Doctor Who_ Match of the Day - Chris Boucher [79]
„Yes, that‟s what I think.‟ She glanced at her wrist. „This is taking too long,‟ she said to Ronick. „There isn‟t going to be enough time.‟
„You want guarantees?‟ he muttered. „There are no guarantees.‟
„I want my hands and feet,‟ she snapped. „I paid for my hands and feet.‟
Ronick worked on grimly. „There‟s a theory,‟ he said eventually without looking up from what he was doing, „that if you put enough distance between you and the base unit the bands are inactive.‟
„A theory?‟ she said angrily. „A theory? I never should have listened to you.‟
„It‟s a possibility,‟ he said.
„A possibility.‟ She laughed without any sign of being amused. „What, that was the plan all along? You‟re going to test some half-baked theory using my wrists and ankles as experimental subjects?‟
„Well not this one anyway,‟ Ronick said triumphantly, as with a final angry buzz the cutter severed the band. „Other wrist,‟ he ordered without pausing.
The Doctor checked the timer. Unfortunately it looked as though Sita was right: there would not be enough time to do all four bands. And it seemed unlikely that the distance theory was anything more than wishful thinking. „Is there another cutter?‟ he asked.
„No,‟ Ronick said, peering closely at what he was doing.
„Why not?‟ Sita demanded.
„I didn‟t think of it,‟ Ronick said. „It was an oversight all right? I‟m sorry.‟
‘You’re sorry,‟ Sita said angrily. „You‟re sorry?‟ She looked at the Doctor. „What‟s your excuse?‟
„I haven‟t got one, I‟m afraid,‟ the Doctor said. It sounded to him that to add to their difficulties the cutter Ronick was using was beginning to lose its edge and was starting to labour.
Sita must have noticed the change in note too because she said, „You brought extra blades at least?‟
„Takes time to change them,‟ Ronick muttered.
„You really planned this meticulously didn‟t you?‟
„I got you out didn‟t I?‟
„Tourniquets?‟ she asked flatly and when he did not answer she said it again in exactly the same tone only louder.
„Tourniquets?‟
„Yes!‟ Ronick said angrily. „I brought tourniquets just in case.‟
„That part of the plan is working anyway,‟ she said bitterly.
„You brought four I imagine? May as well look on the bright side I suppose at least you get to keep one of them for your next gullible amputee.‟
„And at least you get to keep your brain functioning,‟ he said, moving the cutter backwards and forwards very slightly in an attempt to compensate for its declining effectiveness.
„Judging by this fiasco,‟ she snorted, „I‟m not sure that functioning is how I‟d describe what my brain has been doing.‟
The Doctor had been considering the way the bands worked. Presumably they were triggered to contract by some sort of microwave pulse technology and at the moment their particular frequency was blocked at source or simply not being sent at all. A contract instruction would be sent on a delay, with perimeter markers and tamper-warning relays and the like set to cancel the delay and trigger immediate contraction. The contract instruction would be stopped by a faint, ultra-short range microwave pulse generated by the wall-mounted scanner plates. He knew very little about microwave technology but it seemed reasonable to him to suppose that one pulse must in some way be the reverse of the other.
Ronick‟s cutter was making less and less headway with the second wrist band. „Come on, come on,‟ he was muttering to himself. „Come on you scuffling piece of crap.‟
Obviously with no signal, the Doctor thought, the bands remained inert and this allowed them to be tampered with without setting them off. He rummaged about in the pockets of his coat without success until finally he found the sonic screwdriver where it had fallen through a hole into the lining.
He ripped the hem open and took it out. It had occurred to him that he might be able to use the screwdriver to feed enough controlled power into an inert band to reverse its polarity and this might trigger it to open. Briefly he wondered why the idea of reversing the polarity