Doctor Who_ Halflife - Mark Michalowski [32]
Imperator Tannalis lay in his vast, white bed, propped up on a hill of cushions, and watched the blurry figure approach. He patted the covers at his side, searching for his glasses, wishing – not for the first time – that he trusted Espero’s doctors with eye transplants.
The fuzzy shape in front of him moved suddenly, and he hooked the spectacles over his ears. Everything resolved itself before him and he gave a snort.
‘Oh,’ he said, faintly disappointed (he’d hoped it might be Sensimi). ‘It’s you, Trove.’
The blond offworlder towered over him, looking down at him with a faint air of disapprobation.
‘You should be sleeping, Imperator,’ he said softly. ‘You know what your doctors have said.’
‘I don’t need you to remind me!’ Tannalis snapped. ‘I might be half dead, but I’m not half deaf. Not yet.’
Trove glanced around the room before leaning in closer.
‘Remember our deal, Imperator,’ he whispered. ‘You wouldn’t want to exert yourself too much and end up dying before I find what I came here for, would you?’
Tannalis tipped his head back, narrowed his eyes and stared at Mr Trove. He knew that Trove’s offer had been made purely to secure the Imperator’s support in his ‘recovery mission’. There wasn’t an ounce of genuine compassion in Trove’s watery, green eyes. At the back of the Imperator’s mind was the growing suspicion that, even if Trove found what he’d come here for, he wouldn’t honour his deal, but the Imperator wasn’t quite as addled as he imagined that Trove thought he was. He’d already had Trove’s ship located and kept under surveillance: instructions had been issued that, if anything happened to Tannalis, Trove was to be denied access to it. He wasn’t completely convinced that such measures would work, but it was all he felt he could do. The preparations for his birthday – and the attendant bickering with Alinti and Javill –
had taken it out of him, and at the moment, Trove’s offer to him was all that was keeping him going. How ironic it would be if he were to die before Trove found his precious ‘artefact’.
57
‘If I die, Trove,’ Tannalis said, ‘I can at least go to my grave knowing that I’ve led a full and happy life. Can you say the same?’
Trove smiled coldly and stood up. ‘Just get some rest, Imperator. I have a feeling that it won’t be too long now.’
‘What? Before I die, or before you find whatever it is you came looking for?’
‘Let’s just say that I think some unexpected help has arrived. You remember the offworlder that came to the Palace earlier? He calls himself “the Doctor”.
His arrival here at the same time as mine can’t be coincidental. It may be that we are in competition. He gives the impression of knowing nothing – or perhaps he is just a very good actor. Whichever, he won’t be a problem, and may well be an asset – particularly if he does know something. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have to check a few things out. Imperator. . . ’ Trove gave a little bow and left Tannalis’s room. The Imperator lay there, feeling the thin blood struggling around his pathetic body. It was only after Trove had gone – that Tannalis wondered what he’d come in for.
Perhaps, he thought tiredly, Trove had just wanted to check whether he’d died yet.
Trove’s room looked as if it had barely been used – the bed was neatly made (by Trove himself) and he had carefully and symmetrically arranged the furniture. On the wide desk in front of the window Trove’s security console sat, quietly humming to itself. Trove pulled out the chair and lowered his heavy frame into it as he powered up his surveillance devices. He checked his watch
– a proper, old-fashioned, external watch. Trove no longer trusted