CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

FAMILY REUNION

‘You’re lying,’ The Manager said, his hands falling to his sides as he glared across the
board at The Dr. ‘It’s not true.’
‘I do not lie, Nigel,’ Raljex said. ‘I tell half-truths, but I do not lie. You, Nigel Martin
are the son of The Dr.’
‘No,’ The Dr. said from the other side of the board, suddenly finding the strength in his
legs weakening. ‘No, there must be some mistake.’
‘No mistake,’ Raljex said with a haughty laugh. ‘It’s black-and-white, clear-as-crystal.’
‘WHY ARE YOU DOING THIS?!’ The Manager roared at Raljex.
Raljex patted his chin with one of his finger and shrugged. ‘It amuses me.’
‘Dr.,’ Manhunter said, giving The Dr. a steady look. ‘Could it be true?’
‘There’s no way!’ CooCooKaJoo clucked, flapping his wings. ‘The Dr. doesn’t have any
kids, right?’ The Rooster said, turning on the spot to look at The Dr. ‘Right?’
The Dr. didn’t speak, he didn’t seem capable of it. He lifted his eyes and stared at
The Manager, slowly shaking his head. ‘It was in my second incarnation,’ he said quietly,
his voice cracking. ‘She was another exile from Betamax … we travelled together for …
oh, good god, what have I done?!’ He said, dropping to his knees. ‘I didn’t know … I swear
it, I didn’t know.’ He said, raking his hands through his hair. ‘She didn’t tell me until
years after when it was too late. I gave up all hope of finding him.’
‘I WILL NOT STAND HERE AND LISTEN TO THIS!’ The Manager thundered, fuming on
his square.
‘The Dr. is your father, Manager,’ Raljex said again as he returned to his throne where
he crossed his legs and tittered to himself.
‘Dude,’ Will-ko said solemnly to The Dr. ‘That’s some Court Of Jazz shit right there. “My
Son is an Evil Megalomaniac Who’s Trying to Wipe Me Out of Existence”. I bet Jazz would
even rule in your favour. You might only get the Benign Cist Ray.’
‘Would that not cause some sort of paradox?’ Fred spoke up, his voice still gravely from
where his vocal chords had been burned by The Manager. ‘If The Dr. is The Manager’s
father then, surely, if The Dr. loses and he is erased from history, won’t The Manager be
erased also?’
‘No,’ The Dr. said stiffly. ‘Raljex can only remove me from memory. He can’t erase
everything I’ve ever done … but …’ The Dr. frowned and stood bolt upright, rounding on
Raljex. ‘I need to ask you a question,’ The Dr. said, clenching his fists. ‘I want it
answered truthfully. No skews or half-truths.’
‘I can promise nothing of the sort,’ Raljex said. ‘But ask your question. I will tell you
no lies.’
‘Okay,’ The Dr. said. ‘Am I, me, the person standing on this spot, forgetting my name for
a moment. Am I or any of my personal previous lives the father of Nigel Martin who is
stood across the board from me, my opponent, The Video Lord who calls himself The
Manager?’
Raljex threw his head back and laughed, bringing his hands up in a rousing
applause. ‘Oh, very well played,’ Raljex said. ‘Yes, very well done. The answer to your
question is, “no”.’
‘WHAT?!’ The Manager shouted. ‘First you say he is my father and then you say he’s
not?! You claim not to lie but I doubt if a syllable of truth has ever escaped your mouth!’
‘He didn’t lie,’ The Dr. interrupted. ‘He told you that The Dr. was your father. He didn’t
say which one.’
The Manager began to speak and then stopped, his fist opening and closing before
him as he processed the information. ‘The first Dr.,’ The Manager hissed. ‘The Video Lord
Grandmaster!’
‘The one whose name I took when he died,’ The Dr. said. ‘Yes.’
‘THAT BASTARD!’ The Manager exploded, wringing the air before him. ‘I was his
assistant for years!’
