Doctor Who_ All-Consuming Fire - Andy Lane [97]
Maupertuis was still standing in front of me, gun raised, but there was a large hole in the middle of his chest. The rim was charred and I could see the edges of his rib-cage projecting into the void where his heart should have been.
His face was noble in death. Noble and unreal, like a marble statue. He fell like a statue too: without bending.
A young woman stood behind him. She was holding a device the size of a Maxim gun, but a lot sleeker.
'Hi,' she said. 'My name's Ace. And you're grateful.'
Chapter 14
In which Ace and Watson pit themselves against nature, and come out on top.
She was wearing a smooth armoured bodice like the carapace of some glossy black beetle. Her shirt and leggings seemed to be composed of some fine-mesh metal weave. She was wearing spectacles, but of such a deep hue that I could not make out her eyes. I could not help but wonder how she could see out of them in the dark. She was so shorn of the identifying badges of her gender that the only clues were her long hair, her voice and the curve of her bodice.
Her weapon was trained firmly upon my midriff.
'My name is Watson,' I said, and swallowed. All I could see in her spectacles was my own distorted reflection. I hoped that the panic evident in my expression was caused by the distortion rather than the circumstances. 'Doctor John Watson, at your service. I presume that you are another of the Doctor's companions, Miss . . . ah?'
'Ace, like I said. And what makes you think I'm with the Doc?'
'A wild guess. He seems to have a fondness for leaving young ladies in situations fraught with danger.'
She looked around.
'Young ladies? Oh, I get it. You must mean Bernice.'
She stared strangely at me.
'Are you for real?' she asked.
'Indubitably. Shall we go?'
She lowered the gun and, with a couple of quick twists, disassembled it into components which she hung off her belt.
'Show me the way.'
I pointed, and without another word she moved off. I took a last glance back at Baron Maupertuis's ruined body. I could not find it in my heart to regret what Ace - I supposed that I should call her by that appellation - had done to him, but something in me had responded to his fervent, if misguided, patriotism.
But what now? Would his invasion fall apart with his army scattered and its general dead, or would the mysterious hooded man that Holmes and I had seen in Euston weld it back together again? Only time would tell.
We moved across the ravaged landscape, trying as far as we could to avoid the bodies. The explosions seemed to have ceased, but I could see a large number of survivors forming up into lines closer to the slopes of the mountain. It looked to me as if they were preparing to take the fight to the Ry'lehans.
Ace quickly impressed me with her skills. She moved quickly but carefully, maintaining a constant watch upon our surroundings. She threw questions back over her shoulder and, under their prompting, I told her the story of how we came to be there.
'He shouldn't meddle,' she said at one point. 'He doesn't know the half of what's going on here.'
'What do you mean?' I asked, but she gestured impatiently for me to continue.
I finished talking as we passed the last row of tents, and persuaded her to wait for a few moments whilst I found the beast which had been roasting as I entered the camp. The spit had been knocked over during the attack, but the carcass was still in one piece, and I managed to pull two of the legs off.
They did not look appetizing, but I was ravenous. I rejoined Ace, who refused the food I offered with a secret little smile. As we walked off I asked her how she came to be there. Whilst I ate the tender, spicy flesh, she explained in a few terse sentences that the Doctor had left her on Ry'leh in the same way that he had left