Doctor Who: Marco Polo (3 page)

During the meal Barbara remarked that
she was surprised to find such comfort in a place as remote as Lop.

'Kublai Khan has had way-stations built
at regular intervals throughout his domains,' Marco replied.

'Must cost a packet to stay here,
though,' Ian observed guiltily. Marco held out a gold medallion which
was attached to a fine gold chain he was wearing around his neck.

'Those who travel in the Khan's service
and wear this seal have the right to demand anything they may
require,' he explained, 'provisions, horses, shelter.'

'The original credit card,' Ian
murmured to Barbara who was sitting beside him. Quickly she clamped
her hand over her mouth and did her best to keep a straight face.

The next morning the Doctor awoke
feeling refreshed and energetic after a good night's sleep in an
extremely comfortable bed. His clothes had been impeccably cleaned
and returned to his room while he slept, and he hummed a little air
to himself as he dressed. Then he went downstairs, ate two small Tan
Chiao omelettes stuffed with minced fresh water shrimps and drank a
bowl of tea for breakfast.

'Good morning,' he said brightly to
Tegana, who came in from the courtyard, and announced he was off to
work. Tegana did not reply. The Doctor dabbed his lips with his
serviette, took the key to the TARDIS from his pocket and went to the
entrance to the courtyard only to find his way barred by two Mongols
with drawn swords.

'Stand aside,' he ordered but they
remained where they were.

'Please sit down, Doctor,' Marco said
behind him. The Doctor turned around.

'What's this about?' he asked, and
insisted that Marco call off the Mongols.

'Please be seated,' Marco repeated as
Barbara, Ping-Cho and Susan came down the stairs.

'No,' the Doctor retorted, 'I have work
to do and we made an agreement, Polo.'

'Hear me out, Doctor,' Marco said as
Ian joined the others on the stairs. The Doctor looked around.

'I appear not to have any choice,' he
snapped, and sat down folding his arms. Marco beckoned to Ian,
Barbara and the girls to join them. Then he joined his hands as if he
were praying, put his forefingers to his lips for a moment and turned
back to the Doctor.

'My home is Venice,' he said, 'and I
left there with my father and my uncle to come to Cathay in the year
one thousand, two hundred and seventy-one, eighteen years ago. The
journey to Peking took three and a half years. I was twenty-one when
we arrived at Kublai Khan's court. I was an alert young man with a
facility for languages and a willingness to learn. The Khan liked
me.' The Doctor sighed audibly. 'On my twenty-fifth birthday I was
given an appointment in his service.'

'1277,' Barbara interrupted. Marco
glanced at her.

'Yes. And since then my duties have
taken me to every corner of his realm, Barbara, and beyond it. Two
years ago, my father, my uncle and I asked the Khan for permission
to return home. He refused.

Perhaps the three of us had served him
too well.' Marco paused and the Doctor leapt in.

'I don't see the remotest connection
between the story of your life and my repairing the TARDIS,' he said.
Marco spread out his arms.

'Doctor, I have not seen my home for
many years,' he replied. 'I want to go back.' The Doctor unfolded his
arms and waved one in the air.

'Ask Kublai Khan again,' he suggested.
'You never know, this time he may oblige.'

'I intend to ask him again,' Marco's
voice was firm, but I will not go empty-handed. I shall offer him a
gift so magnificent that he will not be able to refuse me this time.'
Ian got the message.

'The TARDIS,' he exclaimed, 'you're
talking about the TARDIS.' Marco turned to face him.

'Yes, Ian, the Doctor's flying
caravan,' he said, as the Doctor jumped to his feet.

'Polo, you're mad,' he cried
incredulously. Marco turned back to face him.

'You can make another,' he said.

'In Shang-Tu or Peking?' The Doctor
shook his head in disbelief.

'You do me an injustice,' Marco
protested. 'I won't leave you stranded in Cathay, just as I did not
let you die on the Plain of Pamir. No, you will come with me to
Venice and make another one there.' The Doctor began to chuckle.

'No, Polo, no,' he said, his shoulders
jiggling.

Ian intervened. 'It's impossible,
Marco.' Marco looked at him and pointed at the Doctor.

'Surely, all things are possible for a
man who possesses a flying caravan,' he insisted. Ian argued that it would need all kinds of metals
and equipment which could not be found in Venice and that Marco had
no idea of the problems involved. The Doctor clutched his sides in
suppressed mirth.

