Doctor Who_ Original Sin - Andy Lane [60]
‘Bernice Summerfield?’
‘Who’s asking?’
‘The Order of Adjudicators.’
‘Oh. Well, in that case, very probably. Unless I’m not. Which happens.
Sometimes.’
‘Whatever. You’re under arrest in any case.’
Bernice groaned, and threw her arms up. ‘What is this? I’ve been accused, tried and sentenced for this already. Look around you. The execution was just taking place!’
The Adjudicator shrugged. ‘Nothing to do with us,’ she said.
‘Then what’s the charge?’
‘Murder.’
‘Murder?’
‘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. I’m obliged to tell you that, but I won’t bother. Just don’t piss us around.’
She beckoned her companion over. He looked pleased to be dragged away from the bodies.
‘Cwej,’ she said, ‘take them back to the shuttle.’
‘Hang on!’ Bernice cried. ‘Just hang on a doggone minute! Who’s dead?
Who the hell are we supposed to have killed?’
‘You’ll see the charge sheet when we get you back to Earth. Cwej! Get the guy.’
‘Er, boss.’
There was something in his tone of voice that attracted Bernice’s attention.
She turned to follow Cwej’s gaze, and felt her jaw drop open at the sight that met her eyes.
103
The Doctor was bending over Fazakerli’s body. He had opened the Landsknecht’s skull with a small buzzing device and was quite calmly probing about in the man’s brain. Bernice couldn’t believe it. He looked as if he were searching for something, like a little kid running his hands through the Christmas pudding mix looking for the shilling. He was whistling.
Provost-Major Beltempest was crouched beside him, his trunk dangling almost to the ground. He seemed fascinated by what the Doctor was doing.
Cwej very quietly turned around and threw up against the force wall.
‘Doctor . . . ’
Without turning his head, he said, ‘Yes, ‘Bernice?’
‘Er, Doctor, we were wondering what you were up to.’
‘Looking for evidence.’ He grunted with effort, and very carefully eased the two lobes of Fazakerli’s brain apart.
Cwej, who had straightened up, bent over convulsively again. Steaming liquid splattered against the barrier.
‘I’ve seen evidence hidden in a lot of places,’ the female Adjudicator said almost conversationally to Bernice, ‘but that’s a new one on me.’
‘What’s your name, by the way?’
‘Forrester.’
‘Ah!’ the Doctor exclaimed. ‘Look!’
Beltempest bent closer, and gasped. Bernice and Forrester stepped forward.
Cwej turned away.
Bernice craned her neck to get a better look at what the Doctor was doing, even though her stomach rebelled at the sight. The tissue of Fazakerli’s brain had been prised apart by the Doctor’s nimble fingers, exposing the lobes, the stringy bundle of the corpus callosum and a mess of membranes and blood.
And a vein of fire that ran through the tissue and faded as Bernice watched.
‘What was that?’ Beltempest asked.
‘Something I’ve seen before. Incontrovertible evidence that this man’s mind has been affected by outside influences,’ the Doctor said darkly. He stood, and was just about to wipe his hands on his jacket when he realized how much blood and brain matter was on them. He held them out to Bernice.
‘Tissue?’ he asked hopefully.
‘Bless you,’ she said. ‘What made you think that it had?’
‘His actions.’ The Doctor gazed around, and ended up wiping his hands on the force wall, leaving a reddish-grey smear that the teddy bear Adjudicator couldn’t seem to take his eyes off. ‘As the provost-major here said, these men are trained.’
‘Trained killers!’
‘Yes, but this man completely forgot all of his training. Were you watching his face? It came over him like a wave. Sheer bloodlust.’
104
‘There’s a lot of it around,’ the female Adjudicator said.