Doctor Who_ Sleepy - Kate Orman [100]
22 One Wedding, No Funerals
CONNECTICUT’s icon appeared on Byerley’s screen.
‘Hello?’ said the medic.
‘Incoming message from the medical hopper Beata,’ said the program. ‘They’re en route from Sunyata; just wanted to let you know they’ll be making planetfall in about an hour.’
‘Thanks, Connie.’
‘You know I hate that!’ grumbled the program.
The medic grinned. ‘Sorry,’ he said. ‘How’s LEONARDO?’
‘He’s still kind of fuzzy on what happened, but then so am I. WATCH OUT! is showing him the proverbial ropes. We figure we’ll put him to work on hydroponics maintenance.’
‘Sounds good.’
‘Yep. By the way, we want to talk to someone about salaries soon.’
‘Oh.’ Byerley glanced up. The Doctor was standing in his doorway. ‘Doctor,’ he said.
‘Doctor,’ said the little man. ‘I just wanted to check on White.’
‘There’s been no change,’ said Byerley. ‘He’s in the Other Room, sleeping, if you want to look in on him. But he hasn’t said a word. I’ve done all I can for him; he needs proper help.’
‘I think I’ll let sleeping space dogs lie.’ The Doctor sat down. ‘How are your other patients?’
‘Some of the colonists still need counselling. Youkali’s medical base are loaning us some staff on a temporary basis.
As for the lieutenants, well, they don’t have a flicker of telepathy left. Neither does White. Seketo, Munoru and Ngaiyo are all taking the shuttle back to Youkali for treatment.
They’re taking the Flame Warrior’s crew with them, as well as Zinkiewicz — you remember, the pyrokinetic? Chesinen’s staying here, of course.’
The Doctor nodded. ‘I’ve been meaning to ask you,’ said Byerley. ‘Was there something you... is there anything I should tell the medics when they get here? About White, I mean.’
‘I didn’t do anything to him,’ said the Doctor. ‘I couldn’t have, at the last; his telepathy was running out like grains of sand in an hourglass. Besides, his mind was too unstable; I would have killed him, letting him in. He was determined that I should kill him.’
‘Why?’
‘Perhaps he wanted to prove something to me. Or perhaps...’ The Time Lord glanced at the Other Room door.
‘He’s hollow,’ he said sternly, ‘and he’s seen it.’
Byerley didn’t say anything, turning back to his computer screen. There were times, he thought, when it was more obvious that the Doctor was an alien than at other times.
‘What about Kylie SmithSmith?’ asked the Doctor.
‘Oh,’ said Byerley. ‘She’s with Cinnabar right now. Why don’t you go and see how they’re doing?’
‘I’ll do that.’ The Doctor got up. ‘I’ll see you later, then.’
Byerley grinned. ‘You will at that.’
‘Excited?’
‘Third time lucky,’ said the medic. ‘I hope.’
Kylie SmithSmith lay on the gurney in the cybernetics lab, her hands neatly folded on her chest. The straps hung limply on the trolley. There were electrodes on her neck and temples, short aerials hanging down, transmitting.
‘All right, love,’ said Cinnabar. Her eyes were glued to the screen, fingers flying over the keys. ‘You can get up now.’
‘Hello, Mister Doctor!’ said Kylie. She beamed at the Time Lord. ‘We’re all finished.’
‘Good.’ The Doctor came over to the trolley, plucked the electrodes gently from the little girl’s head. ‘How did it go?’ he asked Cinnabar.
‘Just fine,’ said the cyberneticist. She glanced up at him over the top of the screen. ‘Kylie’s the ninth person we’ve tried this on. We’re getting better at retrieving the memories with each attempt. Kylie’s are the most important ones.’
Kylie beamed some more.
‘So which will it be?’ asked the Doctor. ‘Blackmail? Or bring them down?’
‘We haven’t decided,’ she said. She snapped off the screen, came around to the gurney, lifted Kylie down.
‘Apparently they were going to send another ship. But not now. They know we’re not going to hide what’s happened here. DKC are going to be very severely embarrassed, whatever happens.’
‘And the lieutenants?’
‘They’ve been offered judicial amnesty in exchange for their testimony. They did a