Doctor Who: BBC Eighth Doctor Adventures [004] - Genocide by Paul Leonard

Author:Paul Leonard
Language: eng
Format: mobi
Tags: Science-Fiction - Doctor Who
ISBN: 9780563405726
Publisher: BBC Books
Published: 1998-01-14T23:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 13

Sam punched the TARDIS door control furiously, but nothing happened. She hadn’t expected it to.

After a moment she heard Kitig’s heavy footsteps approaching. ‘This is a time machine, isn’t it?’ asked the Tractite.

Sam nodded miserably.

‘And the Doctor is going to change the history of our world, so that the Tractites don’t exist, just as you “hypothesised” on the skimmer?’

Sam nodded again. She felt like crying.

She felt a three-fingered hand touch her arm gently. ‘You are not responsible,’ said Kitig. ‘The Doctor is. And I am.’

Sam turned round, found herself looking right into Kitig’s eyes: the Tractite had knelt down so as to be level with her.

‘You’re responsible?’

She listened as Kitig explained the role of the Keeper in the Tractite world: to watch for the coming of someone who might never come, who might be no more than legend – but who might destroy everything.

‘And there’s one in every city on Earth?’ she asked when he’d finished.

‘Every city in the galaxy,’ said Kitig quietly. ‘But you must understand, our role has changed over the centuries. The main threat is that innocent travellers who merely happened to resemble the description in the book would be destroyed by other Tractites, in case they were the Uncreator. I was given the job of Keeper by my father because I showed qualities such as calm judgement, rationality under pressure, and mercy towards others. He – and I – never really believed that there was an Uncreator.’

‘And now?’

Kitig let go of her arm, sat down on the floor, folding his legs beneath him. ‘It seems that we were wrong,’ he said after a while.

Sam took a breath. ‘Look, Kitig, you’ve got to fight. You’ve got to do something. You can’t just give in like this.’

‘I’m not giving in,’ said Kitig. ‘But there’s nothing I can do, is there?’

Sam thought about it. There had to be a way. She couldn’t let Kitig out of the TARDIS, but she was pretty sure there would be a way that she could get out. She knew the Doctor. He always left a back door open.

She looked towards the carved entrance to the cloister room. ‘I might be able to help you,’ she said slowly. ‘I could go after the Doctor – I could at least talk to him, try to find some other way.’

‘I can’t ask for your help, Sam. Your loyalty must lie with your own people.’

Sam swallowed. ‘I think your people are better. I saw what our people did to them, when – in the other universe, or wherever it was.’

‘I know. That story may or may not be true. Your people may or may not be “worse” than mine, if you can make such comparisons about an entire species. But if you helped to destroy humanity – or prevent their creation – you would be betraying all your life up to the present time. Your parents, your siblings and friends, your children –’

Sam had to laugh. ‘I haven’t got any children! I’m only seventeen!’

Kitig snorted softly. ‘That may explain it.

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