Doctor Who_ Lungbarrow - Marc Platt [56]
Apart from the unconscious grey-uniformed guards on the walkway, there was no sign of resistance. Leela crouched to pick up a gun. As she hefted it in her hand, she heard Andred's rebuke. 'No more weapons, Leela.
Not in the Capitol.'
'They have their place,' she muttered. But the look of derision in the serpent Time Lord's eyes came back to her.
'How barbaric,' he gloated.
She threw the gun over the side with a look of regret. She didn't feel a more proper person for it.
'Mistress!' urged one of the K9s.
She turned and followed them as they headed towards the central hub. She felt the walkway sway a little in the wind.
'Where are all the guards?' she called.
'Summoned away,' said a K9, but she could not tell which. 'Requisitioned by Presidential order to quadruple security at the Capitol after the insurrectionist outrage.'
'What?'
'The bombing, Mistress,' translated the other K9 whom Leela guessed to be hers.
'What bomb?' she said. 'Is Andred safe?'
'Affirmative, Mistress.' The K9s had reached the hub and halted.
'Then we must hurry to join him,' said Leela. 'How do we get out?'
'Negative, Mistress.'
'We can't stay here. They must be watching us.' She stared around the vast darkness for observation points.
'All security systems disabled, Mistress.'
K9 Mark II added, 'I have instructions from the Mistress.'
79
' My Mistress is the Mistress,' said Mark I. 'Not your Mistress.'
'Negative,' said Mark II. 'The Mistress is my Mistress. My: adjective or genitive of pronoun I. The Mistress Romana.'
'Romana sent you,' exclaimed Leela with relief. 'But I thought she wasn't... Does she have a K9 too? She never told me.'
'Pay attention, Mistress Leela,' said K9 Mark I.
'Don't butt in, K9,' said Leela. 'The other K9 has a message.'
'Affirmative,' said K9 Mark II. 'The mission is fifty per cent complete. You are not the only prisoner here.'
'Another prisoner?' she said, scanning the routes to the other cells.
'Affirmative.'
In the facing wall of one cell, there was a torn gaping mouth. Leela slowly climbed up the walkway towards it.
She heard a scuffle of movement. Something launched over the side of the rail at her. An arm snaked round her neck from behind, catching her throat in its crook. 'Too right!' said a woman's voice.
Leela instinctively pincered back her elbows and kicked.
Kicked on nothing. The full weight of her attacker landed high on her back.
'Now get me out of here!' demanded the voice.
Leela swung herself wildly to one side and then the other, trying to dislodge the woman. The robe that Andred made her wear hindered her movement. Her opponent clung on like a leech.
Leela spun on one foot and was face to face with the guns of the two K9s, both jostling to get a clear shot at her attacker.
'No guns,' she shouted at them. She froze where she stood. Something metal pricked at the skin of her throat.
'Get me out of here,' said the fierce little voice.
'Dorothée McShane,' cal ed K9 Mark II.
'Skip the cal ing cards. Get me out.'
The whole walkway jolted.
Leela stumbled and deliberately lost her balance. She twisted sideways as she fell, hoping to crush her opponent's arm.
The woman called Dorothée yel ed in pain and rolled away. Something metal jangled away from her hand. It was a key, not a knife.
'Mistress! Emergency! Withdraw! Abandon the walkway!'
80
Leela heard the K9s' urgent warnings, but she was too busy to listen.
In a moment, Dorothée was up and facing Leela. She was short with long, tangled brown hair and was wearing black. Her eyes were cold with rage. Leela recognized a warrior when she saw one. But this woman's hunting instinct was out of control.
Dorothée launched herself again, but Leela ducked low, catching and cartwheeling the woman over