Doctor Who: BBC Past Doctor Adventures [053] - Warmonger by Terrance Dicks

Author:Terrance Dicks
Language: eng
Format: mobi
Tags: Science-Fiction - Doctor Who
ISBN: 9780563538523
Publisher: BBC Books
Published: 2002-05-04T22:00:00+00:00

Chapter Sixteen

Ambassador

Peri was lying stretched out on the bunk when the door opened.

She looked up and saw the General standing in the doorway.

She was still wearing the linen dress she’d worn all day. It was rather grubby by now, and so was Peri.

The General looked down at her disapprovingly. ‘You should be washed and changed by now, my dear. My time is limited, you know.’

‘All right,’ said Peri listlessly. She got up and began unbuttoning her dress, slipping it off her left shoulder.

‘I do think it’s terribly brave of you.’

The General frowned. ‘Brave? What do you –’

Suddenly he noticed that the skin on her shoulder was red-raw, suffused with an angry-looking rash.

‘What’s that?’

‘It’s the disease,’ said Peri mournfully. ‘Some kind of jungle-rot. That’s why I was surprised when –’

‘But you were cured! You told me you were about to leave the Hospice. Solon said he’d operated for an arm wound and the operation was a complete success.’

‘It was. But there was some kind of poison in the saliva of the creature that attacked me. It gave me this. Doctor Solon thought he’d cured it too but it recurred. Apparently it’s some completely unknown variety of fungus. Solon says it’s incurable.’

Peri lifted up her dress and showed him another inflamed patch on her thigh. ‘There are patches like this all over my body. Eventually they’ll join up. When it reaches my face I think I’ll kill myself.’

The General recoiled in horror, a hand going to his face.

‘Got you!’ thought Peri with savage joy. She’d been banking on the General’s overwhelming vanity. He wouldn’t risk spoiling his precious good looks.

‘You must leave the ship at once,’ said the General. ‘I’ve an army to command: I can’t risk being riddled with some terrible disease.’

It was what Peri had been hoping for. ‘I understand,’ she said. ‘Just drop me off anywhere you can.’

‘No time for that,’ said the General brutally. ‘I’m in a hurry, and I can’t afford to make any detours. I’m dropping you off now.’ He raised his voice. ‘Guards!’

Two soldiers, the ones she’d seen when she awoke, came hurrying along the metal corridor. ‘Prepare the escape pod, put her in it and send it off,’ ordered the General. He turned to Peri.

‘You’ll have air, food and water for three days. We’re still on the trade routes. Somebody will probably pick you up.’

He hurried away down the corridor.

The two guards looked at each other in amazement.

‘Seems a waste just to shoot her off like that,’ said the smaller one, ‘Couldn’t we just…’

Suddenly the General reappeared. Beside him was the thin man in black with burning red eyes – the one she’d seen at the reception.

The General said, ‘And don’t touch her, unless you want to die a horrible death. She’s diseased!’

The black-clad man whispered something in the General’s ear.

‘Certainly not,’ snapped the General. ‘She’s contaminated, her blood would poison even you. Wait till the next planet and I’ll find you a nice plump prisoner.’

They hurried away. It was all over surprisingly quickly after that.

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