'So what are you going to do?'

'What any decent, upright security man would do I'm going to bug his peace conference.'

Chapter Twelve.

Listening Surrounded by a complicated lash-up of electronic equipment, the Doctor and Commander Hawken were sitting in the windowless communications room of Hawken's security HQ.

It had been, Hawken explained, a simple matter to bug the conference.

'They're holding it in the small conference room in the barracks section. The place is bugged already, so it was only a matter of checking over the equipment. We did that yesterday.'

He turned to the com-tech at the controls. 'Everything ready?'

'Ready, sir.'

'Then why can't we hear anything?'

'They're not actually due to start for another hour, sir. I thought we'd better be ready early.'

'Good thinking,' said Hawken. 'What do you want to do, Smith, hang on or come back later?'

'I may as well stay. I imagine the General will arrive last, and there may well be some preliminary talk while the others are waiting. That can often be more revealing than the formal proceedings.'

They settled down to wait.

'By the way,' asked the Doctor casually. 'Are we free to leave yet?'

'Tomorrow,' said Hawken. 'I'll get the Governor to sign your pa.s.ses. You can even take your precious blue box with you.'

'I shall certainly do that,' said the Doctor.

'How will you travel?' asked Hawken. 'There are ships coming and going constantly, but a lot of them are military. I might be able to arrange a lift for you if you tell me where you want to go.'

'Don't trouble yourself,' said the Doctor hurriedly. 'I'm sure I can make some suitable arrangement...'

Peri strolled across the great stone-flagged courtyard on her way to the commissary. She was wearing a plain white linen day dress, one of her recent purchases. She thought she looked rather well in it. Now, armed with a bundle of credits thrust on her by the Doctor, she was on her way to do yet more shopping.

Despite this happy situation, she was feeling faintly aggrieved. The Doctor, who had joined her for breakfast, had flatly refused to let her attend the bugging session.

'I just don't think Hawken would stand for it, Peri. I had a job to persuade him to let me me come, and he's got a rather old-fashioned att.i.tude to women.' come, and he's got a rather old-fashioned att.i.tude to women.'

'He's not the only one,' grumbled Peri.

The Doctor took a bundle of notes from his pocket. 'Here, take these. I drew some local credits when I paid for your last purchases. There should be enough there for anything you didn't buy first time round!'

'In other words, go away and play and don't bother the menfolk,' thought Peri as she walked across the courtyard.

There was a fountain in the middle of the courtyard and a stone bench beside it. Peri sat down for a moment, enjoying the crisp, cool air and the morning sunshine.

She began thinking about last night's reception and, inevitably, about the General. The Doctor, she thought, had been rather hard on him. What if he was a renegade Time Lord?

So was the Doctor, by his own admission, and he'd never used his undoubted powers for evil.

For all they knew, the General's reasons for rejecting the Time Lords might be as honourable as the Doctor's had been.

Was there, she wondered, an element of jealousy in the Doctor's judgement? A resentment of a personality so much more powerful than his own?

She found herself picturing the General, the lithe, compact body, the cat-like grace with which he'd moved across the crowded room, effortlessly dominating those around him. She saw the n.o.ble head with its cla.s.sically handsome features, the fierce black eyes that had softened when they gazed into her own. And the voice! That deep mellow voice which sent shivers through a girl's body.

As if conjured up by her own imaginings, she heard that voice ringing across the courtyard. 'Miss Brown! What an unexpected pleasure.'

She looked up and saw the General crossing the courtyard towards her. He wore a uniform of scarlet and gold, only slightly less ornate than the one he'd worn last night. There was a tough-looking, grey-uniformed officer at his heels.

He came over and stood looking down at her, giving her that same warm smile. 'I very much wanted to see you again, Miss Brown. I dared not hope that it would be so soon. May I trespa.s.s upon your time for a few minutes?'

'I've got plenty of time,' said Peri. 'But surely you haven't?

Your peace conference '

'The conference the Doctor is waiting to bug,' she thought guiltily.

'The conference can wait,' said the General simply. He turned to the officer. 'Tell the others I shall be late.'

It was obvious that the officer would have liked to object. It was equally obvious that he didn't dare. He clicked his heels and marched away.

'It's not every girl who's had a peace conference postponed for her,' thought Peri. Out loud she said, 'General, you mustn't ...' The General waved away her objections and sat down beside her. 'Miss Brown ' He broke off. 'Must I call you that?

Commander Hawken didn't give your forename when he introduced us.'

