Doctor Who: Myths and Legends

by Richard Dinnick

  Now the control panel was lit up like a Pajaro garland. Something much bigger than a probe had somehow managed to pass through the Symple-Guardz protection system. Meda looked over her shoulder at the empty control room. Due to the skeleton crew, only one technician was on duty at any time and Director Euxine was never there to report to.

  Remembering her training, Meda decided to take the initiative and opened a communications channel. It was extremely weak but that was to be expected.

  ‘Unknown ship, this is Chilsos control,’ Meda said, trying to sound as official as she could. ‘Be advised, this planet is under quarantine. We are the only survivors. Please, stay away.’

  ‘This is the battleship Vogo,’ came the gruff reply. ‘We believe you are holding an alien ally against their will. You be advised that we have a large commando force landing in your area to mount a rescue mission.’

  The communication cut off. After four attempts to raise them again, Meda gave up and hit the emergency evacuation alarm.

  In the laboratory, Euxine was sitting with Rassilon, examining a modification he wanted to make to their computer systems. She jerked her head up and ran to the door.

  ‘What’s happening?’ Rassilon asked.

  ‘They must’ve come for you!’

  ‘Who?’

  ‘Your people, of course!’ she tapped impatiently on the grille. ‘Guard! Open this door!’

  The Ra’ra’vis soldier hurried over and unlocked the door. Rassilon made to follow Euxine, but she slammed it behind her. The Time Lord rested his hands on the crossbars.

  ‘I’m afraid this is where we part company.’ She turned and brushed his fingers ever so slightly with her feathers. ‘I have enjoyed working with you,’ she said. ‘Stay with him,’ she ordered the guard and then rushed away.

  ‘Even under duress, it was a pleasure,’ called Rassilon, smiling. He was taking this remarkably well, but his primary concern was to return to the front and now he could.

  The guard eyed him nervously.

  ‘Don’t worry,’ Rassilon said. ‘I’m locked securely in a cell. You should go.’

  Before the Ra’ra’vis could move, there was the sound of blaster fire in the corridor behind him. He was unarmed and stood ready to attack whoever entered the cellblock with his three claw-like fingers.

  Suddenly Jorus stood framed in the doorway. The guard went to attack him, using his wings to intimidate the enemy. Keston appeared behind him, Vogan rifle in hand.

  ‘Don’t even think about it,’ he said and managed an imperious stare. ‘Unless you want to be served up as roast fowl!’

  Jorus strode forward, approaching the cell door. ‘You are the prisoner?’ he asked.

  ‘And you must be the rescuer,’ Rassilon said.

  The two bearded men regarded one another for a moment and then smiled.

  Aboard the Vogo, Rassilon was treated very well. The Vogans had never heard of the Time Lords before and were very happy to learn they had rescued someone of such galactic importance.

  As recompense for their heroic rescue, Rassilon gave the Vogans technology and knowledge beyond their understanding. He told them it would help in the wars they had to come.

  Jorus did not understand this, but he was in awe of the Time Lord President. As they transported him back to Time Lord space, he spoke with Rassilon often about politics on Gallifrey and about the way their government was organised.

  Rassilon showed Jorus his Seal – the Presidential one – that was used as a symbol of authority and honour. Of all the things Jorus marvelled at, this was the thing that most seemed to affect him: that a pictogram could be so powerful a tool. This did not go unnoticed and so when they reached the Gallifreyan lines and Rassilon returned to his people and his seemingly endless battle with the Vampires, he gave the Voganauts his Seal in a grand ceremony of thanks.

  When the Time Lords used their technology – which seemed like the power of gods to the Vogans – to return the Vogo back to its home system, Jorus was determined that he would adopt the spiral pattern as their own and that they would set about creating a government based on the chapters and councils Rassilon had told him of in their many discussions.

  THE VARDON HORSE

  The Precinct of Anitroilia, Citadel of the Assembly

  Dessinday 34th Alpus

  THE WAR EDGES ever closer.

