Doctor Who: Marco Polo (8 page)

'He's a liar, Susan, he's a liar and we
can prove it. Come on.' She grabbed Susan by the hand and ran down
the corridor to Marco's room, tapped cursorily on the door and,
without waiting for a reply, dragged Susan inside. Marco was sitting
at the table, writing up his journal.

'He's a liar and we've the proof,
Messer Marco,' Ping-Cho blurted. Marco put down his quill pen and
looked at them with a smile.

'Who's a liar?' he asked. Ping-Cho
glanced at Susan and swallowed.

'The War Lord Tegana.' Marco frowned.

'That's a serious charge, young lady,'
he warned.

'But we have the proof, Messer Marco,'
Ping-Cho insisted. Marco studied the unfinished page of his journal
for a moment.

'All right,' he said finally, folding
his arms, 'tell me.'

'Do you remember the War Lord's reply
when the Lady Barbara said she had followed him to the Cave of Five
Hundred Eyes?'

'Yes. He said he'd never been there
before.'

'That was the lie, Messer Marco. When
the War Lord came into the cave Susan's grandfather showed him the
Lady Barbara's handkerchief saying we had found it over there,
pointing to a dark corner and Tegana asked if we had explored the
passageway.'

'Well?' Marco asked.

'If he had never been in the cave
before, how could he have known that the corner was a passageway?'

'That's right, Ping-Cho, and
grandfather will agree as well,' Susan was emphatic but Marco shook
his head.

'I won't put the question to the
Doctor,' he said and explained that most travellers knew about the
cave but only a few, of whom he was one, knew about the inner
chamber. 'No, this is not proof that the War Lord Tegana is a liar.
Believe me, it will take much more than that to shake my confidence
in him.' He picked up his quill, dipped it in the ink and continued
writing his journal.

At their dinner the Doctor was affable,
almost jovial, Ian thought, as he bantered with everyone around the
table, rotating the dumb-waiter and selecting a delicacy to place on
Barbara's, Susan's or Ping-Cho's plate, observing that Kan-Chow was
renowned throughout Cathay for its cooking. Marco agreed but
expressed his surprise that the Doctor knew it.

'My dear Polo, I know a few facts about
Cathay,' the Doctor replied lightheartedly. 'For example, one should
always have one's tailor in Han-Chow where the finest silks are spun
and woven, and it is considered bad form to die other than at Lu-Chow
where the best wood for coffins is to be found.' Everyone laughed and
Marco admitted that he knew both cities and the Doctor was right.

Afterwards they drank tea in the lounge
while Marco spoke about the next leg of their journey. Grinning at
the Doctor, he conceded that Lan-Chow was not as distinguished as
Kan-Chow, Han-Chow or Lu-Chow but nonetheless it was important as the
first city on the banks of the Hwang Ho, or Yellow River, on its
thousand league course to the sea. Marco estimated it would take them
a week to reach Lan-Chow. 'No, for you to reach it,' the Doctor
mentally corrected him with a sly smile.

Tegana stood up, stretched, and
announced he was going to take the night air before sleeping. Neither
Ping-Cho nor Susan believed him as he walked_out nto the courtyard.
Ian leant over to Barbara.

'Following him, are you?' he whispered.

'Not on my life,' she replied
emphatically.

Susan and Ping-Cho then said they were
going to their rooms and one by one they bade the others goodnight.
Susan left the Doctor to the last.

'Goodnight, grandfather,' she said and
kissed him on the cheek.

'Sleep well, my child, and may your
dreams transport you to wondrous places,' he replied, with a hint of
a wink.

When the girls reached Ping-Cho's door,
she looked at Susan.

'And they will, won't they?' Susan
nodded. Ping-Cho tapped gently on her door. 'You won't forget?'

'No, I won't forget,' Susan replied and
went to her room where her own clothes, all crisp and clean, were
hanging. She sighed, then changed into them and sat on the edge of
the bed to wait.

Tegana knew where to find Acomat
because, before he started his journey to the Khan's summer palace,
meeting-places in every city had been arranged. He told him that he
knew they had passed the caravan one night which made Acomat laugh.

'Between Tun-Huang and here we could
have attacked you twenty times,' he boasted, 'but you did not
signal.'

