Doctor Who_ Lungbarrow - Marc Platt [29]
'Of course, there is you, K9. But who else real y knows him well?'
K9 whirred with consideration. 'Mistress? Does "to know well" imply longest duration of acquaintance?'
Leela spun the chair on its pivot. 'Possibly. But if that was the case, then the people that anyone knows best are their parents.'
'There are no parents on Gallifrey.'
'No,' she sighed. 'I thought that was sad.'
'Therefore the Doctor's earliest acquaintances were his Cousins at the House of Lungbarrow - no longer in existence.'
'We are going in circles,' she said, stopping the chair. 'There must still be Cousins.'
'Mistress?'
'The Doctor's Family. People leave the village, K9. It's an initiation when they leave the tribe to hunt in the forest alone. It is only the House that has disappeared.'
'The House is the people,' said K9.
Leela was astonished. 'But there must be records of other Cousins.'
'Negative, Mistress. No records. I have checked.'
She pulled at the beads in her hair. 'What happened to them? They cannot all be dead.'
K9's head lowered. 'No information, Mistress.'
'Then we must find some.' She thought for a moment and said slowly, 'Do you know Master Andred's security accession codes? The ones that he will not give to me.'
'One moment,' said K9. Again there was the whirring, which made her think he was receiving data from elsewhere.
'Affirmative, Mistress. I have the codes.'
'Well, do not tell me. I must not know.'
'Affirmative.'
'Now use the codes I do not know about to access Master Andred's security system.'
A sensor extended from the centre of K9's head and touched the console port on Andred's desk. 'System accessed,' said K9, more quickly than turning a key. 'From here I have access to eighty-six thousand three hundred and forty-six other systems.'
'Good,' said Leela. 'He cannot have checked all of those. See if any of them make a reference to the word
"Lungbarrow".'
***
'Why is everything so big here?' said Chris. 'I mean al the furniture?'
Arkhew snuffled into his sleeve again. 'It's the House,' he said as if it was obvious. 'Don't you have a home?'
'Yes, but not like this,' said Chris. 'We sit down on chairs. You have to climb up into them.'
Arkhew looked bewildered. 'I thought all Houses were the same. It's when you leave home that you grow up. The furniture here is big to make you feel small.'
Chris stood quickly as the tall woman cal ed Innocet hurriedly pushed through the gathering towards them. Like someone on the run, he thought. Behind her, leaning heavily on a cane, came the elderly man in dark green. The man who had been hunting her in the study.
'Cousin Glospin,' muttered Arkhew, making no attempt to disguise his hatred.
'I'd guessed,' said Chris.
'Innocet,' barked Glospin. 'I want a word with you.' He caught her arm and pulled her into an alcove by one of the windows. 'There were some documents that I left in my room, but someone has disturbed them.'
'Yes,' she said simply. 'You were missed here. I came to find you, but you were busy with your "visitor" from the Chapterhouse.'
Glospin tapped his cane irritably on the floor. He scowled round at the glances they were getting from the rest of the family. Chris had moved in, followed by Arkhew, to get a front-row seat.
The old man leant in towards Innocet and hissed, 'The captain has delivered the facility to transfer Quences's mind to the Matrix on his death. As is the custom.'
'Natural y,' said Innocet.
43
'Hang on,' muttered Chris to Arkhew. 'Does that mean that Quences isn't dead after al ?'
The little man looked at him in bewilderment. 'He hasn't read his wil yet.'
'And the documents?' Innocet continued.
'Not a word!' warned Glospin. 'Those are private papers which you had no business to read.'
She stared in disbelief. 'You must be mad. This research of yours... it's wild nonsense. No one wil believe you.'
'I want the Family purged once and for all of this monstrous infection.'
'I forbid it,' she said. 'Those documents wil not go to the Chapterhouse.'
His thin shoulders shook with laughter. 'Innocet, Innocet. Go back to your