Doctor Who_ Last Man Running - Chris Boucher [82]
‘And that was banned too, as far as you remember,’ the Doctor said.
‘What do you mean?’
The Doctor beamed at him. ‘I mean it was probably a mistake to have tested it on yourself,’ he said, and then, turning his attention to further along the gallery, he added loudly, ‘You can come out now.’
An identical Monly stepped out of one of the alcoves. He was smiling broadly. ‘If you want something done properly you really have to do it yourself, don’t you?’ he said. ‘Very well.’ He waved dismissively at the scowling Monly standing beside the Doctor. ‘You can go.’
The Doctor shook his head. ‘No. I hate people to do that. It depresses me.’
‘Insult your intelligence?’ Monly asked.
‘Use the same trick twice.’
‘There’s another one, Doctor,’ Leela said standing close to the edge of the bright force field and looking at yet another alcove.
‘I thought there might be,’ the Doctor said. His voice became low and grave. ‘And it isn’t Monly, is it?’
Chapter Ten
It had been a happy coincidence for the extravagant OIG
search-and-retrieval operation that Bardlenor had chosen the unlimited-kill zone. Audiences on both planets were thrilled to see a death struggle, the stalking and countering of two fighters as they manoeuvred to kill each other, develop in the dull surroundings of normal everyday life. Duellists themselves disliked such contests because of the haphazard nature of stores and streets and offices, which took away whatever advantage their particular combat skills gave them.
In addition to that, the instant death penalty for injuring a bystander was an unwelcome and dangerous distraction.
Under the circumstances, no one was surprised that this type of fight was seen as rarely as a toody’s ribcage. The convention was that, offered the choice, you opted for the ground that favoured you and paid a contract premium to your opponent to make up for the advantage. The system was obviously biased towards the rich and successful, since they could always bid the so-called death price high enough to ensure the fight was on their chosen ground.
In this case Bardlenor and Gex were equally rich and successful and as it happened they were both equally accomplished, multi-skilled, close-combat-and-pistol men, so an arena fight was the natural choice for them both. As it was a foregone conclusion, Gex indulged his reputation for firster charm and exquisite good manners and very sportingly and very publicly offered the formal choice of venue to his toody challenger. When Bardlenor specified the unlimited-kill zone everyone was shocked, especially Gex. The early press speculation was that Bardlenor did it ‘to wipe the superior smirk off that skinny face’. Some reports had it that he said
‘wipe the skinny smirk off that firster face’, but people knew not to take the news reports at face value. When he went on to choose First Planet, however, and then to pick the city of Safedown there seemed little doubt that toody-firster resentments lay behind his decision.
What had been a contract challenge between two top professionals took on a new significance. As the camera teams set up well in advance so that they could practise for every conceivable fight variation, and the press besieged the duellists and their agents, there were ugly tensions underneath the general air of excitement. It was fortunate that the planets were run by the same authority and that there were no political or military structures separating them, because handled badly this combat could lead to serious unrest between First Planet and Second Planet – between firster and toody.
‘I have no feeling either way, Director,’ Frith said cautiously.
‘I’ve never really been interested in contract duellists.’ He had paused on his way out of the absurdly grandiose office and was standing at the door waiting to see what the obnoxious little man really had on his mind.
‘Not a fight fan, then,’ Drew boomed from behind his huge desk.
‘No, sir.’
‘Why doesn’t that surprise me, Frith?’
Because you’ve read my file? Frith thought, but said, ‘I don