Doctor Who_ Sleepy - Kate Orman [27]
And look where it got me.»
«They’re infected too,» signed the Doctor gently.
«Everyone is. But it only has an effect on people carrying latent psi genes.»
«Including me.» Dot bounced her index finger off her chest, angrily.
«Including you.»
«You seem to know an awful lot about this, Doctor.»
«I wish I knew more. The question now is, why? Why infect an entire colony?»
«We’re an experiment.»
«I’m not so sure,» signed the Doctor, but Dot had got up from her desk. The drone trailed behind her as she tried to pace in the tiny space.
“The truth is,» signed Dot, almost as though she were talking to herself, «I don’t care why they did it. I want to know who they are.» She looked at him. «My family owns the largest solar power company in Australia. Whoever did this is going to find themselves in very serious trouble.»
«We have a theory,» signed the Doctor, «but we’re still
—»
«D,» signed Dot, index finger and thumb curving against the opposite palm. The Doctor stared at her, his hands still in the air. «D-I-O-N-E-K-I-S-U-M-U,» she spelt.
‘You ought not,’ he said slowly, ‘to have been able to do that.’
«Blame the Dione-Kisumu Company.» She looked at him fiercely. «They will pay. And so will anyone else who has anything to do with this.»
6 Death in a Nest of Spices
When the Doctor shouted at him, Chris nearly jumped out of his skin.
It wasn’t the surprise; the Doctor had walked up to him in the common area, smiling. It wasn’t what he shouted, just
‘Chris!’. It was the fact that he did it without opening his mouth.
‘Oh,’ said Cwej. ‘What a give-away.’
‘I think we’d better talk,’ said the Doctor, out loud. ‘Don’t you?’
Cinnabar was wearing a borrowed DKC uniform when she went to Dot SmithSmith’s office. Dot was pounding at a keyboard furiously. The translation drone did a little loop-the-loop as though to acknowledge the newcomer’s presence, but Dot didn’t look up.
Cinnabar waited patiently for Dot to finish whatever she was doing. The deaf woman looked at her over the top of the computer and banged her knuckles on the desk.
Zaniwe wandered in from the fileroom, smiled at Cinnabar and stood next to her.
‘How’s the translation going?’ asked Cinnabar. Zaniwe signed fluidly.
«We don’t have a sufficient vocabulary,» grumbled the translation drone.
‘I wondered if you’d like a loan of one of my AIs. WATCH
OUT! has an interpretation submodule.’
«Thank you, but no.» Dot’s signs were small, tight movements. Her eyes were fixed on Cinnabar. «Yes, I would very much like to see the Doctor’s efforts. He seems to be avoiding me.»
Cinnabar opened and closed her mouth. ‘Dot,’ she said,
‘I’d really appreciate it if you wouldn’t do that.’
«Sorry,» muttered the drone. «I’m finding it difficult to adjust.»
‘It’s all right,’ smiled Cinnabar. ‘Let me take a look.’
Dot hesitated, then swung the screen around so that Cinnabar could see the partly translated poem.
The smell of burning ?noun reaches me,
?noun and rosewater.
I cannot-ever ?completely get it out of my clothes.
‘I see what you mean about the vocabulary,’ said Cinnabar. ‘What do these symbols mean?’
«Some sort of wood. The little smoke glyph means
‘fragrant’.»
‘How about “cedarwood”, then?’
Dot looked at her sharply. «Yes,» she signed.«That will do.»
‘Glad I could help,’ smiled Cinnabar wryly. ‘I’ll leave you in pieces, then.’ She left the office, shaking her head.
Dot looked at Zaniwe in bewilderment. ‘It’s a pun,’ said the interpreter out loud, as she signed it.
Dot nodded cursorily, staring after Cinnabar, as though she had just realized something.
Roz sat on the sofa in the console room, leafing through one of the Doctor’s scrapbooks. She had pulled off her boots, though she was keeping the rest of her armour on. In case she was needed.
Which wasn’t that likely; this colony needed a Doctor, not a police officer. Unless there was some sort of outbreak of violence, she and Chris were just the third wheel on the bicycle. That was probably why