Doctor Who_ Trading Futures - Lance Parkin [94]
It was small, fairly dismal. There was evidence the place had been cleaned recently – but only because there were swirls in the dirt, and some panels on the counter were a different coloured filth to the others.
The room was deserted – after the gun battles of the last hour or so, the whole complex was quiet, now.
One whole wall was taken up by a large plasma screen. It played images soundlessly, and there was no sign of the volume controls.
They didn’t need to hear what was being said, or read the captions scrolling across the screen. The images of American ships under rocket attack didn’t need any commentary.
One reporter, his head down, was shouting wordlessly into his microphone while behind him a fire was raging on the deck of a warship.
Aircraft streaked overhead – it wasn’t clear if they were American or European planes.
There were gun battles raging in Cairo, but the pictures were fuzzy, because the soldiers were jamming, or trying to jam, RealWar control signals.
Every so often, maps would flash up, with reassuringly bold arrows.
They reminded Anji a little of the IFEC map.
‘Hang on,’ said Fitz, ‘that’s the news.’
Anji managed a smile. ‘It’s the news,’ she said grimly.
The Doctor was pointing at the screen. ‘It says there that there’s no sign of the President. If we could get Mather to a radio, then –’
Cosgrove had arrived. He stood in one of the doorways, gun in his hand.
‘It’s good to see the three of you here, together at last,’ he said coldly. ‘And you’ve even managed to recover Baskerville’s time machine.’
Anji glanced down at the case, which sat on one of the canteen tables. She and Fitz were a good four or five paces away from him. Cosgrove opened the case, looked in.
‘I don’t understand,’ Cosgrove muttered.
‘It’s a coffee machine,’ Anji explained helpfully.
‘Shall I be mother?’ the Doctor asked, taking the jug.
‘Where’s the time machine?’
‘We were just wondering that,’ the Doctor said cheerfully.
‘Who do you work for?’ Cosgrove asked.
‘You first,’ the Doctor replied flatly, sticking the jug in the ultrasonic oven.
‘I’m a loyal servant of the Eurozone Council,’ Cosgrove said, barely able to keep the smile off his face.
The Doctor thumbed back at the screen. ‘So you’ll be delighted by that, I take it.’
Cosgrove looked up at the screen. It took him a moment or two to register it.
‘Idiots,’ he said finally. ‘They’re all idiots.’
‘I thought you were a soldier,’ Fitz said. ‘You should be relishing this.’
‘I’m a spy,’ Cosgrove said. ‘That’s quite a different thing. Still. Soon it won’t matter.’
He’d been walking towards the case all the time they’d been speaking.
The Doctor watched him carefully. ‘So what do you want time travel for, Cosgrove?’
The old man smiled. ‘It’s the ultimate weapon.’
The Doctor’s shoulders sagged. ‘It’s so much more than that,’ he said quietly.
‘An ultimate weapon will do for starters,’ Cosgrove said. ‘Imagine being able to fight a war in four dimensions, when your opponent can’t. Everything they do could be factored in and anticipated. If they launch an attack, you just go back and defend against it. Then you go back further and prevent it from happening in the first place. Then you launch surgical strikes into the past. Eliminate your opponents before they even are your opponents.’
‘Endless war,’ the Doctor said.
‘Endless victory,’ Cosgrove replied. He looked up at the screen. ‘Endless prevention of politicians making idiotic decisions.’
The oven pinged to say it was done.
‘Where do you draw the line?’ the Doctor asked. He was also looking at the screen. ‘How would you go back and stop that from happening? How far would you go back? A couple of days? Months? Or just cut out the middle man by making sure the EZ never formed. Better yet, you could go back and make sure the British win the War of Independence. No America in the first place.’
‘If necessary.’
‘You’d be playing with fire.’
‘Playing with fire is how humanity left the caves, Doctor. I’m not out to make big changes. Just reverse a few decisions, give people the benefit