Doctor Who_ Match of the Day - Chris Boucher [106]
In the meantime the other two would-be guards had drifted to where they could touch firm surfaces and they were beginning to get themselves under control. Keefer extracted the sabre and launched himself from the bulkhead, pushing off hard with his legs. This trajectory blind-sided one of them and he killed him as he passed with a cut to the throat.
Keefer reached the surface he was aiming for and used it to turn and kick off again. While the remaining hakai-warrior was still trying to turn towards him he severed the man‟s spinal cord with a cut to the base of his neck.
Blood-soaked and abruptly nauseous, Keefer pushed himself back to the control unit of the hydraulic arm. As the clammy feeling of sickness passed he set about detaching the machine from the brackets that had temporarily anchored it in position.
It had all been ridiculously easy, the Doctor thought as he strode through the passageways of the Ultraviolet Explorer, following the scurrying figure of Melly Finbar. They had docked, disembarked and set off to reconnoitre, and so far no one had so much as noticed them never mind challenged them. He was fairly sure he had glimpsed movement ahead at junctions in the passageways but by the time they reached them everything was deserted. Finbar would pause dramatically at such crossing points, peering this way and that before gesturing them forward. To add to the Doctor‟s discomfort he found that his normal stride was lengthened and made slightly haphazard by the reduced gravity. He was finding it difficult to match his pace to the smaller man, who was clearly more adept at coping with this pseudo-grav nonsense. A little way behind, Ronick and Sita were having even more difficulty.
„If you could have whatever you wanted,‟ Ronick was grumbling, „why would you choose this?‟
„You can get used to anything,‟ Sita said.
„But if you‟ve got more money than the gods, you don‟t have to. You don‟t adapt to the world, the world adapts to you.‟
„You always adapt,‟ the Doctor said. „You may not realise it‟s happening but everyone always adapts. No one person has ever been powerful enough to have any world adapt to them.‟ He stopped walking. „Finbar?‟ he called and the pilot turned. „I‟m bored with these charades. Let‟s get to the gore shall we?‟
Finbar hurried back. „Get to the gore?‟ He looked puzzled.
„Where are you taking us?‟
„To find this Keefer character you‟re looking for.‟
„And how are you doing that exactly? Extra sensory perception? Muddy footprints? A very acute sense of smell perhaps?‟
„I don‟t understand.‟ Finbar‟s puzzled frown deepened and became even less convincing.
The Doctor smiled broadly. „I think you do.‟ He was tempted to pat the young man on the shoulder and advise him against giving up the day job. „Take me to your leader.‟
„My leader?‟
„Your employer, your sponsor, your pay mistress, whatever you want to call her. The woman obviously has some reason for wanting us here so take us to her. Only without all the histrionics, there‟s a good chap. They‟re not really very convincing.‟
„You still don‟t trust me.‟ Finbar had changed his expression from puzzlement and now he was doing his best to look hurt and dignified. „I might as well leave you to it then.‟
„I don‟t think so,‟ Ronick growled and stumbled over himself to grab Finbar by the front of his coveralls.
„I can‟t think of a single reason why I should try and help someone who doesn‟t trust me,‟ Finbar said.
„Yes you can.‟ Ronick pulled the skinny pilot close. „Now do as the nice man says.‟
„Or what?‟ Finbar demanded.
„Or we‟ll ask the naked fat man,‟ Sita said, nodding towards the hakai-warrior who was standing at the junction of the passageways.
As they all turned to look the Fat Boy was joined by two more. They all drew their sabres.
Leela looked