Peri smiled. 'That's because he can't p.r.o.nounce it! It's Perpugilliam Peri for short.'

'Peri,' said the General softly. 'A name for a flower.' He took her hand.

('A fast worker,' thought Peri, but she didn't withdraw her hand.) 'I am sorry we didn't have time to talk last night,' said the General. 'I very much wanted to, but the pressures of the occasion... It was important that I make a good impression here.'

'You certainly did that,' said Peri. 'Swept them all off their feet.'

'All?' said the General softly. He pressed her hand. 'I was afraid you were leaving today, that I would never see you again.

When do you go?'

'Not today,' said Peri. 'Tomorrow, perhaps, or the day after.'

Conscious that things were racing ahead a bit, she gently withdrew her hand.

'I too must leave here soon,' said the General. 'We must use what time we have. Will you dine with me tonight?'

Peri hesitated.

'With your guardian's permission, of course,' said the General. 'Of course, if he forbids you '

That did it.

'He's my travelling companion, not my guardian and he has no authority to forbid me to do anything. Thank you, I should be delighted.'

The General took her hand again and kissed it. 'This evening, then I shall send an escort for you. Wear the red dress.' He rose, bowed and strode away.

Peri stayed sitting by the fountain in something of a daze.

Vaguely she wondered if she ought to have warned the General that his peace conference was bugged. But that would be to betray the Doctor. Besides, if the General was innocent, and she was sure now that he was, the bugging would reveal nothing to his discredit. It might even relieve the Doctor's ridiculous suspicions.

She sat there for some time, torn between pleasurable antic.i.p.ation and apprehension. In spite of what she'd said to the General, she couldn't help wondering what the Doctor was going to say...

The Doctor and Commander Hawken were listening with a kind of bored impatience to footsteps, the sc.r.a.ping of chairs and a few sc.r.a.ps of desultory conversation as the delegates arrived in the conference room.

'That makes all of them by my reckoning,' said the Doctor.

'All but the General, that is.'

As if to confirm his words, a voice growled, 'Well, we're all here. How much longer's the General gonna be?'

'Sounds as if he's got his hands full by all accounts,' said another voice. 'Probably literally if I know him; he always was a fast worker.'

'Well, can't blame him,' said the first voice tolerantly. 'She's a hot little piece right enough. Maybe he'll pa.s.s her round when he's done with her, he does that sometimes.'

There was a burst of coa.r.s.e laughter, followed by some even coa.r.s.er remarks. Idly the Doctor wondered what unfortunate girl was the subject of the General's attentions. Some kitchen maid probably...

Suddenly there was dead silence, followed by the General's voice.

'My apologies for the delay, gentlemen, I've been detained most delightfully detained, I might add.'

'So we heard,' said a voice.

The laughter was cut short as the General spoke again.

'Well, let us begin. First item on the agenda.. '

Suddenly a crackling sound filled the air, drowning out all speech.

Angrily Hawken swung round on the com-tech. 'The b.l.o.o.d.y equipment's broken down!'

'It can't have sir,' said the technician frantically. 'It was checked and re-checked this morning.'

The Doctor was listening intently to the sound.

'They're using a jammer,' he said. 'Blocking the channel with white noise. If you've got a triple-band frequency feedback oscillator we may be able to tune most of it out.'

Hawken glared at the technician. 'Well?'

Miserably the technician shook his head. 'Never heard of such a thing, sir.'

'Never mind,' said the Doctor. 'I'll build you one. Won't take long if you've got the parts. Where's your spares section? And I'll need an electronic connecting screwdriver.'

He went over to a nearby workbench, and the technician began producing pieces of equipment. Working with amazing speed the Doctor a.s.sembled an elaborate electronic contraption and plugged it into the bugging equipment. He adjusted dials and gradually the crackling faded and voices emerged.

'Sylvana is the key, gentlemen,' said the General. 'It's a springboard and a bread basket. Once it's in our hands, we can feed and supply our armies...'

The Doctor and Hawken listened, appalled, as the conference went on. Occasionally they lost reception, but the Doctor always managed to get it back eventually.

But even from the fragments they heard, the message was clear.

There was no talk of peace plans or trade treaties.

Instead the discussion concerned troop movements, arms supplies and the a.s.sembly of s.p.a.ce fleets.

When the morning session closed, the Doctor and Hawken looked at each other.

'I'm not sure what we've been listening to,' said Hawken.

'But it was no peace conference!'

'It certainly wasn't,' said the Doctor. 'It was a council of war.'