The Fear of All Sums

By Samuel Marks

Chapter Seven

The Cavalier hadn't known what to do with himself since discovering the radar. He wanted to do something, to help put the timelines back on track. But without his TARDIS, trapped in this unfamiliar world, he felt helpless. He couldn't stop a tear from breaking out, and hoped that he had managed to wipe it away before General Titus had seen it. The last thing he wanted was to appear weak.

Titus approached the corner of the tent where the Cavalier was sat, and put his arm around him. "Be strong, stranger. To die and then come back to life can't have been easy, I understand. Merely as an observer, my own nerves are shaken."

The Cavalier nodded. "Cheers, pal."

"I will be here if you want to talk." General Titus wandered over to the radar and, after a few moments of studying the computer, he swore loudly.

"What is it?" asked the Cavalier, snapping himself out of his contemplation. He could feel sorry for himself later. Now, he had a problem to solve.

"We've caught sight of them." The General indicated the radar. "Hannibal of Carthage and his forces are close. They are within range."

"In range of what?"

General Titus smiled. "You will not be ignorant of the true power of the Roman Empire for much longer. Come with me."

The Cavalier followed Titus out of the tent and into the Roman encampment on the mountainside. The soldiers, too, were leaving their shelters are gathering in the centre of the camp. The Cavalier felt his hearts beating faster in his chest. Everything seemed so wrong, so terribly wrong.

A young soldier passed something to the General.

"Oh, of course!" said the Cavalier, resigned to the strangeness of this corner of the universe. "You've got a radio!"

General Titus spoke into the device. "Attention! This is your general speaking. The hordes of Hannibal have continued their advance, and have dared to defy our glorious and righteous Empire. They must be stopped! Roll out the fighters!"

"What does that mean?" asked the Cavalier. "Are you sending in gladiators to fight for you?"

"Not that sort of fighter, I'm afraid. Look to the skies!"

Right on cue, a deafening noise sliced through the thin air of the mountain, as something distant grew steadily closer. The Cavalier stared upwards, along with the Romans.

He couldn't quite believe what he saw: three sleek jet fighters zoomed across the sky, high in the clouds, leaving a trail of glorious red smoke behind them as they went. General Titus and his troops all cheered, but while the Cavalier's mouth hung open as he stared skywards, no sound came out.

There were no words.

A deep rumbling could be heard from far-off, across the Alps. It was unmistakably the noise of the jet plans of the Roman Empire dropping their bombs on the unsuspecting forces of Hannibal. But when the ground continued to shake long after the distant explosions ceased, General Titus and his forces quickly stopped cheering.

"The mountain's coming down around us!" said the Cavalier, panicked.

Though they were silent, the Romans were seemingly unconcerned.

"Do not worry yourself, stranger," said Titus simply. "There's plenty of room in the transmat pod."

One minute that Cavalier had been stood on a mountainside, with the screech of fighter planes growing terrifyingly closer by the second, and the next he was in a large stone courtyard in the middle of a city. He had finally reached Ancient Rome, but it wasn't at all like he had been expecting.

The Roman courtyard looked like it had been converted into some sort of transmat hub—ancient and modern at the same time. The stony walls were lined with electrical cables, all powering up the huge glowing circle in the middle of the floor on which the Cavalier, Titus and the rest of the Romans had appeared. The Cavalier had dozens of questions, but it seemed that he was not the only one.

A young woman hurried over to General Titus. She was holding a microphone, and was flanked by a man holding a television camera.

"A film crew," mumbled the Cavalier miserably. "Oh dear." He wondered whether the radio and the fighter jets might have been the worst of it, but it seemed that the situation was far worse than he could ever have imagined. Ancient Rome was so utterly wrong.

"General Titus!" shouted the reporter excitedly. "Do you have any comments for everyone watching at home? How was the battle? I should add, we are live, so please don't swear."

Titus flashed a winning smile, and ruffled his hair. "Do I look okay? Right. Comments? Oh, well, everything went fine. Hannibal was well and truly trounced. No problems at all. Rome is safe, as usual, etcetera."

The reporter nodded. "That's fantastic. Thank you. I'll let you and the others head off to the bath house and get cleaned up."

Not even that thought managed to put the Cavalier in a good mood. The whole situation was overwhelming. He felt so uneasy, and knew he had to act. As a Time Lord, it was his responsibility to fix it. Somehow...

But the Cavalier spotted something out the corner of his eye. Standing beneath an archway in the courtyard, cloaked in shadow, was what appeared to be some sort of black knight. Glowing red eyes looked out from behind a heavy helmet, as if piercing the Cavalier's soul.

He felt a shiver run down his spine. Somehow, in his hearts, he knew that this was the enemy who had destroyed his TARDIS. Now they were coming to finish the job—to finish him.

The Cavalier didn't know what to do. Should he run? Or maybe confront the strange knight? He couldn't decide. So they stood for a while, as if oblivious to the joyful chaos of the Romans all around, just staring at each other across the courtyard.

Suddenly General Titus stepped in front of the Cavalier, obscuring his view. "So, friend, what will you do know? Are you planning on staying here? I think you'll love it. We have all the mod-cons and over a thousand television channels..."

The Cavalier stopped listening and peered over General Titus' shoulder to look over at the archway, at the sinister figure beneath it. But he saw that there were now at least a dozen of the black knights, all staring right at him with those red eyes. There was no doubt about it. They were coming for him.

"S-stay here?" The Cavalier couldn't take his eyes off the figures. "Nah, General. I'm afraid I can't. Actually, I-I-I think I'd better get going. Well done on the battle and stuff." The Cavalier planted a congratulatory kiss on the General's lips, then turned on his heels and ran as fast as he could.

He hoped that wouldn't be his last kiss. Not that it wasn't a good one, but he had that privilege reserved for someone else. For an old friend from Gallifrey...

Romana waited with the TARDIS outside the art gallery, while the Doctor returned the Laughing Cavalier to its rightful place. He emerged after a short while, deep in conversation with the woman who appeared to be the curator. She looked tired, and was no doubt in need of a good lie down after the dramatic theft of one of her paintings. Unfortunately for her, the Doctor was still talking.

When the Doctor had finally let the curator go, Romana asked where they were heading next. "Back to the park?" she suggested.

"Not just yet," said the Doctor. "First, we've got to see an old friend."

"Oh, yes. Poor old K-9, locked away because you can't pay your fine."

"What?" replied the Doctor, confused. "I was talking about the Cavalier! Thought we could pay him a little visit. It's been far too long since we last had a chat, and I need to warn him that some self-righteous little security cameras with a bad attitude are looking for him."

"But what about K-9?"

"Oh, he'll be okay for a while. What's the worst that could happen to him, he gets a little rusty? And I'm sure I've got a spare in the TARDIS somewhere, if it came to it."

The Doctor grinned at Romana; he was only joking. At least, that was what she told herself.

Above the entrance to the art gallery, a security camera swivelled to watch as the police box faded away. Its tiny mind clicked into action, realising that the box-shaped TARDIS might be its best hope of catching the criminal known as the Cavalier.

"Justice will be swift," it said, before it teleported away.