The Neanderthal soldier nodded. Throwing his cloak about the princess as well as himself, the Doctor suggested: "At least try and pretend that you're about to offer me heavenly bliss..."

Every inch of the journey was torture for them. En-Gula managed more than pa.s.sably to act as if she was back at her old job, teasing and enticing a client to the back rooms. Ninani tried her best to emulate her companion, but to the Doctor's apprehensive ears it sounded as convincing as an amateur vocalist working on Wagner's Ring without either a score or an ear for music. Still, no one in the temple spared the group a second glance, so he could only a.s.sume that their little act was either completely convincing or utterly boring.

Pa.s.sing by the entrance to the boudoirs, they slipped into the back rooms behind the altar. The Doctor took one last look over his shoulder, and then let out a sigh of relief. He hadn't been certain that they could make it unchallenged. Throwing his cloak aside, he peered into the gloom. "Power failure?" he asked. It had been dark like this the last time he had been in here.

En-Gula shrugged. "Ishtar likes the gloom."

"Hmmm . . . I wonder if it means she can't stand the light, or that she's got exceptional eyesight and likes her visitors at a disadvantage?"

"Either way," Enkidu hissed, "we are in the worst position while it remains dark. It's difficult to see much, which restricts our ability to fight. Or spy."

"Well, standing here talking all day won't help matters much," the Doctor answered. "I can see perfectly well, so follow my lead. "Without waiting to ascertain that they had agreed, he led the way through the room to the inner door. Thankfully, his eyes were much more sensitive than those of his human companions. If Ishtar made a few more miscalculations like that, he'd be happy.

These rooms were clearly where Ishtar did most of her public work. The stench of ether was much stronger here. He could see several jars by one wall, all carefully sealed. Obviously her stockpile of knockout drops. The room was ornately laid out, and he spotted - with a wry grin - two small alcoves in the wall, one on either side of the doorway. A priestess in each of those, and anyone coming through the door would be grabbed, forced to their knees, and drugged, if the need should arise. That was how they had surprised him on his previous visit.

So why was the room empty? Maybe Ishtar had a pressing engagement somewhere else? Gesturing for the others to stand still, the Doctor crept to the far doorway. He realized, belatedly, that the other three hadn't been able to see his gesture in the darkness, and were still right behind him.

"Stay here a minute," he hissed. When he was certain that they would, he stepped through the door, and into Ishtar's inner sanctum.

This room was brighter, simply because of all of the machinery in operation. Two walls were filled with computers, both with programmes running continuously. Monitoring equipment filled the rest of the s.p.a.ce.

There was only one gap in the machinery, some sort of recharging chamber he a.s.sumed. If Ishtar was, as he suspected a cybernetic organism, then this was where she plugged herself in for a battery charge.

Time to work that out later.

At the end of the room was a throne of sorts, and directly in front of it a small, square box. He hurried over and examined it through his gla.s.ses. He whistled, softly, to himself. "Cobalt bomb - and wired into brain patterns, by the look of things." He pursed his lips. "Could make turning her off a bit dangerous. So she wasn't lying to King Agga about being able to wipe Mesopotamia off the face of the Earth."

Ignoring this complication for the moment, he moved to examine the computers. They were not of a familiar pattern, but he estimated he could get the hang of them quickly enough. A bit of reprogramming might do them all the world of good. Ishtar clearly used a built-in radio somewhere in this lot to stay in communication with the minds she had Touched. If that was ever linked to the immense circuits she had designed for the walls of Kish, her signal might be able to fill the known world of this period. And with the right power source, and enough of the implanted electrodes, she could probably rule the Earth.

A frightening thought, since she would change the whole course of human history and evolution. The Doctor doubted it would be for the better, given what he had been told about her so far. If she felt the need to implant mind-controlling devices in people's heads, it suggested that she had both an incredible disregard for individual personalities and also an overwhelming urge to control others. Neither trait was admirable.

"Time for a little subtle sabotage, Doctor," he told himself. "First of all, a monitor . . ." He walked over to the screens on the next wall. Tapping thoughtfully on the b.u.t.tons below one of them, he started to reroute the command paths of the computer to show on the screen. Without his touching the controls, though, the screen sprang to life.

He found himself looking at the back of his own head. Slowly he turned round, as his image on the screen repeated his actions.

In the doorway to the room, watching him with gleaming red eyes, was Ishtar. Slinking forward slightly, she purred: "Doctor - so nice to meet you at last."

19: THE FEAST OF ISHTAR.

Ishtar insinuated herself completely into the room. Like the snake she resembled she glided about the floor, studying the Doctor intently. In return he studied her just as closely. Finally she c.o.c.ked her head to one side. "Do you like what you see, Doctor?" she asked.

