"So your friend the Doctor is a Time Lord," said Glitz thoughtfully.
"That"s how he knew where to go."
Peri looked puzzled. "What do you mean?"
"They sent him, did they?" asked Dibber.
"Who?"
"The Time Lords, my dear," said Glitz. "As my friend says, he must be acting on their behalf."
Peri shook her head. "The Doctor seems to have broken off from the Time Lords. I doubt is he"s acting on anyone"s behalf."
Immediately Glitz looked relieved. "A freelance, eh?
Like myself..." He glanced at Dibber. "Possibly we can reach an accommodation here my boy. Two rogues with but a single thought!"
The little procession was moving on its way. "How long has the Immortal lived in his so-called Castle?" asked the Doctor.
Balazar said, "Since the Fire."
"Five hundred years?"
"I do not know, he was sent to save our lives many centuries ago."
"And he never goes out and n.o.body goes in?"
"Only those young men who pa.s.s the Selection."
"What selection?"
"To find the two cleverest youths. They go to the Castle."
"Why?"
Balazar hesitated. "It is said the Immortal eats them."
6.
Meeting the Immortal The Doctor looked hard at Balazar for a moment, but it was clear that he was perfectly serious.
"Never believe what is said, Balazar," said the Doctor softly. Only what you know."
They continued on their way.
The Service Robot was square and ma.s.sive, shaped unpleasantly like a tombstone. The central section was black with a bright disc set into the top, like a single blazing eye. Two segments, one on either side, were picked out in yellow, and there was a servo-camera mounted on the top.
Huge and menacing, the Service Robot glided along the corridors, watched nervously on the monitor screen by Humker and Tandrell.
"Why are we doing this?" demanded Humker.
Tandrell glanced over his shoulder at the metal shape towering over them. "Because Sir ordered it," he said piously.
"It may be needed," boomed Drathro, and all discussion was at an end.
Dibber rattled moodily at the wooden bars on the window of their prison hut.
One was already broken off, and the rest looked as if they would go without too much effort.
Of course, there were still the armed guards surrounding the hut...
"These bars remind me of home," growled Dibber. "I reckon I could bite me way through them."
Glitz was stretched out, his back against the wall. "Relax, Dibber, I"ll soon find some way of winning the confidence of these simple peasants."
Peri was even more restless than Dibber. "I"d like to get out of here. That Katryca said something about choosing some husbands for me."
Glitz smiled. "There you are Dibber! Obviously the good queen is a romantic at heart."
"So am I," said Peri. "But not romantic enough to want more than one husband."
"Where we come from, a woman can have as many as six," said Dibber conversationally.
Peri smiled, remembering the marriage records of certain Hollywood film stars. "It can happen on my planet too - only they usually have "em one at a time!"
"I should like to stand in the role of paterfamilias for your absent father and give you away," said Glitz sentimentally. "Unfortunately I always cry at these moments of deep sentiment."
Dibber had taken a liking to Peri. "I think we should help her to get out, Mr Glitz."
"No, no, dear boy. We may need these brutish primitives."
"Need them for what?" asked Peri curiously.
Glitz produced a folded map from inside his tunic. "This shows the layout of the tunnel system, all hermetically sealed. If we can persuade Katryca"s people to drive a shaft down into the centre of the system we can fill the tunnels with gas."
Peri was horrified. "Kill them? The people Katryca called underground dwellers? That would be ma.s.s murder."
Glitz looked pensive. "I"m sure my conscience will p.r.i.c.k a little." He brightened. "But where money is concerned, that doesn"t usually last long."
"You can"t do it!" protested Peri.
"Oh, I think it"ll be pretty simple," said Glitz. "Don"t forget, Peri, this is a high-risk, high-profit venture. The people down there take the risk, and I take the profit!"
"That still leaves the L3 robot," pointed out Dibber.
Glitz laughed. "And what chance would the robot have without a labour force? Tell you what, Dibber this"d probably be quicker than trying to knock out its black light supply."
The door of the hut was thrust open and Glitz hurriedly thrust the map away.
A tall, bearded man in a hooded smock appeared in the doorway. He had a distinctive snaggle-tooth in the centre of his mouth, and Peri recognized him as one of the Councillors who had been at the queen"s side.
He was in fact, her chief adviser, known, not surprisingly, as Broken Tooth.
"Come with me," he ordered.
He wasn"t armed, but there were guards at his back.
Dibber, Glitz and Peri followed him from the hut.
They were marched through the village and into the great hut, where Katryca sat chin in hand on her throne, her guards and councillors about her staring into the sacred flame that danced upon the altar.
Glitz bowed low and smiled. "Dear lady, I knew that once you had time to consider-"
"Silence, fat one," snarled Katryca. "I have studied the sacred fires and there is anger in them. You have travelled from beyond the stars, your intention to steal our great totem. Only a sacrifice in the flames will propitiate the G.o.d."
"All of us?" asked Dibber, practical as ever.
Katryca shook her head, jabbing a bony finger towards Glitz. "No. Only you are the chosen one, Sabalom Glitz."
Glitz was outraged. "Me? Are you insane? I"m wanted in six different galaxies for crimes you couldn"t even imagine.
Do you think an old hag like you can bring me down?"
Katryca was unimpressed. "The pyre is being built. You will be brought forth when your time is due."
She waved them away.
The tunnel widened and ended in a ma.s.sive set of double doors.
"You enter here, Doctor," said Merdeen.
"Ah! No need to knock I take it?"
"Will I be needed?" asked Balazar nervously.
Merdeen listened to the voice inside his helmet for a moment. "No."
Balazar looked comically relieved and the Doctor grinned. "Lucky old you!"
Merdeen said sternly. "When you are in the Immortal"s presence, Doctor, you will cast your eyes to the ground."
"Will I?"
"It is forbidden to look upon him."
"On pain of being turned into a pillar of salt, I imagine.
That sort of thing?"
"You will not find it wise to mock the Immortal," said Merdeen threateningly. "Doubtless your body will be returned to me for disposal before the day is out."
The Doctor put a friendly arm about his shoulders.
"Merdeen, why don"t you just push off and guard some trains or something, hey?" Patting Merdeen on the back the Doctor thrust him gently away and strode up to the doors.
They were high and arched, patterned in some silvery metal. He thrust hard at them and they swung open without resistance. The Doctor marched through the doors and they swung closed behind him.
Merdeen and Balazar and the guards moved away. As they did so, a ma.s.sive black and silver shape glided from an alcove and took up its station before the doors.
The Service Robot was on guard.
The Doctor found himself in a sort of metallic ante chamber, with another set of double doors on the far side.
One of the omnipresent cameras was mounted above the doors, and the Doctor strode up to it, presenting his left profile to the lens.
"This is my best side."
Humker and Tandrell watched him on the monitor.
"The arrogance," breathed Humker.
"Can"t wait to see how he"s been programmed," said Tandrell.
The inner doors swung open and the Doctor appeared.