Doctor Who_ Match of the Day - Chris Boucher [99]
„Pray we‟ve picked a quiet time on the rotation,‟ Finbar said. „Light traffic is what we could do with.‟
„What is the rate of collision?‟ the Doctor asked.
„About twice what they say it is,‟ Finbar said.
„Collisions?‟ Ronick grunted. „No one mentioned collisions.‟
„Not worth worrying about.‟ Finbar appeared to be enjoying his discomfort. „You‟ll be dead before you hear your ears explode.‟
The Doctor could see the countdown reading out in front of Finbar. He wondered if top of the range meant that he actually had little or nothing to do as a pilot. In which case he was really only functioning as a guide. If that‟s what he was: the Doctor was beginning to have his doubts...
„And we are out of here,‟ Finbar intoned, „in three, two, one, we have burn, we have full acceleration.‟
The Doctor felt the soft vibration whispering through everything. He didn‟t find the sensation reassuring. This was a primitive and fundamentally dangerous vehicle, he thought, unsound in principle and presumably unreliable in operation. For the umpteenth time since he and Leela had stumbled into this society he found himself regretting that he had allowed them to become more involved in it. This was all a minor matter, involving a minor aspect of an unimportant civilisation that was going nowhere and that was beginning to bore him. It seemed almost ungrateful, when they treated him as a celebrity, but all he could think was that they needed to get out of here.
„And we are on our way at last,‟ Finbar declared. „Melly Finbar is the name and first rate piloting is the game. Feel free to recommend me to your friends.‟ He jerked a thumb over his shoulder. „Usual offices are as previously described but should be marginally more comfortable with pseudo-grav on line. You will be living on concentrates and water but it won‟t be for long.‟
„I‟ve done a rough calculation,‟ the Doctor said. It was in fact a wild guess but that was technically a rough calculation and he wanted to sound authoritative to this cocky young man. There was something about Melly Finbar‟s confidence he didn‟t entirely trust. „To get to the nearest habitable planet, apart from the one we recently left, would take a very long time indeed.‟
„Did I say we were headed for a planet?‟
„You didn‟t say where we were headed,‟ Sita said. „You‟ve ducked the specifics every time.‟
Finbar shrugged. „Commercially sensitive information. If I told you where your man was you could have hired anybody to get you there. I‟ve lost work that way before.‟
„Consider this commercially sensitive information,‟ Ronick said, his voice menacingly soft. „Unless you stop scuffling us about I guarantee you will be alive to hear your ears explode.
What you won‟t hear is yourself screaming but don‟t let that fool you. You will be screaming.‟
Finbar looked singularly unimpressed. „Ooh scary,‟ he said.
„I‟ve gone all shivery.‟ He snorted with derision. „How stupid do you think I am?‟
„Are you looking for specifics or will a general assessment do?‟ Sita asked. „You do know who and what you‟re dealing with here, don‟t you? You haven‟t mistaken any of us for tourists.‟ She smiled coldly. „That would be a bad mistake to make.‟
„Fatal,‟ Ronick said, his voice still quiet and threatening.
„Difficult to learn anything from a fatal mistake,‟ Sita said and glanced at the Doctor as though expecting him to join in on what he already felt was a rather tired routine.
Finbar obviously felt the same. He yawned. „And which one of you three non-tourists is planning to fly this thing, assuming chubby here can handle himself in pseudo-grav, which I doubt?‟ He waited briefly. That‟s what I thought.‟
„Chubby?‟ Ronick growled. He pushed himself out of his seat. „You‟re making one fatal mistake after another, aren‟t you boy?‟ He reached towards Finbar, who easily avoided the half-hearted lunge, and he subsided again almost immediately.
It seemed indeed that he couldn‟t handle himself in pseudo-grav, the Doctor thought and said matter-of-factly,
„Strictly speaking you can only make one fatal mistake.
Unless you believe