Doctor Who_ Beyond the Sun - Matthew Jones [24]
‘You get used to it. This isn’t a liner. I can’t afford acceleration buffers.’ He swung around in his chair and attended to a series of small instruments which buzzed for his attention. ‘I’ve hooked some extra cargo that was waiting in orbit. We’re going to be in hyperspace for about thirty hours. We’ll emerge in the V15 system, not too far from Ursu. I’ll stay in orbit long enough for you to do a single instrument sweep and then we’ll jump all the way to Dellah.’
Behind him she watched Apollox 4 recede until it became a small white disc, the size of a coin, and then was swallowed completely by blackness. ‘Great. You’ll get the rest of the payment when we get back to St Oscar’s.’
He looked at her seriously for a moment, as if he were wondering whether he could trust her.
‘Yeah, I’m sure I will, Professor Summerfield.’
‘Please, call me Bernice. The only person who calls me Professor is my bank manager.’
‘Bernice it is.’ He paused. ‘So, you’re really planning to return to Ursu, to go down there?’
‘You must think I’m crazy – I think I’m incurably insane – but yes.’ She gestured in the direction of the living quarters. ‘Once I’ve got those two safely home, and studied the results of the orbital scan, I’ll come back.’ She felt the weight of the task for the first time.
Errol turned away from her and looked out at the stars. ‘You’re a braver person than I am, Bernice Summerfield. You wouldn’t catch me touching down on a prohibited world.’
Thanks, she thought. And why not try to undermine my confidence while you’re at it? ‘Well, it’s probably not that bad,’ she said, mostly to reassure herself, but the words sounded feeble.
Errol flashed her an incredulous look.
She shrugged. ‘OK, it probably is that bad, but I really don’t have a choice. Someone important to me is in trouble and I’m fairly sure they’re in trouble on Ursu.’
‘Ah, I thought it might be something like that,’ Errol replied, still staring out into space.
After they’d made the jump into hyperspace, Errol had joined them in the cramped living space. The seventy-two hours dragged by like a wounded animal. Bernice sat slumped on one of the low couches, playing travel chess with Emile. His beating her five games to nil had done nothing to improve her mood. By the end of the journey she had convinced herself that the already sluggish life-support system was grinding to a complete stop. She felt like she was suffocating.
Bernice was relieved when the violent, shuddering turbulence hit the ship, indicating that they were shifting between the dimensions, dropping back into normal space. Her relief was short-lived. First, in her haste to catch sight of the planet where in all probability Jason was being held hostage, she had leapt to her feet and smashed her forehead on a hot plastic light fitting. Being burnt and concussed in the same moment didn’t feel like an accident: it felt like a conspiracy. And as she was stomping back from the MedSys bay, which Errol hadn’t bothered to service and now was off line, she had glimpsed through a porthole the large black spaceships bearing down on them.
She had just enough time to call Errol’s name before they started their attack in earnest.
5
SMALL+FIRE+IN+CABIN+ONE+
Emile had been lying in Errol’s cabin when the first attack came. He was lying quietly on the floor, using his holdall as a pillow and trying not to draw attention to himself. He’d never shared a room with anyone before. Errol had suggested that they both sleep on the bunk, lying head to toe. But Emile, not knowing how to refuse, had just sunk down on to the floor and shaken his head. Errol had shrugged. ‘Suit yourself,’ he’d said, and then climbed into bed.
By closing his eyes and concentrating, Emile could block out Errol’s snores and imagine that he was back home. Back in his room on the relay station.
And that was when the attack came and the world was turned upside down. Errol swore loudly.
The floor beneath Emile lurched dangerously and Errol