Doctor Who_ Lungbarrow - Marc Platt [8]
Hofwinter shook his grizzled head. It was reckoned that Andred, the new Castellan, was a traditionalist, but that hardly rang true: Andred's consort was said to be unGallifreyan and she was certainly kept out of the public eye as much as possible. As it was, the speed with which reform followed reform was all rather alarming. And there were other worrying rumours that President Romana, as she liked to be cal ed, had never heard of the word sedate.
13
There was also a hostile faction in the Intervention Agency, but no one ever knew what their schemes entailed until it was too late to stop them. The President was the nominal head of the Agency too. But presidents were traditionally as much in the dark over the Agency's activities as the rest of the population.
The datacube was stil glowing green. Hofwinter grunted and tapped the side of his observation port. He swivelled in his chair and surveyed his visitor again. 'Do you know the nature of this transduction order, Captain?'
'It's classified, sir.' Jomdek had been eyeing a dish of magentas and trumpberries that was sitting on a desk.
Hofwinter smiled. 'You Chancellery troopers spend the whole time strutting up and down in ceremonies you don't understand.'
'It's ritual, sir. History.'
'Ah, wel . If you don't want to know.'
Jomdek shrugged.
Hofwinter passed him the fruit dish. 'Help yourself, Jomdek. They're leftovers from one of the President's diplomatic receptions.'
'Thank you, sir.'
'Entertaining some alien intermediary with eight eyes and legs to match, I expect. A Cousin of mine in the catering bureau sends the pickings up to me afterwards.'
Jomdek reached for the dish, but faltered awkwardly. He pul ed off his white ceremonial gloves and his scarlet helmet revealing a head of sunny curling hair. He selected one of the magentas and took a bite.
'Newly promoted, are you, Captain?' ventured his host.
'Well, sort of,' mumbled the young man, his mouth full.
'Oh?'
'My Family have been matricians for generations. But I'm, wel , I'm a bit of a duffer really.'
'Surely not.'
'Oh, yes. I didn't even pass the Academy entrance examinations. So the Family bought me a commission in the Chancel ery Guard.'
'Backbone of the Capitol,' said Hofwinter with a nod. He noted that the cube had finally changed its glow to white.
He checked the results of his sideline scan and was intrigued. 'Ever studied the planet Earth?' he enquired.
'The planet where?' The young officer peered at a red disc that had finally appeared on the port screen. 'Is that it?'
Hofwinter patiently turned the crystal cube on its pad. 'No. That's the security clearance feed. It allows us access to the sub-matrix.'
'Gosh,' said Jomdek, impressed.
Hofwinter refined the blurred image. On the screen into the crescent of a blue and white planet. 'Earth,' he said.
'Doesn't look much, does it? But Downstairs always have an eye on it.'
'You mean the High Council?'
'Among others... The place must have some strategic significance, but I've never worked out what.'
Jomdek's face suddenly lit up with proud realization. 'And that's where the transduction beam is directed!'
14
On its pad, the cube turned blue.
'That'll be the beam now,' said Hofwinter. 'It seeks out the cerebral identity of the subject on the sealed orders.
Rather like looking for a lynchet in a thatchpile, but it can needle out one brain pattern in a population of several billion.'
Concern was starting to cloud Jomdek's face again, or it could have just been stupidity. 'But the orders are secret.'
'It may be classified,' complained Hofwinter, 'but who'll get the blame if it goes wrong, eh? I first kept tabs on classified accessions in this bureau when Mazwen the Last was in office. Only four more years in this post and I get my millennial service boon. And in all that