Chapter Six

A Lunatic Plan

Startled by the unexpected reply, Peri caught her breath and turned to see an old man in royal finery standing in the doorway that had been closed when she entered. She wasn't sure what she had expected the dreaded monarch to look like, but she knew it wasn't anything like this white haired old gentleman who stood leaning atop his tall silver tipped cane studying her curiously. He was of average height and build but looked tiny when compared to the Commander, who bowed slightly as the monarch took a few steps into the room.

"Majesty, this is Miss Brown. The young woman found on Generator 4," the Commander informed.

The King nodded and waved a hand, dismissing the officer, yet Daniels stayed where he was. "Was there something else, Commander?"

To Peri's surprise, the officer replied in the most extraordinary language she had ever heard. The King listened attentively, but his reaction was difficult to gauge. She was not sure if he was surprised, satisfied, or upset by what was said. He replied in the same unintelligible manner before dismissing the Commander a second time. Daniels threw a quick smile in her direction, bowed, and withdrew.

The King surprised Peri yet again when he crossed the room. Because of his aged appearance and the cane in his hand, she had expected to see him shuffle over to her, yet he moved swiftly and stood erect when he stopped to inspect her. After a moment, his eyes sparkled and he smiled engagingly. "Has anyone bothered to feed you, Miss Brown?"

Peri motioned in the direction the Commander had taken. "Your…eh, Daniels…well, he…"

The monarch smiled approvingly. "Good old Daniels. He's always one step ahead of me." Holding out a hand, he invited his apprehensive guest to be seated, taking a seat opposite her. "Now…I believe I'm supposed to interrogate you," he sighed thoughtfully. "What was it they used to say? Put the screws to you?" Seeing Peri's horrified expression, he chuckled and waved a hand in the air. "Don't look so worried, Miss Brown. I'm much too old for all that cloak and dagger nonsense. Why don't you just tell me all about it—starting with how you got into the generator area."

Here we go again, Peri thought, drawing a deep breath. "You're not going to believe me," she stated matter of factly.

The old King's eyes were positively dancing. Placing his hands atop his cane, he raised an eyebrow, a small smile coming to his face. "My dear young woman, I haven't even heard your story yet. First you're supposed to tell it to me. Then I'm supposed to tell you whether I believe it or not."

After grilling the Doctor for several hours without success, Farrell decided to use unpleasant means of extracting the truth, and ordered the mind probe activated. He hoped that just the mention of the device would be sufficient enough to persuade his prisoner to reveal the names of his employer and contacts. The Doctor calmly pointed out that since he had never been employed by anyone, it would be impossible for him to reveal anything.

Thoroughly enraged, Farrell chose to carry out his threat and ordered the Doctor taken to the mind probe room this was located in the State House's old dungeon area. Midway through the journey, the group was stopped by the Major whom Daniels had af fronted earlier. The guard related the entire incident to the increasingly annoyed Farrell.

"Does Daniels know about him yet?" the Chief Inquisitor asked, nodding in the Doctor's direction.

"He didn't say so, but that girl would've told him by now," the Major replied.

Farrell cursed under his breath. "Interfering bunch of foreigners," he grumbled.

The Doctor had listened to this exchanged until his attention was caught by something startling. He suddenly realized he was standing in front of the open door to the elevator. The Major's appearance had halted his escorts' progress and no one had, as yet, boarded the waiting lift. As the doors started to close, a plan suddenly sprang into the Time Lord's mind. It was a lunatic plan to be sure, as it required split second timing if it was to have a ghost of a chance of working.

To the Doctor's amazement, it did.

Just before the doors were completely closed, he threw himself backwards and through the opening, catching everyone completely off guard, their never having expected any problems from a blind and handcuffed prisoner. The Doctor's hands were instantly at the controls and he pushed several buttons, heaving a sigh of relief when he felt the car starting to move. Having absolutely no idea where he was going (other than up) he let the car stop on the first floor he reached where, to his added relief, no one got on. He got off at the next floor, letting the elevator continue on.

The Doctor stood motionless for a moment, listening. All was silent and he wondered if it were nighttime, which would help him greatly since he was already working in the dark. As he groped along the wall of the hallway in search of an open door, he reflected almost hysterically on how this put new meaning to the term running blind.

All the events on the planet's surface, as well as those on the generators were continuously transmitted through the spatial rift and into the alternate dimension. This was accomplished by way of several collection points where someone under Ormril's influence was operating. The negative energies being generated in these areas were drawn off by Ormril's creation to be stored, absorbed or utilized as needed. Whenever monitoring became necessary, the images from the collection points could be displayed, either individually or simultaneously.

Peri's removal from the prison area, as well as the Doctor's daring escape, had enraged Ormril. Suddenly these perplexing strangers were outside of his sphere of influence and could pose a threat, however small. His displeasure was relayed to his entity, along with the command that it monitor all collection points until the prisoners were located.

The being in the cloud acknowledged the order, absently noting that its Master was not pleased, which was not unusual since the Master was rarely pleased. This last stray thought puzzled the creature, as had a number of things of late, none the least of which was its own prisoner.

Endless weeks had passed since Juris learned of his impending death by absorption, and he had resigned himself to the fact that he would never leave his prison alive. Unfortunately, there was nothing he could do but helplessly watch as Ormril's plans took shape. Not wanting to spend his last days brooding over his fate, and with nothing else to do, Juris had taken to fantasizing as to the form that might be lurking within the cloud of smoke. After all, if it was going to study him, he might as well study it back.

Once the torturous demands for information had stopped, the entity's voice stayed the lighter, less intimidating one. Its flat, emotionless quality reminded him of a woman his parents had known when he was a boy. Like the creature, she was incapable of expressing emotion. His father had taken to calling her The Black Star behind her back; for she, too, was cold, dead, and never to shine again. With this image in mind, Juris started calling his captor Asta, which he remembered meant star. After a few weeks, and much to his surprise, a distinctly female voice started to develop and the being actually began responding to the name.

Juris was jolted back to reality when the cloud abruptly reappeared, the view screen com ing to life the same instant. The screen then grew to an enormous size, curving up and around the walls as all collection points were displayed simultaneously. As the violence on the planet escalated, the negative energies escalated also, increasing to the point where Juris had started feeling them, despite the imprisoning force field. It was not until that moment that he realized how much mental energy was being channeled through his physical self and he shuddered at the thought of what that was doing to him.

One section of the enlarged viewer showed Bailey's charred remains being prepared for trans port back to the planet's surface. Juris looked at it and shook his head. "What a horrible way to die."

"This man would have interfered with the opening of the gateway," Asta informed matter of factly.

"So your Master had him killed," Juris said bitterly.

"Correct."

"And he'll kill the Doctor and the girl, too, won't he?"

The entity replied without hesitation, "If they will not serve him, yes."