Doctor Who_ Match of the Day - Chris Boucher [33]
„There‟s no need to be afraid,‟ said the Therapist. „There will be no pain.‟
As the computer took control of the treatment and began to feed delicate patterns of annihilating current through the needles, Fanson fought to think. Last words. Last words of Jerro Fanson. Say something. One final word before I leave, folks. He was slipping it was too late too late too... „Keefer,‟
said Jerro Fanson in a murmur that was barely audible but that echoed loud and strong through his collapsing mind.
„Kill them gaudy, Keefer.‟
And then he was gone.
Chapter Six
„The duel was valid up until that point,‟ the High Referee said. „It was a spot challenge, notified within the rules as codified in Appendix 17 of Kill Rule One.‟
In the wall Jarvis, the security man, pressed the Doctor again. „There‟s no reason to wait. The systems are recording.
All the legalities are in place. You must fight me. You have no choice.‟
The Doctor watched himself smile and stick both hands into his trouser pockets and say to the man, „There‟s always a choice.‟ It was definitely unaggressive, he decided, passive even but there was something a bit smug about it. Smugness can be passive and aggressive at the same time. Was he being passive-aggressive? Another saying, from one of those holy books that held so much sway on Earth, drifted into his mind: the soft answer turneth away wrath. Nice simple idea, he thought, probably a bit too simple.
Again Jarvis loosened the handgun in its holster and repeated, „You must fight me. You have no choice.‟
And then Leela stepped in between them and said, „Yes he has.‟
„The challenge was accepted,‟ the High Referee went on, „as codified in Appendix 17 and re-codified in Subsection 27 and is defined as a Diverted Acceptance.‟
In the wall the confrontation was repeated from another angle: „There‟s no reason to wait. The systems are recording.
All the legalities are in place. You must fight me. You have no choice.‟ „There‟s always a choice.‟ „You must fight me. You have no choice.‟
„Yes he has.‟
Again and again the confrontation was repeated from different angles and sightlines, around and around the three protagonists, until it seemed to the Doctor that the words began to be stripped of meaning. What began as nonsense was becoming gibberish...
„If it will assist the court,‟ he said finally, turning back to face the members of the tribunal, „the defence accepts that the challenge was made and accepted according to the law.
We are ready to move on to what happens next.‟
The gun-ship was poised to go when Sita led her squad across the lift-off platform towards it. The pilot gestured urgently for her to get a move on but she ignored him. They were not exactly hustling and she had no intention that they should. They moved at a regulation trot, their multifunction riot guns holstered, muzzle down, across their backs. This had all the signs of becoming a major scuffle-up and at that moment all she could think of to minimise the likely damage was to delay things as much as possible without actually provoking a direct confrontation with the Shift Controller.
The moron might yet make it necessary for her to identify herself and countermand his orders. But to do it she would have to disobey her own orders and the longer she could delay taking that decision the better. If the scuffwit had made up his mind sooner she wouldn‟t have this problem.
Keefer heard the ragged line of people coming towards him.
By the time they passed him they were already on full helmet intercom routines and it was clear from the muttered exchanges that these were now their only links with each other. Someone paused just beyond where Keefer was lying.
He could place the position but nothing more. There was no way to be certain what direction they were facing or how completely the smoke was isolating them.
Keefer sucked in a full breath through the tube and raised the level of his other senses. Earth pressed and scratched his face. Acrid smoke bit at his throat and filled the back of his nostrils. The blackness