"Brilliant, quite brilliant," he replied, enthusiastically. "Platinum alloy skin, I'd guess. Amazingly complex and yet so supple. Humanoid features are a hangover from the old days, I'd say - perhaps a hint of vanity, eh? - but the snake half of you is good for movement. And durable, too, I'd think.

Built-in sensors that seem to be very resilient and adaptable. Some kind of positronic brain in there, too, with human brain cell a.n.a.logs . . . Utterly brilliant." Then he added: "Shame you use such skills for such a depraved purpose."

"Ah," she purred, amused, "morality. The weakness that marks the fool from the genius."

"The strength that marks the wise man from the criminal," the Doctor countered.

"The weakness," she insisted, "that marks the dead from the living." One metal hand touched the Doctor's face and stroked it almost fondly. "I have no weaknesses at all, you see. And n.o.body can withstand my strengths."

She smiled again, and he was amazed at how human her expressions could be. And at how terribly beautiful she was. Still, he thought, working with the perfection of platinum helps. It doesn't get acne, or moles, or even laughter lines.

"What have you done with my companions?" the Doctor demanded.

"The humans?" she sneered. "Don't try to tell me that you care - or that you are indeed one of that miserable, fragile species." She tapped on one red eye. "I am not deceived by appearances, Doctor. I know that you are not human. What I do not yet know is what you are. But you will tell me or . . ."

She made a slight gesture. Guards pushed Enkidu, En-Gula and Ninani into the room.

"I'm sorry," the Neanderthal managed to say. His jaw was swollen, and blood trickled down the side of his face. He had not surrendered easily.

Bright red marks on the arms and throats of the girls showed how they had been taken and kept silent, so as not to alert the Doctor.

"Don't be," he replied. "You did your best." Turning back to Ishtar, the Doctor asked: "And now what?"

"Now, the inevitable," she replied. "I win. But there are still a few players missing. So I shall be generous, Doctor. Come, let us talk together, shall we? It will be nice for a change to speak with someone whose mind is almost the equal of my own." She looked down at the humans in disgust.

"Their pitifully tiny brains barely nourish me - but yours . . . Ah, that will be a feast I shall remember for a long time."

"I'd most likely give you indigestion," the Doctor said, quickly. "My mind's very cluttered and disorganized. Really not worth the bother."

Ishtar laughed, delightedly. "Ah, you are an amusing one! I really will enjoy this. So, tell me - of what race are you? What is your home world?" Seeing him hesitate, she stroked his face again. "Come, little one. I will know the answers soon enough, either if you tell me now - or while I feast. And, as long as you amuse me, I may hold back my hunger."

Reluctantly, he told her: "Gallifrey."

"Gallifrey?" she echoed, her every metal sinew tense. "Gallifrey, you say?"

Her face came down onto a level with his. "You are a Time Lord?" When he nodded, slowly, she threw back her head and laughed with undisguised pleasure. "Finally! I knew that one day I should find one of your species! I knew that your people were no mere myth. And I knew that I would find one, no matter how long it took."

"Or that we should find you," he corrected her. "This interference with the development of the human race cannot be allowed, Ishtar. Stop it now."

"Or what?" she snapped contemptuously. "Doctor, you live only as long as I choose to let you. Do not try and intimidate me. As for my interfering with the humans - look at them!" She gestured across the room. "Pitiful, petty little pond sc.u.m. Insignificant nothings to beings such as you or 'I', Doctor!"

Sadly, he looked back at her. "There we must agree to differ," he replied.

"True, they are short-lived, and true, at this stage in their evolution they haven't accomplished much. But they have invented civilization from the ground up. And remember: I am a Time Lord. I know they have the potential for much greatness even now, and I won't allow you to destroy this by enslaving them to your depraved l.u.s.ts."

"Have a care, Doctor," Ishtar warned him. "I need your mind, but not your tongue. If you annoy me enough, I shall remove it. Without anesthetics - which seem not to work on you, anyway."

"Respiratory bypa.s.s," he smiled. "Comes in handy when dropping in on hosts like you."

"That and all of your other intimate secrets will soon be mine, Doctor."

Again, she smiled. "Such as the manipulation of time, and the ability to live forever. With your somewhat reluctant aid, Doctor, I shall become immortal, and enthroned within the fabric of time."

"You'll be nothing," he informed her. "I cannot allow you to interfere more than you already have. It's over."

Ishtar stroked his face again. "I do hope that your brain has not been damaged by all of the foolishness you continually talk," she told him.

"Otherwise I shall be most upset. I would so like my first taste of a Time Lord to be unsullied and enjoyable to the extreme."

