Doctor Who_ The Myth Makers - Donald Cotton [45]
Odysseus gave the offending pastern-joints a cursory glance.
‘Well, it hasn’t got to last forever, you know. We’re not trying to build one of the wonders of the world. As long as it holds together till we’re inside Troy, it can collapse into a mare’s nest if it wants to.’
‘I just wish you understood a few more of the basic principles of mechanics. Supposing we’re still inside when it collapses? What then?’
‘Then we shall all look extremely silly,’ answered Odysseus, philosophically.
‘Well, personally I have no wish to be made into a laughing stock! In fact, I’ve had second thoughts about the whole thing. I think we should cancel the operation while there’s still time. I’ll find some other way of rescuing my friends.’
‘Now, not another word. You’ve made your horse, and now you must ride in it. Get up that rope-ladder, confound you!’ He prodded the Doctor with his cutlass, and together they began the precarious ascent. I tell you, I wouldn’t have fancied it.
Suddenly the Doctor froze. ‘Look out,’ he said.
‘Oh, what’s the matter now? By Zeus, you’re making me as nervous as a Bacchante at her first orgy! Get inside, and try to get some sleep!’
‘I never felt less like sleep in my life.’ I wasn’t surprised –
they were spinning like spiders in a sand-storm. ‘And as to what’s the matter, I thought I saw a movement out there on the plain.’
‘Well, I should hope you did. That’s the whole point of the thing, isn’t it? A pretty lot of fools we’d look, if no one took a blind bit of notice of us. So hurry up – and if you find you really can’t sleep, I suggest you try counting Trojans. You were quite right, Doctor – here they come now.’
They scambled up the last few rungs of the ladder, and the trap-door closed after them. And that was the last I saw of the Doctor for quite some time.
But I shall always remember how he looked miserably back over his shoulder, that blood-stained evening, so long ago. I think he knew even then, you see, that for once in eternity, all his well-meaning ingenuity had landed him up on the wrong side.
Although, I don’t know, perhaps not, after all. Because if the Trojans had won the war, what would have happened to Greek civilization, and all that came later? Would they have been able to produce anything to equal it, I wonder? Impossible to say. It’s done – and that’s all there is to it.
And the Doctor couldn’t have changed things, even if he’d wanted to. And no more could I.
For a fleeting moment, as that company of decent Trojan soldiers marched into the clearing, and took their first awestruck look at Paris’s hellish trophy, the thought crossed my mind that now was the time to say, ‘Stop it, you fools! Beware the Greeks bearing gifts!’ or words to that effect.
But what would have happened then? First, they’d have destroyed the horse, with the Doctor inside it. And then they’d have gone back home to tell Cassandra she’d been right all the time, before putting Vicki and Steven to death for being involved in the treachery. And I couldn’t be a party to all that, could I?
So I let the moment go. There’d been quite enough meddling already. Now I must just let History take its course.
And the best I could hope for was to get a good view of it. And considering what was still to happen, that was ironic, if you like.
25
A Little Touch of Hubris
But as the Trojans began to drag their great, unwieldy prize out of the mud, I realized it was certainly going to take them quite a long time to reach base, to put it mildly – even if it didn’t collapse on the way, as seemed likely.
And so after all there was just one more thing I could do – I could warn Steven and Vicki to get the TARDIS warmed up while there was still time. So that if and when the Doctor was able to join them, they could zip to infinity without hanging about cranking the starting-handle; or whatever it was they had to do, to get the thing mobile.
I hadn’t the remotest idea how it worked, of course – and, what’s more, I don’t believe they were entirely clear about it, either! Or they wouldn’t have kept bouncing about