Doctor Who_ Island of Death - Barry Letts [51]
Here she came, on her second lap. Through the first door, one, two, three... and, yes, out of the second door. About three and a half seconds then, and as the door swung to, she was a couple of paces from where the searchlight would land.
Couldn‟t be better.
Another check. Just the same. The only snag was that if he was peering over, he wasn‟t in the right position to heave the thing over the edge.
Ah! He could go by the sound of the door. If he gave the thing the lift and the shove it needed as soon as he heard the second slam...
Right. Next time...
This particular morning, the CO was so far gone into his accustomed abyss (nearly two bottles deep), that the first couple of bangs hardly registered. It was the second pair that roused him, and when he caught a glimpse of Sarah - and what was happening filtered through - the fury started to boil up inside him.
By her third time round, he was heaving himself out of bed.
He had to stand for a while to get his bearings, and once he‟d got to the door, she was back again. He staggered into the corridor, but he was too late - she was already at the second door. He was just in time to catch it as it swung behind her.
Out he went, incandescent with rage, and as the door slammed behind him, he stopped and shouted after her retreating back.
„Hey! You!‟
They were the last words that Lieutenant-Commander Hogben ever spoke.
* * *
„...dwell in the house of the Lord forever.‟
The First Lieutenant closed the Bible that he‟d borrowed (surprisingly) from Petty Officer Hardy. Queen‟s Regs would certainly say that they should have had a Prayer Book with the right form of words for a burial at sea, but no doubt a reading of the Twenty-third Psalm would do just as well. If the Lord was a shepherd, his flock must surely include a blackish sheep like Hogben.
He nodded to the Cox‟n, and at a murmured order the door of the galley, which had been pressed into service as a stretcher, was tilted up, and the weighted body slid from under the White Ensign that hid it from view. A small splash, and it disappeared into the depths of the Indian Ocean.
„Make and mend this afternoon for everybody who‟s not on watch, Cox‟n.‟
„Aye aye, sir.‟
The least he could do for the poor sod they‟d just sent down to Davey Jones was to give the crew the afternoon off. Maybe they‟d treat it as a celebration, but it would perhaps make them remember him a bit more kindly.
As the crew dispersed, and Bob Simkins went back to the bridge to get the Hallaton under way again, he turned to the Brigadier. „Sir. I would be obliged if you and your party would have a word with me in the wardroom. In ten minutes?‟
He didn‟t wait for an answer. Although the sun was sinking towards the horizon, this was no invitation for a pre-dinner noggin. The authority in his voice made that quite clear.
Ever since Hogben‟s death Sarah had been struggling with the irrational thought that it was her fault. The searchlight must have been loosened by the rolling of the ship. And she could have been underneath it when it fell. If she hadn‟t kept going through the CO‟s corridor, if she hadn‟t disturbed him by letting the doors bang, he‟d still be alive.
Pete Andrews didn‟t ask them to sit down. He stood waiting for them in the traditional pose of the Royal Navy officer on semi-official duty, with his hands clasped behind his back, like Prince Philip. There had been some discussion as to whether Alex Whitbread should be counted as one of their party. The First Lieutenant didn‟t seem to be bothered by his absence.
He got straight to the point, without any preamble. „I would trust Rogers with my life. In fact, there have been a couple of occasions... Well, never mind that. If he says that he‟d made that searchlight secure, I believe him. This was no accident.‟
„I quite agree with you,‟ said the Doctor.
The Brigadier looked doubtful. „I know that the