"Can"t we at least report him to that Galactic Medical a.s.sociation?"
"No proof especially now that you"re well again."
"There are the injection marks."
"They don"t prove anything, Peri. Solon could produce a hundred good reasons for giving you injections."
"So he just gets away with it?"
The Doctor sighed. "Who cares? How many times must I tell you, Peri? All I want is to get you better and get away from here before anything else happens. As long as he leaves us alone, Solon can muck about with dead bodies as much as he likes.
And Commander Hawken"s ready to let us go. He"ll be glad to be rid of us, he"s got his hands full with this peace conference."
"What peace conference?"
"They"re holding an intergalactic peace conference here, any day now." The Doctor stood up. "Get some more rest, Peri. I want you up and about in a day or two, then we can be off."
"You"d better get some rest too, Doctor, you look beat.
Thanks for looking out for me."
He looked down at her and smiled. "I got you into all this, didn"t I? The least I can do is get you out again in one piece!"
Solon sat in his office, a broad smile on his face, gloating over the phial the full phial of Elixir of Life on the desk before him.
Drago stood by the desk, looking at Solon with admiring astonishment.
"But Surgeon-General, how..."
"Simple. I brought an old phial with me, switched phials and gave the girl a ma.s.sive injection of the antidote under cover of giving her the Elixir. And if you didn"t see me, Drago, I"m d.a.m.ned sure Smith didn"t!"
"Wonderful," said Drago. He looked at the little stone phial.
"But Surgeon-General, if I may ask..."
"Well?"
"There is so little of the Elixir, enough for a handful of experiments, no more. It will be hard to obtain a further supply."
"I may have no need of a further supply," said Solon arrogantly. "If I can produce three or four fully animated subjects, I can dissect them and learn how to repeat the process without without the Elixir." the Elixir."
"If you say so, Surgeon-General," said Drago dubiously.
"Still sounds like an idiotic scheme to me," said a cheerful voice.
The Doctor was standing in the doorway.
Instinctively Solon reached out to grab the Elixir.
"You needn"t bother," snapped the Doctor. "I worked out your little scheme some time ago." He marched over to the desk and stared menacingly down at Solon.
"I am angry, extremely angry, that Miss Brown"s health was put at risk. Don"t you know the physician"s chief law, Solon?
"First, do no harm.""
Solon flinched from the quiet fury in the Doctor"s voice, but managed to rally.
"Your friend ruined an important experiment by her interference. Now, indirectly, she has made a contribution to the success of others. Honours even, surely?"
"What would you know about honour?" said the Doctor, withering scorn in his voice. "I came to tell you both this," he went on. "Miss Brown and I will be leaving in a day or so. If anything happens to endanger her health, or mine, in the intervening time, the results will hazard your joint healths even more. Fatally so, in fact. As an old acquaintance of mine called Adolf used to say, "My patience is exhausted."" He started to leave and then paused. "Oh, and you can forget about convenient accidents or mysterious relapses. I"ve left a sealed envelope with Commander Hawken, containing a full account of your recent activities to be opened in the event of anything happening to either of us."
"Wild accusations without an atom of proof," sneered Solon.
"Enough to justify an investigation, though especially if Peri and I are both dead. Commander Hawken can be very thorough. Do you really think you could stand up to one of his interrogations, Solon? And what about Drago here? I should think he"d crack pretty quickly, wouldn"t you?"
The Doctor left, leaving a stunned and silent audience behind him.
Suddenly Drago realised that Solon was studying him thoughtfully.
"I"d never betray you, Surgeon-General, never," he stammered.
"Of course you wouldn"t, my dear Drago," said Solon. He rose and put a paternal hand on Drago"s quivering shoulder.
"Don"t give it another thought."
"That should hold the swine," thought the Doctor as he crossed an open courtyard on the way back to his quarters. "For a day or two anyway. I must write that letter to Hawken when I"ve had some sleep... I must get this coat and these boots back to him...
I"d better get Peri out of here very soon. She can convalesce in the TARDIS if necessary. Or I could take her somewhere... But then, that"s how all this business started. There must be some safe and peaceful places in the cosmos. Trouble is, I never seem to be able to find them... I just hope nothing else happens before we leave..."
The Doctor"s musings were interrupted by the rumble of retro-rockets. He looked up to see a small fleet of s.p.a.ceships, dropping one by one out of the morning sky and touching down in the little s.p.a.ceport behind the castle.
The delegates to the peace conference had arrived.
Chapter Ten.
Reception "All I ask is a few minutes" access to my blue box," said the Doctor. "My young friend here is well enough to get up and she needs fresh clothes."
Peri smiled seductively at the young security guard. "Just for a few minutes," she pleaded. "My entire wardrobe"s in there and as you can see, I"ve got nothing to wear..." She pulled her thin hospital nightgown and robe more tightly around her and sighed deeply.
