WSZOLA, IAOMNET: Thanks. I"m particularly fond of the Mogarian sculptures. It"s a shame they have to be kept in those gas containers: they"re meant to be touched.
He was a short white man in a tweed jacket; she was a tall, dark-eyed agent of Imperial Intelligence, imposing in her uniform. Genevieve could have looked at her service record with a flick of her eye, but for now she concentrated on the securicam playback.
THE DOCTOR: I saw a museum like this in Paris.
WSZOLA: Where"s that?
DOCTOR: Europe. Once upon a time. The spoils of conquest, treasures from Egypt and Europe. Very impressive, while it lasted.
WSZOLA: Why? What happened to the museum?
DOCTOR: The English came and took most of it away. The spoils of conquest.
WSZOLA: Aren"t you going to ask me where we"re going?
DOCTOR: Well, the list of possibilities seems pretty short.
You"re taking me to a dingy and purportedly escape-proof cell.
WSZOLA: Or?
DOCTOR: You"re taking me somewhere to stick electrodes in my head.
WSZOLA: Or?
DOCTOR: (pause) I suppose you could be taking me to your leader.
Genevieve"s point of view gently rolled to a stop. Wszola and her prisoner came to a halt before a huge, rococo door. An error message apologetically explained that Genevieve didn"t have the clearance to look inside.
DOCTOR: Oh.
WSZOLA: You"re lucky, Doctor. Very few people outside the Council and a few select staff get to go through that door.
DOCTOR: It doesn"t look very secure. Where are the guards?
The elaborate security devices?
166.
WSZOLA: We"ve pa.s.sed all of them already. That"s why there"s no lock on this door. If we weren"t cleared to be here, we"d already be dead. Knock.
DOCTOR: Sorry?
WSZOLA: Go on. Knock knock.
The Doctor stepped up to the door and rapped on it twice.
"Anyone home?" he bellowed.
They stood there for a moment, the intelligence agent and her two armoured guards, watching the little man. He raised his hand, and was just about to knock again when the door cracked open, the two halves sliding apart and up like beetle wings. Green steam puffed out. The Doctor waved it away, muttering about theatrics.
The room inside was vast and dark. Genevieve couldn"t make out any details. She wasn"t sure if that was because it really was that dark in there, or because the securicam recording was quietly censoring itself.
The Doctor took off his hat and walked inside. More green steam puffed up from the floor, obscuring him. The door slid shut with a sigh.
Genevieve switched off the recording, snapped instantly back into darkness and silence. They"d just let him go in there. He"d been invited, he"d pa.s.sed all the security checks.
G.o.ddess, she had had to find out what had happened. to find out what had happened.
She called up the tank"s menu and selected finish session finish session. The tank cracked and hissed as the liquid gently drained out, lowering her to the bottom. She felt herself grow heavier and heavier, until finally she was lying on the curve of the isotank"s floor.
Her body servant, a Lacaillian with skin like the sky and the grace of a delicate insect, helped her out of the tank and the constricting suit and mask. She pulled on something practical and black, pulled her golden hair back into a practical ponytail, and sat down at her terminal. She was going to have to pull in a few favours to get access to the prisoner. Quite a few.
The Doctor sat in an ultra-security cell. Actually, ultra-security was supposed to involve enforced unconsciousness in a psi-proof cage, but after the media protests they"d decided to opt for a 167 normal high-security cell with a few additional bells and whistles. The Doctor had already done three interviews by the time Genevieve managed to get in.
One of the ma.s.sive doors at the end of the cylindrical cell hissed open. The force shield inched its way towards where he sat on the bunk, until there was enough s.p.a.ce to comfortably admit her.
He was like something from a horror sim. The cold-blooded and insane killer who looks entirely harmless, even comic. The sims about the year of the disaster were full of characters like him quite a small man, wearing very crumpled clothes. She stepped forward, and the force shield moved with her, until she was standing close enough to see his face clearly.
"They tell me you call yourself "the Doctor"," she said.
He lifted his hat. "Unfortunately, no one seems to have heard of me."
"Soon everyone will have heard of you," she said. "Is that why you did it? So you"d go down in history?"
