Doctor Who_ Longest Day - Michael Collier [43]
***
Felbaac marched across the yard with Yast and Tanhith. He was speaking quietly but his eyes betrayed his excitement. "They won't know we've seen them, so that gives us a little time.'
'How do you know?' twittered Yast, almost tripping over a shrivelling strand of bruk.
'Only a total fool would be out there in the desert in such heat, so far from the shelter. How fortunate we should have one so near to hand.'
Tanhith ignored the gibe.'Whatever you're planning, it had better be good.
That's a flagship. There could be hundreds of troops on board.'
'Against unarmed prisoners left to rot?' retorted Felbaac.
Against us.' Tanhith looked him directly in the eye. "They Ve come for us, haven't they? And you knew, didn't you?'
Felbaac returned the stare, then smiled. 'Of course. I asked them here.'
'You did what?'Yast's face screwed up in incredulity.
'Sangton. Head of one of the major Houses. My contacts unearthed some dirt on him: not much, but enough to get him nervous. I let it be known we had enough to topple his House, desecrate its standing with the
"Homeworld" for all time.'
'And you summoned him here.' Tanhith shook his head in weary disbelief.
'Think about it. A major hit like that will boost the rebellion's morale throughout the Outer Worlds. It'll be the push we need!' A fanatical gleam shone in Felbaac's eyes.
'And what's to stop him just blasting this place to smithereens!' said Yast, hands flapping nervously.
'He'll want me alive. He'll want to know how I came by the information, who else knows it, how far it's spread.' Felbaac actually seemed confident.
'There's a lot of supposition in your reasoning,' warned Tanhith.
'We need a victory,' said Felbaac, levelly.Tve engineered the situation, but you've got to help me finish the job.'
'Isn't that just another way of saying "I got you into this mess, now help me get out"?' asked Yast.
Felbaac fixed him with a stare, still apparently calm and relaxed.'I always take every opportunity to turn a situation to my advantage. Take...
Samantha, for example.'
'What about Samantha?' said Tanhith a little too quickly.
Felbaac came to a halt and looked meaningfully at him. 'She's nothing.
Nothing, you understand me?' He paused.'But we can make something of her...'
Felbaac began undoing the chain from the young alien girl's door.
Chapter 7
Words Without Actions are the Assassins of Idealism The misshapen craft cruised into position above the moonbase landing strip, spiralling down through the vacuum like an autumn leaf falling to the ground.
When it was a few hundred metres from impact, huge amounts of slime defied the lack of gravity and fell from the ship to the landing strip, sticking there, heavy treacly strands anchoring the craft and pulling it gently down to land. No retro rockets fired, or gravity jets. The ship simply settled down into the giant pool of slime it had jettisoned, dark and crab-like next to the bare metal of the base.
A sticky tunnel of the viscous fluid began building itself around a wafer-thin force field reaching out to the base airlock.
The Kusk standing in the observation bay of the moonbase swung its great head up and down in satisfaction.
***
The three Kusks had gathered some distance from the Doctor's car, staring balefully at it, impatiently stamping from foot to foot.
The shorter Kusk that had hunted down and killed Vasid rounded the corner. "The seeker ship has landed,' it rumbled. 'We must await further instruction.'
***
The Doctor woke up bewildered, aching and absolutely soaking wet. 'That was some party, Brigadier...' he whispered, hoarsely.
Then abruptly he sat up straight and stared around him with wide blue-green eyes, the long curls on his head shaking and bouncing as his head swung from side to side. 'A cave! Fascinating.'
'Now you're awake, who are you?'
The voice was female, more scared than