Doctor Who_ Beyond the Sun - Matthew Jones [94]
She wanted to scream, to try to release the discomfort, but she was all too aware of the Sunless in the rooms and corridors around her. It was dangerous to show distress or emotion of any kind around them. They didn’t articulate it, but Iranda could feel their disapproval of emotional outbursts.
Handling the Sunless wasn’t easy. Often Iranda suspected that she didn’t handle them at all.
The reverse in fact. On some occasions they would do exactly as they were told. As if they saw Iranda and Nikolas as their natural superiors. At other times, they simply refused even to acknowledge their presence. As if the two Ursulans didn’t exist at all. The Sunless were completely without egos. It was as if they didn’t mind following orders when it suited them because they didn’t have to prove themselves at all. Only the promise of providing them with the weapon maintained her delicate relationship with them.
At least she would be seeing Nikolas soon. At least there was one person who knew, who understood. Someone who knew the pain. She cradled the small figurine to her stomach as if it might ease the torment. ‘Soon,’ she moaned into the pillow. ‘Let it happen soon.’
‘You shit!’ Tameka swore when the Sunless had left them alone in the cell together. Tameka was at least a foot and a half shorter than Michael and was as thin as he was wide. This didn’t stop her from punching him hard around the face. He buckled over, gasping. The muscular man didn’t try to defend himself at all, didn’t even cover his face. Tameka brought her knee up under his jaw.
Hard.
Bernice heard teeth crack. Michael fell to the floor coughing, blood flooded over his lips and spilt down his purple chin. His broad, round face creased in agony but still he didn’t speak.
‘Enough!’ Bernice yelled, pushing Tameka away. The suddenness of the assault had shocked her. It had taken her a few moments to coordinate her mind and body sufficiently to intervene.
‘That is enough!’
‘Let . . . me . . . go . . .’ Tameka hissed through gritted teeth as she struggled against Bernice.
‘Calm down!’ Bernice pushed the young woman against the back wall of the dank spaceship cell. She tried to attract Tameka’s gaze, but the young woman was staring past her, her stained blue eyes flashing with hatred.
Tameka stabbed a finger at Michael. ‘You’re dead, do you hear me?’ Her husky voice was cracking with anger. ‘Dead!’
Bernice put herself in Tameka’s line of sight. ‘Just shut up! Just shut up! For God’s sake.’
‘Bernice! What are you trying to protect him for? He killed them. Errol. Jock. Led the bastards right to us!’
‘I know, I know. And he saved your life.’
‘What?’
‘Who do you think saved you back in the hold? Why do you think that he’s in here with us?’
‘I don’t care! He’s got to pay for what he’s done,’ Tameka said, but Bernice felt all of the struggle go out of the young woman. Tameka slumped against the wall and put her head in her hands. ‘I just don’t understand how he could do that. To us. To his brother.’
Bernice put her arm around Tameka’s shoulder and they slid down to the floor together. ‘I know, I know.’
Bernice looked over at Michael. He was kneeling on the floor, his hand over his mouth. He met her gaze for a moment and then looked away.
Emile had been standing quietly in the corner throughout the fight. He moved over to where Bernice and Tameka were sitting, joining them on the floor. Bernice pulled him to her, rubbing her hand through his stubbly crew cut.
Bernice looked over at Michael. ‘Well?’ she asked, strangely calm. ‘Why did you give us up to them?’
Michael backed away to the far wall. The empty floor was like a metal desert between them.
‘Just leave me alone,’ he spat, his voice distorted by the painful wound in his mouth. ‘What do you know about any of it, anyway?’
‘Try me,’ Bernice said.
He shook his head bitterly and Bernice suddenly realized