Doctor Who_ Last Man Running - Chris Boucher [42]
‘You killed it to save our lives,’ the Doctor said.
‘That could have been done by keeping away from the water as you told us to do.’
‘But we didn’t, so that was a reason.’
‘Yes,’ Leela agreed. ‘That was a reason.’ She picked up the packs and took them to where Rinandor and Pertanor were recovering. ‘But these are a purpose. There is a difference you know.’
Unable to resist, the Doctor said, ‘No, there isn’t. Not in this case.’ But he was quite relieved to have the comment drowned out by the delight of Rinandor and Pertanor at seeing the packs.
Chapter Six
Long before Kley had managed to get any practical sort of fix on it, the screaming had stopped. They all had their own ideas about what direction it had been coming from and how far away it was; and every one had been different. With a show of authority Kley had picked a direction that matched their line of march and the others followed her choice without much argument. She had given up all hope of identifying any of the marked trail, and had simply continued pushing on through the thick jungle vegetation in as straight a line as she could manage. The idea of finding some part of the original path again on the other side of the local anomaly – which was due to ground water conditions, plate tectonics, lizard droppings, or something else they were in no position to analyse – vanished as she realised that this might as well be a whole new jungle. Kley had fought off the panicky thought that they had been transported somewhere else, and that they were now so far beyond lost that the word was meaningless. She had been waiting for Sozerdor to pick up on this idea, but he seemed content that they were making progress back towards the relative safety of the ship, and he had been mercifully quiet. She was reluctant to call a halt for a meal in case this gave him in particular a chance to think about what was happening. But there had been no choice, and so far there had been no problem.
‘I think it could have been an animal we heard,’ Belay said.
He took a swig of water and then shook his canteen. It sounded almost empty. ‘Or a bird, maybe.’
‘There aren’t many of them around here, are there?’
Fermindor said, tossing an empty ration pack into the bushes. ‘I haven’t seen a living thing without a root since we got back into this miserable jungle.’
‘And you’re complaining?’ Sozerdor said. ‘After the lizards and those other things I’ll be happy if we’re the only free-moving life left.
Belay shook his head. ‘Something alive made that noise.’
‘Not necessarily,’ Kley said. ‘It could have been non-organic.’
‘Non-organic?’ Belay asked.
‘It could have been anything,’ she said.
‘For example?’
‘For example,’ she said, ‘it could have been...’ And then found she could think of absolutely nothing that it could have been. She shrugged vaguely. ‘It could have been...’
‘It could have been a steam vent,’ Fermindor supplied.
‘It could have been a steam vent,’ she agreed, wondering whether he had left her hanging there for a moment longer than necessary just to make it dear that he was better at all this than she was.
‘A steam vent.’ Sozerdor smiled mockingly. ‘Have you seen any steam vents? As we tramp backwards and forwards through this nightmare have you seen the smallest sign of a steam vent?’ He was still smiling.
Kley was struck by how much more controlled he seemed to be. He must feel that the probability of survival is improving, she thought, now that they were going back. ‘You heard that wheezing noise before, didn’t you? Maybe that’s what it was.’ Another stupid mistake, she thought, as soon as she said it.
Belay was chuckling. ‘That was a rat fart,’ he said, but then stopped smiling.
‘Do you think it was her?’ Sozerdor asked. ‘Screaming?
Do you think it was Rinandor?’ This time the question was put directly to Kley.
‘I don’t know,’ she said tiredly, ‘any more than you do. I suggest we get back on it and try to find out.’
As the others got slowly to their feet, Kley checked the coordinates again. She glanced back the way they