Doctor Who_ Alien Bodies - Lawrence Miles [96]
So E-Kobalt spun its cranial unit, aligning its senses with the cavern walls. As ever, the walls were alive with fizzing, flickering images. Every part of the cavern was in tune with the minds of the Highest Brains, so as the four mulled over the information they received from the other Kroton units, their thoughts and memories were projected across the smoother surfaces. Usually, however, it was considered impolite to look.
As E-Kobalt retuned itself, it realised it was watching a record of events on one of the biped-infested worlds at the edge of Kroton space. It saw the colony through the eyes of the Krotons who’d first landed there. It saw the planet being crystal-formed, it saw the native humanoids cower from the might of the advancing Kroton army, and it saw the way the Absolute had cleverly utilised the mental energies of the bipeds to enhance its own power supplies.
Then the mood of the memory changed. E-Kobalt watched Kroton units exhausting, disintegrating. It watched the bipeds rising up against their rightful masters. It watched one particularly striking humanoid, a male unit with curly blond fur and clothes so bright they seemed deliberately designed to jam Kroton sensory systems. It watched this individual gloating, as all but four of the Krotons on the planet were destroyed. Those four were allowed to go free, to return to the First Lattice. Almost as if the biped wanted to give the Absolute a message.
‘THIS-ME-MO-RY-WAS-RE-CORD-ED-SE-VEN-CAMPAIGN-YEARS-A-GO,’ the Highest Brains chanted. ‘WE-MADE-THE-DE-CI-SION-NOT-TO-RE-VEAL-ITS-CON-TENTS-TO-THE-REST-OF-THE-AB-SO-LUTE.’
That made sense, E-Kobalt reasoned. If the underlings found out that a Kroton occupation had been fought off by a mere humanoid, morale would have suffered. ‘The-bi-ped-re-spon-si-ble-for-the-up-ri-sing-must-be-i-den-ti-fied,’ E-Kobalt noted. ‘Its-spe-cies-may-be-a-threat-to-the-se-cur-i-ty-of-the-Ab-so-lute.’
‘THE-BI-PED-I-DEN-TI-FIED-IT-SELF-DU-RING-THE-UP-RI-SING. IT-IS-KNOWN-AS-THE-DOC-TOR. IT-RE-FERS-TO-IT-SELF-AS-A-TIME-LORD.’
Time Lord? E-Kobalt hadn’t heard the term before, but it suggested horrible things about the alien’s abilities. ‘Is-an-y-thing-known-a-bout-this-species?’ it asked.
The cavern was filled with a deep and frosty rumbling. The four were conversing in tones below the sensory range of most Krotons, E-Kobalt guessed. ‘SINCE-THE-AB-SO-LUTE-EN-COUNTERED-THE-DOC-TOR-WE-HAVE-BEEN-SEARCHING-FOR-A-NOTH-ER-TIME-LORD-SPE-CI-MEN,’ the Highest Brains declared, eventually. ‘NOW-WE-HAVE-LO-CA-TED-ONE. THIS-IS-WHY-WE-ARE-BRIE-FING-YOU-ON-THE-SIT-U-A-TION.’
And with that, the Highest Brains extended a limb from an access port high overhead, a tendril easily as long as the cavern was wide. E-Kobalt saw it curling upwards, reaching out for a fissure in the wall. It scooped something out of the fissure, then lowered it towards the ground.
The object was a life-form. A biped, wrapped in a cocoon of oxygen gel, to keep it functional inside the atmosphere of the First Lattice. The humanoid wriggled in the grip of the tendril, its features indicating either terror or revulsion, E-Kobalt wasn’t sure which. Its skin was pink and soft, though most of its body was covered by a layer of thin black fabric. The purpose of this material wasn’t entirely clear, as it certainly wasn’t strong enough to be armour. On top of the biped’s cranium was a dome of much stiffer fabric, with a circular rim around its edge.
‘THIS-IS-A-TIME-LORD,’ the Highest Brains told E-Kobalt. ‘WE-BE-LIEVE-IT-IS-A-SURVEILL-ANCE-UN-IT.’
‘I’m not a spy!’ the Time Lord squeaked. Its voice was tiny, compared to that of the four. ‘I’m just a civil servant!’
‘SILENCE.’
E-Kobalt scanned the biped carefully. ‘Where-was-this-un-it-lo-ca-ted?’
‘ON-THE-PLA-NET-DE-SIG-NA-TED-Q-U-1-3-3-3. THE-PLA-NET-IS-UN-IN-HAB-IT-ED. WE-HAVE-NOT-BEEN-A-BLE-TO-LO-CATE-THE-CREATURE’S-VESS-EL.’
‘I only stopped off to get my bearings,’ the Time Lord wailed. ‘I didn’t know the planet was yours. I’m sorry. Honestly, I’m sorry. And I don’t know what happened to my capsule. Really. The High