'In open country there would have been
no place to hide the bodies,' Tegana replied. 'In the desert the
winds and the singing sands would have concealed them, as will the
bamboo forests we shall soon approach along a tributary of the Hwang
Ho. They are dense, almost impenetrable, and we must pitch our tents
on the edge of one for a night before we reach Lan-Chow. Watch for us
and I shall signal to you like this.' He strode over to the fire
burning in the hearth and snatched a branch of wood from it which he
waved above his head. 'Then with stealth attack and we shall
slaughter them, hiding their carcasses in the
depths of the forest. Take the flying caravan to the great Khan
Noghai while I ride on to Shang-Tu and fulfil my mission.'

'How does one enter this caravan, my
lord?' Acomat asked.

'There is a key which Polo has but I
shall retain it until I return to Karakorum and proclaim the great
Khan Noghai as Master of the World.'

In his room the Doctor changed into his
own clothes, putting the omni-electrometer into one pocket of his
jacket and the microswitches into the other. He waited until all was
quiet before he peered cautiously along the corridor. No one was in
sight, all in their rooms, he thought. Swiftly and silently he went
down the stairs and out onto the courtyard.

For a moment he stood in front of the
TARDIS and tapped his pocket which contained the microswitches.
Wondrous places, he thought with a smile, then clambered onto the
wagon, unlocked the door and went inside. But he had made one
miscalculation. They were not all in their rooms. The War Lord
Tegana, returning after taking the night air, was watching him from
the entrance to the way-station and as soon as the Doctor had closed
the door behind him, Tegana hurried to Marco's room. Without
bothering to knock, he entered.

'The old magician is in the caravan,'
he proclaimed to a startled Marco, 'I saw him enter.' Marco shook the
sleep from his head.

'Go back quickly and keep guard in case
he comes out. If he does, hold him there,' he replied. Tegana smiled
and left the room as Marco threw on his clothes, drew his sword and burst into
Ian's room. Ian was reclining fully dressed on the bed.

'Get up,' Marco ordered, 'fetch Miss
Wright and the girl. Bring them to the courtyard immediately.' Ian
did his best to appear nonchalant, shrugging as if he didn't know
what was happening but inwardly realising that something had gone
very wrong. He did as he was told, collected Barbara and Susan and
the three of them went onto the courtyard where Tegana and Marco
stood in front of the wagon.

'What's all this about?' Ian bluffed.
Marco pointed his sword at the ship.

'The Doctor, as you call him, is in
there.' His voice was glacial.

'Have you checked his room,' Ian asked
innocently.

'Do you take me for an idiot?' Marco
replied. 'We'll wait here until he comes out, even if we stay all
night.'

Inside the TARDIS the Doctor spent a
busy hour putting the microswitches back in place and checking the
circuits one by one with the exception of two: the blue lamp on top
which might draw attention, and the dematerialisation circuit in case
he couldn't get back. But everything would work, he knew it, as he
rubbed his hands together and went outside.

'Lock the door,' Ian shouted. The
Doctor fumbled for the key in his pocket, found it, did as he was
instructed and turned defiantly to face Marco and Tegana. Marco held
out his hand.

'I'll take the key,' he said.

'No.' The Doctor was adamant. Tegana
leapt onto the wagon and raised his sword.

'You're an old man, Doctor,' Marco
said, 'and I do not wish to use force.' The Doctor glared at him.

'It's what you'll need to use, Polo.'

'Shall I cut it off?' Tegana asked, his
sword poised above the Doctor's hand.

'Grandfather, give it to him, give it,'
Susan screamed. The Doctor opened his hand and held out the key.

'Did I not say he had another?' Tegana
proclaimed as the Doctor clambered down from the wagon and waved the
key in front of Marco's face.

'Put that key in the lock and you'll
destroy the caravan, Polo,' he warned, 'and then where will you and
your precious Kublai Khan be?' Marco snatched the key from the
Doctor's hand. 'You need more than a key, Polo, you need knowledge,'
- the Doctor tapped the side of his head with his forefinger -
'knowledge you'll never possess.'

'Give me that knowledge.'

'It's beyond your comprehension, Polo.'

'The Doctor's right, Marco,' Ian
interjected.

'We're here, the four of us,' Barbara
added, 'and the ship is repaired, so why not let us leave you?'

'In peace,' the Doctor snapped. Susan
thought about Ping-Cho and bit her lower lip.

