Doctor Who: The Twin Dilemma Read Online Free PDF Page B

started to lurch and judder towards its destination.
    Such was the unexpected movement, Peri was thrown to the floor.
    'Why are you doing this?' she screamed. 'Where are you taking me?' The Doctor gazed down at the prostrate Earth woman, indifferent to her confusion and anguish.
    'We, my child, are going to Titan Three... That is where I shall repent... In the most desolate place in the universe.'
    Peri buried her head in her hands and silently wept. She could only hope the Doctor would have a period of rationality. When he did, she would demand to be taken back to Earth. As far as she was concerned, he could travel the universe alone pretending to be whoever or whatever he wanted. But she no longer wanted to stay and be his terrified audience.
     
    But until the Doctor did take a turn for the better, all she could do was wait... And it was the waiting that terrified Peri most of all.
     

4
MESTOR THE MAGNIFICENT
     
    A shabby bulk carrier ploughed its way slowly through the empty wastes of space. At first sight there seemed nothing special about the ship. Perhaps it was a little shabbier than the majority of commercial freighters which travelled the space lanes to Baxus Major. It was possible, if you were familiar with the XV class of balk carriers, that you might have queried an irregular line of holes along one side of its hull. But then, on the other hand, you might have dismissed it as meteorite damage. After all, the freighter did look very neglected, as though no-one really cared.
    And that was what you were supposed to think. For the reality was that balk carrier XV 773 was a highly efficient battle cruiser.
    Seated on the bridge of the ship was Professor Edgeworth. He now looked tired and drawn, his Father Christmas joviality gone. For a moment he sat watching the flickering lights of the flight computer. Even as a child, Edgeworth had found comfort in watching flashing lights. At times he wished he were a child again.
    Professor Bernard Edgeworth didn't really exist as a person. The name was real as was the man who used it, but the person who used it also told lies. Edgeworth's real name was Azmael, and, like the Doctor, was a renegade Time Lord who had tired of life on Gallifrey and decided to make his fortune elsewhere. But unlike the Doctor, the High Council had not so readily accepted Azmael's departure. He was far too knowledgeable and important to be allowed to wander freely about the universe. Too many enemies were waiting to steal his skill, experience and knowledge.
    So the High Council had decided to kill him. That was their first mistake.
    Of course, they had the order of execution dressed up. In his absence he had been found guilty of all sorts of invented crimes, the evidence against him being about as credible as the integrity of the paid witnesses who presented it.
    So, for the first and last time in the history of Gallifrey an execution squad had been despatched. It hadn't proved difficult to find Azmael as he wasn't really hiding. He just wanted to be left in peace. But the second mistake the High Council had made was the choice of assassins - Seedle warriors.
    There is no such thing as a pleasant Seedle warrior. They are all brutal psychopaths who take enormous pleasure in killing.
    Azmael's execution squad was no exception. Arriving on Vitrol Minor, where Azmael was living, the so-called warriors set about eliminating the populace, justifying the genocide as the elimination of witnesses to the destruction of a Time Lord. For the warriors, it was like being on holiday. They had three days of glorious, blood-drenched fun. It wasn't until the fourth day that they noticed their real quarry had escaped.
    Azmael immediately returned to Gallifrey and started proceedings to indict the Lord President and High Council. Being professional politicians, they believed they could survive any accusation made by him, but they had too easily forgotten the atrocity committed.
    On Gallifrey there is only one