The Doctor allowed his eyes a few seconds to adjust to the darkness. The room was bare, as though there was a corner of darkness. The room was bare, as though there was a corner of the palace they"d forgotten to plaster with ornamentation and the palace they"d forgotten to plaster with ornamentation and plunder. plunder.
The room was huge, as though it had to encompa.s.s crowds.
Now there was no one there. Just him.
"Excuse me?" He took off his hat. "Is the Empress Gloriana at home?" home?"
Directly opposite him, a pale circle of green light appeared.
Ten feet across, a few feet above the floor.
He walked towards it, carefully, half expecting a bit of furniture to unexpectedly smack him in the shin. But his first furniture to unexpectedly smack him in the shin. But his first impression had been right. There was nothing in here. impression had been right. There was nothing in here.
Nothing but him, and the gnarled sc.r.a.p of a woman floating in the green sphere. the green sphere.
"I know you," she said.
"No," said the Doctor.
168.
"I"m sorry," said Genevieve, "I haven"t introduced myself. I"m Genevieve ap Gwalchmai."
"Ah," said the Doctor, with a small smile.
"I"m Duke Walid"s personal aide."
"I can"t have made your job any easier," said the Doctor. "I suppose I"ve thrown everything into confusion out there." He gestured vaguely at the palace, all around him.
She nodded. "The Council have been in session for hours. But they already have long-standing plans they can put into effect.
They"ve been waiting for the Empress to die for a long time."
"So what are they talking about?"
"Well," said Genevieve, "what to do with you, of course."
"I see," said the Doctor.
"You"re a bit of a problem, you see. In cases like this not that there"s been a case very much like this one, not for a long time it"s usual for the guards to rush in with guns blazing. No time is wasted trying to interrogate or sentence a puff of vapour. I"m afraid you threw the guards into confusion by surrendering."
"Poor things."
"The Council know you"re to be executed; they just can"t make up their minds about how to do it. They"re falling all over themselves to show their loyalty by coming up with worse and worse methods. When I left the meeting, the Pontifex Saecularis was partway through describing a complex technique involving virtual-reality simulation, advanced surgical techniques and drawing and quartering."
"They want to be careful, or I may vent my spleen."
Genevieve managed not to laugh. "I wouldn"t worry about it everyone"s eyes were glazing over. Personally, my money"s on slow electrocution."
"Thanks."
"What did you expect?" Genevieve said. "You killed the head of state of half the galaxy. What did you think was going to happen to you?"
"I suppose I thought she had a plan," he said. He scowled.
"Some people have no grat.i.tude."
169.
The Empress had no voice of her own. She spoke in a jarring mix of words, snipped from media sources. The sim images mix of words, snipped from media sources. The sim images travelled across the surface of the sphere, colours in an oil slick, travelled across the surface of the sphere, colours in an oil slick, distorting and disappearing. distorting and disappearing.
"I," she said, in the voice of a little girl. "Know," said a deep-voiced man with a Southern accent. "You," said an elderly woman. woman.
"h.e.l.lo," said the Doctor, raising his hat. His reflection was lost in the colours travelling across the gla.s.s. "Your Effulgence, I in the colours travelling across the gla.s.s. "Your Effulgence, I presume." presume."
"I. Am. The. Empress," she confirmed. "You. Are. The. Doctor."
The Doctor rapped on the sphere with a knuckle. It chimed like a champagne gla.s.s. "Now we"ve got that out of the way," he said, a champagne gla.s.s. "Now we"ve got that out of the way," he said, "why don"t you tell me why you brought me here?"
The sphere flared with light, the images beginning to solidify.
They showed scenes from the planets the Empress reigned over, flashing in rhythm, like a slide show. Hundreds of images. A flashing in rhythm, like a slide show. Hundreds of images. A waterfall on the Skag world. A great oxygen factory on Lacaille waterfall on the Skag world. A great oxygen factory on Lacaille 8760. A citadel on Sense-Sphere. Solos. j.a.petus. The 8760. A citadel on Sense-Sphere. Solos. j.a.petus. The Androzanies. The images pulsed steadily. Androzanies. The images pulsed steadily.