  Last night the light of battle reached us from the five conjoined worlds of Trallinhoe. This is less than one parsec. Subspace communication is awash with news of the Kosnak horde and how they plundered the five worlds and then detonated its host star to prevent their enemy from gaining any strategic advantage. I would call them base, but they have such technology! Truly, it is amazing what the simple mind can conceive when forced to by threat of death.

  The Kosnak may be three light years away, but they could be here tomorrow. They possess ships of such size and speed I just don’t know if our planetary defences would hold out against their onslaught.

  Today, I met with the other Senators to discuss our plans. There is division among them: stay, flee, fight, hide. And we could do any of these things. I don’t fear the weaponry of the Kosnak. Nor the Vardon. It is losing the fundamental values of our civilisation that terrifies me.

  A case in point.

  When was the last time we sought a military confrontation with any other species? For thousands of millennia we have lived in harmony with our neighbour and our environment. Yet Senator Minzak would have us utilise our psychic abilities, ‘weaponise them’, he said. Naturally I advocated for a peaceful solution. Of the four options, I would rather flee or hide than unleash our destructive capability on any race.

  The council chamber was in uproar after Furis suggested using our reconnaissance and intelligence potential to gather as much information as possible about both races. Perhaps, she suggested, there would be something we could offer the Vardon and the Kosnak to leave us alone.

  Minzak was on his feet, incandescent that we should ‘sell our principles to appease embryonic invaders’! His was a good speech, I must say, but then he called Furis a coward and a lowly trader in morals and ethics.

  I remember, when I first came to the Citadel, I was amazed by the stunning crystal decoration, the walls built from natural geodes. The Augmented Reality set had dubbed it ‘a bastion of reason where considered discussions had built our civilisation and maintained it for countless generations’. Ha! If the writer of that work could have seen the behaviour of the Senators today. No unanimous desire for reason here. Just disarray and mud-slinging.

  Of course, Senate Principal Orfak sought to placate everyone no matter his or her viewpoint. His vacillations will probably kill us all. ‘Senators,’ he said in that annoying, nasal tone of his. ‘We have a hard decision ahead of us. Let us contemplate all the options and choose the one that is right for Xeriphas.’

  Platitudes!

  ‘No matter what foe we face, the Xeraphin will be the Xeraphin.’

  And soundbites.

  After the session, I consulted with the other members of the Core Scientific. Epeyak has been working on a focus for our powers. He has an interesting theory on how we might use what he called the collective application to make the aggressors simply leave without ever firing a shot. I must confess I like this idea, but prefer to use the focus to hide us from our enemies, rather than confuse or intimidate them. He berated me, even tapping my silver tunic!

  ‘Odyson! You must be prepared to leave the cocoon of your own standards and understand that sometimes the rasher course is the most beneficial.’

  I can see why he’s a scientist and not a politician! When has recklessness ever been the best course of action? I said as much, but will let him continue his work.

  The Precinct of Anitroilia, Citadel of the Assembly

  Essenday 35th Alpus

  The month draws to a close with horrendous news. We woke on the day of peace with the warlike Vardon already in our solar system.

  We know the Vardon
of old. Their race and ours signed a peace treaty not 300 years ago. The great appeaser, Jayentas, negotiated with the dimpled warriors that they should consider our system an exclusion zone. In return for this, we promised that no matter what action they took against the Kosnak – or anyone else for that matter – we would not interfere.

  It is not hard to understand why appeasement is not a popular option in the Senate. Jayentas has been reviled ever since. It is said he lived out the twilight of his years in solitude on the sombre moon. No one would actually want to live there. Due to its unique rotation, it’s almost constantly in the shadow of Xeriphas, and there’s no breathable atmosphere. I doubt it’s true.

  What is true is that Senator Furis has stepped down. A great loss. She was capable and a strong voice against Minzak. With one less of our number, I fear we will end up doing something unspeakable.

