Doctor Who_ Halflife - Mark Michalowski [101]
‘It’s coming from here,’ Tannalis said, stepping closer to a huge wardrobe built into an alcove at the side of the bed. He gestured for her to move the joystick again, and after a couple of seconds of random waggling, they both heard a repeated tapping on the inside of the wardrobe door, as if some tiny thing inside was trying to get out. Trix watched Tannalis steel himself and grip the handles. She looked at the screen again: something momentarily came into focus, caught in the pale strip – which, she suddenly realised, was a line of light bleeding into the wardrobe through the gap between the doors.
‘I don’t think you want to do that,’ she said, swallowing, as she realised what she was looking at. But it was too late: with a grunt, Tannalis pulled back both doors.
On the screen, the image flared for a fraction of a second: in front of her, she saw the eye that she’d recognised only a couple of moments before. An 180
eye, wide and blank, set in a handsome, black face. She turned to Tannalis who could only stand and stare at the sight of his only son, Javill, propped in the cupboard like a broken toy – his eyes wide, his trembling mouth slack, a thread of saliva hanging from his chin.
181
Chapter 21
‘Are you thinking what I’m thinking?’
Alinti’s skin still itched – and she could see that she wasn’t the only one. The four guards that Trove had persuaded her to bring were doing their best to maintain their dignity while surreptitiously rubbing their arms against their sides. Trove seemed to be the only one unaffected. She would never have admitted it, but the sight of the huge wall of smoke had almost made her want to order Trove to turn the levicar around. But he seemed confident that they could pass through it without any harm – especially after he’d tinkered with the car’s mechanism and declared that he’d ‘boosted the repulsor field to a safe level’. It was all technobabble to her, but if Trove was sure that they’d be safe, she’d have to trust him.
Still, as they’d sped through the grey curtain, she’d closed her eyes and prayed. She couldn’t remember the last time she’d done that. Perhaps the fact that she was still alive and racing towards immortality proved that God was on her side after all. She briefly wondered what Javill was doing – whether he’d taken notice of the warnings and made sure he was upstairs. Although the thing – the wavefront, Trove had called it – looked much taller than she’d expected: taller, certainly, than the first floor of most of Saiarossa’s buildings.
She wasn’t convinced that hiding in bedrooms was going to protect anyone.
Still, that wasn’t her problem now. Javill could take care of himself. Maybe he’d have had the sense to seize the opportunity, and had taken Tannalis down to the courtyard for a look at the preparations for his birthday.
‘You seem very quiet, Imperatrix,’ said Trove, breaking into her reverie.
‘Just wondering about my family,’ she said. ‘Hoping they’ve had the sense to hide away somewhere safe.’
Trove smiled. ‘I’m sure they have, Imperatrix.’
She glanced back over her shoulder and caught one of the Guard scratching himself. He stopped instantly, a pained and apologetic look on his face.
‘The wavefront. . . what exactly is it? Something to do with your immortality device?’
‘A side effect, Imperatrix. By the time it reaches the city, we will have arrived at its source – and then we can stop it.’
Trove pointed up ahead. She could see the grounded wreckage of the levicar 183
that Sensimi and her offworlder friends had taken. It lay crumpled on its side, the nose dented and twisted out of shape. ‘They can’t be far.’
‘This Doctor you mentioned – the one who has tricked my daughter: what is his interest in the device?’
‘The same as mine, Imperatrix. Only he won’t be willing to share it with you, as I will. His intention is to take it and leave the planet as quickly as possible.’ He turned and flashed