Doctor Who_ Sleepy - Kate Orman [16]
Better to risk a relatively small group at first.’
She handed Roz a cube and a utensil. Chris took his plate awkwardly, still trying to struggle out of his breastplate.
The Older woman said, ‘What will you and Byerley do?’
‘I don’t know.’ Cinnabar put her plate down, suddenly. I just don’t have any idea.’ She pushed her face into her hands. ‘I don’t think anyone knows.’
Benny blinked awake and wriggled her hand out through the tent opening. It wasn’t just raining, it was pelting down.
She rolled over, and sloshed.
‘Holy tents, Batman!’ There was an inch of water in the tent. She pulled her torch out from inside the sleeping-bag and shone it around. Yep, there it was — a long rip in the side of the tent, probably created by her desperate fumbling with it earlier in the day.
She wriggled out of the narrow plastic tube, the torch beam swinging around in the blackness. Zaniwe was sticking her head out of the other tent. ‘What’s up?’
‘My tent’s awash!’ Benny shone the torch on the rip.
‘You’d better grab your stuff and come in here then!’
shouted the black woman over the rain.
‘You’re sure that’s okay?’
‘Of course! Get in here before you drown!’
Benny knelt on the wet rocks in front of her tent, rummaging inside. Most of her stuff was safely tucked away in the backpack. She threw in her boots and a soggy National Geographic, zipped the bag up, and dived for cover.
It was a tight squeeze, even though Zaniwe’s and Jenny’s tent was much larger than Benny’s. Several moments of giggling, wriggling and fumbling with a lantern followed. Finally Jenny got the light to work, and Benny discovered she was wedged upside down between them on top of their sleeping-bag.
‘This is a little intense.’ Zaniwe groaned. ‘Sorry, folks,’
said Benny, wriggling.
‘We have been awake for some time in any case,’ said Jenny, sitting up on one elbow. ‘Talking about Cinnabar and Byerley.’
Benny unzipped her pack, got out her big coat and started tugging it on. ‘Oh yes?’
‘About their wedding, actually,’ said Zaniwe. ‘Did they tell you about it? Just before you turned up.’
Benny shook her head. ‘Cinnabar mentioned they’d had to stop the ceremony partway through.’
‘Yep. It was a catastrophe. They should have done it before coming here. We did it before coming here.’
‘It is possible that they would not have been ready before coming here,’ said Jenny.
Zaniwe flapped her hands about. ‘We were the bridesmaids,’ she said. ‘Cinnabar’s family is Reformed Independent Neo-Anglican, so she wanted the ceremony done properly. They had to improvise a bit, though. Captain Kamotja stood in for the father of the bride and was best man, or woman, or whatever.’
‘We cut some of the coloured plants from the undergrowth to substitute for flowers,’ said Jenny. ‘The Chaplain was astonished when he discovered the chapel was full of them.’
‘Everybody crammed in there. Cinnabar and Byerley had borrowed a couple of uniforms from the crew. They looked great.’
‘We got about as far as “Dearly beloved” when one of the kids started crying.’
‘Don’t tell me,’ said Benny.
‘She was only four,’ said Jenny. ‘She was levitating. It terrified her.’
‘We had to stop everything while Byerley got her down from the ceiling and took her to the lab.’
‘A catastrophe,’ repeated Jenny.
‘So, when are they planning another try?’ said Benny, trying to make herself narrower as she snuggled down between them.
‘Dunno.’ Zaniwe yawned. ‘They’re probably waiting for all of this to resolve itself before they try again.’ She reached over and put the lantern out.
‘There’s something I’ve been meaning to ask,’ said Benny sleepily. ‘Why didn’t the Captain call off-world for a medical team? Byerley’s good, but he could use some help.’
‘We came here because we believed we could look after ourselves,’ said Jenny. ‘It would be