Doctor Who: Paradise Towers by Stephen Wyatt Read Free Book Online Page A

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    subsection 3 would be for his pet. Even tastier than the Yellow Kang he had despatched earlier. Somehow moments like that gave the extra satisfaction that made his demanding job really worthwhile.
    So where had his feeling of unease come from? That was the question and he didn’t really have an answer. Perhaps even he could not really believe that a world as well-regulated as Paradise Towers, a world so well tailored to his own personal convenience, could stay exactly that way for ever. Perhaps it was not given to a man to have a powerful, rewarding job, obedient subordinates and a lovely secret pet to care for. He had no positive evidence to fuel his anxieties.
    The Chief sat staring at his screens. In one a Caretaker moved down Nitrate Street removing Wallscrawl. In another two Rezzies scuttled past on their way home. On a third a lift, which had been jammed on Floor 207 for as long as anyone could remember, stayed jammed on Floor 207. On several screens the Chief’s beloved Cleaners went about their work. Cleaning, that was. The Cleaners’ special services were only occasionally called on and with great discretion. The other Caretakers must not be upset...
    The Chief was a man of middle height dressed in a once grand, grey uniform and cap, decorated with braid and insignia, now somewhat faded and dusty. The Chief was not a vain man and there were more important things than sartorial elegance.
    His sallow complexion and drooping black moustache showed signs of neglect too. The Chief was not keen on fresh air or healthy exercise. He regarded such activities as futile, even actively harmful.
     
    As his bloodshot but alert eyes scanned the screens, the Chief began to feel calmer. Everything was proceeding just as normal. What had he got to worry about?
    And then the screen that covered the approach to the Headquarters itself flickered into life. That meant someone was approaching. The Deputy, of course, returning from his raid on Fountain of Happiness Square. The Chief Caretaker leant forward to see more clearly whether the Deputy had taken any Kangs prisoners. Kangs, after all, were tasty snacks for the Chief’s pet. Smaller than Caretakers but less fatty.
    There was a figure with the Deputy. The Chief could see that much. But it wasn’t a Kang or a Rezzie. It was a man, oddly attired, carrying an umbrella. A sudden tremor went through the Chief as the man came more clearly into view.
    It wasn’t possible. It couldn’t be.
    He passed a hand over his brow thoughtfully. It could be.
     
    The journey in the lift had not been a pleasant experience for the Doctor. There was barely room to breathe, clamped between the sweating and obese Caretakers. And the lift itself juddered so much that he expected it to stop completely at any moment. All in all, he was extremely relieved to be out of it and walking down another street, however ill-lit and dirty, on what was obviously the final leg of his journey with the Deputy.
    They arrived at a very solid-looking metal door. The Deputy produced a small square from his pocket and inserted it in a tiny slot so well concealed that the Doctor would never have noticed it of its own accord.
    The door slid open and the Doctor was bundled inside.
    Soon he was in a large room whose walls were covered in screens relaying pictures from every part of the Towers. The multiplying and constantly changing images were dazzling at first.
     
    A figure seated studying these screens turned as the Doctor was hustled in by the Deputy, who was full of the importance of the occasion. The figure rose and the Doctor came face to face with a man whose very presence breathed an air of authority for all the seediness of his appearance.
    The Deputy’s self-important explanations were brushed aside. The Doctor’s release was ordered and the Caretakers took a step back leaving their leader confronting the Doctor with an odd, unexplained gleam in his eye.
    ‘Greetings,’ the Doctor began, simply in order to