The sentry was tempted, in more ways than one, but he was also terrified of Commander Hawken. "I"m sorry, the blue box is under strict security embargo. No access without written authorisation from the Commander. If you could go and see him and get permission..."
"I"ve tried to see him," said the Doctor. "He"s completely tied up with the arrangements for this wretched conference. He won"t be free until tomorrow, possibly not even then." He nodded towards the flimsily clad Peri. "As you can see, the situation is urgent."
The sentry, who had been studying the situation very closely, said, "If I could make a suggestion, sir?"
"Well?"
"There"s a commissary for the hospital staff, over in the West Tower. The young lady could probably get most of what she needs over there. If you"ve got currency or credit.. "
"Both," said the Doctor. "Thank you, guard. I shall commend your conscientiousness to Commander Hawken."
As they walked away down the corridor, Peri said, "Well, it was a cunning plan but it didn"t quite work!"
The Doctor sighed. "The aggravating thing is, Hawken probably would let us get to the TARDIS. I think he"d even let us leave officially. But he"s so tied up in this conference I can"t get hold of him."
"Never mind," said Peri. "Always a silver lining."
"Such as?"
"Such as shopping! When did I last get a chance to shop?"
She looked around with interest as they made their way over to the West Tower, amazed at the sheer size of the Castle, which, as she pointed out, was largely new to her.
"Apart from my room, a bit of corridor and the traditional mad scientist"s laboratory, I"ve hardly seen the place. It"s enormous and this weird mixture of ancient and modern..."
"It started life as a warlord"s castle with built-on additions,"
said the Doctor. "More like a small city really, with buildings huddled round the castle for safety. It was derelict for a while.
Then the soldiers and the medics took over, converting and making additions as they went along. They"ve even got their own hydrogen reactor now. And there"s a military section wing I"ve never even seen. Don"t want to either."
"Why not?"
"I"ve never got on all that well with soldiers, Peri. Except for the Brigadier, of course, and good old Benton..."
By way of endless stone corridors, staircases and walkways, they made their way over to the West Tower. Occasionally they crossed stone-flagged courtyards, and Peri shivered in the clear cold mountain air.
The commissary turned out to be a vast stone chamber lined with counters and shelves. It had a sprinkling of customers, some civilian, some military, and, in a basic, no-frills kind of way, stocked pretty well everything.
"Not exactly Harrods," said Peri. "More like Woolworths. But it"ll have to do. Have you got any money, Doctor?"
The Doctor produced a square of iridescent plastic.
"Intergalactic Platinum. The sky"s the limit, Peri."
He smiled at the delighted look on her face.
"After all she"s been through, she deserves a bit of pleasure,"
he thought.
"That"ll do very nicely," said Peri. "Come on, Doctor, let"s go!"
In the Governor"s study, Lord Delmar and Commander Hawken were discussing the evening"s reception.
"Got an uneasy feeling about this conference," grumbled Delmar.
"Why is that, my lord?"
"You"ve seen the delegates, haven"t you? As nasty-looking a bunch of thugs as I"ve ever encountered."
"Not a very sophisticated group, I agree, my lord. But since they all come from frontier planets..."
"And why are there so many of them?" demanded Delmar.
"There are only about half a dozen delegates. But they"ve all brought bodyguards, personal secretaries, military aides, batmen and so on. Makes a total group of about thirty."
It was interesting, thought Hawken, that the secretaries, aides and batmen looked every bit as tough as the bodyguards.
"Don"t worry, my lord," he went on. "It"s still a pretty small force, and I"m keeping an eye on them. Only the actual delegates are invited to the reception, of course. I"ve got the guest list here."
Lord Delmar studied the list. "Going to be a pretty dull evening."
"What makes you say that, my lord?"
"These delegates don"t look like brilliant conversationalists.
Expect they communicate in low grunts."
"You"re probably right, my lord. Though this General of theirs, Rombusi, seems a pretty superior type. And there are always our own people, of course."
Delmar sniffed. "Bunch of soldiers and doctors all talking shop. Won"t make for a very scintillating evening."
Hawken thought for a moment. "Why not ask Smith, our visitor? I"m turning him loose soon. You really ought to meet him before he goes. Charming fellow. And his friend Miss unp.r.o.nounceable Brown might be well enough to come.
Apparently she"s even more charming."
"Why not?" said Delmar. "Add "em to the guest list."
In the quarters a.s.signed to the delegates, the General was addressing his staff officers. "I want you all on your best behaviour tonight. Best uniforms and everyone"s to wash whether he needs it or not. Eat with the implements provided, and keep your hands off the serving staff, they"re not on the menu." The General"s staff officers were as villainous-looking a group of hard men as you could find in the galaxy. They glared mutinously, but n.o.body protested. Arguing with the General counted as mutiny.
It carried the death penalty.
"Remember why we"re here," said the General. "Remember what is at stake. It"s important, at least for a time, that we retain the goodwill of the people you"ll meet tonight. I want you all to be model guests..."