'Nor do you, young man,' the Doctor
chortled, looking at Ian.

'Then journey home by boat. We trade
with every port in the world,' Marco insisted, 'and you'll find all
you need. It may take you longer, but you'll reach home eventually.'

'Eventually.' The word came out as a
squeak. 'He doesn't know what he's saying. The man's a lunatic,' said
the Doctor. Marco's face was set grim as he turned to the Doctor.

'No. Desperate. There are many men who
are jealous of the Polo influence at the court. And the Khan suffers
from an affliction for which there is no cure.'

'What is it?' Barbara asked quietly.

'Old age, Barbara,' Marco replied, and
added that if the Khan were to die before they managed to leave
Cathay he would probably never see Venice again.

'That's your problem, Polo, not mine,'
the Doctor said as he tried to pull himself together.

'I have just made it yours, Doctor.'

'You will see Venice again, Marco,'
Barbara said.

'I intend to.' Marco was adamant.

'But what makes you think the Doctor's
caravan would be a suitable gift for the Khan?' Ian asked, and
pointed out that only the Doctor could make it fly.

'I told you about the Buddhist monks
making goblets of wine fly through the air. They will uncover its
secrets,' he replied, as the Doctor all but doubled up with laughter,
which Marco ignored. 'A caravan that flies, Ian. Do you realise what
that would mean to the Khan? It would make him the most powerful
ruler the world has ever known. Stronger than Hannibal, mightier than
Alexander the Great.'

'Oh, dear, oh, dearie me,' the Doctor
gasped with tears of laughter streaming down his cheeks. Marco looked
at him.

'Laugh if you will, Doctor, but my mind
is made up,' he said. 'Your caravan goes with me to Shang-Tu. Now,
give me the key and on my oath I will not enter it until we reach the
court.'

Helpless with laughter and to the
astonishment of Susan, Barbara and Ian, the Doctor held it out. Marco
took the key, strode to the entrance, called off the Mongol guards
and went out into the courtyard. The Doctor collapsed in a chair,
almost sobbing with laughter.

'Oh, dear, oh, dearie me,' he kept
repeating. Susan ran over and shook him.

'Grandfather, grandfather,' she cried,
'why are you laughing? It's serious.' Barbara and Ian came over to
him.

'Marco means it,' Barbara said. The
Doctor took his handkerchief from his pocket and wiped his eyes.

'Yes, I know he does,' he admitted.

'What are you going to do about it?'
Ian asked. The Doctor looked at him for a moment and burst out
laughing again.

'I haven't the foggiest notion,' he
gasped finally.

Two people who had witnessed the
confrontation without making any comment were Ping-Cho, who didn't
understand it, and the War Lord Tegana, who did, and was in the
service of the great Khan Noghai.

Relations were strained during the next
few days while Marco prepared the caravan for the scorching sands of
the Gobi desert. The Doctor kept to himself, brooding in his room,
and most of the time refusing to eat the food which Susan took up to
him. Naturally, the others were concerned about him and Ian tried
remonstrating with Marco who ignored his protests and went grimly
about the preparations for the journey. Tegana stood back, watching
it all with interest.

Then, one evening as they were eating
dinner in silence, Susan came down from the Doctor's room with his
tray of food untouched.

'Grandfather won't eat,' she said,
putting the tray on the table.

'Tell him he must.' Marco spoke
quietly. 'We start our journey in the morning and the Doctor will
need all the strength he can muster.' Barbara stood up, looked at
Susan and Ian and took the tray.

'We'll all tell him,' she said and the
three of them went upstairs. Susan knocked on the Doctor's door.

'It's us, grandfather,' she said, 'may
we come in?' There was a non-committal grunt from inside, so Susan
opened the door and they entered the room. The Doctor was sitting
disconsolately on the edge of his bed. Barbara set the tray on the
table and explained why he had to eat. The Doctor moved to a stool
and stared without interest at the bowls of food in front of him.

'Come on, grandfather, please,' Susan
pleaded, 'we need you.' The Doctor looked at them.

'It's the first time I've ever let that
key go out of my possession,' he said, 'I don't know what came over
me.'

