Doctor Who_ Beyond the Sun - Matthew Jones [84]
‘I take it that you have recovered from all the excitement,’ Nikolas said pleasantly when he entered and had pulled off his respirator. Ice crystals had formed on the stubble on his young face.
Excitement? Kitzinger just stared at him. He made Aric’s murder sound like a street party or a Bloomday. She had no idea what to say to him. Couldn’t even begin to understand him. ‘What do you want of me, Nikolas?’ she blurted.
He shrugged off his heavy coat and sat down in front of her. He grinned his young man’s grin.
‘Only for you to continue to work. To uncover the secrets of this place for me and – ’ he nodded to the two motionless Sunless he had brought with him ‘– for our hosts here.’
Kitzinger had never really considered the possibility that Nikolas was in the service of the silent pale figures. Always assuming that they were some kind of thoughtless creature he had enslaved.
‘I have told you before that there are no secrets here. Just ice and rock.’
He grinned. ‘Where is your imagination? You’ve read the inscriptions. You translated most of them. It is recorded that there is great power here.’ He leant back and pulled a flask out of his heavy fur coat. ‘Come, have a drink with me.’
He twisted the top off the metal flask and Kitzinger smelt coffee. Coffee! The richness of the smell threatened to overwhelm her. She remembered her life back on Ursu with a sudden clarity.
Somehow the smell unlocked memories which she hadn’t realized she still had. Lovers, friends, projects, studying, being a child in her Eight. Images were tumbling into her mind even as she was reaching out a shaking hand to accept the proffered cup.
‘Why? Why are you doing this?’
Nikolas made a show of looking nonplussed. ‘Doing what?’
She indicated the cup. ‘All this.’
‘Perhaps I like to be unpredictable. Perhaps because I don’t need to threaten you any more.
There is no one left for you to conspire with and, as you have seen, there is nowhere for you to go. Finish the work here and you will live, that’s all.’
‘Unless you choose to be unpredictable again.’
He nodded. ‘Unless.’ There was a long pause. ‘Tell me, how goes the work?’
Kitzinger wasn’t going to let herself be seduced by his sudden generosity. ‘More slowly since you killed Aric,’ she said, letting out some of the bitterness she felt.
Nikolas only grinned. Kitzinger was reminded of how transparent his emotions were. His smile was deeply unauthentic. He was embarrassed, maybe ashamed for what he had done. No, that wasn’t right. That was just a projection – what she wanted him to feel. But she suspected that he regretted killing Aric.
‘Well, I suppose that’s only to be expected, but we are on a tight schedule here, Kitzinger,’ he said. ‘Our friends won’t wait for ever.’
Kitzinger glanced over at the two silent figures in the corner of the room. If they were aware of being talked about they showed no sign of it. Was this the real reason why Nikolas was being so pleasant? Was he under pressure from the grey humanoids?
‘Kitzinger? What of the Blooms?’
She turned to face him, searching for a sign of worry or fear on his face. She couldn’t tell. ‘The Blooms have . . . connected themselves fully to the structure. I don’t understand how or why they have done that. They never showed any signs of taking root in all the time they were below the university on Ursu.’
‘Well that’s only to be expected, isn’t it?’
‘It is?’
He gestured around him. ‘Well yes. This is their home after all. This is where they belong.’
Kitzinger was surprised by this suggestion. ‘What makes you think that the Blooms are from this place?’
‘Simply because this is the world upon which they were found.’
Kitzinger was unsettled by his suggestion. ‘That’s impossible! You’re an Ursulan. You must know our history. A corporation found the Blooms abandoned on a dead world and removed them.’
‘No, not a dead world,’ he interrupted. ‘A dying one. This is that world. The Piercy Corporation stole the Blooms from the Sunless. I’m only helping