 |
 |
The judge, Bes Koorb, took her seat with a
sigh. She had been dreading this case since she was first offered it.
Yes, she was being paid ludicrous amounts but she still wasn’t looking
forward to it. Universal war criminals were never pleasant, in her
experience.
In the metal, semi-circular courtroom were various witnesses and
testifiers. As Bes sat, they followed suit. She opened a folder and
surveyed the material before looking up. “Bring in the case for the
defence!” she barked.
A side door opened and a large machine was moved into the room. At the
front of it was a protruding glass section, filled with a thick white
gas. The remainder of the machine was large and bulky, a vivid shade of
blue.
“Awaken.” Bes gave the simple command, and her bidding was done.
Suddenly the clouds faded from inside the glass bubble to reveal a
crinkled face, older than the law itself. A finger on the right hand
twitched as the figure came back to life - again. The single blue eye in
the middle of the forehead flashed briefly before staying on.
Davros was awake.
He pawed at the inside of his capsule. “Where am I?!” he demanded.
“You are in a recognised court of Interplanetary Justice.” replied Bes
sharply, showing no remorse to the villain. “You are on trial for your
crimes against the universe.”
“Crimes?!” exclaimed Davros, taken aback. “I have committed no crimes,
your honour!”
“If I may speak, your honour.” the lawyer for the prosecution, Yvor
Yadillah, stood up. Bes nodded curtly to him and he turned to Davros.
“The creation of the Daleks has resulted in the death of over forty-nine
trillion people, the extinction of no less than four hundred and seven
species, the collapse of nineteen stars and the assassination of three
presidents of the Galaxy.”
“I am proud of my creations!” Davros chittered, “They have made
remarkable achievements in a very short space of time.”
“They are known throughout the galaxy as the most evil and ruthless
race. They have ruined countless lives, and even their latest war with
the Movellans had serious effects outside the battle.”
“I never knew what my creations would become.”
“The evidence given by the Doctor-” Yvor began.
“-the Doctor?!” Davros hissed, fury in his voice. “You allow the Doctor
- possibly the second greatest criminal throughout the universe to give
evidence against me - a genius?!”
“The Doctor’s crimes or otherwise are no concern of this court. Kindly
stick to the matter in hand,” reminded the authoritarian voice of Bes
Koorb. “Mr Yadillah, please continue.”
“Thank you, your honour. The Doctor testified,” Yvor read from a sheet,
“that he did warn during the process of creation of the Daleks many
times of what they would become, and said you revelled in this. He said
you even tortured his associate whilst forcing him to recount every
encounter he had with the Daleks and in what way they had been flawed.”
“Your evidence for this?” questioned Davros flatly.
“When we visited Skaro in preparation for this trial, we found the
remnants of several recording tapes. We played them and picked up
marginal traces of information on the Daleks.”
“That does not prove anything,” grated Davros, sensing defeat.
“On the contrary, I think it validates the Doctor’s testaments.”
rivalled Yvor.
“If we could stay on the matter in hand please gentlemen?” Bes
interjected once more. She shuffled her papers to blueprints of the
Daleks and information testing figures. “Now, Davros, you claim you knew
nothing of what the Daleks would become.”
“I didn’t.”
“Thank you. Mr Yadillah.” she invited.
He reciprocated the smile and continued, “If you knew nothing of what
the Daleks would become then you are either not the genius you claim to
be... Or you are lying.”
“May I remind you that by appearance in this court you are under oath,
Davros?” said Bes.
“The figures I have circulated to the court clearly show that all
emotions had been eradicated from the Kaled evolutionary process at a
very early stage,” continued Yvor, “All emotions that is, except for
hatred. It is quite clear from the evidence presented that the Daleks
were designed to become the supreme beings of the universe through
destruction.”
“No! Lies!” Davros shouted Yvor down.
“Can you prove it?” he countered calmly.
“Do I not even get a legal representative?” Davros questioned.
“The Prosecution Service felt it would be a waste of money and
resources,” replied Bes.
“I assume my fate is sealed then?”
“That still remains with the jury.” Bes confirmed. “Do you have any more
questions, Mr Yadillah?”
“No more questions, your honour, but I will conclude by saying that
there is no-one in this spiral that has not been affected by the impact
of the Daleks. They are evil, destructive creatures and their existence
is due purely and simply to that man. Davros.”
Yvor took his seat, satisfied with his case. Bes carried on with
proceedings, but Davros’ mind was whirring with thoughts of how to
escape his inevitable death. The jury left and returned quickly,
obviously an easy decision made. Davros’ blue eye writhed at the
apparent injustice of the situation.
Bes turned to the jury. “Have you made a decision?”
One man, a Draconian, stood. “We have found Davros guilty.”
“Thank you,” Bes turned back to Davros. “Davros, I hereby find you
guilty and sentence you to permanent suspended animation aboard Earth
prison vessels.”
“No!” Davros exclaimed. His chamber began to fill with gas again. “You
cannot do this! I am a genius! I am Davros! I!” he coughed as the gas
overran him, “Am! Davros! No!”
Davros’ machine was wheeled out of the courtroom and the doors were
slammed shut behind it. From somewhere, a voice echoed out, “All rise!”
Everyone stood and Bes sighed. At least it was over now. She walked from
the room, moving onto the next case.
© Copyright Dave Spilsbury, Simon
Breeze & Doctor Who Online, 2012.
|
|
|
Written by:
Dave Spilsbury
Artwork by:
Simon Breeze
|
|
