Read Online Doctor Who: Ultimate Treasure by Christopher Bulis - Free Book Online Page A
Authors: Christopher Bulis
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you tell Inspector Jaharnus?'
'I thought it might cloud the issue. Priorities tend to get misplaced where large sums of money are involved. It shouldn't matter why Hok was murdered, just the fact that it was an unnecessary death.'
'But we're going to use them ourselves now, right? Because that guy calling himself Falstaff wrote them down, so we can get on to his trail. And he might know who the actual killers were.'
'And finding Rovan's treasure doesn't come into it?' the Doctor asked, his eyebrows raised in mild interrogation. 'Well... can't we try to do both?'
'It might be dangerous.'
'Doctor, I'll kick myself for the rest of my life if I pass up a chance to go on an honest-to-goodness treasure hunt.'
He smiled tolerantly. 'All right, then. But there's something I want to check up on first.'
Half an hour at Astroville traffic control and some honeyed words had produced a list of all the craft that left Astroville during the twenty-four-hour period following Hok's murder.
If we encounter any of these where we're going,' the Doctor said, scanning the list rapidly, 'we shall know who to watch out for. Ah, and here's our pseudo-Falstaff's vessel I suspect.
Peri looked at the name he was indicating. ' The Merry Wife ?
Oh, I get it: from The Merry Wives of Windsor , right?'
'Yes. A jolly little play, but Bill dashed it off too quickly, I always thought. I told him it could do with another revision, but the Queen wanted to see it performed as soon as possible and...
well, never mind.'
'Sometime, Doctor,' Peri said sincerely, 'you are going to tell me all about meeting W. Shakespeare. Meantime, can we get going?'
The official police seal had gone from the TARDIS door. Peri was glad to be back inside the familiar console room, with its dimpled walls and subdued hum of power. Even though she had known it only a few days, she felt there was something strangely homely about the TARDIS, almost as though it cared for her.
Seeing the way the Doctor beamed paternally as he circled the hexagonal main console, checking the systems and feeding Hok's coordinates into the navigational unit, it was certainly easy to believe it was alive.
'I just wish Falstaff hadn't got such a big lead on us,' Peri said anxiously. 'Those crooks might also be out there by now. We don't know what they got out of Hok before we butted in.'
'Remember,' said the Doctor, 'a journey that may take them days we can make in a few minutes of our time.'
'Will that get us there first?'
'By a few hours, I should think.'
'Can't we go back a few days and get a proper head start?'
'No. Crossing your own timeline puts the fabric of time and space under great strain. It can be dangerous.'
'Uh, how dangerous, exactly?'
'Terminally.'
'Oh, well I guess we'll give that a miss.'
The Doctor called local traffic control and informed them they were ready to leave, closed the airlock and checked that the docking tube had retracted. He smiled as they were given a spacial departure corridor to follow, and let his fingers flicker across a series of contacts. Peri felt a little thrill of anticipation.
She'd consciously experienced this moment only once before.
The transparent cylinder containing a complex glittering mechanism mounted at the centre of the console began to rise and fall. At the same time a deep pulsing whirr reverberated throughout the ship, gradually rising in tone and frequency. As it faded out into a shrill note beyond human hearing, the incongruous blue box, whose external appearance had so puzzled Inspector Jaharnus, vanished from the vicinity of the Astroville docking tower.
The TARDIS was on its way.
'How long will we be in flight, or whatever you call it?' she asked the Doctor as he studied the displays with a satisfied expression.
'About eight minutes, relatively speaking.'
'Just time to freshen up then.'
Bag slung over her shoulder, she had taken a dozen steps down the corridor towards her room, when a sudden urgent beeping sound
'I thought it might cloud the issue. Priorities tend to get misplaced where large sums of money are involved. It shouldn't matter why Hok was murdered, just the fact that it was an unnecessary death.'
'But we're going to use them ourselves now, right? Because that guy calling himself Falstaff wrote them down, so we can get on to his trail. And he might know who the actual killers were.'
'And finding Rovan's treasure doesn't come into it?' the Doctor asked, his eyebrows raised in mild interrogation. 'Well... can't we try to do both?'
'It might be dangerous.'
'Doctor, I'll kick myself for the rest of my life if I pass up a chance to go on an honest-to-goodness treasure hunt.'
He smiled tolerantly. 'All right, then. But there's something I want to check up on first.'
Half an hour at Astroville traffic control and some honeyed words had produced a list of all the craft that left Astroville during the twenty-four-hour period following Hok's murder.
If we encounter any of these where we're going,' the Doctor said, scanning the list rapidly, 'we shall know who to watch out for. Ah, and here's our pseudo-Falstaff's vessel I suspect.
Peri looked at the name he was indicating. ' The Merry Wife ?
Oh, I get it: from The Merry Wives of Windsor , right?'
'Yes. A jolly little play, but Bill dashed it off too quickly, I always thought. I told him it could do with another revision, but the Queen wanted to see it performed as soon as possible and...
well, never mind.'
'Sometime, Doctor,' Peri said sincerely, 'you are going to tell me all about meeting W. Shakespeare. Meantime, can we get going?'
The official police seal had gone from the TARDIS door. Peri was glad to be back inside the familiar console room, with its dimpled walls and subdued hum of power. Even though she had known it only a few days, she felt there was something strangely homely about the TARDIS, almost as though it cared for her.
Seeing the way the Doctor beamed paternally as he circled the hexagonal main console, checking the systems and feeding Hok's coordinates into the navigational unit, it was certainly easy to believe it was alive.
'I just wish Falstaff hadn't got such a big lead on us,' Peri said anxiously. 'Those crooks might also be out there by now. We don't know what they got out of Hok before we butted in.'
'Remember,' said the Doctor, 'a journey that may take them days we can make in a few minutes of our time.'
'Will that get us there first?'
'By a few hours, I should think.'
'Can't we go back a few days and get a proper head start?'
'No. Crossing your own timeline puts the fabric of time and space under great strain. It can be dangerous.'
'Uh, how dangerous, exactly?'
'Terminally.'
'Oh, well I guess we'll give that a miss.'
The Doctor called local traffic control and informed them they were ready to leave, closed the airlock and checked that the docking tube had retracted. He smiled as they were given a spacial departure corridor to follow, and let his fingers flicker across a series of contacts. Peri felt a little thrill of anticipation.
She'd consciously experienced this moment only once before.
The transparent cylinder containing a complex glittering mechanism mounted at the centre of the console began to rise and fall. At the same time a deep pulsing whirr reverberated throughout the ship, gradually rising in tone and frequency. As it faded out into a shrill note beyond human hearing, the incongruous blue box, whose external appearance had so puzzled Inspector Jaharnus, vanished from the vicinity of the Astroville docking tower.
The TARDIS was on its way.
'How long will we be in flight, or whatever you call it?' she asked the Doctor as he studied the displays with a satisfied expression.
'About eight minutes, relatively speaking.'
'Just time to freshen up then.'
Bag slung over her shoulder, she had taken a dozen steps down the corridor towards her room, when a sudden urgent beeping sound
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