Doctor Who_ Beyond the Sun - Matthew Jones [59]
‘I . . .’ He coughed for a moment, his throat still dry after being gagged. She offered him some water, which he refused. ‘I will do nothing for you while you treat me like an animal.’
‘All you have to do is treat him, then I promise that you will be free to leave.’
‘Do not think to tell me when I will be free!’ He saw her recoil from his anger and felt some small satisfaction. He pursued this advantage. ‘Who are you? You don’t look like members of the collaborating administration.’
‘No, we’re not collaborators. We’re travellers.’
And then he knew. Their mannerisms, their words, their funny hair and jewellery. ‘You’re from the companies, aren’t you?’ He gestured to the ceiling. ‘From the stars.’
The woman nodded. ‘We’re not company people. But we are from another world.’
He sensed her embarrassment and seized upon it. ‘Of course you’re company people. Look at your behaviour.’
‘I’m an academic. I work for a university. We came here by accident searching for my ex-husband.’ She must have seen his incomprehension because she quickly added, ‘My partner, the person I made a commitment to.’ She paused for a moment. ‘The man I love.’
He struggled to understand her. Despite his fear, he was intrigued by her. All of his life he had heard stories of the profiteers but never had he thought that one would be standing in front of him. She shared his language but her words were so bizarre and their meaning absurd. She said she wasn’t a profiteer, but she called her lover her partner? Did they run every aspect of their lives with contracts and promises? And how could you love only one person? How could one person provide you with all the love you needed?
The woman gestured to the man in the bed. ‘This man is called Errol. He is a freighter pilot. I hired him to bring me to your world to help me find my husband. He’s innocent, not involved in any of this. I can understand you being angry with me but please don’t vent your anger at him.
He didn’t sign up for this.’
‘I think I understand the situation. You paid him to bring you here and here you both are. Now you feel guilty because the task will cost him his life. Can you afford to pay him for such a sacrifice, I wonder?’
She just stared at him. And for a moment she looked so vulnerable that he almost felt sorry for her. Almost. The harsh light of the single bulb in the dormitory picked out the tiny lines around her eyes. He could see now that she was older than he had first thought. At least ten years older than the girl who had beaten and bound him. Perhaps fifteen years older. This woman looked a little weathered, as if she had had to struggle in her life.
‘I’m not proud of what I’m doing. And I searched desperately for another way. I’m not going to lie to you. I do feel responsible for bringing Errol here. For bringing all of them here. But I will do what I have to do to keep him alive.’
Do what I have to do. Jock wasn’t surprised that the profiteers had to resort to speaking nonsense in order to justify their acts. If the words did not make sense, the meaning behind them was clear. ‘That is a threat, isn’t it?’
‘Maybe.’
‘Maybe.’ He wanted to laugh, but all he could manage was a grim smile. ‘You’re worse than the Sunless. At least they aren’t hypocrites. At least they are willing to accept who they are.’
‘Please!’
He shook his head, a weight lifting from his shoulders. He felt free for the first time in the year since the spaceships had come and brought terror and chains to his world. ‘You’re going to have to kill me, Bernice Summerfield,’ he said. ‘Nothing else is within your power.’
Tameka put her ear to the door. ‘Bernice is shouting at him now.’
‘You should stop eavesdropping,’ Emile called over from where he lay on the bed. They’d been stuck in the dormitory room for what felt like hours. Scott had gone off somewhere in a black mood, so Emile had been left alone with Tameka, who had stalked around the small room like a jaguar in a cage. Full of bottled-up energy and anger after Bernice had screamed at