Doctor Who_ The Infinity Doctors - Lance Parkin [25]
literally in the case of many of the soldiers. Long ago they must have exhausted every creative possibility there. That was the point, wasn’t it? They weren’t thinking, they were doing something that came as naturally and easily to them as breathing. But all they were doing was marching, not fighting.
It had been a while since the Watch had seen action, longer still since they’d faced an external threat.
The Magistrate smiled thinly, as if reading the Doctor’s thoughts. ‘Don’t underestimate them, Doctor. After a thousand years of target practice and battle meditation they’d be able to show the Sontarans a thing or two about hand-to‐hand combat.’
The Doctor cocked his head. ‘Think so? My money would still be on the genetically re-engineered guy from the high gravity world.’
‘I have no doubt that Lord Voran would agree with you.
But the President was on your side, “old friend”,’ laughed the Magistrate, imitating the President’s plummy voice.
The Doctor chuckled, and then looked thoughtful for a moment. ‘I have never needed to tell anyone that they are an old friend.’
‘Why would you need to? You have so many new friends, after all. Larna is a credit to you.’
‘Thank you. My brightest pupil.’
‘You’ll raise a generation of revolutionaries, yet, Doctor.’
The Doctor nodded. ‘One way or the other.’
The Magistrate smiled. ‘How big is the Sontaran delegation?’
‘We got it down to ten in the end.’
‘Is everything arranged now?’
‘Down to the last detail. Crossed every “i”, dotted every “t”.
They’ll be Scooped down at Nine Bells tonight, To avoid any complications, the Sontarans will arrive at the Western Materialisation Zone, the Rutans will go to the Eastern one.
They’ll be welcomed, and then a squad of Watchmen will escort them along the walkway through the Capitol and into the Citadel until they meet here, in the middle of the Panopticon. The Public Record cameras will capture the first meeting. This will be their first face-to‐face encounter for a fair while. It could be a little awkward, so all we’ll do is say
“hello” to each other. After that, they’ll be taken to their respective xenodochia by the Guard. The conditions in their rooms exactly match their homeworlds.’
‘I see a problem.’
‘Just the one?’
‘You’re the chief negotiator, the one who has brought the two sides here, the only individual in the universe that both races will talk to.’
‘That’s not too much of a problem, I hope,’ the Doctor laughed.
‘If the Sontarans and Rutans are arriving at the same time at different ends of the city, then who’s going to meet them?
You’ll be in here, I presume. If you were to favour either of the races with your company, the other might be offended.
But they are also going to be deeply offended if they are met by some minor official.’
The Doctor rubbed his chin. ‘Good point.’
‘It’s a shame I can’t be in two places at once,’ said the Doctor.
‘Yes,’ the Doctor called over from Rassilon’s little toe, ‘that would solve everything.’
Both Doctors grinned.
Larna entered the Infinity Chamber in front of Waym.
This was a smaller chamber than the main one, just a balcony that looked down on the universe. Larna would have made her way to the control console, but there was someone there already.
‘It’s Savar,’ Waym said. ‘Sorry, Larna, he wasn’t here before.’
‘That’s OK. I don’t mind him.’
‘No? I think he’s creepy.’
Savar was hunched over the console, tapping away at the controls. He wore vivid blue robes. He seemed obsessed with the buttons, mesmerised by the way they flashed and winked. He might look perfectly ordinary, but Savar wasn’t a healthy man.
‘Lord Savar,’ Larna said. ‘Are you all right?’
‘Larna!’ he cried out. ‘ Lady Larna,’ he corrected himself, before returning to the controls. He hadn’t acknowledged Waym’s existence.
She moved over to him.
‘They took my eyes, you know,’ he told them thoughtfully.
‘It was after I found God, and before I came back here.’
Larna nodded, and looked over to Waym, a sad smile on her face. Long ago, long before they had been born, field trips out into