Doctor Who_ The Infinity Doctors - Lance Parkin [19]
The Magistrate had his head back and a broad grin on his face. ‘They are impotent. Better to send one ship, with one crewman. If it is the right ship and the right man.’
‘Yes, my Lord,’ she agreed hurriedly.
The Doctor placed his hand on her shoulder. ‘Well done,’
he whispered. Hedin also had a wry smile on his face.
The President was still watching the fleets. ‘There are many warlike races in the universe,’ he said sadly, ‘many skilled in creating and using the most terrible weapons.’
‘The ability to wipe out your rivals has proved a highly effective method of ensuring your own survival,’ the Magistrate said, almost admiringly.
‘There are other methods of thriving, of course,’ the Doctor said. He looked around, challenging those near him to come up with suggestions. He tried to phrase the invitation so that it would include not just his pupils, but the High Councillors.
Perhaps even the President.
‘Becoming traders,’ one Lord suggested.
The Doctor nodded. ‘Or just sell your expertise – the Vegans are miners, the Schlangi build spacecraft. Both sell their services to anyone that will pay, and their customers protect them.’
‘Become parasitic, serve or feed on a successful race,’ a young student added.
‘Simply hiding, not drawing attention to oneself… ‘Voran suggested.
‘Becoming energy beings of pure intelligence,’ Pendrel said, giggling. No doubt he was pleased that he’d come up with a more noble example than his master, Voran.
‘Swarming across the universe in such numbers that no one could kill you all,’ Hedin added, with a hint of distaste. ‘I believe that both the Sontarans and Rutans evolved along those lines originally.’
. The Doctor nodded. ‘It is the only reason the war between them has gone on so long. In the right conditions a breeding Sontaran individual is capable of producing a million offspring a minute. They are full grown and ready for combat in six days. The Rutans are essentially giant amoebae, each cell is capable of becoming a fully formed individual, part of the group mind.’
‘I’m surprised that they didn’t wipe themselves out long before discovering space travel,’ the President said. ‘Most uncivilised.’
Lord Norval shook his head. ‘As an evolutionary strategy, there are many advantages to being warlike. An effective military is single-minded, organised. As well as the best weapons, it needs the best communications, the best supply lines.’
‘The strategy is risky, though. Live by the sword, die by the sword,’ the Doctor told them.
‘On the other hand,’ Larna piped up, ‘some civilisations discover that during a war, or living under the threat of war, there is a period of technological advancement. Often a development on one side will force a new advance on the other. When the Sontarans developed spectronic drive, the Rutans suddenly needed better sensors or they’d be wiped out in sneak attacks. So they invented better sensors.’
The Doctor looked wistfully at the fleets. ‘The Sontaran/Rutan Wars are not so much an arms race as an arms marathon, an arms decathlon. Think of what they could have achieved if their scientists had spent the time building ploughshares instead of swords.’
A number of the assembled Time Lords ventured the opinion that all aliens were savages.
‘It is a normal stage that most civilisations go through,’ the Doctor reminded them all. ‘Gallifrey itself went through a phase of galactic conquest and warfare, many millions of years ago.’
Voran objected. ‘I am aware of that. We grew out of it. The Sontarans and the Rutans have been fighting since the time of Rassilon and Omega. It’s in their blood, their genes, their memes… they don’t know any better. Might I ask what is next on the Doctor’s agenda? Perhaps he might try to negotiate a settlement between the cats and the dogs!’
There was laughter, and enough for the Doctor to feel disappointed, He put a brave face on it. ‘I don’t have an agenda, Lord Voran.’
‘Live by the agenda, die by the agenda,