Doctor Who MA06 - The Romance of Crime by Gareth Roberts

Author:Gareth Roberts
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Published: 2011-07-13T02:21:11+00:00

9

The Plotters

h! A friendly face, at last!’

‘A Romana jumped at the sound of the

distinctively plummy voice and gave a sigh of relief as the new arrival revealed himself. For this was an infinitely more reassuring presence than a returning Ogron.

‘Mr Stokes! You made me jump!’

He waved a hand. ‘I must apologize. I didn’t intend to give you a fright.’ Romana noted the genuine contrition in his voice. He walked into a shaft of light and she saw the streaks of grime that covered his big sweaty face and the disarray of his clothing. His suit, which had never been immaculate, was torn in places and the collar of his shirt was askew. ‘Alas,’ he went on, ‘I was overcome by enthusiasm at the sight of your prettiness.’

He blew out his cheeks and sat down on a ledge that formed a perfect seat in the rock. ‘What is that curious object?’ he asked, indicating the inert K9.

‘Never mind about him,’ Romana said hurriedly. ‘Tell me what happened to you.’

Stokes wiped his forehead and smeared an even longer greasy streak across it. ‘It was horrifying, my dear,’ he said. ‘I was ruminating in my cell when I heard screaming and shouting. And shots. Then the door of my cell opened by itself and they were telling us to evacuate. For a moment, I thought I’d landed myself in the middle of a break-out. Until I saw one of those brutes with the guns.’ He shuddered. ‘Well, of course, everyone started running for the escape capsules or the transmat. Including myself. Except I got lost, didn’t I?’

‘You know the station well enough to find your way about, surely?’ asked Romana.

‘Oh yes, I know it very well, when the lifts are working.

But all those stairs!’ He took a dirty handkerchief from his pocket and coughed into it. ‘Goodness, yes, with those hairy monsters lumbering about. I haven’t run like that for many years.’

Romana felt he deserved an explanation. ‘Yes, well these creatures are called Ogrons. They’re a slave race. At present they appear to be working for the Nisbetts.’

Stokes’s red face blanched white in less than two seconds.

‘The Nisbetts? The psychotic brothers?’

Romana shrugged. ‘I suppose so.’

The artist lurched to his feet and started to wring his hands.

‘And I didn’t believe things could get any worse! This is appalling news!’ He looked about at the catacombs. ‘I don’t know whether my bladder can stand all this!’

‘I hope it can,’ said Romana. ‘Because I think the Doctor’s been captured by them. And we have to rescue him.’

A thought struck her. ‘And Xais is involved as well. She’s somehow reincarnated herself using that mask you made for her.’

‘I won’t say that’s any more impossible than anything else that’s happened today,’ Stokes said. ‘In fact, it seems almost reassuringly ordinary.’ He shook his head. ‘Oh no, my dear,’

he told Romana, ‘I’m afraid I’m not trained for this sort of thing.’

‘No doubt.’ Romana had to admit that Stokes was more of a liability than an asset. ‘But I’m afraid we’ve no choice.

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