  The Precinct of Anitroilia, Senate Principal’s Quarters

  Abanday 1st Belagaw

  This morning there she was on the Assembly Way. Furis. She stopped me as I walked. I must confess to being a little taken aback by this. She, on the other hand, looked very composed for a recently deposed member of the Senate.

  ‘I know you don’t agree with Minzak and his crude policies, Fellow Odyson,’ she said.

  I inclined my head in respect. ‘I am only an adviser on science, Senator. I have no ballot to cast.’

  She smiled generously. ‘Thank you for still using my political title. Your diplomacy and wise manner are why I believe you can help me.’

  Now, I am not one for conspiracies. Indeed, I don’t think there has been one on Xeriphas for decades. That said, perhaps Epeyak’s words concerning rashness of action had affected me! ‘Help you?’ I asked.

  She indicated we should walk, and so we did – away from the Assembly towards the Senate Gardens. No matter what the machinations brewing in the Senate, nature always continues its endless cycle and, in seeming defiance at our current situations, the kukir trees were in late blossom, orange and pink petals drifting up from the boughs on the spring thermals.

  ‘Something has happened,’ Furis told me now we were away from the crowds.

  I frowned. Did she mean the Vardon? I asked her.

  ‘No,’ she said. ‘Someone has arrived on Xeriphas – quite by chance he claims.’

  Again I was confused. ‘Arrived? You mean from the moons?’

  She shook her head, gazing steadily in front of her as she sauntered away as if she were one of the debauched ‘hedonistas’ out walking with a favourite cousin. ‘He’s an alien.’

  ‘How did he penetrate the defence barriers?’

  She smiled at a winged burrel as it fluttered by. ‘I have no idea. He just did. The important thing is that after his capture by the heralds, they took him to Orfak.’

  This stopped me in my tracks. ‘Why did they do that? Orfak is a xenophobe. Always has been. That’s why he’d never meet with the Vardon or the Kosnak.’

  ‘Well, quite.’ She took my arm and started walking again. ‘But this being is old. His hair is the same colour as our skin. And he demanded to be taken to our leader!’

  ‘Hair?’ This was incredible. ‘The Silver Soothsayer,’ I breathed.

  ‘Exactly!’

  ‘This must be a coincidence! Surely even Orfak cannot believe this is true. It’s a folk tale! It’s older then these buildings! And they’re what? Ten millennia?’

  ‘Whether Orfak believes this man is actually the Silver Soothsayer or not, he is dining with him at this very moment.’

  I now turned and propelled us back towards the gardens’ entrance. ‘How do you know all this?’

  Furis regarded me with a twinkle in her eye. ‘I have many sources in the Citadel,’ she said. ‘I am, after all, Senator of the Watch.’

  As if I could forget! With the power of both the heralds and the far more secretive emissaries, her resignation had struck me as odd.

  ‘And what does Orfak intend to do with him?’

  ‘Shall we go and find out?’ she said.

  When we reached the Senate Principal’s chambers, there were two Plasmavores outside his door. Another of Epeyak’s creations. Despite their rather primitive appearance these creatures could ensnare an intruder and transport them away or hold them in place. They rendered their victims unable to move and could be used to communicate telepathically.

  They wobbled forward, but Furis dismissed them with a wave of her hand. She swept past them as if she were Senate Principal and not Orfak. Indeed, the heralds guarding the inner doors saluted and let her pass without a word. Was I to be witness to a coup?

  Orfak’s personal study was an ornate affair. There were several cases of old books to make him look worldly. I doubt he’d read a single one. The furnishings were all from his home province of Teven – a backwater in the southern hemisphere that had only ever produced one Senator.

  He was sitting in one of the padded, high-back chairs with a crystal goblet lolling in his right hand. He was gently swilling the yellow ferment within round and round as he spoke to the occupant of another identical chair less than a body-height away.

  Incredibly, Orfak did not seem surprised by our sudden arrival. He finished his sentence and stood to greet us. I tried to hide my amazement at his generous and uncharacteristic behaviour, but I must have betrayed myself in some way.

