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They looked down at it.
'Well, it worked; said the Doctor.
'It certainly did,' said the Fifth Doctor.
He turned towards the tower. 'You can come out now!'
Tegan andTurlough emerged, stretching cramped limbs. They
looked down at the prone robot.
'What did you do to it?' asked Tegan.
'I think we gave it a nervous breakdown,' said the Fifth Doctor.
'I know how it feels!'
'Who's this Buridan you were on about?' demanded Turlough.
'Ah, a bit of an old sophist,' said the Doctor, fondly, 'Buridan was a French philosopher in the 14th century
who once carried out a rather cruel experiment with a hungry donkey.'
'He placed it exactly between two mangers filled with hay,' continued the Fifth Doctor. "The poor beast
starved to death because it couldn't work out which one to go for.'
'Something similar happened with the robot,' said the Doctor.
'When it's about to attack it locks on to the electrical impulses from its enemy's brain. Now it happens that
my brain patterns and those of my friend here are remarkably similar.
To the robot it seemed as if it was registering the same target in two places at once. The confusion caused
an overload.'
'Temporary or permanent?' asked Turlough.
'I'm not sure,' said the Fifth Doctor thoughtfully.
"Then let's not stay around to find out,' said Tegan practically.
'Seconded,' said Turlough.'
The Doctors looked at each other.
'They're quite right,' said the Fifth Doctor. 'I hate to cut this reunion short, but we'd better be on our way. You
first!
The Doctor shook hands with Turlough and tookTegan's hand and kissed it. 'A very great pleasure to meet
you again!'
Tegan looked hard at him. 'You two aren't just very alike are you?' she said. "That wouldn't have fooled the
robot. You're both the same!'She looked at the Fifth Doctor. 'Is he that one of your past selves we never met?
The one who got trapped in a time loop?'
'Certainly not!' said the Doctor.
'Excellent fellow, though. We met quite recently.'
'Then he's one of your future selves,' said Tegan. 'How does it feel, seeing your future self for the first time?'
The Fifth Doctor smiled. 'To tell you the truth, Tegan, it's a little spooky!'
'I must go,' said the Doctor, shaking hands with himself. 'Goodbye!'
As he turned to go a harsh voice boomed, 'Stop! Do not move!'
They turned and saw a small group of figures grouped on top of the nearby hillock. Squat and dome headed,
they all wore space armour. The heavy-duty military blasters they carried were trained on the Doctors and
their companions.
Tegan glared at them in irritation.
'Now what? Who the hell are this lot? What are they doing here?'
The booming voice answered her question.'This territory has now been annexed. You are all prisoners of the
glorious Sontaran Empire!'
Chapter 16
Battleground
Commander Vrag of Sontaran Special Forces surveyed his commando squad with pride. Veterans of over a
hundred interplanetary battles, ferocious and ruthlessly efficient, they were everything Sontaran soldiers
should be.
This was a great occasion for the squad - another muster at the
Sontaran Military Academy. A million cadets were lined up in serried ranks on the city-sized parade ground.
No less a dignitary than Admiral Sarg of the Sontaran Space Fleet was to preside over the proceedings.
As part of the opening ceremonies, Vrag's commando unit was to be presented with the Sontaran Medal of
Pacification, awarded only to teams who had destroyed at least 10,000 alien life forms.
Lined up beside their sleeping slabs in the immaculate little barrack-dome, the squad stood rigidly to
attention, helmets polished, battle armour gleaming.
'March off on my command, lads,' barked Vrag. 'Don't let me down now.
The eyes of the future are upon you!'
He paused, checking his battle-
chronometer. Everything had been timed to the nano-second. 'Squad - forward!'
The squad stepped forward, turned and marched out of the dome in pairs.
Outside they formed into fours and marched briskly towards the towering saluting platform, Commander Vrag
leading the way.
The blood-stirring, ineffably sweet strains of the Sontaran Anthem pulsed across the parade ground to greet
them, and a guttural cheer rose from a million Sontaran throats.
But then the cheering and the music tailed away as the air around them blurred for a moment and the
ecstatic crowds simply disappeared...
***
Commander Vrag and his men suddenly found themselves marching up a steep slope towards a little hill.
Automatically Vrag roared, 'Squad, halt!'
They halted and Vrag looked around. Behind them the ground sloped away to a green and pleasant expanse
of woods and meadows, with a river meandering through. [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ] - zanotowane.pl
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