‘He wouldn’t have known,’ The Dr. said. ‘You know he wouldn’t.’
‘On the contrary,’ Raljex spoke up. ‘He knew exactly who you were to him, Nigel.’
‘That’s impossible,’ The Dr. snorted. ‘No Video Lord knows who their parents or children
are. If it wasn’t for our innate unconscious triggers that make us find our family
members unattractive we’d be a race of inbreeds.’
‘The Dr.,’ Raljex boomed. ‘The original Dr., went to great lengths to locate his family
members. He tracked them through time until he had a perfectly constructed
family tree. That is why he appointed Nigel as his assistant. The Dr. took assistants
very rarely which is why you should both consider it an honour to be chosen by
him, the pair of you. In his time he had so very few assistants, all with the same
thing in common. He was considered an eccentric, but his motives were clear. He
wanted to be the one to properly educate his own children.’
‘OH-MY-GOD!’ Will-ko shouted. ‘What the hell is going on?! This is worse than watching
an episode of Lost!’
‘I kinda wish they’d just get on with it,’ Danny said. ‘It seems like we’re wasting time a
little.’
‘But, let me make sure I’ve got this right,’ Will-ko said, holding up his hands. ‘Big scary-
monster-thing is The Manager’s son, right?’
‘Correct,’ Manhunter nodded.
‘Okay,’ Will-ko said, rolling his shoulders. ‘The Manager is the son of The Dr., but not our
Dr., there’s another Dr. who our Dr. took over from and took his name. But that Dr. only
ever had assistants that were his kids. So if both The Manager and our Dr. were his
assistants then that means …’ Will-ko trailed off unsurely.
‘Get there faster!’ CooCooKaJoo exploded. ‘They’re brothers! The Manager is our Dr.’s
brother! Jeese!’
‘Oh, yeah,’ Will-ko grinned. ‘Wow … you guys should have like a reunion or something.’
Will-ko beamed at The Dr. who was too busy staring down The Manager to notice
the conversation. The idle conversations that had sprung up between the Allucians faded
away and soon, all that could be heard was the angry breathing of the two Video Lords.
‘So now …’ The Manager snarled. ‘This explains it all.’
‘Yes,’ The Dr. said without nodding. ‘I don’t think there’s anybody I’d rather be related to
less, Nigel.’
‘You think I’m feeling any kind of family bond?’ The Manager snapped. ‘No, if anything,
this will make your ultimate destruction all the more satisfying. Blood is certainly not
thicker than any other fluid you care to mention. You have been a thorn in my side since
you were born, little brother! It ends here!’
‘How’d you know I’m the youngest?’ The Dr. exclaimed. ‘It could just as easily be you. It’s
more likely! You’re the one who always has to have his own way. Teararsing across the
Universe making everybody bow and scrape before you. Classic attention seeking.’
‘Actually,’ Raljex interjected. ‘The Manager is the middle child.’
‘Even more typical!’ The Dr. thundered. ‘Wait … middle child? Who’s the other? Who are
the others?’ He span to face Raljex. ‘And am I the oldest or the youngest? Where do I fit?’
Raljex simply shrugged.
‘Oh come on!’ The Dr. cried. ‘You can’t dangle that in front of me! That’s completely
unfair!’
‘I could not tell you who your siblings are. I could not even state whether they are
male or female. Nor can I tell you how many of you there were originally,’ Raljex
said. ‘Nor could I confirm your place amongst them, Dr. I simply do not have that
information.’
‘But you’re the Supreme Being, or so you claim!’ The Dr. said sternly. ‘You know more
about my family than anybody in it!’
‘Only because of a chance encounter where the information was laid bare before
me,’ Raljex retorted. ‘The matter is inconsequential now, regardless. You two are the
last of the Video Lords. Your brothers and or sisters are all gone, and of you two
will be destroyed here, today.’
 Will-ko tentatively raised a hand. ‘Uhm … isn’t Alpha technically still a Video Lord
too?’
‘Not anymore,’ The Dr. interrupted. ‘Not since Raljex got his hands on him.’
