Doctor Who_ The Twin Dilemma - Eric Saward [21]
'No stork either, huh?'
'Not even a sparrow. Now it had not gone unnoticed by me that the mid-wife had arrived carrying a large satchel. She had no sooner entered the house than I had heard an infant crying. I therefore deduced that the mid-wife had brought the baby in her bag!'
A bemused smile spread across Peri's face. 'Brilliant. A very clever deduction for an unenlightened child ...' She paused. The look on the Doctor's face told her that she had said the wrong thing.
'So I was wrong on that occasion!' he shouted. T
couldn't help it if my idiot parents had refused to tell me the facts of life ...'
'But if you were mistaken once, you could be again.'
The Doctor had started to sulk. 'Rubbish! I have since perfected my method.'
Peri gave up. What could she say to a man, who in the space of a few hours, had played Jack the Ripper, wanted to be a hermit, and was now basing his personality on a fictional detective? To argue seemed pointless.
She knew it could prove very dangerous, especially as something else had occurred to her which made her feel rather sick.
Up until now the Doctor had played at being rather silly, if not pathetic characters. True, he had tried to kill Peri and in his remorse had taken her to a remote, barren planet, which she had no way of leaving alone. Under more normal circumstances any single one of these acts would be considered outrageous. But this was far from any ordinary situation - the perpetrator was a Time Lord.
It was this fact, until now, that Peri had overlooked. What the Doctor had done was nothing compared to what he was ultimately capable of. All it required was one wrong word at a critical moment and he might convince himself he wanted to dominate the universe. Should that occur, then nothing would be safe. The Doctor's knowledge and ablity to manipulate time made it possible for him to change or destroy everything.
But how was she to prevent it?
As Peri thought about the problem, the Doctor started to pace up and down again. Perhaps the simplest way, she considered, would be to play along with him. If the Doctor wanted to be Sherlock Holmes, she would be his Watson. By acting out his fantasy he might begin to trust her. When the Doctor next tried to swap his personality, she might be able to control or direct him. With a little luck, she might also, gradually, lead him back to his 'real' self whatever or whoever that should turn out to be.
At least she could try.
'What are you going to do?' asked Peri, tentatively.
'Solve the riddle, of course!' said the Doctor, rummaging in his pocket.
For a moment she thought he was looking for his Meersham.
'Have you seen my jellybabies?'
Peri shook her head.
'It's just that I think much better when I'm chewing.' The Doctor smiled awkwardly. 'Never mind, I'll have to do without them.'
'You still haven't said how you plan to solve the riddle whatever it is.'
'First, we must consider the facts,' said the Doctor, crossing to Hugo. ‘In spite of the fact that our young friend here has been shot down, he still has one other thought in his mind - the children.'
So far. Peri couldn't fault his logic.
'Now, let us assume he is here to find the children, and whoever has them, shoots him and the rest of his squadron down.'
Again, the Doctor's reasoning was sound.
Therefore, as Hugo crashed on this planet, one of two things could have happened. Number one: he was shot down while pursuing the abductor of the children. Number two: the abductor is based on this planet and destroyed the squadron as it approached.'
The Doctor crossed to the console and switched on the scanner-screen. 'I am inclined to believe that the villain is here on Titan Three.'
'How come?' said Peri, trying hard not to sound too much like the traditional, dumb sidekick of a fictional detective. 'You said yourself there wasn't any life here.'
'There wasn't... But things change.' The Doctor