Doctor Who_ Alien Bodies - Lawrence Miles [47]
And then he saw the face, hovering in the air on the other side of the surface. Inches above his head. The face was old, serious, a terrible frown stretched between a pair of sagging cheeks. The man who’d brought him here to die.
Trask looked up at the man, and saw him for what he was. Life. Sheer life. And the quality was infectious. So infectious that Trask managed to fight against the lake for a good thirty seconds more before the last of the air slipped out of his lungs.
So infectious that even now, sitting in the ziggurat centuries later, Trask could feel the panic and the nausea seeping into his nervous system, even though he knew he was supposed to be dead to feeling. Life. The man who’d appeared in the doorway of the guest room had been just like the man on the other side of the water. His face was different, though. Younger. So it couldn’t be, surely couldn’t be, the same man.
‘...Smith, or at least, that’s the nom de guerre I seem to keep ending up with, lifetime after lifetime...’
Unless...
‘...keep ending up with, lifetime after lifetime...’
Was it possible...?
‘...lifetime after lifetime...’
Was it possible that Smith was the one?
The one who, all those years ago, had been responsible for putting Trask among the ranks of the dead?
‘Run this by me again,’ said Sam. ‘What is it we’re supposed to be doing, exactly?’
Lieutenant Bregman – Kathleen – was hurtling through the corridors of the ziggurat, her head darting from side to side, peeking into the corners, nosing around in the alcoves. ‘We want to find the other guest rooms. They’re all supposed to be in the same passage, but Qixotl moved us around after I found the dead guy.’
Sam tried to keep up with her. Physically as well as conceptually. ‘Um, what kind of dead guy was this? I mean, a murdered dead guy, or a guy who just happened to be dead?’
‘A smiling dead guy. Forget about it, it doesn’t matter right now.’ They reached another junction, and Kathleen swung off to the right. ‘It’s like you said. The guest rooms can tell you everything you need to know about the people staying there. Right?’
Sam sucked her lip. ‘Wait a minute. Kathleen, are you suggesting...?’
‘Look, I’m UNISYC, OK? And yeah, I know we’re not the most professional outfit in the world –’
‘I didn’t know that,’ Sam mumbled.
‘– but the defence of this planet is kind of in our brief. So what I’m saying is, we have a quick look around the other rooms, and we get the advantage. We can start figuring out exactly what the other BEMs are, and why they’re here, maybe.’
‘Kathleen.’ Sam grabbed the woman’s shoulder, dragging her to a halt. Kathleen looked irritated, but relieved at the same time, as if she were glad she’d been given an excuse to stop running. ‘Listen. Half an hour ago you looked like your head was going to burst if you saw another alien. Now you’re trying to break into their hotel rooms.’
‘We don’t have to break in. There aren’t any doors.’
‘“We”? Who’s this “we”?’ Kathleen gave Sam a suspicious look. Sam tutted at her. ‘I don’t mean I’m going to turn out to be a Martian spy or anything. I mean, in case you’d forgotten, we’re supposed to be rivals here. We’re both bidding for the Relic, whatever it’s meant to be.’ Bregman, Sam had learned, didn’t know what the auction was all about either. The Colonel did, but he wasn’t saying anything. At least, he wasn’t saying anything that made sense.
‘The auction isn’t the main thing. It’s a question of planetary security.’ Sam wasn’t sure if Kathleen was quoting another UNISYC training film, or just talking drivel. ‘We’re both human, that’s what matters here.’
‘What?’
‘Look, I don’t... I don’t know how to say this. We were standing there in our room, and you said what you said about biodata, and... it made sense, OK? I had this idea, and it made sense. Christ, I don’t know. I don’t know what else to say. I think maybe I’m starting to figure out how to do my job properly.’
Sam sighed. Loudly. ‘Kathleen, you’re a seriously messed-up individual.’
‘Yeah, well, I’m UNISYC. I’m probably going to end up like the