Doctor Who_ Halflife - Mark Michalowski [96]
‘I feel sick,’ said Sensimi simply and turned away. Calamee felt sick, too, but Sensimi’s declaration bolstered her own reserve, and she stayed put, determined not to be in the same league as the princess.
‘Remarkably rapid, isn’t it?’ said the Doctor admiringly, snapping off a twig to give the maggots a gentle poke. ‘And quite, quite fascinating. The maggots are eating the plant, and the plant’s eating the –’
‘Oh God,’ came a gasp from Sensimi, and everyone turned suddenly. She stared at them. ‘They’re everywhere.’
And indeed they were: now they’d seen it once and knew what to look for, the little party found clots of maggots and grubs everywhere: in some places just a couple, but in others, huge, fist-sized balls of them or wriggling, writhing layers of darker ones, enveloping whole branches and plants. Before her eyes, Calamee saw a knee-high bush overrun with green-tinged shapes, so densely packed that they seemed to flow over it like a liquid. But as they progressed, the bark on the stems opened up and swallowed them, healing itself over as nothing had happened. Calamee realised that they could well have been rubbing up against armfuls of the things when they’d pushed through the bushes. She felt her skin turn goose-pimply.
A crunching of twigs made them all turn: standing just a few yards away was the night beast. With surprising speed, it moved towards them, closing the gap in just a few strides. Silently, it picked up the Doctor, flung him over his shoulder. Calamee heard a muffled cry from the Doctor and saw him pound his fists on the creature’s broad back – to no avail. The thing strode purposefully across the grass towards the biggest tree. And as the two of them drew close to it, to Calamee’s amazement the tree opened up like a huge, barky zip-fastener. Unceremoniously, the Doctor was thrust into it, his arms flailing.
The tree closed up as the creature turned and headed for Fitz.
172
Chapter 20
‘A simple “Come in, have a cup of tea” would have been more than adequate.’
Trix had finally reached the point where she didn’t think the Imperator was going to tell her anything more about what Trove had offered, or what this thing was that he claimed he was after. If he was the person who’d sent the distress call, then it seemed likely that it was a trap: Tannalis had given no impression that Trove was in such desperate need of help that he’d have sent out a general distress call to the universe.
‘I really ought to be looking for Fitz,’ she said, rising from the bed.
Although she had little doubt that he’d be able to look after himself, she had the nagging sensation that there were things going on that she didn’t know about. But with the Doctor and Fitz, that was rather par for the course.
‘And you never got around to telling me about half your adventures,’ the Imperator said sadly.
‘Believe me, I’m not sure you’d want to hear – I’m sure I’d rather forget a few of them.’
They were interrupted by a hasty knock at the door, and Tannalis rolled his eyes in his head.
‘That bloody woman,’ he hissed. ‘I’ll be so glad when –’
‘Imperator!’ came a nervous female voice from the corridor. ‘Imperator, it’s urgent!’
Tannalis threw a puzzled look at Trix.
‘Come in!’
The door opened instantly: it was a young girl, obviously one of the Palace staff, looking panicky and flustered.
‘Well?’ snapped Tannalis eventually, when it was clear that the girl had gone into some sort of shock – presumably at the sight of Trix. ‘Spit it out, Farine!’
‘Sorry, Your Highness,’ she said. ‘It’s just that. . . ’ She looked from Tannalis to Trix. Tannalis waved his hand.
‘Just tell me, girl. Trix is a friend.’
‘It’s just that the Imperatrix has left the Palace with Mr Trove. And four of the Imperial Guard.’
173
‘What?’ Tannalis looked at Trix with a frown.
‘What for? Where have they gone?’
‘I’m sorry, Your Highness, I don’t know. Someone thinks they may have gone after the other offworlders.’ She risked a glance at Trix. ‘They took one of the levicars.’
‘The other offworlders? Why did no one tell