'You'll get it back,' Ian replied
confidently. 'Mister Messer Marco Polo's no match for you, and you
know it. Now, eat something.' The Doctor toyed with his chopsticks
for a few moments. Then he looked at them and smiled.

No, he isn't, is he?' he remarked
before tucking in.

Later, Tegana walked to one of the
tents under the palm trees around the oasis and went inside. The
Tartar sitting there jumped to his feet and bowed.

'I greet the War Lord Tegana,' he said.

'Our journey commences tomorrow,'
Tegana stated. 'Follow us with a spare horse. On the fourth night I
shall walk back to meet you and we shall return to Lop. Wait a few
days and then ride back into the Gobi to collect a present for the
all-powerful Noghai that will bring Kublai Khan to his knees.'

'As the War Lord Tegana commands,' the
Tartar replied and bowed again.

The next morning the Doctor came
bouncing down to breakfast.

'Good morning, everybody,' he said
cheerily and then singled out an astonished Marco for an individual
greeting before ordering a bowl of tea and two Tan Chiao omelettes
stuffed with chopped water-chestnuts and pork whilst observing that
no one should go out into the desert on an empty stomach.

The four wagon caravan set out from
Lop. Everyone, except the Doctor, was on horseback with Susan and
Ping-Cho sharing a horse. The Doctor sat beside the driver of the
lead wagon which contained their food and water, the second and third
wagons carried their tents, cots and baggage while the fourth had the
TARDIS and several chickens in a cage strapped onto it. They made
good progress along the Old Silk Road on the first day with more than
five leagues covered before Marco gave the order to pitch two tents,
one for themselves, the other for the four Mongol drivers. Barbara,
Ping-Cho and Susan prepared their evening meal while Ian helped Marco
to decant some water from the gourds which hung in the first wagon.

'How much water does a caravan like
ours use to cross the Gobi?' Ian asked.

'One gourd every five days,' Marco
replied, 'so I have allowed eight gourds to carry us to the other
side.'

'The bones of many men who thought they
carried enough lie bleached in the desert sun,' Tegana said from
behind them.

'So we shall all exercise restraint,'
Marco added with a smile.

They ate dinner outside the tent under
the starlit sky.

'If it's like this all the way, it'll
be very pleasant,' Ian commented as he sipped his coffee. Marco's
smile was grim.

'Never trust the desert, Ian,' he said.
'This sea of sand will seduce you one minute and betray you the next.
It will try to bake you during the day and, sometimes, freeze you
during the night. And if you believe in spirits and devils, they live
out here. You will hear them.' He finished his coffee and glanced at
the Doctor. 'Care for a game of chess?' he asked.

'Very kind of you, Polo, but these old
bones of mine are rather weary, so I think I'll turn in shortly,' the
Doctor replied. Whilst admitting that he wasn't the best player in
the world, Ian took up Marco's challenge. Marco went into the tent
and returned with a leather case which contained a box made of ivory
and red coral squares so that when it was opened the whole surface
made the chess board. Inside the box were the pieces in ivory and
coral.

'May I?' Barbara asked, reaching out
for the coral king.

'Of course,' Marco replied. Barbara
picked it up. The piece had been superbly and delicately carved in
the shape of a great Khan seated on his throne.

'Ivory or coral, Ian?' Marco asked.

'Oh, coral, Ian,' Barbara said, setting
the Khan on his square. When all the pieces were in place even the
Doctor admitted it was the most beautiful chess set he had ever seen.
Marco smiled.

'When one moves pieces like these,
Doctor, one has the impression one plays a better game.' The Doctor
chuckled. Tegana stood unsmiling.

'It is an exercise in the strategies of
war,' he proclaimed. 'Two equally balanced armies deployed upon a
field of battle and each commander determined to be the one who cries
"Shah Mat".' Ian looked at him.

'Shah mat?' he queried, and then
realised what it meant.

'The Shah, the Khan, the King is dead,'
Marco said. 'Your opening, Ian.' Thirty-seven moves later Marco
quietly said 'Shah mat', and Ian nodded.

'Yes,' he conceded ruefully,
'checkmate.' The Doctor, still there with the others, observed that
he thought Ian had put up a jolly good fight and then went to bed.

After dinner on the second day, the
Doctor accepted Marco's challenge and routed him decisively on the
twenty-sixth move.