Doctor Who_ Alien Bodies - Lawrence Miles [101]
‘Uh,’ said Manjuele.
The girl wrapped her arms around him. Manjuele flinched. ‘It’s all right. The Doctor’s here now. We’re going to be fine.’
‘Doctor?’ said Manjuele.
The girl let go of him. ‘He says they’re ready to start the auction. We’d better get moving.’
Manjuele watched the Time Lord. His eyes were fixed on the casket in the middle of the vault. He looked like he’d been hypnotised. Every few seconds, he’d shake his head, like that’d bring him back down to Earth.
‘We gonna take the Relic with us,’ Manjuele announced.
The girl looked concerned. ‘You think we should?’ She turned to the Time Lord again. ‘Doctor?’
The Time Lord stopped staring at the box. ‘I’m sorry?’
‘We gonna take the box,’ Manjuele said. He wondered what Bregman would have said, in a situation like this. ‘It’s, uh, in the best int’rests of Earth. We gotta... we’ve got to make sure the aliens don’t get their hands on it. Hands. Tentacles. Whatever they got.’
The girl blinked at him. ‘Kathleen? Are you all right?’
‘Uh. Yeah. No prob.’
‘Little Brother,’ said the Time Lord.
Manjuele twitched. A dead giveaway.
The Time Lord nodded. ‘I thought so. You look like you’re not used to manipulating that face. Sam. Move away from him.’
‘Him?’ The girl looked Manjuele up and down, taking in the details of his skinny little female body. ‘Doctor...’
‘Move away, Sam.’ The Time Lord stepped forward. Manjuele reached for his pocket, in search of his knife, then remembered the knife was in the pocket of his real body, back in the shrine. The Time Lord kept advancing, but Manjuele stood his ground. He wondered if he could fight the guy off in a body this pathetic. ‘It’s not Kathleen. It’s one of the Paradox cultists. He’s operating Kathleen’s body by remote control. One of the Faction’s nasty little rituals.’
‘Don’ come near me,’ Manjuele warned him. The words sounded all wrong, coming out of Bregman’s mouth.
The Time Lord stopped. ‘It’s all right. I’m quite close enough now. Tell me, do you know what an exorcism feels like? The process is quite simple, really.’
Manjuele shook Bregman’s head. ‘Don’t treat me like that. Not stupid, hokay?’
‘You believe in the Spirits of the Faction, don’t you?’
‘Don’t give me that. I don’t wan’ hear that.’
‘If you believe in the Spirits, you should believe in exorcisms. Unless, of course, you don’t have any real faith in the Spirits at all. Sometimes I wonder how much your “family” believes its own propaganda. I’ll tell you what I’m going to do, Little Brother. I’m going to put something into Kathleen’s head. A sort of a telepathic wake-up call. And you’re going to leave. I’m afraid it might hurt quite a bit.’
Manjuele tried to force a grin, but Bregman’s face wouldn’t respond. He was protected from telepathic attack, Justine had told him. One of the family’s little perks. ‘You try it, Time Pussy. You try it.’
‘You’re not protected,’ the Time Lord went on. ‘You see, I’ve met you people before. I know where the cracks are in your defences. My telepathic abilities aren’t particularly advanced, but I think the two of us together should be able to do you some damage.’
He looked to one side. Manjuele followed his gaze.
The Time Lord was looking at the casket.
‘No,’ Manjuele said. ‘No.’
‘Let’s begin,’ said the Doctor.
***
Mr Qixotl drummed his fingers against the surface of the table. He’d expected the auction to be tense, but getting the bidders talking was like getting blood out of a silicon-based life-form. He got the feeling both Homunculette and Cousin Justine were holding back.
‘It’s an insult,’ Homunculette babbled. ‘The weapons of the High Council are legendary. We’ve made defensive arrays the size of star systems, we’ve taken apart whole galaxies...’
‘Hardly an imaginative form of warfare,’ Cousin Justine pointed out.
‘It works, doesn’t it?’
‘Let’s calm down a bit here, right?’ Qixotl cut in. ‘We haven’t heard all the bids yet, let’s remember that. OK, then. Colonel Kortez?’
Qixotl had good reasons for asking the humans to the auction.