Doctor Who_ Original Sin - Andy Lane [62]
Forrester considered for a few moments, then consulted quietly with her teddy bear partner. ‘Agreed,’ she said finally. ‘The woman comes with us.
The man stays. I suggest that neither you nor we do anything . . . precipitous without consulting the other.’
‘Agreed,’ said Beltempest.
The Doctor sighed, and gazed sadly over at Bernice.
‘Don’t forget to write,’ he said.
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Chapter 8
‘I’m Evan Claple and this is The Empire Today , on the spot, on and off the Earth. Today’s headlines: the riots that began yesterday in the Asian Undertown continue. Three battalions of Adjudicators have already been sent in to calm the situation, and the Imperial Landsknechte are reported to be standing by. Eyewitnesses claim that the riots began after an underdweller was ejected from an Overcity shop and proceeded to open fire upon shoppers. Also, as investigations continue into the tragic orbital laser cannon blast that killed sixty thousand people in the Spaceport Eighteen Overcity, The Empire Today has learned that the incident may not have been an accident.
Details after the break . . . ’
‘This is ridiculous!’ the Doctor snapped, stamping his foot on the floor of Beltempest’s office. The carpet of Cerumenian whispering moss absorbed the noise and transformed it into a ripple of turquoise light that raced across the room and rebounded from the walls, forming an intricate interference pattern.
Beltempest, lounging in the recliner behind his desk, tried to keep a straight face, but the slight twitch of his large ears betrayed him.
‘Necessary, I’m afraid,’ he said, trying to make his voice sound regretful. ‘If any Imperial Landsknechte see you wandering around in your . . . habitual attire, then they’ll shoot first –’
‘– and ask questions afterwards,’ the Doctor growled.
‘No.’ Beltempest shook his head. ‘We don’t encourage questions in the Landsknechte. They’ll just shoot first. Security takes priority over everything.’
The Doctor looked down at the shiny black uniform that Beltempest had forced him, almost at gunpoint, to climb into. His own clothes sat in a forlorn pile beside him.
‘I’m going to need a tin-opener to get out of this.’
Beltempest levered himself out from behind his desk and circled the Doctor, tugging on fastenings and checking embedded circuitry.
‘Well, I’ve seen better, but you’ll do,’ he said finally.
‘But my face doesn’t even fit!’ the Doctor wailed. ‘Your Landsknechte look like somebody has lacquered their flesh. I’ve still got skin like a baby, and I want to keep it that way!’
107
‘You’ll get some second glances,’ Beltempest said firmly, ‘but the uniform should keep you alive, and there’s a built-in transponder that will allow you into the labs and nowhere else.’
The Doctor’s crumpled face glowered up at him. ‘What about the rest rooms?’ he said.
‘This isn’t a holiday camp,’ Beltempest snapped.
The Doctor reached down and picked up his hat. ‘A question,’ he said, cramming the battered fedora on his head.
Beltempest briefly debated knocking it off again, but the Doctor’s expression made him rethink At least the strange little man had got into the uniform. Let him have his little victory. ‘Go ahead.’
‘If the mere fact that I am attired in one of these obnoxious costumes renders me safe in the eyes of your guards, and enables me to enter high security areas such as your laboratories, then what’s to stop some intruder from stealing one and pretending to be a Landsknecht?’
‘Didn’t I mention?’ Beltempest smiled, picking up a small metal box from his desk. ‘The uniforms are bioengineered from an arthropod that lives on one of the moons of Threllinius Omega. Brainless, and consequently very loyal. Their nervous systems are surprisingly compatible with electronic augmentation.
That’s a rarity in the galaxy. We grow them into uniforms, and then key them to a particular wearer.’ He pointed the box at the Doctor and pressed a recessed