Doctor Who_ Original Sin - Andy Lane [107]
She didn’t answer. She was just staring through the opening that the vault door had revealed. A strange grey light was playing across her face.
Cwej turned to follow her gaze. Through the doorway, a catwalk extended for a hundred or so metres. At the end of the catwalk was a spacecraft of a strange design, rounded and spiked, like some alien insect. Everything else 181
through the opening apart from the catwalk and the ship was a pearly, shifting grey that looked as if it was simultaneously infinitely distant and close enough to touch.
‘Isn’t that . . . ?’ Cwej started to say, but Bernice beat him to it.
‘Yes,’ she said quietly, ‘it’s hyperspace.’
182
Chapter 13
‘I’m Shythe Shahid and this is The Empire Today , on the spot, on and off the Earth. Reports from the Imperial Palace in orbit around Saturn suggest the Empress is on the verge of imposing martial law in selected Overcity areas in an attempt to contain the rioting that is slowly but surely eating its way like a cancer across the heart of the Empire. The first measure to be announced will almost certainly be a curfew, with death as the penalty for non-compliance. Meanwhile, it is rumoured that Professor Zebulon Pryce, noted scientist and mass murderer, has escaped from the Landsknechte Penal Institution on Dis. We go live now to . . . ’
The Doctor’s eyebrows rose in surprise and amusement, partly at what Hater Of Humans had said and partly at Provost-Major Beltempest’s openmouthed astonishment.
‘You’ve built an encampment on Purgatory?’ he said.
Hater Of Humans nodded.
‘Before terraforming Hithis,’ it said, ‘the Landsknechte preserved a portion of its surface and transplanted it to their own world. They did this not in remembrance of our planet, but as a trophy, and as an example of territory on which their tactics had been tested, and found to be lacking.’ Hater Of Humans sighed heavily. ‘It was all that was left of Hithis as we remembered it. After the War, some Hith were allowed to take menial jobs on Purgatory.
Dedicated agents managed to work out a way to disable the Landsknechte’s sensors. Our ships can slip in and out of Landsknecht space at will, without being detected. This encampment was built for myself and the Hith government in exile. Our agents – cleaners for the most part – alert us if an exercise is to be carried out, and we pack up the tents and leave the planet for the duration. Given the number of planetary environments on Purgatory, it happens very rarely.’
Beltempest was making spluttering noises through his trunk.
‘Good for you,’ the Doctor said, grinning. ‘I can, however, appreciate your desire to regain your own world, and presumably your plan is to use this sample of Hithis as a template with which to “Hithisform” your own world again.’ As Hater Of Humans nodded, he continued: ‘I do, however, have a question concerning this lost ship of yours.’
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Hater Of Humans sighed. ‘Yes, human?’
‘I’m not . . . Oh, never mind. What was so special about it? How exactly did icaron technology help you to construct a better warship?’
Hater Of Humans shrugged. ‘I am not a technician,’ it said loftily, ‘I am a ruler.’
The Doctor scowled. ‘Indulge me. What can you remember?’
The guard started forward, but Hater Of Humans waved her back with a languid pseudo-limb.
‘My advisors informed me,’ it continued, ‘that the main problem with our warships was the immense power they need to generate in order to enter . . .
hyperspace? and thus move between the stars. With so much power dedicated to that task, there was less to use for weaponry and manoeuvring in ordinary space. It seemed at the time a plausible argument.’
‘So?’
‘Somehow,’ Hater Of Humans said, ‘icarons helped solve this problem. I know not how. My only interest was in preventing the Earth Empire from raping our glorious planet. I would have grasped at any passing opportunity.’
The Doctor turned to Professor Pryce, whose eyes were closed and whose body was relaxed. ‘Professor? Perhaps