Doctor Who_ Beyond the Sun - Matthew Jones [107]
They had been influenced by philosophy, science and art. The name they had chosen for themselves and for their world had reflected their utopian ideas, their love of literature and their humour.
A kiss to a dreamer from the past.
They had been so sure that they had left the evils of the universe behind them. So sure of the purity not only of their ideals, but of their actions. She sensed the conceit of her society, the smugness of her people. How arrogant they had been. She felt a wave of bitterness. And shame.
They had tucked themselves away on a forgotten world and pretended that they were untouched by taint of wealth and selfishness, and all the time the foundation of their society had been the pillaging of another’s culture, another’s heritage.
Perhaps we deserve the Sunless, she thought.
Kitzinger watched as Nikolas reached the two Sunless that had been waiting for him by the entrance to the huge crystal chamber. Moving in unison, they flanked him and escorted him out of the chamber.
Servants or masters? she wondered.
She spent the rest of the day clearing the ice from the flat disc of stone which sat in the very centre of the chamber. Symbols spiralled out from the disc. Kitzinger had translated the account of the visionaries herself. Yesterday they had dug into the ice which packed the surface of the disc and discovered a second niche on the opposite side of the circle. Presumably this was where the female figurine fitted.
Could they really be keys to immense power?
Well if the next few minutes worked out the way she intended, Nikolas was never going to find out.The Sunless guard began to move towards her, indicating that it was the end of this shift of work. This routine had become so well established over the last year, that usually the Sunless only had to begin to move towards her and she would finish her work and head back to the pressurized hut. However, this time Kitzinger didn’t move away, but continued to go through the motions of working.
She heard the Sunless’s heavy boots crunching on the ice behind her.
‘Finish. Now,’ it said. Its accent was thick and harsh as it struggled to say the few words it knew in her language.
Still leaning over her work, Kitzinger nodded and, as she twisted around to face the guard, she pulled the shard of sharpened crystal out of her pocket and in one movement, thrust it upwards, hoping to cut through the soft flesh under the Sunless’s ribcage and pierce its heart. However, the Sunless hadn’t been quite as close behind her as she had anticipated and she lost some of her momentum as she was forced to stretch her arm awkwardly to complete her attack.
She managed to stab the Sunless, but only with the tip of the crystal dagger. The Sunless looked impassively down at the wound and the makeshift weapon. Kitzinger might have found the scene comical if she hadn’t been so scared. And then its eyes lifted and met hers for a second before it launched itself forward. It didn’t even bother to pull the dagger from its chest.
Kitzinger tripped as she backed away and fell awkwardly on to her back. The Sunless was on top of her in a moment. It straddled her legs and slipped down on to its knees. Its hands grabbed hold of her neck. Suddenly she couldn’t take a breath.
It was going to suffocate her or break her neck. They had killed Aric and now they were going to kill her.
For a moment Kitzinger was resigned to letting it happen. And she felt something hard pressing painfully against her chest. Out of the corner of her eye she spied the shard of crystal protruding at an angle from the Sunless’s body. As the guard leant down on her, the blunt end was being pushed against her, forcing its way a little further into the Sunless’s body. Dark blood blossomed on its pale-grey uniform, spreading out from the wound. The creature must have been in agony.
She had no idea how it was able to tolerate that level of discomfort. It must have registered the pain, because it removed one if its hands from around