Doctor Who_ Beyond the Sun - Matthew Jones [77]
‘Emile!’ Bernice yelled. Oh my God, the boy was operating the weapon.
‘Yes!’ Tameka exclaimed as the engine powered up and then settled into a steady growl. ‘Are we in business or what?’ She slid up into her seat, pulling the harness down over her. ‘You better tell psychotrannie to strap his chubby ass down, Benny, because we are out of here.’
Tameka threw the armoured car into gear and it lurched forward, knocking Bernice off her feet.
Lying on the vibrating floor, Bernice was terribly aware that the situation was entirely out of her control.
‘Hey! Who are you calling chubby?’ A young voice complained from the rear of the vehicle.
The armoured car tore through the gates, wrenching them from their hinges and scattering the crowds of protesters.
‘Coming through!’ Tameka yelled out of the window gleefully as she accelerated out on to the streets of the city. ‘Lady with a baby!’
She noticed that Bernice was staring at her open-mouthed. Tameka shrugged, ‘I’ve always wanted to say that.’
A small monochrome monitor to her left displayed the view from the rear of the vehicle. There wasn’t enough light for her to see more than just the outline of the road. There were a series of small controls next to the screen. A few were labelled with strange spiky symbols which Tameka didn’t recognize. She twiddled a few at random and the screen flickered and then flared into infrared.
‘Hey, something goes my way!’
Three bright blobs were keeping pace behind her. They had company. From the size of the heat traces they had to be Sunless vehicles. Tameka was distracted by Bernice leaning over her to examine the symbols on the instruments. ‘You know, these have some grammatical similarities with the letters on the cloth the artefact was wrapped in.’ Bernice looked up at Tameka as if she expected her to be interested or impressed or something.
Hoo boy! They were being chased by the Sunless and Bernice was playing professor. ‘Bernice, trust me. This is not the time for a tutorial.’
There was a communications headset hanging down to her right-hand side. Tameka tugged it on. ‘’Meel?’ she asked, adjusting the microphone which was attached to the headphones. ‘Can you hear me?’
Nothing.
‘Benny, go see if Emile’s got his headset on. The gunner position should have one.’ She tapped the three bright blurs on the monitor. ‘We’re going to need to coordinate our efforts if we’re going to shake this lot off our tail.’ Bernice stared at her for a moment. Tameka thought she might have had a disapproving look on her face. But she nodded and moved away.
A moment later, the headphones crackled. ‘Emile to Tameka, do you copy? Over.’
Tameka raised an eyebrow. Over? ‘Who the hell is this? Comrade 7?’
There was a burst of blaster fire from up above her and Emile’s tinny voice came through full of excitement. ‘You bet your sorry ass, it is!’ he quipped in a put-on accent. Her accent.
Tameka broke out in a grin. ‘Was that supposed to be an impression? ’Meel, am I gonna whip your ass!’
‘Promises. Promises,’ came the tinny reply.
The three pursuing vehicles were still behind her on the wide road. The infrared monitor flared suddenly and she heard blaster fire. The smile slipped from her face as the vehicle shuddered beneath her and lurched into a sickening skid. Her headphones were suddenly full of eardrum-piercing static. She wrestled the car back under her control. They weren’t going to survive too many of those. Which was particularly worrying as she had no idea how she was going to deal with their pursuers.
‘Is everyone all right,’ she yelled as she hurtled around a corner.
Emile said something she couldn’t make out. Bernice appeared at her side and strapped herself into the navigator’s seat. Benny accidentally brushed a control on the arm of the chair and the seat quickly reclined until it was completely horizontal.
Bernice was suddenly staring up at the ceiling.
‘Mind the controls, Benny.’
‘Ah, I see my relationship