Independence Day

by P. Darvill-Evans

  He looks small, Bep-Wor thought. Insignificant. But then, he reminded himself, that is the Doctor’s way. He doesn’t make a show of his power and strength.

  ‘The Doctor,’ Kedin continued, ‘accompanied Bep-Wor on his march, and was captured along with all of Bep-Wor’s free Twos. He knows as well as anyone the injustices of Vethran’s rule: Vethran personally fed him fatal poison. As you can see, it takes more than that to dispose of the Doctor.’

  The crowd cheered, and the Doctor gratefully returned to the safety of his chair.

  ‘I have - we all have - one more reason to be thankful to the Doctor. He brought us Ace.’

  Bep-Wor had thought the earlier applause excessive, but as Ace stood up the noise from below was deafening. Bep-Wor watched her as she waved cheerfully to the crowd. She seemed not at all abashed.

  She was still wearing her outlandish black costume. Bep-Wor could not understand why the people here found her attire so shocking: her clothes were bizarre, and revealed her feminine shape, but she was decently covered. Whereas the wealthiest women here at the court wore dresses which were designed to show off the wearer’s shoulders, or the curves of her bosom, or a length of her leg.

  ‘The part that Ace played in yesterday’s events is well known,’ Kedin said. ‘She released Bep-Wor and his people from the dungeon; she laid the explosive charge which breached the palace wall; she gave Vethran a dose of his own poison; and she saved me from assassination. I owe her a boundless debt of gratitude. We all do.’

  It seemed as though the cheers would never cease. They continued while Kedin summoned Ace to his side, and embraced her. They continued even after she had resumed her seat.

  Bep-Wor studied Kedin s face. The shadow of his loss lingered there, tingeing his smiles and his victory salutes.

  But at least he’s won his battle, Bep-Wor thought. He has Ace, and Madok, and the entire population of this grateful world.

  What have I got?

  He looked at Kia-Ga.

  Nothing.

  Less than nothing.

  * * *

  The Doctor was pretending not to listen. He was sitting at the desk in Vethran’s underground laboratory, his head cradled in his hands as he pored over the notebooks that had been written by Vethran’s scientists.

  Ace prowled among the benches, watching him through the convoluted coils of glass tubing.

  He hadn’t once congratulated her on the things she’d done here on Mendeb Three. He’d asked her over and over again whether she was all right, and he’d told her how pleased he was that she had survived the ordeal of being robbed of her volition and her sense of herself. She didn’t doubt that he really did care for her. But why couldn’t he give her credit for a job well done?

  She’d reached a turning point, a crossroads in her life. She had insisted on being put down, alone, on the space station, and she had proved that she could look after herself. And she could look after Kedin, too. Everything was different now.

  Couldn’t he see that?

  ‘Doctor,’ she said, ‘we have to talk. It’s important.’

  The Doctor sighed, and looked up from his studies. His face was drawn and his eyes were tired. ‘Later, Ace. I have to try to help these people.’

  Ace didn’t understand. What was getting at him?

  ‘We have helped,’ she said. ‘We’ve stopped the bad things happening. No more invasion of Mendeb Two; no more slavery; no more Vethran. We’ve stopped all that.’

  The Doctor’s expression was even more pained. ‘But we haven’t put things right, Ace. How many thousands of Bep-Wor’s people have been left as -?’ He stopped, searching for words.

  ‘Zombies?’ Ace suggested.

  ‘That sums it up,’ the Doctor said. ‘I have to do something for them.’

  Ace shrugged. It was obvious that the Doctor was blaming himself. And that was crazy. It had been Vethran who had invaded Mendeb Two, who had created the poison called SS10, and who had encouraged the trade in slaves.

  ‘You’ve been working down here without a break since yesterday,’ she began.

  ‘And I would work better without interruptions,’ the Doctor snapped. ‘You know that Kedin intends to destroy this workroom and everything in it. I have limited time.’

  ‘You’d better read on, then,’ Ace said, pointing to the open notebook. ‘You’ve been on the same page since yesterday evening.’

  The Doctor put his head in his hands. His voice was low and empty of emotion. ‘That’s because it’s hopeless,’ he said.

  The door swung open. Kedin, Madok, and Bep-Wor walked in, and the laboratory was suddenly crowded.