"This is who you are, isn"t it?" said the Doctor softly. "Your body"s kept alive while your mind is slaved to Centcomp. The body"s kept alive while your mind is slaved to Centcomp. The computer runs your Empire." computer runs your Empire."
The images stopped, the sphere"s surface a rich luminous black. black.
"It"s true, isn"t it? You can see into every corner of the Empire you"ve built over the last century and a half. You can watch every you"ve built over the last century and a half. You can watch every planet as its population is killed or enslaved, its resources ripped planet as its population is killed or enslaved, its resources ripped free. You can see every act of genocide." free. You can see every act of genocide."
"I like to watch."
The Doctor jerked back at the voice. "I hope you enjoy it," he said, very quietly. "It"s all you can do." said, very quietly. "It"s all you can do."
"Yes."
He breathed on to the surface of the globe, wiping away an imaginary speck. The Empress"s skull face rested on the gla.s.s imaginary speck. The Empress"s skull face rested on the gla.s.s inside, looking at him with hollow eyes. "It seems like a fair inside, looking at him with hollow eyes. "It seems like a fair exchange," he said. exchange," he said.
"Explain."
170.
"You have absolute power over the human-occupied area of this galaxy. You"re an insane, genocidal lunatic whose random this galaxy. You"re an insane, genocidal lunatic whose random word can kill a million people. In exchange for which " He word can kill a million people. In exchange for which " He waved at the globe. waved at the globe.
"So what did she say to you?" said Genevieve.
I love you.
"Nothing in particular," said the Doctor.
I"ve been dancing with you for centuries. Always dancing so fast, my love, a flashing, flickering movement just out of my fast, my love, a flashing, flickering movement just out of my reach. reach.
I am the first Empress. I contain the memories of every President of Earth. Downloaded into me, or rather the bloated President of Earth. Downloaded into me, or rather the bloated ma.s.s of records I have access to. Oh, I know you destroyed so ma.s.s of records I have access to. Oh, I know you destroyed so many traces of your existence. You went to great lengths to cover many traces of your existence. You went to great lengths to cover your tracks through our history. your tracks through our history.
But I followed your dance. A sighting here, a paragraph in a military report there... I reconstructed some of what you"d military report there... I reconstructed some of what you"d destroyed, and guessed the rest, imagining what you had done, destroyed, and guessed the rest, imagining what you had done, what you might have done. What clues you might have left for me what you might have done. What clues you might have left for me to find, your partner in the dance, distant in time but always to find, your partner in the dance, distant in time but always watching, watching. watching, watching.
Did you know I was there? Did you know a pair of sunken eyes and an electronic mind were staring, wherever you went, and an electronic mind were staring, wherever you went, whatever you did? You must have known, my love. Must have whatever you did? You must have known, my love. Must have known that the records were what it was all for. The lives you known that the records were what it was all for. The lives you saved were nothing they would end anyway. The places you saved were nothing they would end anyway. The places you saved would be built over, forgotten. Only the records remained. saved would be built over, forgotten. Only the records remained.
Only I was left. Watching, watching.
That"s why I wanted you here. That"s why I was delighted, overwhelmed with grief and joy when I realized you were here, overwhelmed with grief and joy when I realized you were here, here at last, in my s.p.a.ce, in my time, in my grasp. here at last, in my s.p.a.ce, in my time, in my grasp.
You"re the outsider, you see. That"s what the dance was all about, always the free agent interacting with the soldiers, with about, always the free agent interacting with the soldiers, with 171 171 the ministers, with the corporate raiders and the spies, but coming away untouched, still free, never part of the system. coming away untouched, still free, never part of the system.
You"ve got no alliances. You don"t belong to any faction.
There"s nothing you want here, no intrigue you"re involved in, no blackmail you"re entangled in. You can act freely. You"re alone blackmail you"re entangled in. You can act freely. You"re alone in that, my love. in that, my love.
That"s why I wanted you here. You have nothing to gain or lose by ripping out the power cords and destroying the backup by ripping out the power cords and destroying the backup systems and smashing open my life-support globe and watching systems and smashing open my life-support globe and watching me, watching, making sure that I die. me, watching, making sure that I die.
"She did ask me to end her life, though."
Genevieve was surprised. "Is that going to be your defence?"