  ‘No need to look so startled, Odyson,’ he said. ‘You are most welcome here on this auspicious day.’

  The alien that had been sitting opposite Orfak also rose, albeit more slowly and with a certain stiffness. He did indeed have silvery hair and wore a coat of black. The Senate Principal smiled as he started to introduce the stranger:

  ‘May I present—’

  Furis cut him off. ‘Of course! You need no introduction here. You are most welcome.’

  ‘Really, my dear?’ he asked, and his hand moved to the neck of his upper clothing, gripping a flap that folded back from the rest of the black garment. ‘Most kind. Most kind!’

  ‘I am Furis, and this is Odyson, the leader of our Core Scientific,’ she continued.

  He turned to me and offered a broad smile revealing aged teeth within his mouth. ‘I am delighted to meet you, Odyson, was it?’

  As we spoke, it transpired that he was a traveller. He had been captured by heralds in the lower levels of the Citadel and turned over almost immediately to the emissaries. This is where Furis had heard of the alien arrival.

  The next piece of news left me more speechless than anything else today.

  Furis had recognised the stranger as the Silver Soothsayer and moved him to the most secure accommodation on the planet – within the Senate Principal’s quarters! With the complete cooperation of Orfak, mark you.

  The silver-haired man preferred not to say how he travelled but had proposed a trade. He would help with what he called our ‘predicament’ in return for the Xeraphin simply letting him go once he had aided in the creation of a strategy.

  ‘What you need,’ he said, ‘is a solution that both satisfies the desires of the races threatening your world and allows you to maintain your existence in a peaceful manner.’

  He seemed very at home holding politicians in the palm of his hand.

  ‘You have amassed the greatest collection of knowledge in the known universe,’ he said. ‘That must endure.’

  We all agreed. But how?

  So many options had been debated and explored by the Senate that actually we had very little that all our people could agree on. The old man had smiled at this, wily like an experienced hunter. ‘Well, that makes our deliberations all the more straightforward, hmm?’

  As we worked, news reached us that the Kosnak had been detected in the outer reaches of the system. They had always lagged behind the Vardon. Of course, now they were so close at hand, the news could not be contained within the corridors of power.

  The general populace is now aware of just how precarious – nay, desperate – our situation is. Naturally they are
scared and had started gathering at public buildings around the planet to demand answers.

  I write this as night falls. I doubt I will have time later. We have been working all day and I think we have the glimmerings of a plan. The Soothsayer is indeed very wise and possessed of a fierce intellect. I hope that by tomorrow, we will be in a position to save our people.

  The Precinct of Anitroilia, Citadel Crisis Shelters

  Borenday 2nd Belagaw

  A terrible day in our history.

  Using the abilities of the best psychics the emissaries had at their disposal, we watched as the two warmongers met over our planet. Images of their ships were projected into the centre of the Senate Chamber. The Soothsayer and I watched from the gallery, unseen by the others. Orfak did not want to scare the others unduly, although I think the time had long passed for being scared.

  As we probed deeper, the image changed and suddenly we were on the bridge of a Vardon ship. They were unmistakeable: pale, almost white, skin dimpled with hexagons; eyes and mouths of jarring blackness. Their heads were crowned with a sort of bone halo that ringed their scalps, joining up with the base of their necks.

  At the front of their group stood their current leader, Admiral H2-L0. For the usually composed Vardon, he looked furious. Indeed, they were all staring at a screen, fists clenched, angry expressions painted on their monochrome faces. The reason for this was clear when we saw what was on that screen: the Kosnak.

  In comparison to the almost clinical appearance of their mortal enemies, the Kosnak were brutish and tribal. They were much larger humanoids with an abundance of facial hair and ferocious-looking teeth bared in insult. Each one wore bulky clothing of rich, deep colours and bore a topknot on its head that denoted rank or status. I’d read a report on them several years ago, but cannot recall the details. However, it was clear that the Kosnak in the foreground – with a white topknot and matching beard – was their leader, Ur.