  Ace noted that her heart skipped when she saw Kedin. He was just too tasty, that was the trouble. And there was something particularly appealing about the troubled frown he seemed to wear permanently these days. She caught his eye and flashed him a grin. His lips twitched into a brief smile, and Ace felt a warm glow.

  She’d thought she would hate him for the rest of her life.

  She remembered the cliché about love and hate being the two sides of the same coin. Then she realised what she was thinking. Love? Was that what it was?

  As Kedin went to stand in front of the desk, he rested his hand for a moment on her shoulder. She shivered.

  Madok was staring at her. She smiled at him. She liked Madok: big, reliable, sturdy old Madok. ‘How’s it going?’ she asked him. ‘Managed to get any kip yet?’

  ‘My lady,’ Madok said. ‘Thank you for your concern. I rested for a few hours last night.’

  ‘That’s good.’ Ace turned to Bep-Wor. He didn’t see her. He was staring at the Doctor. Ace saw that his whole body was quivering. He’s losing it, she thought.

  ‘Doctor,’ Kedin said. ‘I’ve come to see you in the hope of news. Have you been able to decipher the records left by Vethran’s technicians?’

  ‘Yes, yes, of course,’ the Doctor said. ‘And I’ve interviewed the people who worked here. They were anxious to cooperate. It’s all quite clear.’

  ‘I’m impressed,’ Kedin said. Our chemists - my chemists, on the station, were I’m sure cleverer chaps than Vethran’s.

  They never did succeed in analysing SS10. We wasted weeks on that, and on studying the effects of diluting the distillate.’

  ‘You were attempting to create a new version of the drug,’

  the Doctor pointed out, ‘not an antidote. You wanted something that produced the same symptoms, but not permanently. I’m not surprised you found it difficult. Dilution of the solution would be useless.’

  ‘As we discovered, Doctor. Below a certain concentration the potion had no effect at all; above it the effect remained permanent. We were searching for a formula that would produce a temporary effect, so that Vethran wouldn’t suspect that we were working against him. We didn’t know how long we would have to wait before making our military moves.’

  ‘So I got the temporary formula?’ Ace said.

  Kedin swung round and rewarded her with one of his dazzling smiles. ‘Precisely, my dear Ace. We had only just created it, by altering the chemical composition of a sample of SS8. I’m so glad it worked.’

  Ace basked in Kedin’s attention and tried to apply her mind to the problem of spore-seed derivatives. ‘But that’s no good as an antidote,’ she said. You’d need a completely different approach.’

  ‘It can’t be done,’ the Doctor said abruptly.

  Everyone turned to look at him. Ace saw that Kedin’s face was suddenly pale.

  ‘SS10 has a permanent effect on the physiology of the brain,’ the Doctor said. ‘It’s fundamentally different from all of the other formulas derived from the plant. What it does is-’

  He paused, his face screwed up with disgust. ‘It’s diabolical.

  As far as I can tell - and you will recall that I have ingested this foul brew, although my brain is organised rather differently - it has several active ingredients that perform different functions. One is a powerful sedative; one reduces inhibit
ions; another increases suggestibility. These are common to most of the spore-seed distillates. In SS10, however, there is an ingredient that proceeds immediately to the hypothalamus, where it performs some drastic surgery and then transforms a clump of cells into a factory for producing a second agent which cauterises nerve endings as they are called into play by the victim’s desires and wishes.

  ‘All of the other effects wear off in time. This one causes permanent damage. It’s irreversible.’

  Kedin was standing completely still, with his eyes closed.

  ‘My lord,’ Madok said. Kedin brushed off Madok’s comforting hand.

  Ace couldn’t bear to see Kedin crushed. ‘There must be something you can do, Doctor,’ she said. ‘Can’t you grow new nerves from stem cells? Or the TARDIS could create an organic substitute for the damaged tissue.’

  The Doctor glared at her. Do you suppose I haven’t considered every possibility?’ he shouted. He calmed his voice. ‘The problem is the capacity of the human cranium.

  The damaged cells are still there, in the brain, woven among the healthy cells. They die, but they are replaced by cells that become as useless as their predecessors as soon as the victim uses them.’

