[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]

as soon as our systems went down. And they didn t. The logical surmise from
that is that they don t want to attack us. Yet. Wouldn t you say, Captain?
Cheynor spread his hands, nodded slowly.  Cassie does have a point, Horst,
he said apologetically.  For the moment I suggest that we step up security
as high as it will go, try and get some force-field capacity back on line, and
get that comsat launched within the hour. He stood up, and the two officers
followed suit.  And keep plotting the Darwin from its scan bolts. I want to
know if it slows down or speeds up.
He departed for the bridge, leaving Cassie Hogarth and Horst Leibniz glow-
ering at each other across the briefing table.
 Come on, big boy, Hogarth said, and threw Leibniz an info card.  Let s go
and fix our thrusters together. She forced a grin, but her face was taut with
tension.
 My lucky day, muttered Leibniz through gritted teeth, and followed Hoga-
rth out of the room.
His officers bickering was not as high on Cheynor s agenda of problems as it
should have been. For one thing, it was happening all over the ship. It might
have had something to do with all these months in the colonial outposts, but
he was hard pressed to remember working with such a jaded, tiresome and
generally lax crew as this one. Many ships in Spacefleet ended up being run
on similar lines, but he never thought his would be one of them.
All the same, there was something more than stubbornness and conviction
about the way Horst Leibniz s eyes shone when he was putting his views. Leib-
niz was new for the Gadrell Major mission  he hadn t been part of the crew
before. Cheynor wondered whether his first officer was the kind of person
who took some getting used to.
Something else was bothering him, too.
55
He thought about it in the elevator as he ascended to the bridge. He kept
thinking back to that briefing, and the faces that were present there: the gen-
eral, Adjudicator Hagen. He had wondered at the time why he, of all people,
should have been chosen for such a mission. Cheynor did not flatter himself
that the general s words of praise had actually been meant in all sincerity. No.
It was something very obvious, he decided, but he was going to have to reflect
on it.
56
7
Splintering Heart
Phil Tarrant had been getting in the way. He was eventually moved to the
kitchen, which was as chaotic as the lounge. He sat slumped by the sideboard,
amidst the broken crockery.
In the lounge, Nita channel-surfed through Sky (the television had re-
mained undamaged). The Doctor brought everyone some tea which he had
managed to make before the kitchen was Phil-filled. Bernice monitored
Tilusha Meswani s pulse with one of the Doctor s portable instruments, a small
black rectangle with an LCD readout. Both breathing and pulse were quite
normal.
 I should really be getting back to my family, Nita murmured.  They won t
thank me for being here at all, let alone getting mixed up in this.
The Doctor sipped his tea as he watched Benny attending to Tilusha. He
waved his free hand absently at Nita.  Don t worry, no one s going to get you
mixed up in anything.
Nita sighed loudly.
Benny knew the girl found him patronizing and she wished she could ex-
plain about the Doctor, tell her that he could be perfectly charming sometimes.
That he operated according to a different set of rules from humans, and that
she shouldn t take any of it personally.
 What I want to know is, muttered the Doctor,  why the TARDIS brought me
here instead of the 24th century. He took a brief, angry sip of his tea.
 The 24th century? Benny looked up in surprise.  I thought you didn t know
the location of the original trace?
 I was in the tertiary control room, remember. Some things didn t pass me
by.
Once again, the Doctor was a couple of steps in front, but this did not
unnerve Bernice Summerfield as it used to. When someone s ahead of you,
her friend Clive on Heaven used to say, at least you can see which way to go.
The Doctor swung around and squatted by Nita.  Tell me about Tilusha. Tell
me what kind of life she has.
The girl was sulky and petulant in her answer, punctuating every sentence
with a flick of the remote-control.  Her family hate her because of the way
she s led her life. She went to university, lost touch with her loyalties. She s
57
a good person, but fiercely independent, she loves our sacred texts but she
doesn t believe in ritual. I don t know, Doctor. Where do you begin to describe
someone you ve known all your life? I seem to be the only person who cares
what happens to her.
The Doctor had been hanging on every fragmented word.  Don t stop. I was
just getting a fascinating picture. His voice was coaxing, kind, almost desper-
ate, and he looked up at Nita with the pleading air of a lost puppy. She met
his gaze, shrugged, and continued giving her attention to the remote-control.
 I can help her, said the Doctor urgently.  I understand what s going on here,
and it s got something to do with time, Nita.  Time ripens the creatures, time
rots them .
Nita spared him a brief glance which was slightly less hostile  she did not
meet many non-Hindus who could quote the Mahabharata.
 Trust me, said the Doctor gently.  What s happening to Tilusha is only part
of a very dangerous problem I have to solve. And until I ve put the second
phase in motion, I can t do very much at all.
There was a clattering noise from the kitchen. Bernice shot a worried look
at the Doctor and he motioned her to go and investigate. It was the sort of
thing he did these days. There was a time, Bernice knew, when the Doctor had
been overly protective of his companions, but the two of them had become so
close by now that she knew he would never send her into real danger.
She crossed the hall and flung open the kitchen door. Phil was struggling
to get up from the tiles, clutching his bruised head. Benny instinctively went
for the nearest defensive weapon to hand on the wall behind her. It happened
to be a large and heavy non-stick frying pan. She looked uncertainly at it
for a second, her hand wavering, an unpleasant memory coming back, before
letting it clatter to the floor.
 sit there and do nothing, will you? she snapped at Phil.  It s better that
Just
way.
He had levered himself up, clutching at the cooker.  Who the hell are you
sodding people? What are you doing here?
 We re your uninvited guests. Want to call the cops? I m sure they d be
delighted to hear from you. Benny folded her arms, and looked down in
contempt at the ugly man, who was slowly sinking to the floor again.  Do [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]

zanotowane.pl

doc.pisz.pl

pdf.pisz.pl

qus.htw.pl