Doctor Who_ Space War - Malcolm Hulke [44]
‘I was not to know that,’ he said at last. ‘But tell me, why did you send a battle cruiser to meet a peace mission? The agreement was that both ships should be unarmed.’
‘Naturally we sent a battle cruiser,’ replied the Prince. ‘How else should a Draconian nobleman travel? But it’s missile banks were empty. The ship was unarmed.’
The General’s face paled. ‘If this is true, then I am solely responsible for starting a war that killed millions of people, Earthmen and Draconians.’
The Doctor felt he must now intervene. ‘May I suggest, sir, that fear and suspicion was the cause of your war? And that the whole terrible bloodshed is going to happen again unless we do something about it pretty quickly!’
The General turned to face the Draconian Prince. ‘Your Highness, please accept my deepest regrets for the wrong I have done your people.’
The Prince bowed his head in acknowledgment.
‘We must all try to forget the past, General Williams.’
The General now turned back to the President.
‘Madam President, as your military adviser may I recommend that we adopt the Doctor’s plan to seek and find the planet of the Ogrons?’
The President smiled and nodded approval. ‘Agreed, General Williams.’
‘Furthermore,’ he continued, ‘if I may be temporarily relieved of my immediate duties, I wish to lead this expedition myself.’
‘Certainly,’ said the President. ‘I know that if this planet exists, you will find it.’
‘And you will accompany me?’ the General asked the Doctor.
‘Gladly,’ said the Doctor. He hesitated. ‘There is one request I wish to make to you, Madam President.’
‘Yes?’
‘As a visitor to your great empire, internal politics are not my concern. But on the Moon you have thousands of prisoners, many of them good people whose only crime was that they believed in peace. If war is averted will you release them?’
The President considered. ‘Doctor, if we can eliminate the threat of war we can also live in peace among ourselves. In a secure peace I imagine my Government would rather have those people here on Earth. contributing their skills to our society, than exiled to the Moon.’
‘Thank you, Madam President. Well, General Williams, shall we begin?’
The Ogrons’ spaceship made a hard, bumpy landing in a devil’s playground of rocks and boulders. Jo, one wrist held in an Ogron’s vice-like grip, was yanked down the main corridor to the exit. She looked out on to the forbidding landscape of black rocks and grey sand.
‘There’s no place like home,’ she said wryly.
The Ogron grunted and led her away from the spaceship. The Master and a group of Ogrons were ahead of them, making for a cave in the side of a cliff.
‘We not home yet,’ said the Ogron. ‘Home good, inside hill.’
‘It sounds cosy.’
Inside the cliff was a labyrinth of crudely fashioned passageways and open areas, lit by flickering torches from the rough rock walls. At one point they passed an Ogron suspended from the rocky ceiling by heavy chains.
‘Him bad Ogron,’ Jo’s guard explained. ‘Stole food from holy place.’
‘How long’s he going to hang like that?’
‘Till too weak to run. Then we give him to big lizard.’
Jo shuddered.
At last they were in a fairly large cave. the Master’s quarters. Against the rough walls were various items of advanced communications equipment. The Master was seated in a comfortable swivel chair. ‘Welcome to my humble abode, Miss Grant.’
She looked round the place. ‘You must have been more comfortable the time on Earth you were in prison.’
‘These are temporary quarters. I shall soon change them for something better.’
‘You’ll soon be back in prison again,’ she replied. ‘Once the Doctor convinces everyone of the truth, Earth and Draconia will combine their space fleets to attack you.’
He shook his head. ‘I doubt it. There is too much mutual distrust.’
‘The Doctor will find you somehow.’
He smiled. ‘I hope he does. In fact, he must come here, not only to find you but also to try and get back his beloved TARDIS. Look in that corner.’
Jo stared into a gloomy far corner