"I'd stick in your throat like a chicken bone," the Doctor promised. "If you ever got the chance to try me." Privately, he was nowhere near as confident as he tried to sound - and he could see that she knew it. He refused to surrender in despair. Where there's life, there's hope, he reminded himself. But the only hope he could summon was the thought of Ace arriving on the scene with a rucksack full of nitro-nine - and he had sent Ace on a wild goose chase to a range of mountains that were a week's trek away.

The Doctor's attention was jerked back to the room as another figure burst through the doorway and skidded to a halt. He was fighting off the effects of intoxication and panting for breath, having run as fast as he could to get here.

"King Agga," said Ishtar, relishing her amus.e.m.e.nt. "How kind of you to pay us this visit."

The king ignored her, and ran to Ninani's side. He clubbed down the soldier holding his daughter, and made to scoop her into his arms. Instead he felt a shock of pain as another of the guards slammed the b.u.t.t of a spear into his back. Spasms of pain racking him, Agga collapsed to the cold floor. With a scream Ninani threw herself across his fallen form to protect him.

"How touching," sneered Ishtar. "What a sweet family reunion. Such a shame it must end." She sent a mental signal to her controlled guards. One savagely wrenched Ninani off her father. He ignored her screams and blows. A second guard hauled the shaken king to his unsteady feet. Ishtar slithered across to him, and held her face almost touching his.

"I warned you what would happen, Agga, if you couldn't control this stupid offspring of yours. You should have believed me, and worked harder at it."

She spun about, and began to move in on the girl.

"Ishtar, don't do it," the Doctor called. "Stop all of this, now."

"No, Doctor," the snakewoman answered. He felt his arms gripped by two more of the controlled guards. "You cannot tell me what I must and must not do. No one can. This has gone far beyond your puny powers to correct.

Be silent, and see what happens to those who interfere with me."

She reached Ninani. The princess was shaking partly with fear, and partly from the crushing grip of the guard. the mind slave forced her to her knees in front of the G.o.ddess. Ishtar reached out her hands, cupping Ninani's beautiful, terrified face.

"Beg for your life," she purred. "Who knows - perhaps I shall feel generous if you amuse me."

"I am a princess of Uruk," Ninani said, as bravely as she could, determined not to faint. "I will not disgrace myself or my father by begging for favours from the likes of you." Then, gathering all the moisture she had left in her mouth, she spat in Ishtar's metallic face.

Ishtar's face twitched She dragged Ninani closer. En-Gula, watching in horror, cried out: "No! Spare her! Take me, instead!"

"What?" Curiously, Ishtar rotated her head to stare at the young priestess.

"What generosity! And most unexpected." She glanced at the Doctor in amus.e.m.e.nt. "You are correct, Time Lord. This race has a good deal of potential - for the same stupid morality that you espouse." Turning her back on them both, she cupped Ninani's trembling head. "Normally, little one, I administer anesthetic first. But you have angered me, and so I will spare you nothing of your agonies. We will experience the pain together."

The probe in her right palm hissed out. Ninani's terrified eyes were riveted to it as it dilated, showing the metallic point within. "Say farewell to your mind, princess." Gripping the girl by the temples, Ishtar sent a signal to her palm.

Ninani screamed as the probe bored into her head. In the background, Agga howled in anguish and fury. En-Gula fainted. The Doctor forced down his anger, seeing Enkidu struggling to keep his own temper in check. There was nothing any of them could do. An expression of ecstasy suffused Ishtar's writhing features.

Fire consumed Ninani's mind. She fell backwards as Ishtar released her.

Blood trickled from a cauterized spot on her temple, which was already showing signs of ma.s.sive bruising. Her eyes opened again, and the pain was gone, along with everything else that had belonged to Ninani. Ishtar looked out from within the princess's skull, and laughed in delight. Shakily at first, the princess rose to her feet, and then crossed to face her father.

"Agga," she said, with Ninani's clear tones but Ishtar's venom, "my compliments on raising such a pretty child." She looked down, stroking the princess's soft robes. "It's been a long, long time since I was last this far into a humanoid form." She pirouetted about the room, and laughed. "It really is quite wonderful, isn't it?" She returned to stand in front of Agga, to torture him. "I will enjoy the experience. It will be interesting to eat again, and to drink. Intoxication! Something I've not felt for a while. Or perhaps a little s.e.xual amus.e.m.e.nt - this body seems to be built well to enjoy that sport." She c.o.c.ked her head to one side. "I haven't intruded myself this much into the mind and soul of one of my slaves for centuries. It really is most exhilarating!" She laughed as Agga turned his face against his shoulder, whimpering. "What's wrong, Agga? Don't you want your daughter to get any fun? Shame on you! Girls need their little amus.e.m.e.nts."

