Doctor Who_ Original Sin - Andy Lane [15]
An armoured form lumbered over towards them, shielding its sensors. It was clutching a woman in its restraining arm. She was just hanging there as if unconscious.
‘You discovered the body?’ Forrester said to the bot as she clambered out of the flitter.
The bot swung to examine her. It was one of the latest INITEC models: humanoid, four-armed and eight feet tall. The company logo – an eye in the palm of an open hand – was embossed discreetly upon its carapace. ‘Ident?’
it asked in its uninterested voice.
She held her arm out. A low-intensity laser flicked across her wrist.
‘Ident confirmed,’ the bot continued. ‘Forrester, Roslyn Sarah. Adjudicator, Spaceport Five Undertown Lodge.’ It turned to Cwej. ‘Ident?’
Cwej glanced at Forrester, innocent puzzlement upon his face. She mimed holding her arm out. He followed suit, and laughed as the laser played across his fur.
‘It tickles!’ he said.
‘Ident confirmed,’ the bot said. ‘Cwej, Christopher Rodonanté. Assigned to traffic squad, Spaceport Nine Overcity Lodge.’
‘Yeah, transferred to Spaceport Five Undertown,’ Forrester snapped. ‘Keep up with the news. Where’s the body?’
The bot swung one of its four arms – the one equipped with the blaster –
towards a damp grey mass about eight feet long. She strode over. Cwej followed. Forrester bent down beside the body.
‘Hith,’ she said. ‘Don’t find many of them on Earth since we terraformed their planet.’ The offworlder’s chest was a mess. It looked as if it’d been carved like a turkey, and its eyestalks had been severed close to the head.
Forrester looked back to the woman in the grip of the robot. She was so bundled up against the rain and the cold that she could hardly bend her limbs.
Her face peered out from a beehive of towels and scarves like a monkey from 26
a forest, and her eyes had a dull, unfocused look, as if she had been drugged.
A sharp spike of metal dangled loosely from her left hand.
‘What happened?’ Cwej asked the bot.
‘Start report. Body was discovered during routine patrol. Suspect was standing over body. Suspect was apprehended. Suspect offered no resistance.
Suspect identified as Falvoriss, Annie Thelma, based upon subdermal biochip.
Victim unidentified. Local station supervisor was notified. End report.’
Forrester glanced across at Cwej. He shrugged.
‘Record,’ she said to the securitybot, then, to the woman: ‘I am obliged to inform you that your words, gestures and postures are being recorded and may form part of any legal action taken against you. Under the terms of the data protection act 2820, as amended 2945, I am also obliged to inform you that you and any appointed legal representative will be able to purchase a copy of all recordings upon payment of the standard fee.’
The woman just stared at her. A thin string of drool hung from her lower lip.
‘Drugs?’ Cwej ventured uncertainly.
‘Not now,’ said Forrester. ‘I’m on duty.’
Cwej’s pointed ears pricked up.
‘Joke,’ she added. He smiled uncertainly, revealing small, pointed teeth.
‘Okay,’ she said to the robot. ‘Disarm her, tag the weapon and put her in the back. Then notify the clear-up squad.’
It was just an accident.
Archer McElwee was practising his t’ai chi in the park. Every morning, as soon as the sun rose, he took the null-grav shaft up from his apartment to the roof of the tower and went through the whole set of exercises in the warm, golden glow. Repulsing the Monkey. The Heron Flying West. The Crane at Sunset. One hundred and thirty-five, he was, and he still felt like a ninety-year-old!
He took a deep breath and gazed around the park. The azaleas and sheckt bushes were in full bloom and, close by, a number of friends from the tower were also practising their exercises. It all looked so beautiful. He was a lucky man.
Beside him, Kan Nbaro turned to smile. She was