Doctor Who_ Beyond the Sun - Matthew Jones [105]
She remembered how hard they had all worked to keep Errol alive.
‘What is it?’ Michael asked, looking closely at her.
‘Nothing,’ she replied. She told herself that there wasn’t any point in fighting Michael. They were in enough danger without fighting among themselves. But she didn’t want to be too civil to him either. Somehow that felt like dishonouring the memory of her friends.
She began to take an interest in her surroundings for the first time. They were in a storeroom of some kind. Stacks of dull metal boxes and what might have been sporting equipment. Weights, bars, ropes – not the sort of thing she had much time for back on Dellah. A quick trip around the quad on her bicycle was the best she could usually manage. And her bike had a motor fitted to help with the hills.
She pulled out one of the boxes, although she wasn’t at all sure what she was looking for. It made a fierce grating sound as it came free. The box was full of children’s uniforms. The next one contained hair clippers.
‘We’ll need these,’ she said and threw a couple of pairs of clippers to Michael. He looked at them for a moment before frowning.
‘It will take more than short haircuts to pass ourselves off as Sunless. They are humanoid, not human. And anyway, they will spot me straight away: none have Jeillo heritage.’
‘I know. But I haven’t told you about my secret weapon yet, have I?’
‘Secret weapon?’
‘Tell me, do they have Goths on Ursu?’
CONVERSATIONS WITH THE ENEMY
Kitzinger tried to appear relaxed as she handed the results of her handiwork to Nikolas. She had never been particularly good with her hands and it showed. The original figurine had a blank expression on its simple face. The one she had fashioned with her cutlery looked like it was scowling. If Nikolas did more than glance at it, she was going to be in trouble.
In her pocket, her hand fingered the shard of crystal she had carved into a sharp point. If Nikolas saw through the deception she would kill him and then make a run for her life.
As always, he had brought two Sunless with him; another had been standing guard over her all day.
She wouldn’t get far.
Kitzinger breathed a sigh of relief as the young man impatiently took the figurine from her and tucked it away in one of the pockets of his heavy coat. He hadn’t noticed anything. He asked her if she had learnt anything about it, and she shook her head.
She pulled the respirator away from her face and instantly felt the cold winter in the chamber attack her face. ‘The other statue – I can’t help wondering: has it arrived?’ she asked, tentatively, before pulling the mask back in place.
Nikolas was an unpredictable man. This time he didn’t take offence at her question. ‘The other visionary is on the planet, Kitzinger. My sister is bringing it here. Then the work will be complete.’
He gazed around the chamber, staring up at the crystals which shimmered above them.
Sister? But of course he would have a sister. He was an Ursulan, he would have seven brothers and sisters. His Eight. There was a chance that she had been the midwife at his birth, although judging by his age it would have been at least nineteen or twenty years ago, quite possibly more.
She had birthed thousands of children since then. An image of his sister appeared in her mind.
Kitzinger caught her breath. No, not an image. A memory.
She saw two red-haired children playing among a melting pot of races. Playing alongside a human boy with Saurian scales, a purple Jeillo with tiny, perfect wings sprouting from his shoulder blades, a lanky Saurian with human eyes. Grey eyes. All of them had mercury-coloured eyes.
Sunless eyes.
And then she knew exactly who Nikolas was. Eighteen years ago two extra human children had appeared in the Blooms. Splicing genes. Mixing species. Creating children who were neither fish nor foul. An Eight had become a Ten. No one had known why. There had been theories of course.
It had caused quite a stir at the time. Everyone had entertained different ideas and explanations.
But it had all been hot air – nothing grounded