Doctor Who_ Original Sin - Andy Lane [131]
‘That’s very calculating,’ Forrester said. She wasn’t sure whether she approved of amorality on that scale or not.
‘Perhaps,’ Beltempest said, shrugging.
‘What about the provost-major you arrested?’ Cwej persisted.
The Provost-Major didn’t reply for a moment, concentrating instead on catching up with the Hith warriors. ‘He died,’ he said finally. ‘Someone had set up a mental booby-trap. The minute we arrested him, he pulled a gun and killed himself. No choice – it was an implanted reaction. We suppressed the news, brainwiped the Landsknechte who saw the body, and I took over. We 222
couldn’t trace the Doctor or Bernice back more than a few hours, so the only course left was for me to go along with the Doctor and hope he would lead me to the person behind the conspiracy. We couldn’t risk questioning the Doctor, for obvious reasons.’
‘Good thing we forced you to keep him alive,’ Forrester muttered sotto voce.
A sudden volley of blaster fire ahead, down a side corridor, made the leading Hith slow to a halt. Extruding a pseudo-limb, she waved the rest of them back.
‘Wonder what’s going on,’ Cwej said as they all flattened themselves against the wall.
‘Well, there’s one way to find out,’ Forrester replied as another outbreak of firing made them all flinch. ‘Just stick your head around that corner. If it comes back black and crispy, we’ll know there’s a problem.’
‘Thanks,’ Cwej said.
Ahead of them, the Hith were having a conference. Eventually one of them split off and slithered back towards them.
‘There’s one of us and one of you up ahead,’ it said. ‘They’re under fire. Any ideas?’
‘It must be Bernice and Powerless Friendless,’ Forrester said grimly.
‘Rescue them!’ Cwej exclaimed.
The Hith just looked at him.
‘Good idea,’ it said finally. ‘I’ll pass that one back.’
It slid away.
‘Goddess!’
Adjudicator Secular Genial Rashid shifted her position, trying to ease the ache of her piles as reports of the riots fought for attention on her centcomp screen. With her centcomp glasses on she couldn’t see the flames outside, but she knew that they were getting closer. Much closer.
She should be concerned about the spread of violence, she knew that. She should be deploying her forces, rounding up ringleaders, protecting the innocent majority who were squirrelled away in their homes and their shelters, waiting for peace to be restored. The riots, although violent and apparently spontaneous, only involved a minority of people. She should be thinking about moving the lodge.
She should be concerned about others, not herself.
And yet . . .
Forrester and Cwej had left Earth on the trail of two suspects without telling her. That meant they suspected something. They suspected that the official conclusion of the case was wrong, and if they suspected that, then they suspected her, because she had warned them off.
And they had come back. Again, they hadn’t told her.
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She reached out with a fat finger and touched a virtual button that hung in mid-air. A menu appeared before her. She navigated through several nested menus until she found the one she wanted: a list of known and suspected riot-ers and killers still at large. Faces of people seen running away from sabotaged walkways, recorded by nearby securitybots. Descriptions given by victims of acts of random and senseless violence. Names mentioned in the dying breaths of relatives and friends who had been murdered over lunch, or in bed, or during casual conversation. People who were to be shot on sight under the new emergency powers that the Adjudicator in Extremis had brought into effect by order of the Empress. Every Adjudicator had immediate access to the list through centcomp, wherever they were.
Rashid ran a hand over her oiled quiff, smoothing it back to perfection. Her puffy face creased into a smile as she typed two more names into the list.
CHRISTOPHER RODONANTÉ CWEJ
ROSLYN SARAH FORRESTER
If there was one thing that an Adjudicator hated more than anything else, it was an Adjudicator gone bad. The Creed demanded