Doctor Who_ Longest Day - Michael Collier [71]
'You're right.' He glanced up at the static sky and took another long look at the forest of time trees before looking down into the crater. 'The next question we don't need is: How do we get down there?'
***
'Wait!'
The two Kusks turned in surprise to hear the voice of a comrade.
'Why are you here?' asked one, looking pointedly at the brown skirt of the engineer class.
'You may need my skills in safely handling the device.' The engineer was aware that its voice was higher than theirs, and took pains to speak more gruffly.
'We are only retrieving the datacore, are we not?' The trooper looked at its fellow.
'That is what I will supervise.'
The two troopers turned without answering and moved onward. The engineer found itself following on more nervously behind.
***
Tanhith was pale and clammy, lying on the table in the deserted meeting area to which Sam had managed to manhandle him. She sat on a chair, waiting for him to come back round. The sun shone through gaps in the shutters, glaring into her eyes. She closed them and shook her head sadly, barely believing what had been happening. Her face and head were covered with cuts and bruises, her forehead in particular so swollen she felt like the elephant man. Not a pretty sight, she told herself. But then neither was Tanhith, so he couldn't talk. But she wished he would.
Things had quietened down outside. The camp doctor was trying to treat the survivors as effectively as he could with rationed supplies. She'd been told that she and Tanhith didn't qualify for aid or attention, and her protests had been ignored. She supposed she couldn't really blame them. They'd all been cooped up here for so long with nowhere to go, and nothing happening except the daily struggle to remain alive in this heat. Then strangers come along and before you know it everyone's maimed, or dead, and destruction's all around. That was the kind of apocalyptic effect the Doctor usually had on places. Perhaps his jinx had rubbed off on her, too.
The camp doctor had said they'd been given enough medical supplies allegedly for fifty years, but that figure had been optimistic at best and didn't allow for the kind of horror that had happened today. She'd thought it better not to push her luck in case they decided to kill her in retribution. She was keeping well out of Sost's way, and wondered vaguely what had happened to Felbaac.
Tanhith stirred at last, and Sam started anxiously forward. 'Don't try to move any more, you stupid sod. Just stay still. I'll get you some water.'
Tanhith exhaled a heavy, painful breath.'Let me die.'
'I refuse to let you be so melodramatic,' said Sam, ignoring the tightness at the back of her head that told her tears were impatient to come.'So drink this and get better.'
Tanhith wasn't looking at anything as he stared blankly upward. 'I saw the birds circling, flying up into the sun. They were wheeling like carrion in the sky, waiting for me to die.'
'Well, I got fed up waiting so I thought I might actually try to do something about it,' snapped Sam.'You saved my life out there in the desert, but I came from the moonbase. There's got to be a terminal out there, the other end of that matter transmitter. We can use it to get back to the moon.'
"The moon...' echoed Tanhith.'It's so far away...'
'It's still there, Tanhith. Things make a bit more sense there than they do here.You'll see -' she wiped his forehead with a piece of damp material ripped from her T-shirt - 'because you're coming with me.'
***
The Doctor had found no way to reach the strange device. 'We do appear to be rather stuck,' he muttered.
Suddenly a frightened face appeared at their feet, clinging on to the edge of the precipice. Anstaar screamed, and even the Doctor took a step back.
The bluish face screamed back at her, dirty teeth jagged and yellow, big black eyes wide with fear, thick fingers digging into the earth at her feet.
The Doctor shushed at the man, and the screaming stopped. The man shushed back at him. Anstaar looked at