Doctor Who_ Match of the Day - Chris Boucher [16]
‘I misunderstood,’ she said, glaring at Fanson. Deliberately she rested her hand on the hilt of her knife. ‘It is not your concern.’
‘True,’ Fanson said. ‘I wouldn’t wave that gut-sticker about, by the way. Not without getting a very clear line to the nearest scanner.’ He pointed to a wall-mounted plate on the other side of the room. It was mirror-shiny and about the size of a man’s hand. ‘You might get to it in time but I wouldn’t bet my blood on it, kid. You’d be amazed how fast these new restraints work. They’ll cut your hands and feet off in a heartbeat.’
Leela scowled at him and wrapped her hand round the hilt as if to pull the knife. ‘Why should I believe you?’ she demanded.
Fanson shrugged and yawned. ‘Because I have your best interests at heart,’ he suggested. ‘Or because I couldn’t give a rat’s arse about you. Either way I have no reason to lie.’
‘People can lie whether they have reason to or not,’ Leela said.
Fanson shook his head dismissively. ‘There’s always a reason. You can’t always spot what it is, but there’s always a reason.’
The Doctor was making a cursory search for something that might give him an idea of the contents of the law library.
‘Nothing is without reason,’ he murmured. ‘It is the only thing that is.’ He glanced across at Fanson. ‘Are these all the law books that are available? Is there an index do you know?’
‘What are you looking for exactly?’
‘I don’t know exactly,’ the Doctor said. ‘Technical infringements I suppose.’
‘There’s a surprise. What sort of technical infringements do you suppose?’
‘I’m having trouble understanding the details,’ the Doctor admitted.
‘And the surprises keep on coming,’ Fanson smirked.
Leela was still hostile, bristling with it, the Doctor could see. Perhaps it was because Fanson was the only stranger around and she needed someone to blame, he thought. ‘And you?’ she demanded of the man. ‘What are you here for?’ Or perhaps it was because he seemed unfazed by her aggression: more than that it was as though it was what he expected and judged her by.
‘Listen kid; Fanson said, not unkindly, ‘you don’t ask people that in places like this. It’s bad manners.’
‘She’s young,’ the Doctor said. ‘She doesn’t understand the etiquette of these things. So what are you here for?’
‘Murder as it happens.’
‘That’s a crime?’ The Doctor could not keep the surprise out of his voice.
‘It would be if I’d done it,’ Fanson said, apparently taking the Doctor’s tone as ironic.
‘There you are you see,’ the Doctor said, this time making the tone more definitely satirical, ‘just when you think you’ve started to work it all out, nothing makes sense all over again.
We’re here on exactly the opposite charge.’
Fanson looked puzzled. ‘Which is?’
‘Non-murder presumably.’
‘There’s no such crime as non-murder.’
‘Leela’s charged with refusing to kill somebody. That’s non-murder in my book.’ He gestured around. ‘Though not in most of these I imagine.’
It was Fanson’s turn to be shocked. ‘Wait a minute, wait a scuffling minute here.’ He turned off his computer terminal and gave the Doctor his full attention. ‘Was this in a fight?
We’re not talking about a terminated challenge are we?’
‘I don’t know,’ the Doctor said. ‘Are we?’
Fanson looked at Leela. You left a challenger alive?’ he asked and when Leela nodded went on, ‘How feeble-minded are you? What happened, weren’t you paying attention, you got bored, you got distracted scratching your arse, what?’
‘He wanted to fight, I fought him, he lost,’ Leela said matter-of-factly. It was becoming a mantra the Doctor thought. ‘He was beaten. I did not need to kill him,’ she continued in the same bored voice. ‘I am a warrior. A warrior does not enjoy killing. A warrior does not kill unnecessarily.’
She made a point of not looking at the Doctor. ‘Despite what some people think.’
‘You did it deliberately.’ He looked at the Doctor. ‘She did it deliberately. I don’t know what to say. I’m speechless. I’m lost for words. Where were you?’
‘I was there.