Doctor Who_ The Forgotten Army - Brian Minchin [63]
In the Crown Room, General Erik checked his watch and nodded to his men. He picked up his radio, and issued the command. 'We are good to go. I'd like to thank the puppeteers for their sterling work.'
Around him, the Vykoids scurried around a control room, and the green vortex grew in intensity like a mini-star. It burnt so brightly that the entire top half of the Statue of Liberty became luminescent.
Holding his baton in front of him as if it were the key to life itself, General Erik pressed a button. A vast beam leapt out of the vortex, sprang to the Torch on the top of the Statue of Liberty and arced through the air towards Broadway. As it touched the ground, it crackled and smoked. The ground shook, and smoke rose from the tarmac.
The beam idled for a moment on the south of Manhattan. Then, with a flick of General Erik's wrist, it snaked and turned along the jagged line of Broadway, leaving a cloud of smoke in its wake. As it reached the top of the island, General Erik turned
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the beam off with a triumphant wave of his hand.
'It is done. Ten seconds - that's all it took!' General Erik pushed his sense of dignity to one side and did a little dance on the windowsill. 'We have taken New York. If I can make it here, I'll make it anywhere!'
General Erik was already dreaming of the rewards he would have lavished on him in the Vykoid halls. They'd build a statue of him twice the size of the Statue of Liberty. It would be the Statue of Victory, and it would bear his name.
He picked up his radio and called Commander Strebbins.
'Lars! Come in. I am ready to hear your report.'
There was no reply, but General Erik wasn't daunted.
'Stop celebrating, you hothead! We have another five transports to do before the day is done.'
Again there was no reply. General Erik flicked a switch on his radio and tried again.
'Red? Are you receiving? Red?'
Another Vykoid clambered up and whispered in his general's ear.
With a mounting sense of dread, General Erik took the telescope that the private thrust into his hand, and gazed out at Manhattan.
The people of Manhattan were still crammed into Broadway. But on every street, the NYPD officers were scratching their heads and wondering what 239
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on earth was going on. Their Vykoid controllers had gone.
Teleported back to their home planet.
For a whole minute General Erik said nothing.
The Doctor stood in the doorway.
General Erik faced him with tiny tears falling from his red eyes onto his wrinkled face, and he howled. He felt like a mouse caught in a trap, and took little satisfaction from the sight of the Doctor recoiling from the noise of his painful and ugly rage.
'You have tricked me, Doctor.'
The Doctor walked forward, and crouched down to General Erik's level. 'I'm sorry, Erik, I really am, but I couldn't let you do it.'
'But we are better than them. They are only oafs. We are the true race.'
'That's where you are very wrong. They may be stupid and clumsy and selfish, but they are the most brilliant people you will ever meet. Right now, there are men and women who deserve to live freely, with no one telling them what to do, and without fear that someone might tear their city to pieces overnight. And as long as you keep on thinking that they deserve less, I will keep on stopping you.'
If General Erik had grown conceited with success, he now seemed puzzled by the humility of failure. 'How can I return empty-handed?'
He realised instantly that the question had been 240
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a mistake. There was a hint of anger in the Doctor's crooked smile, and General Erik found himself backing away.
The Doctor spoke quietly. 'You should count yourself lucky. You fought and lost, and will go home as free men.
We've been kinder to you than you've been to any planet you've conquered. And when you get back, tell everyone you meet that this planet is not prepared to be enslaved. Tell them