Doctor Who_ Interference_ Book Two - Lawrence Miles [54]
The Ogron growled in the affirmative. The Doctor took another look at the crouching figure. The shape did indeed seem to be a middle-aged human, overweight from too much yeast and office work, his features framed by a fuzzy grey beard. The two Remote people looked up as the Doctor reached them.
‘Good afternoon,’ he said. ‘I’m the Doctor. I understand you’ve been waiting for me.’
‘Umm… ’ said the woman.
‘Erm…’ said the man.
The Doctor waved their objections aside, and tapped the crouching man on the shoulder. ‘And you must be Mr Llewis. Good. I’ve come to take you back to Earth.’
‘No you haven’t,’ said Kode.
Llewis didn’t look up. Whatever he was staring at, it seemed to be utterly fascinating. The Doctor peered over his shoulder.
‘Look at it,’ said Llewis, in a broad West Country accent he was obviously trying very hard to keep under control. ‘Just look at it.’
In front of Llewis, there was a crack in the ground. The surface of Anathema had ruptured there, forming a narrow fissure, no more than two or three inches across. You had to squint to see it, but the fissure seemed to be quite long, winding its way between – maybe even under – the supporting pylons of the city.
The fissure was dark. Darker, in fact, than the Doctor felt it had a right to be. He knelt down by Llewis’s side, and took another look.
There was something bubbling up from the crack. Like liquid, but thicker, squirming around as if it had a mind of its own. With a start, the Doctor realised it was making faces at him.
At long last, Llewis looked up at him. His eyes looked huge, and not entirely sane.
‘It’s like oil,’ the man said. ‘The Cold. It’s in the ground here. My God. D’you know what they do with this stuff? D’you know the kind of profit we’d be talking about, if we started drilling for it? My God.’
The Doctor wasn’t sure how he was supposed to respond to that. So he didn’t bother. The next thing he knew, Kode was hovering at his side, trying his best to look ominous.
‘We have to go,’ the boy whined. ‘We’ve got to find the Cold. We’ve been waiting for two hundred years. It’s important.’
‘Not as important as this,’ croaked Llewis. The Doctor patted him on the head in a reassuring manner.
Kode obviously felt like waving the gun around in an exasperated fashion, but he kept it pointed at his chin. ‘Why are you people all so stupid?’ he said.
The Doctor opened his mouth, to say something facetious and distracting.
Then it dawned on him.
He looked at Kode. Kode looked back at him. So he looked at Llewis instead. Then at Lost Boy. Then at the other Remote people, who were busy exchanging worried glances a few yards away. Finally, he tried looking at the sky. Nothing helped.
‘Say that again,’ he told Kode.
‘Why?’ said Kode.
‘Just say it. Please.’
Kode stared at him for a moment or two. Licked his lips. Swallowed. He didn’t let the gun waver for a moment.
‘I said… why… are you people… all… so… stupid?’
The Doctor stuffed his hands deep into his coat pockets. ‘Ah. Yes. I see. Oh dear.’
‘What?’ said Kode. ‘What did I say?’
‘It’s not what you said, exactly. It’s the way you said it.’
‘Nff?’ queried Lost Boy.
The Doctor cleared his throat. All of a sudden, the fact that he was the centre of attention made him feel distinctly uncomfortable.
‘Your people,’ he said, not quite daring to look Kode in the eye. ‘They reproduce through a memory-sensitive biomass imprinting system, don’t they?’
Kode kept staring at him.
‘Just a guess,’ the Doctor explained.
‘So?’ said Kode.
The Doctor sighed. ‘I have a horrible feeling I know who you are,’ he said. ‘Or who you were, anyway. I think we’d better go and find Guest, don’t you?’
* * *
Travels with Fitz (X)
Anathema, 1801
He was sterile, apparently.
A while ago, Fitz would probably have had something to say about that. Not that he’d ever thought about breeding, but it was nice to keep your options open, wasn’t it? Besides, it wasn’t as if the Faction had given the colonists any warning.
The receivers didn’t just open up your nervous system to the media. They also had a small