Doctor Who_ Sleepy - Kate Orman [33]
Benny was beside her. ‘Oh my God!’ she shouted, over the roaring of the fire. ‘Oh dear God, what’s he doing?’
Roz stood rock still, one arm raised in front of her face to save her eyes from the heat. She didn’t move even when Benny grabbed her and shrieked, ‘What’s he doing, for Christ’s sake?’
‘He went into the fire,’ she said.
A black shape exploded out of the flames. Roz yelled, stumbling backwards. The shape hit the ground, rolling over and over and over until the fire went out.
Byerley was there in an instant. Chris let go of the man he was holding, rolled sharply backwards over the grass.
‘Don’t touch my armour!’ he coughed.
The man was badly burned, bits of his clothing melted onto his skin. Byerley took out a cylinder and started spraying him with blue foam, turning him gently to make sure he got all the burned areas, which was just about everywhere. One of his assistants injected the man with something to make him stop shrieking.
Benny got an oxygen mask onto Chris’s face, over his weak protestations. His black armour was radiating heat like an oven. Roz used her gloved hands to undo the catches, pulling the breastplate loose. Benny was surprised to discover that the clothing under the armour was cool to the touch.
‘What the hell did you think you were doing?’ Forrester shouted.
‘He was trapped,’ said Chris hoarsely.
Roz tugged pieces of armour from his arms and legs, throwing them away across the grass, keeping up a running stream of invective. Benny peered at Chris’s face, the only exposed part of his body. ‘You look pretty funny without eyebrows,’ she said.
‘Oh, no. I hate that,’ he laughed weakly.
‘You’ll live. The front of your hair is singed too, and you’re a bit red, but I can’t see any blistering. We can fix you up in the TARDIS. Even your eyebrows.’
‘You were sodding lucky!’ Roz said. ‘You ever do anything like that again, and—’
‘I’m fired?’ coughed Chris.
‘And I’ll probably have a coronary!’
Chris’s grin vanished as quickly as it appeared. He sat up, holding onto the oxygen mask. ‘No,’ he said softly.
Byerley was kneeling beside the badly burned man, holding his head in one hand. His assistant was drawing a blanket over the charred body.
Benny came into Exploration and Recovery. Zaniwe looked up from the computer terminal. ‘Have you seen—’
they said simultaneously.
‘You first,’ said Zaniwe.
‘I’m looking for the Doctor,’ said Benny.
‘And I’ve been wondering where Professor SmithSmith has got herself to. Perhaps they’re off having a drink together.’
Benny smiled involuntarily. ‘Doesn’t seem too likely.’
‘Yeah. I can’t imagine Dot unwinding long enough to get a whole drink down her.’
Benny pulled up a chair. ‘Have you known her long?’
‘A couple of years. I got a job as her assistant at Natal U
because I’m multilingual.’ She wiggled her fingers.
‘How was it you learned sign?’ Benny said, turning the laptop screen around.
‘Deaf parents,’ said Zaniwe. ‘I grew up in Ameslan and Xhosa. Made it easy to pick up more languages in high school — English, Auslan, BSL, Setswana, a couple of others. I worked as a translator for five years before I took the degree in exoethnology. CONNECTICUT, are you going to take all day?’
‘Huh?’ said the screen. The AI’s logo, a small silver robot, appeared in the lower right-hand corner of the screen.
‘You want this done faster, you do it yourself. You know how bad machines are with natural language.’
‘Yeah, right.’
‘Get a life.’
‘Look who’s talking.’
Benny smiled, despite herself. ‘Shit,’ she said.
‘Hey, are you okay?’
Benny put her hand over her mouth. ‘Yes,’ she said.
‘Yes, I will be in a minute. Sorry. That poor man.’
‘The fire,’ said Zaniwe. ‘You saw that?’
Benny nodded. ‘I’m starting to get an out-of-control feeling,’ she said. ‘I wish I could find the Doctor.’
‘You’re always looking for him,’ said Zaniwe. ‘But I’ll bet you can cope without him.’
‘It’s not that.’ The archaeologist shook her head. ‘When I was younger, it was just me. I mean, I was by myself, and I was the only person I had to worry about. Now I have — not