The Manager’s eyebrows flew up in surprise as he looked between his son and
Raljex. ‘You did that to him?’
‘I gave him a second chance at life,’ Raljex said simply. ‘I make no excuses for the
means I employed in the process. There is bound to be a little wear-and-tear over
the course of thirteen billion years.’
‘Wear-and-tear?’ The Manager mouthed angrily, his gaze moving back to The Dr. ‘It is
time we ended this charade, Dr. Make your move! Not that it will do you any good.’
‘You’re still so very sure of that, aren’t you?’ The Dr. said, scratching his head and giving
Raljex a sideways glance. ‘Fair enough. Will-ko, would you please move from your square
to the one you occupied before.’
‘You do not wish to protect your piece?’ Nigel asked, indicating Freaka-chu who had been
observing the revelations without comment as Will-ko removed himself from Fred’s line of
attack.
‘There’s no need,’ The Dr. frowned. ‘Check, by the way. Your only choice is to move
yourself out of Fred’s way. Otherwise you’ve lost.’
‘Then it appears that I’m going to lose,’ Nigel shrugged and waved his tenth incarnation
forward to take Freaka-chu who disappeared with an extremely surprised look and a
flash of white light, only to appear at the side of the board along with all of the other lost
pieces.
‘Nigel, what are you doing?!’ The Dr. demanded. ‘You just gave me the victory!’
‘Yes,’ Nigel said, looking around the board. ‘Yes, I believe I did.’
‘Isn’t there something in the rules about you having to move your King if it’s in check?’
CooCooKaJoo clucked.
‘Do regular rules count here?’ Danny mused.
‘Well, Raljex obviously allowed it,’ Angelus shrugged. ‘Who are we to argue? The Dr.’s
done it! He’s won!’
‘Yeah, but not to burst the fun-bubble,’ Manhunter interjected. ‘But why is The Manager
still laughing?’
‘The Dr. is the victor of the contest,’ Raljex said, rising from his throne. ‘Nigel Martin,
you have lost.’
‘Oh, what a pity,’ The Manager cackled, stepping from his place and crossing the board
to stand by Raljex. ‘But you see, Dr. All of this has been for nought. There’s really
something that you should know about what’s been going on here.’
‘What’s he talking about?’ CooCooKaJoo asked anxiously.
‘Good question from the poultry!’ The Manager laughed jovially. ‘You see, Dr. you’ve won
nothing. You’ve lost. You’d lost before we even began. You see, I worked it out a long time
ago and confronted Raljex earlier. It seems Dr., that Raljex is in fact, a rogue Video Lord.’
All eyes turned to Raljex who simply spread his hands and shrugged again.
‘Yes, it’s true!’ The Manager said, throwing his head back dramatically. ‘The Eye of
Harassment that all those Video Lords were cast into as a punishment. That was no pit
of eternal limbo, they were obliterated, and their remaining Degeneration Energy was
used by The Supreme Being to further fuel his own existence!’ But that’s not the most
shocking part! Not only did I discover Raljex’s heritage! Not only that!’ The Manager
continued. ‘I’m ever so glad that I am here to see your face when you learn this, Dr.,’ The
Manager smarmed. ‘But Raljex, is none other, than me, myself and I. He is my future
incarnation. We are one and the same.’
‘No way!’ Danny exclaimed.
‘Yes way!’ The Manager retorted, clapping his hands. ‘You see, Dr., I cannot be destroyed
because without me, there would be no Raljex to conduct these games. That blank
Bishop on my side of the board was Raljex himself! He did not put himself on the board
directly because that would have given everything away! The outcome of this game
matters little, for it is you who will be erased from history! Is that not so, Raljex? Or,
should I say, future Manager?’
 Raljex’s aura seemed to glow brightly as he beckoned the combatants from their
places on the board to stand by the edges. ‘It seems,’ Raljex said, staring at The Dr. ‘You
have made a very grave and serious mistake.’