Doctor Who_ The Paradise of Death - Barry Letts [55]
Waldo laughed a little wryly. ‘Oh, but we’re all rich nowadays. We’ve all got shares in the Corporation.’
Sarah considered a flavourless life without the salt of work. ‘Nothing to do but enjoy yourselves?’
‘Super,’ said Jeremy, who was beginning to turn pink again.
‘I’d be bored out of my skull,’ she continued.
‘That’s why I joined the Guard.’ said Waldo. ‘I wasn’t clever enough to do anything else.’
Most people, he went on to explain, spent practically all of their time on the Experienced Reality couches. A man would be a skimmer champion for a while, or a woman a batterball leader or whatever. Then they’d change to something else: fall in love with some singer perhaps, and follow him or her everywhere; or spend all the time they could living the lives of an outworlder family on another planet – in a play that went on day after day and never ended.
‘It happens at home,’ said Sarah. ‘People get hooked.’
‘Hooked. Yes, agreed Waldo. ‘Like a fish that’s always looking for a new bait to swallow. And the favourite bait of all is the hunt, or the execution – a guaranteed worldwide audience – when somebody accused of being a terrorist is torn to pieces and eaten alive by the Great Butcher Toad.
As it happens.’
‘You mean, not even a recording?’ said Jeremy.
‘That’s disgusting,’ said Sarah.
‘I quite agree,’ said Waldo. ‘The trouble is, it’s too dangerous for those of us who think so to speak out. You never know when somebody listening might have ER
needles implanted. And all the time the transmissions are getting crueller – and bloodier.’
And Waldo went on to tell them about the Games.
‘Combat? Hand-to-hand fighting?’ said the Doctor.
‘With various types of weapons, yes,’ answered the President. ‘The Games... are... are one of the most popular spectacles.’
Was his hesitation merely the result of tiredness, thought the Brigadier, or was he hiding something?
‘Do you mean that they fight to the death, these fellows’?’ he said.
The President mumbled something indistinct. Onya moved forward, as though to intervene, but was waved irritably away. ‘Any sport has its dangers,’ he said, more intelligibly, though his speech was still slurred. ‘A climber can – can fall off a mountain, after all.’
The Doctor wouldn’t let him get away with it. ‘I think the Brigadier was asking if the combatants are actually trying to kill each other, President,’ he said.
But his opponent wouldn’t be pinned down. ‘I... Forgive me,’ he said. ‘but I think I must rest. My stamina is not...
Please don’t think me impolite, I... Please stay and finish the, er...’ His voice trailed away.
Onya was already at his side. ‘Come, President. Your guests will excuse you, I feel sure.’
This time he welcomed her attention and allowed her to wheel him away. The guards followed.
‘Gladiators, by jiminy!’ said the Brigadier.
‘Yes,’ said the Doctor. ‘To keep the plebs quiet. The Romans had a word for it, or rather three words: “panis et circenses” – bread and circuses. It worked then; it works now.’
The crowded streets became wide empty avenues; the buildings, crammed together like a child’s bricks packed into their box, gave way to elegant mansions standing in their own grounds, each as different from the surrounding alien designs as a Beverley Hills pseudo-Mexican ranch house is from its neighbouring ibdoresque manor, or the Moorish villa next door complete with fretted windows, high-walled garden and camel-shed large enough to accommodate a couple of stretch limos.
‘Rich is right!’ said Sarah. as the flycar slowed to a hover and sank easily into a lucky space between a large shiny saucer-craft and what seemed to be a scooter with stumpy wings. Waldo looked up at the imposing facade of the house, glinting in the double light of the twin moons, with silver streaks striking upwards like frozen lightning, as if evaluating it for the first time.
‘Yes. I suppose it is he said. ‘It’s old money. Greckle’s people were landowners before the Corporation bought everybody out. Everybody wants to go to Greckle’s parties.’
Jeremy scrambled out. Sarah turned to follow