Doctor Who_ Combat Rock - Mick Lewis [29]
‘We’ve nae time for this now, Doctor,’ Jamie said, ‘We’ve got to look for Victoria’
‘Of course we must, Jamie,’ the Doctor said, as if to a child. ‘And we will, but first I simply have to –’
‘What have you found, Doctor?’ Budi interrupted. The rest of the group had joined them to see what they were looking at.
Like Budi, they all looked aghast and frightened, and were obviously having deep regrets about coming on this trip. Santi pulled a disgusted face as she saw what was in the Doctor’s hands.
‘Well... well, I’m not altogether sure...’ the Doctor said pensively. ‘Yes. Very interesting indeed... I wonder...’ He noticed Kepennis bending over him anxiously ‘Oh, I don’t think we’re in any danger from our friend here any more,’ he reassured the guide. ‘Ahh, that’s got it.’ He raised something from the back of the shrivelled head, scrutinising it curiously.
It was a waxen horn of purple-coloured soft material, the size of a snail. ‘Now what have we here? Looks like a fungus of some variety.’
Kepennis said nothing, his eyes large with fear. Wemus was the one who answered the Doctor, his face grave and hard, the ubiquitous grin long gone.
‘From swamps.’ the usually amiable guide said slowly ‘I never see, but hear of it. From south coast swamps...’ he paused and gazed meaningfully into the Doctor’s eyes. ‘Where weird things grow.’
Chapter Five
The headman grumpily tied his penis gourd into position, the jeans he’d been wearing a few minutes before slung into a corner of his hut. He was tired, and although tourists meant money, it also meant more soldiers. Since yesterday there had been a constant military presence in and around the small village whenever offworlders turned up.
What were they scared of?
He left the hut still fiddling with his gourd and glanced at the group of tourists huddled just inside the compound. As he had expected, a squad of Indoni soldiers had accompanied them. The commander barked something at him in Indoni which he didn’t understand. He stepped forward humbly. He was scared of these soldiers. Of course he was; he was an intelligent man.
The commander barked again, and this time he guessed what the man was saying. He gestured to Etna the husband of his sister, and together they entered the sacred hut.
The hut was dark, but they knew what they were looking for. Jikora was the most tourist-frequented village in Papul, thanks to its proximity to the popular market town of Wameen. As a result, the headman and his brother-in-law were required to enter this hut and collect its occupant many times a week.
The Mumi was waiting for them on its sawn-off tree trunk pedestal. Without speaking, they bent and picked it up.
Outside, the commander was waiting for them with three soldiers. All their weapons were, if not exactly levelled, then not far from it. The commander was saying something in Indoni, staring at the headman with narrow eyes and a stern expression, the green cap pulled low over his brow giving him an even fiercer countenance. The headman and Emul put the Mumi down for a moment.
It was Emul who answered the soldier, in halting Indoni.
He sounded a little puzzled and there was a grin on his face.
The headman asked his brother-in-law what had been said.
Emul turned to him, shaking his head as if he didn’t really understand. ‘He wants to know if our Mumi has been acting strangely.’ Well, what could the headman do but laugh? It was such an absurd suggestion.
He regretted it instantly. The commander pistol-whipped him savagely. He almost fell, the blue, blue sky whorling above him for a second before tilting back into place. He touched his brow where the barrel of the pulse Luger had struck him. Blood daubed his fingers. He stared at the commander guardedly, but said nothing. The commander said something else in an abrupt tone. Emul nudged the headman and stooped to pick up the Mumi on its tree trunk pedestal.
They carried it over to the centre of the circular village compound. There were more soldiers around