Doctor Who_ The Gallifrey Chronicles - Lance Parkin [49]
Marnal was sitting in the living room, a place as dull and dusty as the rest of the house. She sat next to him on the sofa and handed him his mug.
‘Are you OK?’ she asked.
‘Me?’
‘You saw your planet destroyed.’
‘I knew it had happened.’
‘That’s not the same as seeing it.’
‘No. I knew the Doctor was guilty before, but. . . now I’ve seen what he did.
You said something before about no need for law courts, you could just play the tape of the crime.’
‘That’s not exactly what I said, but –’
‘His guilt is now beyond any doubt. I’d thought that when I confronted him with his crime it would be too much for him. That he would break down and confess, that he would be racked with remorse and self-loathing. If anything, he seems more calm than he did before.’
Rachel nodded. ‘He was subdued at first, but then he recovered.’
‘That makes sense to you?’ he asked.
‘I don’t know how Time Lords’ minds work but sometimes, for human people, knowing something, even if it’s horrible, is better than not knowing.’
He looked sceptical, so she gave him an example.
‘Like when a child vanishes. If, after a week or so, the body is found, it’s a relief in a way for the parents. They can begin the mourning process, they can start to rebuild their lives. That’s better than constantly waiting for a phone call, making assumptions, but never knowing for certain whether their child is alive or dead. Or if you’re diagnosed with an illness. Knowing it has a name, 103
even if there’s no cure, can be better than not knowing why you keep getting sick.’
Marnal was shaking his head, not crediting what he’d just heard. ‘Human minds are so confusing.’
‘Perhaps the Doctor’s mind is more human than Time Lord. He spends all his time with people. He seems to have spent a lot of time on the Earth, perhaps some human stuff has rubbed off on him.’
‘I have spent more than a century here, and I assure you my thoughts remain unsullied.’
Rachel sipped her coffee.
‘The Doctor’s guilt is now proven. The only question remaining is the manner of his punishment.’
‘Are you going to kill him?’ Rachel asked, a little aghast. She’d seen Shallow Grave and she knew how difficult it was to get rid of a body. Plus, of course, it would be murder.
‘He has to suffer.’
Rachel felt a little cold. She thought about the Doctor, tied up and alone in the draughty cellar.
‘It’s not as though you can go for an eye for an eye,’ she said.
Marnal looked miserable. Rachel went to get his meal. She took it out of the oven, and found herself mushing up the potato for him. Force of habit.
She went back to find Marnal still hunched up on the sofa.
‘What punishment is there?’ he asked her.
‘I think you’re still looking for answers,’ she said. ‘You need the Doctor for those.’
‘I have the only important answer. He destroyed Gallifrey, he killed all but a handful of my people. Try to imagine that.’
Rachel sighed. ‘I don’t think I can. It’s like being marooned on a desert island, then finding Hitler there. You can’t just phone the police, or whoever you’re meant to phone.’
Marnal was deep in thought.
‘I don’t know. . . ’ Rachel said. She wasn’t used to thinking like this. Who would be? ‘If Hitler really was the last man on Earth, would I kill him? We’d have a lot to talk about.’
Marnal looked at her, a pained expression on his face.
‘You know what I mean,’ Rachel said. ‘If he was the last man on Earth. I don’t know how I’d punish him. How did your people punish their criminals?’
He thought about that for a moment. ‘That’s a good question. This is a situation without obvious precedent, but there may be something in one of the books. I’ll need your help to find it.’
∗ ∗ ∗
104
Marnal had suggested he think, so the Doctor had decided to think.
He began to meditate. He’d tried it a few times before, searching for some clue to who he was. Always, the message had come back loud and clear from the back of his mind:
DON’T
Now, though, the Doctor had a little more to go on. He knew he couldn’t avoid the truth, and he knew, deep down, that his brain contained the answers.
The cellar