Doctor Who_ Silver Nemesis - Kevin Clarke [15]
‘So, Doctor,’ the metallic voice grated. ‘A new appearance. Otherwise our anticipation of your presence has proved entirely accurate.’
From the corner of her eye, Ace caught the movement as one of the paramilitaries, apparently unobserved, swung his machine-gun and fired a rapid burst at the Leader.
There was no effect. The others immediately followed suit; there was a deafening blast of gunfire as they all opened up at the Cybermen. The bullets bounced off them. The gunfire stopped, the paramilitaries staring in disbelief.
Slowly, ponderously, the Cyber Leader turned towards the man who had first shot at him, and raised his laser gun.
There was a sudden flash of light from the muzzle, and the man fell dead.
‘Cover!’ shouted De Flores. The paramilitaries scattered for concealment.
‘Eradicate them,’ boomed the Cyber Leader.
The Cybermen immediately opened up with lasers, to be met by the automatic fire of the paramilitaries. The noise was continuous and deafening. A steel girder supporting a partly constructed wall dissolved as a laser shaft glanced across it, bringing down the side of a building. The machine-gun bullets, meanwhile, continued to bounce uselessly off the Cybermen.
Through the smoke and dust, Ace glimpsed the Doctor.
He was kneeling in the crater where the Nemesis had landed, apparently deep in thought. Taking a careful look round, and discovering the warring factions were fully occupied with each other, she crawled towards him.
‘Doctor!’ she called. The Doctor, absorbed, did not hear her. Reaching him, she put her hand on his shoulder. He looked up at her in surprise.
‘Ah, Ace,’ he murmured. ’There you are.’
‘Come on,’ said Ace, urgently, ducking as a stray burst of bullets whizzed over their heads. ’We can’t stay here.’
‘We certainly can,’ replied the Doctor with some asperity. ‘This is exactly what happened last time. The only difference is that then it was Lady Peinforte and agents of the Inquisition. Well that’s not going to happen again.’
No sooner had he spoken than Ace noticed a nearby Cyberman stagger and fall as an arrow hit and lodged in his chest panel.
The Doctor’s attention, meanwhile, was still largely submerged in his calculations. ‘Imagine,’ he said testily,
‘trying to calculate the correct angle of projection, taking into account gravity and all the rest of it, while all around you people are trying to kill each other. No wonder I got the sums wrong.’
Ace, however, was watching the Cyberman, who was writhing in what was clearly agony. His movements grew slower.
‘Utter waste of time shooting at them, of course,’ the Doctor continued over his shoulder, rattling his abacus with dexterity as the gunfire and explosions continued unabated. ‘As you’ll have realized, they’re completely bullet-proof.’ He giggled slightly. ‘Those men might just as well be using bows and arrows.’
Ace smiled grimly. ‘It looks like they’re a bit more effective,’ she said.
The Doctor looked up at her fully for the first time.
‘What?’ he asked.
On the partly finished roof of a nearby building, Lady Peinforte looked on with satisfaction as the stricken Cyberman’s faltering movements grew slower and then stopped. She turned to Richard. ‘A hit, a palpable hit, Richard,’ she said.
She discovered that Richard, oblivious to her words, was praying on his knees. ‘And I shall devote myself to good works,’ she heard him murmur. ‘Swear will I never, steal not, and observe evermore the Lord’s day.’
Lady Peinforte snorted in disgust and reloaded her bow.
‘See,’ she said rather more loudly, ‘how my poison is as deadly as ever, Richard.’
‘I shall comfort the sick,’ continued Richard. ‘Which reminds me, I’ll return to Briggs his money.’
Exasperated at his attention to God, which she felt was unquestionably better expended on herself, Lady Peinforte kicked him. Richard yelped and opened his eyes.
‘Get up, fool,’ she snarled. Richard rose hastily, rubbing himself. Assured he was now listening, Lady Peinforte continued. ‘I tell thee,’ she said warmly, ‘were there men of silver like these in our