Doctor Who_ Beyond the Sun - Matthew Jones [88]
She picked up a heavy bound volume from the floor and weighed it in her hand. The footsteps reached the top of the stairs. She was preparing to smash it into the face of whoever came up the stairs when she heard Tameka’s voice calling her name. Distracted, Bernice delayed her attack.
By the time she had recovered her wits, the figure had already entered the library. She was struggling to lift the book above her head when a man’s voice said:
‘Bernice?’
Michael was standing beside her, his wide purple face almost black in the low light. He was staring anxiously up at the book she was holding.
‘Michael! I thought you were dead?’
‘What were you doing, making sure?’
‘What?’ Bernice was suddenly aware that she was still holding the weighty hardback above her head. ‘Oh, I see. Sorry. I thought you might have been . . . Oh never mind. I’m just pleased that you’re alive.’
Tameka had hurried over, still in her bra and knickers, she began urgently to question Michael about Scott. Emile followed her a moment later wrapped up in one of the dusty green curtains he had been sleeping beneath. Bernice led them back to their den in the archaeology aisle.
In the light of the small lamp, Michael looked tired. His heavily lidded eyes were sunken and there were dark rings beneath them. ‘The Sunless were already at the dormitory by the time I got back from the gates. I saw Scott being carried out.’
‘Carried?’ Tameka said. ‘Was he alive?’
Michael nodded. ‘Yeah. I wasn’t sure at first. They took him to the spaceport.’
‘The spaceport?’
‘He’s on one of their ships. It’s leaving tomorrow. Only I don’t know where it’s going.’
Tameka turned to Bernice. ‘We’ve got to get him off it.’
17
WHAT TOOK YOU SO LONG?
The canvas-covered truck hissed, vapour erupting from its valve as it trundled to a stop at the high metal fence of the spaceport. Its headlights lit up the white metal gate which barred the entrance.
‘This is the one?’ Bernice asked from where they had hidden themselves in the shadows on the other side of the road. She shivered, which was only partly due to the chilly Ursu evening.
Michael nodded. ‘It’s full of sensor equipment. It’s being loaded tonight.’
Bernice waited until the driver was engrossed with the female collaborator at the gate, and then she turned to Emile and Tameka, who were crouched beside her. ‘Go!’
They hurried across the road, Emile a little behind Tameka. Tameka clambered up the tailgate of the truck and then helped Emile up. He tumbled gracelessly over the top and then disappeared inside.
‘Now you,’ Bernice said to Michael. He nodded and ran lightly across the road.
Bernice was about to set off after him when the driver appeared around the side of the truck.
She held her breath as the driver checked several of the clips on the canvas cover, before returning to the cab. He hadn’t seen Michael.
Bernice began to sprint across the road just as the steam truck began to power up. It clanked and hissed into gear and began to lurch forward. Bernice increased her pace and managed to grab hold of the tailgate. The truck was moving very slowly, but it was still an effort for her to match its pace on foot.
If the collaborator on the gate turned now she wouldn’t be able to avoid seeing her. Bernice realized that there was no way she was going to be able to lift herself into the truck while it was moving. She just couldn’t get any leverage. She glanced sideways at the yellow light which streamed out of the gate hut. Oh God, she was in full bloody view.
And then Michael reached down and lifted her up with one hand. She collapsed into the welcome darkness of the truck.
She lay there listening for the sounds of alarms and booted feet, but they didn’t come.
Bernice opened the lid of the crate and peeped out. There were no people in the cargo bay, no Sunless either. Telling her companions to stay put, she eased out of the metal box and began to explore the ship. The corridors were rusty metal. The air was filled with the smell of old grease