I can’t… can’t get involved in local politics…’
‘The leaders on these colony worlds were politicians,’ Badar pointed out.
‘True. That’s true.’
‘They had… factions? Supporters? Opponents?’
‘Yes. Yes yes yes.’
‘Then what was the difference?’
‘Can’t interfere…’
‘What?’
‘Can’t interfere. I have a friend. Called Sam. She asked me… if we could save other planets… if we could save Kursaal… why not Northern Ireland? Why not Israel? Why not Bosnia?’ The man was nodding to himself now. ‘Sam… she’s like that. She’s so… young…’
‘And what did you tell her?’
‘I said… it would be an abuse. Of power. Of the TARDIS. She… didn’t understand… either.’
‘You care about their politics,’ said Badar.
‘Care…?’
‘You’ve spent time with them, yes? The British.’
‘Yes. Years. Many years.’
‘You think their leaders are special. Different. Not like the leaders of the other planets.’
‘I told you. Earth is different… too sensitive…’
‘You’re lying!’ Badar realised he was shouting, but he had no reason to care. ‘You won’t let the world make sense. You said it’s no different. One leader is like another. Then why won’t you move through time? Why won’t you get rid of the British government? Or mine?’
For a while, there was nothing but the sound of the prisoner’s breathing. Badar wondered whether he was thinking, or whether he’d gone to sleep.
‘I don’t know,’ the man said, eventually.
Badar smiled. His lips cracked, but he didn’t care. ‘Tell me. Who’s the leader