"Stop torturing him," the Doctor broke in, with cold fury. "Haven't you done enough?"

"No, I haven't!" Ishtar hissed, turning her metal snake-form on him. "I will extract every last ounce of pleasure I can from the agonies of all that oppose me. For now, it is Agga; Ninani's turn will come."

Agga caught that last implication. "She is not dead?" he asked, in unwilling hope.

"Dead?" Ishtar laughed. Her voice moved to the princess's throat: "Not yet, king. She is still here -" Ninani's body tapped its head "- but in the background. Believe me, I am enjoying every second of her fear and disgust. She is powerless to stop me. She will not die until I allow it."

Ninani's body smiled again. "Until then, she will experience every degradation that I care to inflict upon her. And, trust me, they will be many."

Ace laughed aloud in pleasure as the small flitter carrying her, Avram and Urshanabi whipped in low across the plains. Close behind them came Utnapishtim's craft, bearing him and an impatient Gilgamesh. They had made good time back from the mountains - less than a day's flight to cover over a week's trek. They had lost a little time stopping at Uruk, where they discovered that the Doctor had already left for Kish. Typical, Ace thought; just like the Doctor to hog all the excitement while her back was turned.

Urshanabi grinned at her. "I'd forgotten how exhilarating this can be," he admitted. "But powering up these two flitters took most of our remaining energy. I can only pray that you're right in thinking this Doctor of yours can help us with a fresh supply."

"Trust him," Ace said, mentally crossing her fingers. "He's always on top of the situation." She glanced at Avram, who was watching the landscape below them whip past at tremendous speed, "Isn't this wicked?" He raised an eyebrow. "A strange word to use," he said. "It is fascinating. I only wish I had the chance to write a song about it."

"Songs later!" Gilgamesh called, a wide smile on his own face. "Battles first!

My axe is very thirsty."

Ace rolled her eyes. Talk about one-track minds. Still, he'd probably enjoy the next part. It was unlikely that Ishtar would have left the temple door open and the red carpet out.

The walls of Kish suddenly sprang up on the horizon. Ace was concerned to see that the copper traces on the walls were far more extensive. Had they managed to arrive in time to prevent Ishtar from finishing her plans?

Urshanabi adjusted the controls slightly. The flitter nosed up and flew across the main guard tower. Ace barely caught a glimpse of a half-dozen startled faces as they shot over them. Behind her Gilgamesh roared with pleasure, swinging his axe as Utnapishtim's flitter zipped across the walls.

Ace prudently didn't look back to see if the king had managed any success with the blow.

Then the flitters dropped down to about eight feet above the crowded streets. The townspeople screamed and dived for cover as the two small craft whipped through the streets and towards the temple of Ishtar.

The great stone walls appeared in front of them, and Urshanabi slowed down. Ace saw why. The huge double doors were closed, and a body of the town's soldiers was ranged in front of them, ready for action.

"We'll not get in that way," the pilot muttered.

"There is no other access large enough for us that I know of," Avram commented.

"Now what?" Ace asked.

Gilgamesh raised his axe high. Blood was dripping from it. "Now," he said, with great satisfaction, "we fight!" And with a loud war-cry he threw himself from the flitter to the ground. "Come!" he cried to the ma.s.sed troops. "It is time for you to die!" Ace sighed, and hauled out one of her precious cans.

"Once more unto the breach," she said softly, and leapt down to join him.

"You really are a pitiful little worm," the Doctor said loudly, hoping to distract Ishtar's attention from taunting Agga. "Such pointless cruelty is hardly worthy of your powers."

Slithering her snake-body across the floor, Ishtar caught the Doctor's chin in her vice-like grip. "Have a care, Time Lord," she advised him. "I enjoy the torments of lesser creatures. It comforts me to know that I shall never experience them. But perhaps I shall be merciful. Who knows how generous I shall feel once I have fed off your mind? Or what knowledge I shall gain." She smiled down at him. "You do not think I can be merciful?"

she asked. "Oh, it's true, you know. Allow me to demonstrate . . . " Ninani moved over to En-Gula, who had come to her senses and was in the grip of her guard. The man let her drop to the floor. Warily, scared almost out of her mind, the girl started to clamber to her feet. Ninani moved quickly, lashing out with her foot and catching En-Gula behind the knee and slamming her painfully to the floor. As she cried out Ninani jumped on top of her, her forgers gripping the temple prost.i.tute's throat, squeezing. EnGula struggled, but to no avail. Ishtar's metal face was only inches from the Doctor's. "Shall I kill her now? It would save her much pain later, and that would be a mercy."

"Stop it," the Doctor asked her. "Don't do this to them."