  Kedin lifted his head. ‘Is there no hope at all?’ he asked.

  The Doctor rubbed his forehead. ‘There is always the possibility that the passing of time will bring about a partial cure - perhaps a complete cure. Eventually the body’s defences may reject the altered cells occupying the hypothalamus. But I have no idea how long such a change might take, were it to happen at all. In the meantime Ace is right: I can give you the means to grow additional, healthy cells from each victim’s stem cells. But any recovery will be only partial: it would be dangerous to replicate the full complement of damaged cells. I have the necessary equipment in the TARDIS. That’s the best I can do. I’m sorry.’

  He jutted his jaw, and swept his gaze around the room.

  ‘Where’s Bep-Wor?’ he said.

  Bep-Wor had gone. Ace hadn’t noticed him leaving. He must have slipped away quietly, she thought, when he heard the Doctor’s news.

  ‘Find him, Madok,’ Kedin said. ‘He will have taken this badly.’

  ‘Yes, my lord,’ Madok said, and marched from the room.

  Ace looked from Kedin to the Doctor. The Time Lord was staring at his shoes, his shoulders hunched. Ace had never seen him looking so forlorn. Kedin was in no better shape: he was gazing into the distance, his eyes bright with tears. Ace tried to imagine what it must be like to love someone as deeply as Kedin loved Tevana, and what it must feel like for him to lose her. She felt her own eyes stinging with tears.

  She went to him and slipped her hand into his. ‘Come along,’ she said gently. ‘We can’t have this. You’re making me cry. Let’s get out of here.’

  She led him away. She resolved to have her talk with the Doctor later.

  The barrel of the pistol was still hot; the smell of burnt powder still hung in the air. Madok dropped the weapon and returned to the first body.

  Kia-Ga was sitting upright in a chair next to the bed. It crossed Madok’s mind that in death she looked scarcely less animated than when she had been alive. He cursed his ignoble thoughts.

  Bep-Wor must have shot her as soon as he returned to the suite of rooms he and Kia-Ga had shared. Madok had raced up stairs and along corridors, heading directly to this room, but he had been too late even to hear the shots.

  Bep-Wor had shot Kia-Ga in the centre of her forehead: the black, blood-rimmed hole was neat and small. The back of the chair, however, was soaked in blood and brains. Kia-Ga’s eyes were open. It was as if, Madok thought, Bep-Wor had tried to obliterate the illness in her brain by shooting her there.

  Bep-Wor’s body was lying by the open window. What had gone through his mind, Madok wondered, as he had stood looking out across the city with the mouth of the gun touching the side of his head?

  Madok walked slowly to the door. ‘Stretcher bearers,’ he said to the soldier he had left on guard outside. ‘And two stretchers. Then take four men down to the dungeons and bring back half a dozen of Vethran’s former Councillors. They can have the pleasure of cleaning up the blood.’

  Once the lords were on their knees and scrubbing with sufficient vigour, Madok left them under the supervision of his lieutenant and went to report to Kedin.

  As he dragged his feet along the corridors of the palace, Madok rehearsed how he would break the news of the deaths of Bep-Wor and Kia-Ga. Kedin’s situation was too similar to Bep-Wor’s for Madok’s liking. On the other hand, he couldn’t imagine Kedin taking Bep-Wor’s route out of his misery.

  Kedin didn’t clutch grief to himself: he was, Madok supposed, too sensitive to bear it for long. And so Kedin had not kept Tevana at his side, as Bep-Wor had kept Kia-Ga: Tevana was being cared for by her servants, who had been brought from Cathogh.

  Madok was still deep in thought as he approached the entrance to Kedin’s apartments. And he still hadn’t decided on the wording of his report. The guards saluted as he passed between them. He knocked on the wide doors.

  One of the doors was pulled open - by Ace. Madok was speechless with surprise. He knew that Ace paid no heed to convention, or even to everyday etiquette. But if she was alone with Kedin, and with Tevana in the palace, and in daylight, in front of the guards... Although by night would have been even worse...

  ‘Hello, Madok,’ Ace said. ‘Come in. Kedin’s having a lie-down. But don’t worry, he’ll be OK. I’ll look after him.’

