Doctor Who_ Return of the Living Dad - Kate Orman [64]
‘Um,’ said Chris.
‘If you ever do it again,’ said Roz, ‘I’ll rip your head off.
Understood?’
‘Yes,’ Chris squeaked.
She grabbed hold of the front of his pyjama top and yanked, pulling him down over the counter. Their mouths met in the centre.
‘Good,’ said Roz indistinctly, a few minutes later. ‘Now that we’ve gotten that out of the way, how about lunch?’
The gun’s kick had surprised him. It was a small electric pistol, used for stunning rodents, part of the ship’s odd stock of emergency equipment.
Albinex gingerly tucked it into the pocket of his jacket.
The Doctor was sitting on the floor of the engine room, blinking rapidly.
‘Don’t try to hypnotize me,’ he told the Time Lord.
‘No,’ said the Doctor. He stood up, with the help of one of the benches.
‘That wasn’t torture,’ said Albinex. ‘It was self-defence.
Don’t try to hypnotize me.’
‘Can I ask you a question?’
‘All right,’ said Albinex, warily.
‘How long have you been planning this? How have you kept it from Isaac?’
‘That’s two questions,’ said the Navarino. ‘Isaac’s just a stepping stone. When I was stranded here, he was my best bet to find someone who could help me. I’ve been waiting a long time.’
He tilted his head, trying to read the Time Lord’s expression. ‘You still don’t trust him. I’m surprised. He trusts.
He’s not always looking for ulterior motives. Which makes you the more intelligent one.’ He waved the gun. ‘Fix the engine. I’ll be back in an hour.’
The Doctor folded his arms and raised an eyebrow.
‘Don’t you want to see your TARDIS again?’
‘I was wondering when you’d get to that.’
‘You knew I had her?’
‘I knew she was on board the ship that was arriving above the crop circle. And I knew it wasn’t a Lacaillan ship.
Only a handful of species had, have or will have time technology.’ He tapped a fingernail on the bench. ‘Why don’t you let me see her? To show me she’s all right?’
‘She’s not aboard. Not anymore. But I know where she is. Fix the engine.’
‘Albinex,’ said the Doctor, as the Navarino backed towards the door. ‘I’m not going to give you the destructor codes.’
Albinex stared at him.
‘That’s a fact. Alter your plans accordingly.’
‘We’ll see.’ He stepped carefully out through the door, keeping his gun trained on the Doctor, and shut and locked it.
Albinex slumped against the wall, realizing he was shivering all over. This was hard. This was the hardest thing he’d ever done. Killing the crew and passengers had been a doddle compared with this. Eater Of All Flesh! It was as though the man could see into his head!
The stories. The stories were all true.
He looked at his watch. There was no way the Doctor was going to help him — the man just couldn’t be frightened.
In the next hour, he was going to have to come up with something else.
23 Jason
One of the first things Jason Kane had learnt, when he’d been sucked through space and time into Alien Wonderland, was that it’s almost impossible to escape from anywhere through the ventilation shafts.
This, Jason would explain to you if you had a moment, was because air doesn’t need much space. If you need to ventilate something — an underground complex, a huge building, a luxury spacecraft — you can do it quite adequately through ducts too narrow for a cat. There might be one or two shafts or access areas big enough for humans, but there won’t, as a rule, be a convenient network scattered through the structure.
If you want to creep about unnoticed, your best bet is either a friend in security or a talent for disabling bits of technology, such as locks and cameras.
Unfortunately, Jason had almost no talent whatsoever in this department.
Fortunately, there weren’t any security cameras, and none of the doors were locked.
He’d been wandering around the yacht for an hour. It had taken him forever to work out how to open the TARDIS door, kicking himself mentally that he hadn’t paid more attention.
He’d thought it was a ghost ship at first. He’d cupped both hands around his mouth to shout out, see if anybody was aboard, but some instinct stopped him. Later, thinking