Doctor Who_ The Twin Dilemma - Eric Saward [0]
THE TWIN DILEMMA
ERIC SAWARD
For Katia, with fondest love
DOCTOR WHO THE TWIN DILEMMA
Based on the BBC television serial by Anthony Steven by arrangement with the British Broadcasting Corporation ERIC SAWARD
W.H.ALLEN-LONDON
1985
Novelisation copyright © Eric Saward, 1985
Original script copyright © Anthony Steven. 1984
'Doctor Who' series copyright © British Broadcasting Corporation 1984, 1985
The BBC producer of The Twin Dilemma was John Nathan Turner, the director was Peter Moffatt.
Printed and bound in Great Britain by Mackays of Chatham Ltd, Kent for the Publishers. W.H. Allen & Co. PLC
44 Hill Street, London W1X 8LB
ISBN 0 491 03124 6
This book is sold subject to the condition that it shall not by way of trade or otherwise, be lent, re-sold, hired out or otherwise circulated without the publishers prior consent in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published and without a similar condition including this condition being imposed on the subsequent purchaser.
CONTENTS
1 Home
Time
2
The Maladjusted Time Lord
3
Enter Professor Edgeworth
4
Mestor the Magnificent
5 Titan
Three
6
An Unsafe Safe House
7 The
Reunion
8
Jaconda the Beautiful!
9
End Game, Part One
10 End Game, Part Two
1
HOME TIME
The house stood on Lydall Street. It was part of a beautifully preserved Georgian terrace, its graceful facade as pleasing today as when it was first built in 1810, some five hundred years earlier. In fact, Lydall Street was the only Georgian terrace left standing in the metropolis. It was also the only street with houses built of brick. To the people who lived in the flameproof, plastic buildings of the city, Lydall Street had enormous charm, an incredible sense of history and a tactile quality missing from their own mirror-smooth, vinyl environment.
The reality of living there was, of course, quite different. The houses were draughty, uncomfortable and cost a fortune to maintain. Although it was an honour to be allowed to occupy such a dwelling, it was also vital that you were rich. Some people said it was better if you were mad. The truth was, of course, it was better if you were both.
The family who occupied number twenty-five possessed the above qualifications in great abundance. But they also possessed a much greater and more precious gift - genius. The Sylvest family, for it was they who occupied number twenty-five, were all gifted mathematicians.
Professor Archie Sylvest was a tall man with a grey, matted thatch of hair that wouldn't lie neatly however much it was combed. His face was florid and his waist thick from drinking too much Voxnic (a delicious alcoholic beverage made from fermented vision seeds). As it was again chic to be fat, and, as Voxnic was this season's most fashionable drink, Archie was able to pat his paunch with considerable pride as he ordered yet another round.
In fact, Archie should have been totally happy. His wife, Nimo, was a stimulating companion. He loved his work at the University.
Wallowed in the company of his students. Revelled in the respect shown by his fellow lecturers. Loved drinking too much Voxnic with computer programmer Vestal Smith, a person of deep warmth, deep personal understanding and even deeper blue eyes.
In fact, Archie would have been totally happy if it hadn't been for one thing: he was frightened to go home.
For there were his twin sons.
Romulus and Remus Sylvest were twelve year old identical twins.
Such was their precise mirror image of each other, even their parents were occasionally confused. This gave the twins enormous pleasure and they would go out of their way to create even further embarrassment. The trouble was, they didn't know when to stop and they would go on and on and on. Their insistence verged on the psychotic. For a while Archie and Nimo wondered what the blending of their genes had created, but slowly, painfully, the truth emerged - the twins, like themselves, were gifted mathematicians.
Unfortunately the genetic