The Empire of Glass - Andy Lane [24]
The Doctor beamed. "You see how it's all beginning to fit together?" he said. "We'll get to the bottom of this mystery before you know it, and," he glanced over at Vicki, "along the way we'll find out what was squatting on your windowsill."
Steven looked puzzled, but a knock at the door distracted him. He was closest, so he opened it. Three guards in half-armour were standing outside. Their faces were bland, their expressions fixed.
"We've come to escort you to the meeting," one of them said.
"Excellent," the Doctor said, striding towards the door. "Come on, you two. We don't want to keep the Doge waiting."
"Look," Steven said, "I'm feeling a bit rocky. Mind if I duck out and get some sleep?"
The Doctor fixed Steven with his piercing gaze. "Don't make a habit of it. There are races who would quite cheerfully kill you if you insulted them by missing an important meeting like this." He strode off out of the door, leaving Vicki to follow on.
"How much did you two drink?" she asked as she passed him.
"I lost count after the fifth bottle," he said. Close-up, his eyes were bloodshot and the skin around them was puffy.
As she reached the door, she turned back and said, "The couch is very comfortable."
"At the moment," Steven rejoined, "I could quite happily sleep on the flagstones outside."
As Vicki closed the door, Steven was already stretching out on the couch. She ran along the tapestry-clad corridor to catch up with the Doctor and the guards. She was just in time to hear him say,
"How long have we got, my good man?"
"All day, I think," one of the men said. "That's just today, of course.
The whole thing will last for a week."
The Doctor frowned, and turned to Vicki. "I'm not sure I can keep up this masquerade for a week," he whispered. "I had assumed we would only be in there for half an hour or so."
"Perhaps he isn't serious," she said. She turned to the guard to clarify his answer, but he had already turned to say something to the man beside him. She strained to hear what they were saying, just in case it gave her some clue as to what was going to happen.
"Did they find Envoy Albrellian?" the man was saying. Vicki felt a cold shiver run through her body. Albrellian? For a moment her mind floundered as she tried to remember where she had heard the name before, and then the memory hit home hard enough to make her head spin. It was the name the alien in her dream had used.
"Yes," the second man said, "he went for a late night fly around the city. Said he needed to stretch his wings. Braxiatel was furious."
They laughed. Vicki clutched at the Doctor's coat sleeve. "Doctor, there's something funny going on here."
"Funny how, child?"
She shrugged. "I'm not sure, but they're talking about something that happened in my dream."
The Doctor glanced at the two men out of the corner of his eye.
"They look human to me - or, at least, humanoid. Hmm... " He thought for a second. "I'm not sure I want to go where they're taking us, not until I know more about what we're doing here, at least. If they're the real thing, they will expect me to be Cardinal Bellarmine. If they're not, and if they are associated with that invitation, then they will know me as the Doctor. Can you say something to them, something that will make them react to my name?"
Vicki nodded, thinking quickly. "Pretend to be ill," she said.
The Doctor nodded slightly, and reached out to take her hand. For a few seconds he squeezed it comfortingly, then he let it drop, stopped abruptly in the middle of the corridor and bent double in a coughing fit. He was so convincing that Vicki almost panicked.
Taking a deep breath, she said, "Cardinal Bellarmine is ill!"
The first man just looked at her. "Who?" he said.
"Cardinal Bellarmine!" she said, pointing.
"She means the Doctor," said the second guard. "Quick, get a med kit!"
The Doctor straightened up and shoved the first man in the chest.
He staggered back into his colleague. The Doctor took Vicki by the wrist and pulled her