Doctor Who_ Alien Bodies - Lawrence Miles [84]
The girl wasn’t anywhere near as unstable as the UNISYC agent, so the vault was attacking her physically, growing malicious little antibodies from its biomass, hostile infant versions of the girl herself. As Qixotl watched, another biological unit was vomited out of the walls. He frowned when he saw the form the new antibody took. All the defences were supposed to be based on the victim’s own biodata, but this one looked different, somehow. Did the girl have things in her biodata Qixotl hadn’t detected before, or had there been another systems glitch?
Well, anyway. Soon, both the humans would be dead. Qixotl considered shutting down the defences and letting them out of the vault, but then, if he did that, he’d have to boot up the security systems from scratch, and that’d take all day. No. He’d let them snuff it down there, and if anyone asked, he’d say it was their own fault. Diplomacy be damned. Neither of the humans was important, anyhow. The UNISYC woman was only an attachment to Kortez, and if the girl was the Doctor’s pet, he could easily get hold of another one. There were nearly ten billion of them on this planet.
All in all, he had more important things to think about. The last of the bidders had arrived. The representatives would be getting impatient, and frankly, Mr Qixotl had run out of delaying tactics. At long last, it was time for the bidding to start.
‘If I untie you, do you promise not to cause any more trouble?’ hissed the Doctor.
Homunculette scowled up at him. ‘Why?’
‘Well, you know. In the interests of peace and galactic understanding, I have to insist you don’t try to kill Cousin Justine again.’ The Doctor looked around, more than a little furtively. The two Faction Paradox members had left Homunculette’s side, and were conversing in the doorway of the anteroom. He couldn’t hear what they were saying, mainly because E-Kobalt was reciting a speech about the supremacy of the Kroton race to Colonel Kortez. Kortez was, predictably, nodding. The Doctor had heard about Homunculette’s assault on Justine from the Shift, and he’d already pocketed the offending sonic monkey-wrench, for close inspection later on.
‘Animals,’ Homunculette spat.
‘I’m sorry?’
‘Faction Paradox. Do you know what kind of damage those people do? Do you have any idea of the things they’re supposed to worship? Do you?’
The Doctor nodded. ‘I know. I agree, it’s vitally important we make sure they don’t get hold of my... of the Relic. I don’t think smashing Justine’s skull is the best way of going about it, though.’ He tried to lip-read the conversation between Justine and Manjuele, but Justine had her back turned most of the time, and Manjuele was practically talking through his teeth. The Doctor caught what looked like the word “girl” on the man’s lips.
Homunculette snorted. ‘All right. I promise.’
‘What? Oh, good.’ The Doctor started untying the Time Lord. The Faction’s agents had used symbioadaptive cord to do the binding, he noticed. The big show-offs. Still, rope was rope, however smart it was supposed to be.
He looked up at the cultists again. He thought he saw Manjuele point towards the floor, and mouth the words “in the vault”.
‘Faster,’ hissed Homunculette.
‘Yes, yes. I’m trying.’ The Doctor leaned a little closer to the man’s ear. ‘Actually, I wanted to talk to you about your people. The Time Lords. Do you really think the High Council has a right to the Relic?’
‘Right of survival,’ Homunculette grunted.
‘But things can’t be that desperate, surely? Even by becoming involved in events here, you’ve threatened the stability of the local timeline.’ He kept one eye on the cultists, and saw Manjuele mutter what looked like “we’ve got her biodata”.
‘And I suppose you think you’ve got more of a right to the body than we have?’
‘Well, actually...’
The cord came loose. Almost immediately, Homunculette was on his feet. He was quick, thought the Doctor, but he wasn’t exactly graceful. ‘I don’t know who you are, but I know what you’re trying to do. You’re giving me the old “non-interventionist” routine. Well, it’s