Doctor Who: Ultimate Treasure Read Online Free PDF Page A

such times that Qwaid most hated Alpha, even as he envied the ruthless mentality that shaped the scathing words. He only wished that Gribbs and Drorgon were not present to witness the reprimand. Their continued respect mattered deeply to Qwaid, because, although he needed Alpha for the moment, one day he planned to be sitting behind the magnificent desk with the stars at his back.
    Then it was over, and Qwaid said meekly, 'Sorry, boss. It won't happen again.'
    'I trust not, Qwaid. Now prepare the Falcon for departure.'
    Alpha's cold eyes turned to Gribbs, who shivered involuntarily.
    'Meanwhile, you will identify the ship belonging to the man you saw leaving Hok's premises. There are certain precautions to be taken before we leave.'
    Inspector Myra Jaharnus, of the Astroville Police Department, frowned at the Doctor and Peri across the interview-room table.
    Peri stared defiantly back into her yellow slitted eyes while the Doctor smiled with dreamy amiability. The inspector was a Tritonite, a humanoid reptile, with lightly scaled green skin and a short, bony-frilled crocodile tail which swished impatiently as it hung over the back of her chair - a gesture Peri found both intriguing and irritating. Jaharnus leaned forward and, with a clawed forefinger, tapped the desk screen displaying the scene-of-crime report.
    'And you can give no more details about the three persons you saw in the shop, or this "Sir John Falstaff" you say intervened?'
     
    she asked.
    'For the tenth time,' Peri replied wearily, 'their faces were blurred - and this guy Falstaff did too intervene!'
    'The problem is his name does not appear on our records either as a resident or visitor to Astroville.'
    'Then isn't it possible he may have given us a false name?' the Doctor suggested gently.
    'That had occurred to us,' - Jaharnus glanced again at the unpronounceable symbols on the Doctor's identity card and evidently decided not to attempt them - '...Doctor. However, another possibility is that there is no such person. In fact you stated earlier that he was indeed a fictional creation.'
    Peri gave another exasperated sigh and wished she had never tried to explain to people, who had evidently never heard of the Bard of Stratford-upon-Avon, about Falstaff's mythical namesake.
    'We mean he looked like a famous fictional character. He even spoke like a bad copy of him. But I didn't mean we made him up!
    Why don't you put out a description? With his build and costume he should stand out like a sore thumb...' An image of the multitude of alien fashions and body forms she had seen in the main concourse caused her to pause. She reminded herself where she was and to stop thinking parochially. 'Uh, I guess maybe around here he isn't so unusual as all that,' she conceded.
    'Inspector,' the Doctor said evenly, Hok was killed by a gunshot, yet neither I nor my companion have a gun, nor was any found on the premises, so logically there must have been some third party present to have removed it.'
    Jaharnus appeared unimpressed. 'And perhaps you're giving a false description of him, or them, to help cover their trails.'
    'Look,' said Peri impatiently, 'didn't anybody else see anything that backs up our story?'
    Jaharnus flashed the scene-of-crime interviews up on the screen and glanced over them once again. 'Several passersby and occupants of adjacent shops were alerted by the sounds of items being broken inside Hok's establishment and then the fire alarm, but it was too dark inside to see any details through the window. Nobody else entered the shop until the extinguisher vapour had cleared, where they found only you two and the victim.'
     
    'I suppose nobody was watching the back door while all this was going on?' said Peri.
    'Unfortunately, no.'
    'You don't really believe we're killers, do you, Inspector?' the Doctor asked. 'What motive could we possibly have?'
    'We know Hok occasionally dealt with goods of, shall we say, dubious origins. And I don't just mean antiques.