'No,' Marco retorted and turned to
Tegana. 'Bear me witness. I wear the gold seal of mighty Kublai Khan
and by the authority it invests in me, I do hereby seize and hold
your flying caravan.' He pointed his sword at each of them in turn.
'Be warned, any resistance to this decree is instantly punishable by
death. Now, return to your rooms.' The Doctor looked at Marco and
shook his head sadly.

'Oh, you poor, misguided, stupid,
pathetic savage,' he said and walked back into the way-station.

The journey became a nightmare. In the
morning they discovered that Marco had segregated them, taken away
their horses, thereby making them travel together in a wagon, and eat
and sleep in a guarded separate tent. Ping-Cho was not allowed to
associate with any of them which made her resent Marco who, as they
travelled on, struggled to fight off his pangs of conscience. But the
arrangements suited Tegana perfectly. The caravan was divided which
would make his and Acomat's task much easier when they reached the
bamboo forests where he would despatch Marco whilst Acomat and the
Tartars slaughtered the others and Ping-Cho.

On the third day of the journey as they
sat in the wagon Ian gave vent to the sentiment the four of them
felt.

'It's pointless continuing like this,'
he said, 'we must make a bid for freedom.' The Doctor nodded.

'That's more easily said than done,
Ian,' Barbara warned.

'I know the odds are against us,' he
replied, 'but we must try.'

'Yes, Chesterton, I agree with you,'
the Doctor added. 'My ship is sitting there waiting for us.'

'But Marco has both keys,' Susan
reminded them.

'We must recover one of them,' Ian
said. 'But how?"

'Capture Polo,' the Doctor remarked.

'Why not?' Ian asked. 'Take him
hostage.' Barbara shook her head.

'We're hopelessly outnumbered, Ian.' He
smiled at her.

'During the day, yes. But not at night.
Then there's only the guard.'

'Armed,' Susan observed. Ian raised his
hand.

'It'll be up to me to change that.'

And Tegana?' Barbara asked.

'Since we've all been lumped in one
tent, Marco sleeps in his own quarters which has an outside flap, so
the War Lord has the main section of their tent to himself.' Ian
grinned. 'I'll do my best not to disturb his slumbers.'

'Fullv aware that you are perfectly
capable of this enterprise, Chesterton, I have only one question to
put to you,' the Doctor said. 'When?'

Ian glanced at them one by one.
'Tonight.'

The Doctor turned to Susan. 'I'm sorry,
my dear, but I must insist, not one murmur of this venture to
Ping-Cho.' Susan shrugged.

'Marco has forbidden us to speak to one
another, grandfather.'

It was late afternoon when the caravan
stopped on the edge of a bamboo forest. The tents were pitched and a
campfire lit using wood the Mongol bearers had collected during the
day's travel as bamboo was unsuitable for a fire. Barbara and Susan
prepared a meal for the Doctor, Ian and themselves while Ping-Cho
cooked for Marco and Tegana. It was all so awkward and formal that
Ping-Cho and Susan didn't know whether to laugh or cry. But on one
occasion when Marco wasn't watching them closely, Ping-Cho put her
right hand in front of her chest and discreetly waved her fingers up
and down. Susan did the same and they both understood.

Later, the Doctor, Susan, Barbara and
Ian were sealed in their tent and the armed guard posted in front of
the flap.

'Shall we sing a song?' Ian asked,
holding up a porcelain plate. 'A rousing, noisy one.'

'How about Loch Lomond?' Barbara
suggested.

'I know that one,' the Doctor said,
remarking that it was a shame they didn't have any bagpipes as an
accompaniment. Taking Ian's cue, they burst into song, falteringly at
first but when they came to the chorus they were in unison and full
voice.

'Oh, ye'll tak' the high road and I'll tak' the low road.
And I'll be in Scotland afore ye,
But me and my true love will never meet again
On the bonnie, bonnie banks of Loch Looooomond.' As they roared out the last word, Ian snapped the plate
in two.

Marco stood with Ping-Cho outside the
tent and shook his head in bewilderment. In all his journeys he had
never met such travellers and he knew he was treating them badly. He
liked them, he enjoyed their company but he wanted to return to
Venice and the gift of the flying caravan to the Khan was the way to
achieve it. He turned away and walked back to the main tent. Ping-Cho
stared at the flap and repeated her little wave with tears welling in
her eyes.