Doctor Who_ Original Sin - Andy Lane [64]
The Doctor turned away. Beltempest was surprised to see a bitter expression cross his face.
‘A problem?’ Beltempest asked.
‘So many cultures,’ the Doctor murmured, ‘such a diversity of philosophies and ways of living, all lost in subservience to the Empire. Such a terrible waste.’
‘You disapprove of the Empire?’
‘I disapprove of all empires, anywhere,’ the Doctor replied. ‘And all federations, confederations, hegemonies, oligarchies, autarchies and whatever other weasel-words are used to disguise the fact that a small group of people have taken it into their heads to treat others as though their opinions weren’t important.’
‘Touchy, aren’t we?’ Beltempest said.
The Doctor looked bleakly up at him. ‘Doesn’t it bother you,’ he asked, ‘that the wealth of other races is being sucked away to make Earth richer?’
Beltempest frowned, the word ‘No’ on his lips, but he took a moment to think about the Doctor’s question. He had developed a strange sort of respect for the Doctor’s intellect, and didn’t want to fob him off with an unconsidered answer.
‘No,’ he said finally, ‘I’m sorry but I don’t. Look at us. While other races stayed at home honing their philosophies, their religions and their artistic skills, we’ve spread out, developed and taken the universe by the scruff of the neck and shaken it. Other races are weaker than us: it’s a fact of life. That means we have a responsibility to help them. We replace whatever archaic governmental system they have with the enlightened rule of the Empress and we give them education, technology, and protection from invasion.’
‘Another invasion, you mean. And all you ask in return is unquestioning loyalty, and the chance to skim the wealth from their economies.’
Beltempest tried to see the Doctor’s point of view, but couldn’t. ‘We impose taxation, of course, but only to pay for the help we give them.’
‘Did you ask them whether they wanted your help?’
110
‘If someone is ill, you don’t ask whether they want to be cured or not,’
Beltempest snorted, ‘you cure them. If someone’s flitter is malfunctioning, you don’t wonder whether they want to keep it broken; you fix it. On a far vaster scale, the Empire is the same. If the Divine Empress sees a planet or a sector wasting its resources, or which could be run better, then she steps in. One of the responsibilities of power is that you should help those who aren’t as powerful as yourself. Sometimes, races are too shortsighted, or too primitive, to recognize that they need help. In those cases, the imposition of help is necessary.’
‘How right you are,’ the Doctor said. ‘Now, who was saying the same thing just the last time I saw them?’ He put his hand to his forehead and mused theatrically for a moment. ‘Oh yes. The Daleks.’ Without allowing Beltempest to respond, he turned back to the display across the dome. ‘Now, overlay the locations where these inexplicably violent occurrences have taken place,’ he said.
The provost-major, smarting from the unwelcome comparison with mankind’s oldest enemy, snapped an order to the computer. The display zoomed in on a particular portion of the Empire. One star in the centre of the dome glowed bright blue. ‘As you can see,’ he said, ‘they are clustered heavily on Earth, although there have been a number of them scattered throughout the solar system, and one or two on other planets.’
‘Like Purgatory,’ the Doctor said brightly.
‘Like Purgatory,’ Beltempest agreed.
The Doctor thought for a moment. ‘I presume that if there was any connection between the times or the places, it would have been noticed.’
‘Yes,’ Beltempest agreed.
‘But we know that these events are caused by people – just like poor Fazakerli.’ He patted the corpse’s leg.