Doctor Who_ Hope - Mark Clapham [107]
Anji, said Silver firmly. You are holding a tranquilliser dart gun. That will have no effect on me, my body will be unaffected by the drug in those capsules. He extended his human hand. Now you have a choice. I can either tear your head off with my free hand, or you can give me the gun and let me kill the Doctor here in peace.
Anji looked at the dart gun sadly. I doubt it would even break the skin, would it? she asked.
Silver shook his head slowly, almost mournfully. In his eyes victory gleamed, a certainty that his logic would prevail. He knew there was no way Anji could harm him. His certainty was absolute.
Anji held out the gun, limply holding it like an offering as she walked closer to Silver. He reached out to take it from her hand.
Dave pulled the piece of scribbledon paper out of his pocket. The Doctor had written a series of coordinates there, and Dave rapidly typed them into the navigation console. The girl Anji seemed to be stalling Silver it was her who had shot that dart into the Silverati, he presumed but that wouldnt work for long.
One of the Silverati tried to push himself up from where he lay Dave kicked him hard in the face, then resumed entering the coordinates.
As Silver was about to take the gun out of Anjis hand, she quickly flicked it up. There was only a few inches between them, and Anji could almost taste his breath on her. As if in slow motion, she lifted the gun away from Silvers grasping hand, and pointed it straight at his human eye. She squeezed the trigger.
Silvers scream nearly deafened Anji. Silver was far more than human, but even he didnt have armourplated retinas. The highpressure dart, fired at nearly point blank range, went straight into the soft material of his eye, lodging there. Silver lashed out in agony, and Anji was dashed across the room. Instinctively Silver let go of the Doctor so he could clutch his face with both hands.
The Doctor landed on his knees, taking in a ragged breath. He slid his hand into his coat pocket, and it closed around the microblade. As Silver flailed around, half blind, his robot arm was swinging back and forth. On one pass the Doctor jammed the microblade into the elbow joint, and the leads within exploded with a shower of sparks. The arm fell limply by his side, servos cut and power to his forearm gone. He wouldnt be firing that in a hurry. With one fluid motion the Doctor seized the datapad from where Silver had reattached it to his belt.
The Doctor collapsed to the floor, clutching the precious secrets of his TARDIS to his chest. His head swam as he tried to breathe properly. He bowed down, eyes closed, trying to pull himself together. He didnt seem to be paying attention to anything.
Silver staggered back, one hand pressed over his bleeding eye. The Hypertunnel had stabilised. The day could still be his. Any injury could be repaired, in time.
Silverati! he bellowed. All of you, through the tunnel. Now.
Silvers single, artificial eye looked at the Doctor, lying on the floor, nearly broken. He had, of course, felt the Doctor snatching the datapad. Even with his mind overloaded with pain, his other senses still functioned, monitoring any alteration to his environment. Silver wasnt leaving without that pad.
One arm hanging slack and useless, Silver stepped closer to the Doctor, and kicked him brutally in the stomach. The Doctor yelled in pain as he was thrown into the air by the force of Silvers blow, and landed on his back, the datapad clutched limply to his chest. Silver leaned over, plucking the pad out of the Doctors grip with his human hand.
Silver looked around him, his last view of the planet Endpoint, his home for so long. All his Silverati had gone through the tunnel, with the exception of one who was walking towards him with a furious expression.
Time slowed to a nearhalt, Silvers brain working way beyond the speed of human thought. He recognised the remaining Silverati; it was the human