Doctor Who_ Interference_ Book Two - Lawrence Miles [8]
And that was it. Just a sphere, totally smooth and utterly featureless. No controls, no visible operating mechanism of any kind. No indication of what it might be.
All in all, it was a bit of a disappointment. Sam had been expecting some kind of master control room, at the very least.
‘We’ve got problems,’ Compassion told Guest.
Guest stepped out of the lift tube behind Sam. ‘Well?’
‘Tune in to Llewis’s transmitter. See what’s just happened back on Earth.’
Guest apparently did this, because he stood motionless for a few moments, staring at nothing in particular.
‘I see,’ he said, in the end.
Sam cleared her throat. ‘Look, I don’t want to get in your way or anything, but can I join in with this conversation? Or is it zombies only?’
‘If you’d like a receiver –’ Guest began.
‘No,’ said Compassion. ‘She won’t. Not after what happened on Earth.’ Then she looked up at the big black sphere. ‘You may not need one, though.’
‘I’m sorry?’ said Sam.
‘This close to the media, you should be able to get a direct link. Straight into your nervous system.’
Sam gawped up at the sphere. ‘That’s ‘the media’? That’s where all your signals come from?’
‘It’s picking up the transmissions from Earth, as well. Beaming them out to us. You can try focusing on the stuff from Llewis, if you want. You should be able to get something.’
Sam thought about that. She didn’t want to get any closer to the media, not after what Guest had told her about having an ‘affinity’ with the Remote. But, then again, wasn’t it inevitable, coming from twentieth-century Earth? Was she going to try never watching TV again, if she got out of this in one piece?
So she concentrated. Focused. Just a little, so she could pull away if anything bad happened. She wasn’t quite sure what she was concentrating on, she just –
Suddenly, she was in a lift. Not like one of the lifts here in the transmitter tower. A real lift, back on Earth, with piped-in music and everything. There was somebody standing next to her, but when she tried to turn her head she found she couldn’t.
The lift doors opened, and Sam felt herself move forward, into a short corridor with beige walls and bad carpeting. She seemed to be approaching some kind of office. Everything shook in front of her, as if she weren’t in complete control of her motor functions.
‘We planted a transmitter inside Mr Llewis,’ Compassion said, muttering into Sam’s ear from somewhere that seemed to be completely out of her reach. ‘You’re only getting visual and audio right now. We didn’t think he’d be touching anything interesting.’
Sam felt her head turn. Or, rather, Llewis’s head turned, and she saw the figure next to him through his eyes. It was one of the Ogrons, all dressed up in suit and shades, Shambling along by his side.
‘Security,’ said Guest’s voice, from out of nowhere.
Suddenly, Sam/Llewis’ attention was caught by another shape, approaching from the office ahead. Sam realised it was Sarah, in the same business clothes she’d been wearing back at the hotel. It took Sam a while to identify her, as Llewis seemed to be looking at her breasts instead of her face.
‘Ms Bland,’ Llewis mumbled. He sounded surprised to see her.
‘Afternoon,’ Sarah said. Without another word, she squeezed past him in the corridor, glancing nervously at the Ogron as she went.
Llewis looked over his shoulder, and watched Sarah disappear into the lift, the doors sliding shut behind her. The Ogron didn’t seem to be taking an interest in any of this.
‘The Ogron was at the warehouse,’ Guest pointed out. ‘Why didn’t it stop her? It knows she’s potentially hostile…’
Compassion tutted. ‘All humans look alike to Ogrons, apparently. Or to that Ogron, anyway.’
‘So she’s just walked out from under our noses.’
‘Right. And she must know more than we thought, if she