Doctor Who_ So Vile a Sin - Ben Aaronovitch [0]
A D V E N T U R E S
SO VILE A SIN
Ben Aaronovitch
and
Kate Orman
First published in Great Britain in 1997 by Doctor Who Books
an imprint of Virgin Publishing Ltd
332 Ladbroke Grove
London W10 5AH
Copyright © Kate Orman 1997 (certain material copyright © Virgin Publishing Ltd 1997)
The right of Kate Orman to be identified as the Author of this Work has been asserted by her in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patent Act 1988.
'Doctor Who' series copyright © British Broadcasting Corporation 1997
Cover illustration by Jon Sullivan
ISBN 0 426 20484 0
Typeset by Galleon Typesetting, Ipswich
Printed and bound in Great Britain by
Mackays of Chatham PLC
All characters in this publication are fictitious and any resemblance to real persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.
This book is sold subject to the condition that it shall not, by way of trade or otherwise, be lent, resold, hired out or otherwise circulated without the publisher's prior written consent in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published and without a similar condition including this condition being imposed on the subsequent purchaser.
For Karifa Sam Aaronovitch
Self love, my liege, is not so vile a sin As self-neglecting.
William Shakespeare, Henry V II.4
CONTENTS
The body on page one
8
Prologue
13
Part One: Iphigenia
42
Part Two: Cassandra
164
Part Three: Valhalla
246
Epilogue
304
Acknowledgements 318
The body on page one
BEGIN TRANS
TO: CinC Thangase liKhosi Oxhobileyo
[Lady Leabie Forrester]
FROM: XO 10mH
[Executive Office 10th Assault Regiment]
RE: OPERATIONS, VALHALLA, CALLISTO
BKGRND: 10mH to make OD(C) [Orbital Drop (Capsule) ] within security perimeter of the Valhalla Citadel and commence operations against elements of the 61st ImLand ArmInf Division. The objective being to gain control of the Citadel and neutralize Command and Control elements of local ImLand forces and seize the person and household of Emperor.
ACTION REPORT: OD(C) at 11:15 IST. Initial mission objectives taken at H+1 hour. Initial resistance was stiff and 10mH took 6%
casualties during the course of the assault. Despite heavy fighting secondary mission objectives were achieved at H+6 hours and the operation moved ahead on schedule. In the face of extremely heavy enemy resistance the leading elements of 10mH assaulted the citadel and took final mission objectives at H+11. Casualties were extremely heavy (35%).
NOTE: Regret to inform you Colonel Roslyn Forrester was killed in action while leading the final assault.
8
1 September 2982
It should have been raining the day they put Roz into the ground, not bright and sunny under a blue sky.
The sky should have wept tears on to the bare shoulders of the women who carried her body, darkening the bright patterns of their blankets. Should have soaked the ground and turned it muddy. Should have fallen on the armour of the honour guard and turned it all to rust and ashes.
Rain would have stilled the voices of the praise singers, stopped up the bugles and the idiot mouths of speakers. There should have been pain and confusion and darkness.
But it was not raining the day they buried Roslyn Forrester.
The sun was high and bright in a wide African sky and the air was scented with cut grass and freshly turned earth.
The Doctor and Chris were just two of the hundreds in the funeral procession, winding their way through the Umtata Reclamation Zone. The sun beat down on the Doctor. He thought of taking off his hat and fanning his face.
In the hazy distance he could make out the shapes of the overcities. There would be rubble from fallen buildings scattered throughout the Zone, chunks of polyconcrete and pieces of furniture. High-tech versions of the kopje, great stones piled on stones.
Leabie had been busy in her garden. The rolling, grassy hills of the eighteenth century had been carefully restored. Terraforming Earth itself. They’d flown over