Doctor Who and the Crusaders Read Free Page A

remarked casually, ‘which tells how he attempted to commit suicide as a young man by putting a pistol to his head. Three times he pulled the trigger and each time the gun failed to explode. Yet whenever he turned it away, the pistol fired perfectly. As you know, Robert Clive did eventually take his own life in 1774. The point is that Time, that great regulator, refused to let the man die before things were done that had to be done.’
    The Doctor held up a hand as all three of his friends started to speak.
    ‘I know exactly what you’re all about to say. Why do men like Lincoln and Kennedy, those two outstanding American Presidents, have their lives cut off short when everything lay before them, and they had shown themselves capable of doing good for their fellow men? How can I, or any person, answer that? It is too easy to say that the sharp, shocking manner of their deaths underlined heavily the contributions theymade. Life, death, the pattern of Time, are eternal mysteries to us. Here you find one man squandering his talents on wholesale slaughter, evil and terrible acts of indignity. There, another makes every effort for peace, goodwill and happiness. Inventors of medicines and advantages for others are laughed into insane asylums. Discoverers of murder weapons die in old age as millionaires. True love is set aside, hatred seems to flower.’
    ‘But that’s appalling!’ said Ian vehemently. ‘That’s the gloomiest view I’ve ever heard in my life.’
    ‘My friend,’ said the Doctor softly, ‘it is only one small part of what I am saying. Time is constant. Look at history. You’ll find the brave have their share of successes. You’ll see that honesty, unselfishness and good works overflow in every generation. All I am saying is that what is going to happen on Earth must happen. If Rasputin is to die, no will to survive by that extraordinary man, no black arts, no personal power, can save him. Remember that they drugged Rasputin, shot him and then drowned him. No, don’t try to understand why a fine man is cut off in his prime and an evil one prospers. Try to understand what benefit there is in observing history as it actually happens.’
    ‘I don’t see that there’s any benefit in it at all,’ muttered Ian, ‘except for the fascination.’ His eyes turned to the Doctor’s. ‘And, frankly,’ he went on, with a more definite note in his voice, ‘that isn’t enough. We ought to be… to be doing things. Not just watching them happen.’
    The Doctor stood up and walked over to the central control column. He stared down at the dials and switches for a few seconds and then turned to face them.
    ‘We
are
doing something. We are learning. Why do people kill each other, steal from each other; rob, slander, hurt and destroy? Why do thousands upon thousands of young menhurl themselves at one another on a field of battle, each side sure in the justness of its cause? Until we know, until we can control greed, destructive ambition, hatred and the dozen and one other flaws that plague us, we are not worthy to breathe.’
    The Doctor looked up at the ceiling of the Ship, his eyes strangely alight.
    ‘The next time we visit Earth,’ he said, ‘I hope we encounter a situation where two men are opposed to each other, each for the best reasons.’
    He suddenly looked down, turning his eyes from one to the other, with a directness that riveted their attentions.
    ‘That is the only way to understand the folly, the stupidity and the horror of war. When both sides, in their own way, are totally right.’
    He turned back to his controls, adjusting some, switching off others, until the
Tardis
began to shiver quite noticeably, responding now to a hundred thousand impulses of power, and a dozen different orders. The little Time and Space machine began to wheel in its path through the limitless pattern of the cosmos, describing a huge arc. Suns, satellites, stars and planets appeared and faded, all ignored, as the ship