Doctor Who_ Lungbarrow - Marc Platt [127]
'Ask him how he escaped,' called Glospin. 'Ask him what rescued him!'
'Continue, Doctor,' said the voice in Satthralope's throat.
'Glospin then returned to Lungbarrow. After the Deathday, he deliberately made himself ill enough to die. He used my DNA sample to regenerate himself in my image.'
Innocet gasped. 'And then he murdered Quences!'
'And you saw me, Innocet, at least you assumed it was me, leaving Quences's room, just as he hoped. He then regenerated again into his current form. His fourth generation, not his third.'
Innocet faced Glospin. 'Were you that desperate? There's nothing to which you have not stooped.'
'Prove it,' said Glospin. 'They're lying.'
Satthralope's body had started to tremble. 'I saw the murder,' it growled. 'Satthralope said, she said that Quences lived. And the assailant...' Her eyes blazed at Glospin. 'I see it now. Relive it again. It echoes in my walls and corridors. The assailant lifts the double blade. He has a burn on his arm. A burn so deep, no regeneration wil heal it!'
The House shuddered around them.
Glospin grabbed at the Doctor and hauled him forward. 'Ask this one where I got the burn. Ask Redred about the proof I gave him. We've seen who he real y is. Ask Redred!'
Ferain looked towards the captain. 'Well, where is this proof?'
Redred felt the bruise on his jaw. 'I have passed it to my superior, My Lord. To President Romanadvoratrelundar.'
'President?' said Innocet.
Glospin, his face snarling with rage, pointed at the Doctor. 'He's used us. He's far more powerful than he lets us see. He infiltrated our Family. Once, long ago, he lived on Gallifrey and he was known as the Other. This is where the legend came to. To our Family. Why else do you think we're all mad? And when he attacked me, it was the mythical Hand of Omega that came to his rescue!'
The entire gathering was staring at Glospin in disbelief.
'Innocet knows,' Glospin shouted. 'Ask her. She knows who he was!'
Innocet studied the Doctor hard. 'I know nothing of the sort,' she said.
Glospin laughed aloud.
'My Lord Ferain,' said the Doctor. 'I rest my case.'
'Just a minute,' said Chris. 'Don't forget about Arkhew. He saw the murder too and he recognized Glospin.'
206
Glospin sneered between his two agents. 'Oh yes, that little runt came to me shouting accusations. But I didn't kill him. Owis did that. Strangled him and threw him in the mushrooms.'
There was a whimper from the group of Cousins.
'Little stoker,' growled Rynde.
Owis squealed like a cornered piglet. 'He told me to do it! Glospin told me, if I didn't get rid of Arkhew, I'd be terminated as an illegal Replacement!'
He disappeared under a hail of blows from his Cousins. The agents had to haul him out.
The Doctor held out a hand to Satthralope. 'Time, at last, for the wil to be read.'
She was clutching the datacore. 'He's dead,' she said. 'Satthralope lied. Quences is dead.'
'Yes, he is,' the Doctor said. 'Please release the will,'
'If you do,' shouted Glospin, 'then the Doctor'll get everything! Do you want that? He doesn't even belong here!'
The old Housekeeper was shaking. Thunder rolled again within the House.
The Cousins started to move in a mass towards the Doctor. The headless Drudge lurched in from the other side.
The Doctor snatched the will from Satthralope's hands. 'Badger!' he shouted as he threw it across the Hall.
The massive robot caught the datacore and held it delicately between its massive claws.
The core gleamed with energy.
Instantly, Quences was standing like a ghost beside his own coffin. 'Please don't hurt my successor,' he said.
***
Dorothée levered open the skylight. A shower of loose soil and rocks nearly