Doctor Who_ Original Sin - Andy Lane [18]
moved from one non-existent place to another, growing as it did so. Policies changed, jobs were created and destroyed, planets changed ownership.
Something was wrong.
The man behind the desk didn’t believe in coincidence, and that meant that the sudden reappearance of both the long-lost Hith navigator and the Doctor must be regarded as probable enemy action. The Doctor was notoriously devious: this had the appearance of a classic opening gambit. However, the opportunity to obtain the Doctor’s time and space machine and rip it apart for its technological secrets was one that could not be missed.
The man thought for a moment, and smiled slightly. He didn’t need the Doctor, after all. The time machine’s secrets should be easy enough to crack.
Having the Doctor around might only prove embarrassing later on, given the man’s propensity for sudden escapes and amazing reversals of fortune.
The hands moved rapidly across the desk. His safest course of action would be to get the Doctor and his companion arrested on some trumped-up charge on the basis of faked evidence. That way his tame Adjudicator could safely brainwipe the two of them. The records would be straight, and there would be nothing to point the finger of blame on him. Not that he was worried, but it was best to be sure.
And he was always sure.
Some sort of scuffle appeared to be going on in the distance; a crowd was gathering around a fight. After a cautious initial look – life with the Doctor had taught her to be wary of anything out of the ordinary – Bernice ignored it. Instead, she let the walkway carry her to a point midway between two buildings, then walked across to its stationary edge and leaned against the semi-transparent bulwark.
‘Progress moves fast,’ she said as the Doctor caught up with her. ‘How do they keep it all up in the air?’
He took his hat off and fanned at his face with it.
‘Cheap and effective null gravity. One of the key discoveries that keeps the Earth Empire ahead of the opposition. Null-grav had been around for centuries, of course, but this particular variant was based on a completely novel principle. It caused a minor technological revolution, and a major demo-graphic one.’
He flipped the hat back up his arm and onto his head.
‘Everybody lives in the towers of the Overcity now,’ he continued. ‘Well, everybody who is anybody. Some levels are accommodation, some are shops, some offices and some are a mixture. Status depends on how high up you live. Implanted identification chips limit access to the levels you are allowed to visit, and no others.’
31
Bernice craned her neck and gazed down towards the ground and the shadows too deep for the sun to penetrate. Tiny lights seemed to flicker within the darkness.
‘Are those fires?’ she said.
‘Hmm? Yes, indeed. That will be the Undertown.’
‘The what?’
‘The slum area. The bit that got left behind when all this –’ He waved a hand at the surrounding towers. ‘– was built.’
‘Slums?’ she asked, disbelievingly. ‘Haven’t they done away with slums by now?’
‘It’s always like this,’ rejoined the Doctor. ‘The rich build upon the backs of the poor.’
He peered over the edge. ‘No doubt Ace would have said it was like Hong Kong hanging over Venice,’ he added. ‘Very pithy, was Ace.’
The Doctor broke off as a deep rumble shook the walkway. Looking up, Bernice saw the dark, irregular shape of a spacecraft descending through the atmosphere.
‘Is there a spaceport around here?’ she asked.
The Doctor grimaced. ‘There’s a spaceport everywhere,’ he said. ‘Hundreds of thousands of spaceships dock here every day. Trade and transport are so important to the Empire that the cities have been renamed for the spaceports.
This, for instance, is Spaceport Five Overcity, although it used to be known as Central City, and before that as London. According to your friend Homeless Forsaken, this is where the danger will start. Any ideas as to how we go about identifying it?’
Bernice puffed her cheeks out. ‘Nothing springs to mind,’ she murmured.
‘Unless . . . ’
The Doctor’s face was