Doctor Who_ Original Sin - Andy Lane [25]
Eventually the Reptiles packed up their instruments and bade Fillip a long farewell that involved many bowls of ale and proclamations of friendship.
He asked Laverne if she would consider spending the night with a balding, middle-aged paper-pusher, and to his astonishment, she said yes.
Laverne drove her flitter too fast through still-busy airspaces to her apartment, where they snapped laces and broke buttons in a race to see who could get the other’s clothes off faster. The Hith diplomatic mission was about as far from his mind as it was possible to get.
And while Fillip was asleep, Laverne poured most of a bottle of Arcturan brandy over the bed and set fire to him.
Despite the crowds, Powerless Friendless spent about half an hour slinking around one of the plazas, loitering at the entrances to the restaurants and trying to identify everything that he could smell before a securitybot moved him on. He didn’t mind; they turned a blind sensor most of the time. Occasionally one of them got a bit heavy-handed, but it was rare. Anyway, with the change he hoped to pick up that morning, he should have enough to buy something decent to eat.
But he had to earn the money before he could spend it.
He made his way along the nearest walkway to the tower on top of which he usually played, and went up in the null-grav shaft. Without a biochip, there was no way for centcomp to know that he was even there. Five levels of the tower were occupied by the offworld zoo, and he timed his arrival to coincide with its opening for the day. He wasn’t sure why, but something still drew him to it: the feeling that he had some kind of connection with it. People did their best to ignore him as they entered. He didn’t mind. He preferred being ignored. He had dedicated a number of years to being ignored. It was safer that way.
43
Once he had emerged in the plaza and spent a few moments taking in the vivid greens of the grass and the vibrant hues of the flowers, setting up was easy. Powerless Friendless slumped with his back against the rim wall, his hag’jat cradled in his lap. If it hadn’t been for his case acting as a collecting plate, he would have looked as if he were meditating.
As people passed by on their way to work, he played, and to avoid having to think about the press of other beings around him, the claustrophobic presence of so many other living creatures, he let his mind float amongst half-formed dreams of his home planet, Hithis, and of the wide blue sward where a Hith could slither for days without having to see another Hith.
After a while he pulled himself back and paused for a moment to empty out his hat and look around. Fortunately, the crowds had thinned out now, and his gaze was attracted by a human woman who stood a full head above the rest of the workers. She was wearing a baggy overall of some sort, with a brightly patterned waistcoat over the top, and she was carrying a carton of take-away food from one of the stalls that lined the plaza. A man was with her – a small man who scurried along as if he might trip over his feet at any moment. They were both looking at him, almost as if they were looking for him.
He tensed, ready to flee. He didn’t know why – who on Earth would be after him? – but it was an instinctive reaction and he could not fight it.
Too late: she stopped by his side. He let the last few chords die away, then looked warily up at her.
‘Hi,’ she said. ‘My name’s Bernice. What’s yours?’
‘Powerless Friendless,’ he said hesitantly.
‘This is my friend, the Doctor,’ she said. ‘We’re friends of another member of your race: Homeless Forsaken Betrayed And Alone. Do you know him?’
Powerless Friendless felt a shudder run through him. The rooftop blurred around him, and he tried to quell the rapid pit-pat of his lymph pump. Homeless Forsaken. He hadn’t heard that name for years. He’d been doing his best