Doctor Who: Ultimate Treasure (7 page)

Five minutes later they stood, rather unsteadily, in the hold before the strongbox. It stood upright and as tall as Drorgon, secured to a bulkhead by bolted flanges. It was made of some dull grey synthetic material, no doubt specially formulated to be resistant to drill bits, thermal cutters, and corrosives. The close-fitting lid was featureless, save for a single black disc in its very centre.

Gribbs blinked at it through bloodshot eyes and tried to assess it professionally. 'Yeah, well it's a Brody and Yang Executive Model 18,' he announced, clicking his tongue. 'Obdurite body, tuned molecular pattern lock. It's going to take some cracking.'

He opened his specialised toolkit, flexed his fingers to loosen them, then began taking out small sensor receptor units and placing them carefully around the lock and rim of the lid. Despite his inebriation, his hands moved swiftly and surely. Once the sensors were in place he put on a pair of slim headphones and began delicately adjusting the controls built into his toolkit lid.

Then he stiffened, the colour draining from his face. 'What?'

Qwaid demanded.

Gribbs's eyes had widened and he suddenly looked uncomfortably sober. Very carefully he took off his headset.

'Something inside there is in the middle of a countdown sequence. It sounds like... like the timer circuit for a bomb.'

'How big?' Drorgon demanded, also apparently sobering rapidly. 'Just enough to take out the box... or the ship?'

'How should I know!' Gribbs snapped back.

'Well how long's it got left to run?' Qwaid asked.

'I don't know!' Gribbs shouted wretchedly, clutching his aching head. 'Probably something he had to keep resetting. It could blow any time! Krek it, Qwaid! Why did you have to get rid of the boss while we were out here?'

For a moment Qwaid looked at them blankly, and Alpha's last words echoed mockingly through his confusion. Then his brain seemed to jerk into life. 'Find the cutters and get it loose - tear out the hull plates if you have to. When it's free we'll cut the hold gray field and blow it out the cargo lock. Move!'

It was twelve heartstopping, sweat-filled minutes before the
Falcon's
cargo hatch swung open. In a billow of air and crystallising water vapour, the grey strongbox tumbled away -

following its former owner into the void.

Qwaid watched it go on the external monitor with a sigh of relief. Then he took a deep breath and turned to the others. 'OK, so we lost Alpha's stash. But we're still on to something better -

remember that. We'll be there in a couple of days and we'll need to be sharp, so go and sleep it off, and no more juice from now on, understand? This is going to be the big one!'

'I propose a toast,' said the Marquis, smiling at Arnella, then at the others seated round the dining table in the
Newton's
lounge.

They raised their glasses.

'In a few hours we shall reach our destination,' he continued.

'So I give you: luck and destiny. May neither let us down!'

As they drank, Arnella noticed that Brockwell, who was seated opposite her, was wearing a troubled expression. Professor Thorrin apparently noticed it as well.

'Why the long face,Will?' he asked benevolently.

Brockwell looked uncomfortable. 'Uh, sorry, Professor. It's just that I can't help wondering... about the treasure.'

'Well?'

Brockwell was obviously unhappy about appearing to contradict his employer, but he spoke up. 'Well for one thing, we're acting as though it'll be lying around just waiting to be picked up.'

Thorrin chuckled tolerantly.'Hardly. We're prepared for a long search, if need be, but we can already narrow down its scope.

From all the evidence, Rovan abandoned his ship voluntarily.

Therefore, it must have been on a habitable world. But the system is listed as being uninhabited, at least by any intelligent life. We have equipment aboard that can detect traces of any artificial structures or a quantity of refined metal at considerable distances. Rovan did not have the means to conceal it from any such detailed search, but then why should he? The only clue to where he unloaded his hoard was his ship, and it was a remarkable chance that it was ever discovered.

Surprisingly, Brockwell raised another question. 'Well, after five thousand years, what chance is there that it'll still be where he left it. Suppose somebody else has already taken it? According to the Ymerl log a lifeboat was missing. Suppose Rovan used it later to move his hoard.'

Unexpectedly Arnella found herself agreeing with Brockwell.

'Yes. Sometimes I've wondered that myself,' she added, almost timidly.

The Marquis flashed a disappointed glance at her, but said confidently, 'A lifeboat would be far too small to transport anything but a fraction of the treasure. Remember, the search continued for years and huge rewards were offered for any clue leading to Rovan or the recovery of the missing treasure. If any item had turned up, whoever had traded it would have immediately been questioned. There is no evidence Rovan ever used his stolen wealth, and every reason to suppose the bulk of it is still waiting to be discovered.'

