Doctor Who_ The Paradise of Death - Barry Letts [92]
‘The job of a staff officer’s aide is to take the weight of detail off his principal’s shoulders.’
Jeremy was righteously indignant. ‘But I’m not a staff officer’s whatnot. And I’m not a dogsbody either! I’m an investigative journalist – like Sarah.’
That was telling him!
‘Ah yes, of course,’ said the Brigadier. ‘Well, go and investigate the – the kitchens, there’s a good fellow. See if you can rustle up a cup of that disgusting coffee stuff that tastes like roasted turnips.’ He turned back to Rance.
Jeremy sloped off Sarah was right, he thought. Everybody’s dogsbody was what he was.
It could hardly be said that Sarah was feeling better. The dead feeling persisted as the ground of her being; but the necessity for concentration on the plans for the coup – and the thought that she was doing what Waldo would have wanted – kept her on course.
She was flying back to Parakon with Onya and the Doctor. Onya had two purposes: firstly to alert the crypto-dissidents in the city of the approaching coup-d’état; and secondly to see the President. The hope that a coup would succeed was based on the premise that the Parakonians were so conditioned to obedience that they would obey anybody who was clearly in charge, especially if they had the backing of the President.
‘But surely he won’t join a plot against his own son,’
Sarah had said when she was first told of the plan.
‘He’s a good man,’ the Doctor had said, ‘and an idealist.
He really thinks that he’s set up the best of all possible worlds for his people, and the people of the other planets in the Federation. If he can be made to see what’s really going on...’
‘That’s why we’re going in ahead,’ said Onya, ‘to show him proof of the evils that are being committed in his name.’
It was when she heard of the Doctor’s own intention that Sarah had said that she would come too. As acknowledged leader and de facto tyrant, Freeth – and his creature, Tragan – would always be in the best position to foil the attempted rising. The Doctor meant to find them, in order to provide a distraction while the takeover was in progress.
At first he would not hear of Sarah’s proposal. ‘There’s no point in our both putting our heads into the noose.’
Cliché! she thought, despite herself So she answered with another one. ‘Two heads are better than one,’ she said.
‘You must admit I’ve been a help to you in the past.’
In the end, at her insistence, he acquiesced. ‘I shall be glad of your company,’ he said courteously, when she had rebutted every objection he could think up.
As they approached the tall buildings on the outskirts of the city, the Doctor said to Onya, ‘Before we part company, is it possible you could get us into one of the Parakon Corporation buildings?’
‘Which one?’ said Onya. ‘Apart from Parakon House, they have buildings all over the city.’
‘I want to find out about the rapine set-up on other planets,’ replied the Doctor.
‘You need the Corporation Data Store,’ she said. ‘I held onto my Katyan Glessey pass, so we shouldn’t have any trouble getting in. But what are you trying to find out?’
The Doctor’s face was grave. ‘There’s something missing in the rapine story. It’s been nagging me from the start. And if what I suspect is true, then I’m quite sure you’ll have no trouble at all in getting the President on our side.’
‘Why?’ said Sarah. ‘What do you suspect?’
‘Something more horrible than anything we’ve found out so far,’ he said.
In spite of the fact that the ER recordings which the Doctor had come to consult were contained on small discs the size of a saucer, the Data Store was, as Sarah exclaimed,
‘the size of St Pancras Station.’
The hall was divided into different levels and galleries, and in the innumerable cubicles sat a scattered bunch of researchers lost in their own ER worlds.
They had had no trouble getting in, apart from the moment Sarah’s heart gave a jolt when the little old man at reception punched up the name Katyan Glessey on his screen. It transpired, however, that he was merely looking for a reservation, a booking of the facilities needed.