Doctor Who: Telos Novellas [013] - Companion Piece by Mike Tucker & Robert Perry

Author:Mike Tucker & Robert Perry
Language: eng
Format: mobi
Tags: Science-Fiction - Doctor Who
ISBN: 9781903889268
Publisher: Fitzhenry & Whiteside
Published: 2003-11-30T23:00:00+00:00

Chapter Five

‘You will have free run of the custody deck, barring any restricted areas or any specific prohibitions from me or from one of my holy brethren. You may find what comfort you may down here. Eminence, you will, of course, be housed in my quarters. I shall find alternative accommodation. Do not be afraid to ask for anything you need. You will find we are quite well provided for in the service of the Lord.’

‘I know, replied the Patriarch. ‘Booty.’

Still, he allowed himself to be led away.

‘What now?’ Cat asked the Doctor when they were alone.

‘We relax and enjoy the hospitality of the Church,’ said the Doctor.

The lower decks seemed to consist entirely of pokey, empty cells and locked rooms containing equipment the precise purpose of which Cat didn’t want to know. She peered through barred windows at the torture instruments, and shuddered.

The ship was throbbing as the power built up in preparation for its departure. The Doctor had settled himself in a corner and started playing around with the many sets of manacles that hung about the walls. He seemed quite undisturbed by his surroundings, or by recent events.

‘I still can’t get used to people being killed,’ she said quietly.

‘You will, I’m afraid,’ the Doctor said gently. ‘I suppose you can get used to anything, over time.’ He rattled the links. ‘Perhaps even milord Grand Inquisitor had sleepless nights in the past.’

‘What’s he going to do to us?’

‘Hopefully nothing, until we reach Rome.’

‘And then what?’

‘We take advantage of the confusion and slip away.’ The Doctor shuddered. ‘I have no desire to get tied up in another papal conclave.’

Guii del Toro sipped his wine and watched a servant take the half-full plate away from his esteemed guest.

‘I must thank you, del Toro. You eat too heartily for me here.’

‘Out here among the backworlds we try to recapture a few of the comforts of home, Venerable Father.’

‘Do they eat this well in Rome?’ The Inquisitor didn’t reply. ‘Because I hear it is a very different story on Earth.’

‘The people of Earth are schismatics. Any other view is… unwisely expressed. Even by a Patriarch.’

The Patriarch sighed. ‘We must pray that this conclave heals the many breaches in the Holy Mother Church.’

‘Will you be attending, Father?’

‘I am too old, del Toro. I have long-since retired from the world of Roman politics. I have cleansed myself of the mud, and have no wish to mire myself again.’

‘Once it is known that you are in the Vatican, many will seek your guidance. You will come under great pressure to declare for one of the candidates.’

‘And who would you have me support, del Toro? The Frenchman Bonaventure? Once John Paul’s lackey, now his embalmer?’

‘A loyal servant of the legitimate Pontiff.’

The Patriarch shook his head impatiently.

‘What of the other business? The murder. You can’t seriously intend to bring the matter to Rome. Not at the present time. You had as well let your prisoners go.

‘Rome expects us, said del Toro flatly. ‘The spectacle might help to… focus the minds of the conclave.

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