'And we shall find it,' Thorrin said, raising his glass once more, then leaning back in his chair easily. 'Now, enough of negativism.

At the risk of tempting fate, have you any more thoughts on what you plan to do with your share, Rosscarrino?'

'Only to restore my family's proper rank and position,' the Marquis replied automatically. 'I shall be able to reclaim our ancestral estates once more, and ensure they are managed as they should be.'

'What about you, Professor?' Arnella said quickly. 'Have you any special plans?'

Thorrin blinked, as though surprised by the direct question, but responded smoothly: 'Why, it's always been my dream to found an institute for pure scientific research. There must be thousands of worthy projects currently denied funding because of commercial or governmental shortsightedness. Think what tremendous advances and discoveries might be made by turning those baubles of Rovan's to practical use.'

'I trust you do not deny the value of the craftsmanship that went into shaping those "baubles", Professor,' said her uncle.

'As long as you do not deny the beauty in science, Marquis,'

Thorrin countered.

Arnella frowned as their conversation fell into good-humoured and inconsequential banter. She saw Brockwell's eyes meet hers across the table, and for a moment she saw the same concern mirrored in them, before he looked away in his usual awkward manner. But the brief contact had confirmed her suspicion. She knew her uncle had not told the whole truth just then - but what was Thorrin concealing from them?

The
Newton
drove smoothly on though hyperspace. Behind it, just out of detector range and quite unsuspected, the nondescript grey ship followed along the same course.

Peri made the best of their enforced confinement on Astroville by spending further instructive and educational time in the archives. She was curious to find pictures showing the Cartovallian royal family looking quite human, even though they had been taken some four thousand years before Earth developed interstellar travel. The Doctor explained that the humanoid form was already widespread throughout the galaxy long before then, adding vaguely that 'my people' were partly responsible. That was obviously another story in itself, but for the moment it was the mystery of Rovan that intrigued Peri. One question still remained unanswered after five thousand years.

What could possibly induce a man who apparently had everything to give it all up?

Then, after a week, came a summons to police headquarters.

It was Jaharnus's sergeant who informed them that the report from Earth has been satisfactory. They were no longer suspected of any involvement in the death of Hok and were free to leave Astroville. The TARDIS key was returned to the Doctor, who signed a receipt for it without comment, though his quiet relief was evident. Peri was less restrained.

'So the inspector didn't want to apologise face to face for keeping us here all this time, huh?' she said bitterly.

'I'm sure she was only doing her job,' the Doctor said, with what Peri considered infuriating forbearance.

'The inspector is involved in another aspect of the case,' the sergeant explained. 'She sends her apologies for any inconvenience - and hopes you have enjoyed your stay on Astroville.'

The Doctor hustled Peri out before she could say another word.

'Even allowing for the circumstances, you seem very impatient to leave,' he observed, as they glided down the tower's thousand-metre-long passenger shaft.

Peri looked at him hopefully. 'Well, I was sort of wondering if we could use the TARDIS to go back in time and, maybe find out where Rovan leaves his treasure and -'

'Collect it for ourselves?'

'Sure, why not? It wouldn't do any harm, if it's been lost all this time anyway.'

'Wouldn't it? If Rovan's treasure was discovered before its proper time, how do we know what effect it would have on the last five thousand years? The information in the archives that you've been studying might never have been written, which means a segment of your own timeline would have to change as well. Perhaps Hok would never have obtained whatever information it was those three thugs were after, and so we wouldn't have disturbed them and the last few days would never have happened as they did, and we wouldn't be here now. It would create a temporal paradox and I try to avoid them if possible. Besides, spying on Rovan to see where he hid the treasure wouldn't be -'

'I know: it wouldn't be cricket.' She was silent for a moment, then added thoughtfully: 'Still, there's no reason why we couldn't try to find it now, is there, since we've gotten mixed up in it anyway, I mean? That's what everybody else seems to be trying to do.' She frowned. 'I just wish I could remember those numbers Hok said. They must have something to do with where the treasure is hidden.'

'You mean 385.06 by 946.573 by 157.67 positive? Yes, I suspect they're galactic navigation coordinates.'

She looked at him in amazement, which rapidly turned to annoyance. Doctor! Why didn't you tell me you remembered? Do you know how long I've been racking my brains over them? And why didn't 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.