Doctor Who_ The Paradise of Death - Barry Letts [100]
‘What about ER? Can’t I watch it on ER?’
‘Unfortunately, there is just the one set,’ he said, holding it up, ‘and I need it myself. However, if you sit down like a good girl, I’ll tell you what’s going on.’
Reluctantly she sat down and watched him while he donned the headpiece and adjusted the controls.
‘Nothing happening at the moment,’ he said. ‘It would be the interval before the announcement of the big fight, and of course the new attraction.’ The lower part of his face, below the helmet, was rippling gently; it was so pale that it was almost white, with just a tint of lilac – like a naff new paint for the ceiling, Sarah said to herself Silence; and in the silence came the pain of thought.
Could she have stopped the Doctor going? Was it her fault that he was going to be killed? But if he had refused, what would have happened to her, to both of them? The thoughts went round and round in an endless loop – like a Moebius strip, the Doctor would have said – and that thought caused a pang which started them all over again.
‘Ah!’ said Tragan at last. ‘Something’s happening. Yes, here comes Jenhegger into the Presidential box.’
‘The President’s box?’
‘Yes, of course,’ he said, as if it were self-evident. ‘They always introduce the finalists from the President’s box, and they can walk straight onto the catwalk from there.
Jenhegger looks like an angry ape. I expect he’s annoyed at being made to fight a clown. So much the better. Ah! Here comes the Chairman – and the Doctor.’
‘Does he, does he look all right?’ No answer, bar a faint smacking of the lips. ‘Please! Please tell me!’
So Tragan told her exactly how he looked, and while she listened, Sarah was praying, praying, praying; praying that the Brigadier would get there in time.
Freeth had gone to a great deal of trouble deciding what the Doctor should wear. ‘I sometimes think I missed my vocation,’ he said. ‘I should have been very happy in show business. You can just imagine me dancing through the fairyland of theatre, now can’t you? Or perhaps I should say prancing! To be at one with the aristocrats of the stage, the very princes of dramatic art, and put on pantomime, for example – the acme of histrionic achievement! Let’s face it, Earth has a great deal to offer to dull old Parakon.’
While he rattled on, he was selecting the Doctor’s fighting gear: item, one long striped frock suitable for a comic bondservant in an old-fashioned farce; item, a pair of skinny boots, twice the length of the Doctor’s own feet; item, one frizzy ginger wig.
The Doctor silently dressed himself
‘And of course, we mustn’t forget your weapon!’ He produced a traditional cook’s rolling pin, with which the Doctor was to oppose Jenhegger’s hefty broadsword.
‘Now, I know what you’re going to say, Doctor. “That’s not fair,” that’s what you’re going to say; and I shall come back with the lightning riposte, “No it isn’t, is it?” ’
The crowd were certainly taken with the Doctor’s get-up.
He was greeted with hoots of glee, which were doubled and redoubled after Freeth’s introduction to the fight.
‘My friends,’ his rich voice boomed through the amplifier, ‘what can I say? We all know that Jenhegger didn’t have a Dad...’
The mountainous Jenhegger glowered as the audience roared their appreciation.
‘...but even he must have had a Mum. And here she is, to give us all a glimpse of the happy home life of the Jenheggers!’
Uproar.
The gate swung open and the gargantuan fighter led the Doctor along the perilously narrow catwalk to the fighting circle.
As wide as the square of a boxing ring, the circle had no ropes or safety rails. If a combatant were to be thrown out of the fighting area, it would not be to land in the comfortable lap of a correspondent from the sports pages of a friendly tabloid, but to be greeted with open arms – and mouth – by the Toad (which was ‘Great’ indeed), who could now be seen below leaping up with the eagerness of a dog being offered a marrow-bone fresh from the butchers.
Jenhegger turned and struck an arrogant pose, moving with the