Doctor Who_ The King of Terror - Keith Topping [71]
There was anger in Sanger’s voice now. ‘I only received the intelligence from Shaun this morning.’
‘So that explains why Ryman isn’t here?’ asked Bois.
‘No, actually I was expecting him to be,’ replied Sanger, his voice implying that he was angry that his security chief had something more important to do.
‘What are we going to do?’ asked Giresse.
Sanger noticed the slight trace of panic in Giresse’s voice. ‘Well, I know what I’m going to do,’ he said. ‘I’m going to make sure that progress is made on the project as soon as possible. What I’m not going to do is sit around here on this ball of mud and wait for my executioners to arrive.’
∗ ∗ ∗
136
‘They’re called the Jex,’ shouted the Doctor above the roar of the helicopter rotor blades.
‘J-E-C-K-S?’ asked the Brigadier hurriedly scribbling in his leather-bound notebook.
‘No, J-E-X.’
‘Damn.’ Lethbridge-Stewart crossed out what he had written so far and started again. ‘And . . . they are what, exactly?’
‘Aliens,’ noted the Doctor.
Lethbridge-Stewart was not amused. ‘Well I know that,’ he said impatiently.
‘I meant of what sort?’
‘Particularly nasty ones,’ replied the Doctor sadly. ‘But then, isn’t that usually the case? Just for once wouldn’t it be nice if an intergalactic race turned up and said “Hello, we come in peace . . . ”.’
‘Doctor!’ cried the Brigadier. ‘Far be it from me to interrupt your brave but useless show of compassion, but some useful information would be . . . ’
‘Useful?’
The Brigadier gave the Doctor a lethal stare and then returned his attention to his notes. ‘Can you tell me anything about them?’
It took the Doctor several seconds to reply. As though, again, he was searching within his extensive computer-like memory for a fragment of information about the creatures. Something that would satisfy Lethbridge-Stewart’s thirst for knowledge. ‘They were once a hugely powerful corporate empire-building race. They would have been the prime candidates for this little stunt right from the beginning. Except that nothing has been heard of them in the last couple of thousand years. I certainly didn’t know they had any interest in Earth.’
‘So, they haven’t visited us before?’
‘Good gracious no,’ replied the Doctor. ‘They’re from the Cassiopeia system on the other side of the galaxy. Never been within a million parsecs of here.
If they had, you would know about it, believe me.’
‘But you said that you had met them before?’
‘Yes,’ noted the Doctor. ‘I ran into them on an ice world in the star system Rifta. They had an empire that covered several galaxies, and were very powerful, bureaucratic and methodical. They arrived on a planet and took over from within, strategically placing their moles in positions of power across the planet then, when the time was right . . . ’
‘Invasion?’ asked the Brigadier.
The Doctor smiled ruefully. ‘Exactly. I knew that few of the aliens I’d ever come across before used the term “conglomerate”. That’s what the Jex call their power elite. But for the last two thousand years they’ve been in retreat, persecuted by one of their former slave-races.’
137
‘Why do they take over worlds?’ Lethbridge-Stewart demanded.
‘The usual reasons. Power. Profit motives. The Jex are from a planet with a slightly toxic atmosphere, hence their interest in Turlough.’ The Doctor turned and shrugged as the helicopter came into land at Los Angeles airport.
‘Brigadier, we really have to stop this race. They’re not as bloodthirsty as the Daleks or the Cybermen, but they’re chillingly effective.’
‘Worst case scenario?’
The Doctor paused and looked troubled. ‘If they get a foothold? I would say the complete subjugation of the human race within six months.’
Tegan’s night in the desert had, indeed, been one of the most uncomfortable she’d ever spent (even worse than the conditions she and Turlough had endured on Terminus). However, she, Milligan and Paynter hadn’t even tried to sleep. They couldn’t.
All they did was talk about the spacecraft that had buzzed them and try to describe it in every detail