  Madok followed Ace through the hall and into the reception room. She had removed her jacket, and the sight of her naked shoulders disturbed him. He saw her jacket, lying where she had discarded it, he supposed, across a chair. It was as if she was treating the Duke’s rooms as her own.

  ‘He’s in the bedroom,’ Ace said. ‘You want me to give him a message?’

  In the bedroom. Madok imagined Ace going to Kedin there.

  ‘No, my lady,’ he said. ‘I must speak to Kedin Ashar myself.’

  ‘OK,’ Ace said. Come on, then.’ She went towards the door that led to the private suite. Madok couldn’t believe that she could behave so immodestly. ‘Is it bad news?’ Ace asked. Her eyes widened. ‘It’s Bep-Wor, isn’t it?’

  ‘I must report to my lord,’ Madok insisted. ‘I’m sure that he’ll be able to withstand the shock. With your help, of course. My lady.’ He didn’t even regret the sarcasm in his voice: it was clear that Ace was oblivious to it.

  * * *

  Ace watched the Doctor as he paced back and forth in the tiny circular room he had chosen to stay in, at the top of one of the palace’s tallest towers. She clutched the soft package in her hands. She wanted him to have it, but now that the moment had come she couldn’t part with it. Not yet. ‘So what do you think?’ she said, turning in a circle. ‘Is this smart or what?’

  The Doctor looked at her. She was wearing the tunic of her new uniform, and she desperately wanted him to understand what it meant. She needed his approval.

  He frowned, as if he hadn’t noticed her new clothes, and then, to her relief, he smiled. ‘Very military,’ he said. ‘But quite fetching. The colour suits you.’

  ‘And I’m on the Council,’ she said, trying not to rush her words. ‘I’ve been co-opted, whatever that means. Special adviser to the Duke of Jerrissar. That’s quite something for a girl from Perivale, you know.’

  ‘Very impressive,’ the Doctor said. He stared out of the narrow window. ‘It’s time to go, Ace,’ he said. ‘I’ve done everything I can here. The first ship’s leaving today. Taking some of the people of Mendeb Two back home. We should be on it.’

  He sounds defeated, she thought. It’s unreasonable. We’ve done well. Baddies vanquished, evil overcome, all of that stuff. And he still doesn’t understand.

  ‘But there’s so much still to do,’ Ace said. She had to try to keep the excitement out of her voice. Here, and on Mendeb Two. I can help. I can explain the technology on the spac
e station. Computers, quantum machines, even things like the food replicators. The whole of the north of Mendeb Two has to be reconstructed. Then there’s the treatment programme for the ones affected by SS10. There’s enough to keep me busy for years.’

  The Doctor turned to face her. ‘They’ll work it out for themselves, Ace. It will be better that way.’

  He still doesn’t get it, she thought. He doesn’t realise I’m staying.

  He tugged at his sleeves, as if that way he could remove the creases. He picked up his hat and placed it on his head. ‘Are you coming?’ he said.

  ‘I’ll come to Mendeb Two,’ Ace replied.

  ‘That was Bep-Wor’s house,’ the Doctor said.

  Madok’s gaze followed the Doctor’s pointing finger. The house, like most in the village, was a ruin. Vethran’s troops had been systematic in their destruction. Fronds of vegetation had already climbed over the fallen walls.

  There was nothing Madok could say. He and the Doctor continued to walk, away from the self-propelled vehicle that had brought them from the transport ship, and towards the centre of the square. The large blue box that the Doctor claimed was his spaceship was standing there. Kedin and Ace, walking hand in hand, followed them.

  This was only the third time that Madok had been to this planet, and on his previous visits he had hardly strayed from beside the ships that had brought Vethran’s soldiers and had taken away the captured natives. Even here, though, he was struck by the ethereal beauty of the place: the vast sky, the warm breeze, the long shadows, the strange shapes of the trees.

  The Doctor’s craft looked incongruous, but Madok suspected that it would look out of place anywhere. It seemed impossible that it could fly, let alone travel between stars. As he and the Doctor drew closer to it, he could see that its paintwork was scratched. It looked almost as derelict as the surrounding houses.

  The Doctor produced a key from a pocket. ‘I’ll nip inside and fetch the cell culture kits,’ he said. He glanced over his shoulder. ‘It will give those two time to say their goodbyes.’