Doctor Who_ Sleepy - Kate Orman [40]
Benny piloted the hoverskimmer, carefully, giving the trees plenty of space and keeping the speed down. The Doctor operated the rest of the controls. A monitor on the panel in front of him was calibrated to infrared, its camera sweeping slowly back and forth.
‘What makes you think they’re heading for the temple?’
asked Benny.
The Doctor didn’t take his eyes off the screen. ‘Where else is there?’
‘So there’s something there?’
‘Possibly.’
‘Don’t tell me we’re facing a mysterious, powerful, ancient entity.’
‘That doesn’t bother me,’ he deadpanned. ‘I am a mysterious, powerful, ancient entity.’
Benny stuck her tongue out at him. He grinned at her in the darkness, eyes still glued to the screen.
The other search parties were waiting for the morning.
There had been a lot of angry postings on the colony’s bulletin board
— just what Yemaya needed, one more problem.
Wouldn’t it be better if the telepaths got lost anyway? Was this part of their conspiracy? Once, thought Benny, that argument would have taken place in the common area. Now the colonists stayed in their rooms or domes, typing furiously at one another.
When DKC turned up, they wouldn’t stand a chance.
‘Do you think Chris is going to be all right?’ she said, and then, ‘Sorry, I’m just sitting here asking questions.’
‘I wish I could answer that one. There’s an image playing over and over in his mind, like a broken record.’
‘Turtle recall?’ said Benny.
‘I don’t think so,’ said the Doctor. ‘Tell me something. Do You remember when he was caught in the fire after the flitter crashed?’
‘Oh, yes,’ said Benny. A shiver travelled through her. ‘I’m not going to ever forget that.’
‘Think yourself back. Back to the fire.’ Benny grimaced.
The intensity of the heat. Holding Roz physically back. What did it smell like?’
‘Smoke, mostly. Burning rubber... burning flesh.’ Her stomach turned over.
‘Was there a sweet smell?’
‘What kind of sweet?’
‘Like incense, perhaps.’
‘Cedarwood, cinnamon and rosewater,’ muttered Benny.
‘What?’
‘Oh, it’s that poem: “The smell of burning cedarwood reaches me, cinnamon and rosewater.” At least, that was how we translated it.’
‘Benny,’ said the Doctor, ‘did Chris read that poem?’
‘No. At least, I don’t think he did...’
The Doctor drummed his fingers on the monitor screen.
‘You know, the thing I can’t work out is why I can’t hear this telepathic call. Especially after a dose of the virus. That virus even let Dot get into my mind.’
‘Maybe it’s only directed at humans,’ said Benny. ‘After all, whoever put the virus in the inoculations wasn’t expecting you.’
‘No, no, it couldn’t be that specific, it’s—’ He glanced at her sharply. ‘Wait a moment. The call might be being broadcast on a very narrow psychic band.’
‘You mean, it would be like a radio — you’d only hear it if you were tuned to the right station?’
‘Exactly. So it’s just a matter of—’ He shouted, jerking back from the controls, hands clapped to his ears.
‘Doctor!’ The hoverskimmer wobbled as she tried to turn to see what was happening. The Time Lord fell forward against the monitors, clawing at nothing. Dear God, she had to help him, she had to land somewhere, but where? The forest stretched out below them, an ocean of trees. Where?
‘RETURN TO THE BASE IMMEDIATELY,’ boomed the radio speaker.
Benny screamed, half-deafened by the voice. She scrabbled at the radio controls for seconds before she realized that it wasn’t even switched on. ‘TURN YOUR
CRAFT AROUND AND RETURN TO THE BASE.’
Now she could see the ship, coming down above them covered in spotlights and glittering metal spikes. The warship.
The Company. That thing could vaporize the hoverskimmer in an instant.
The Doctor lay against the console, still as death. ‘Oh,’
he moaned. ‘Oh, it’s so loud...’
The sun was coming up when Chris stumbled into the clearing.
He looked up at the temple, a great dark shape against the pale sky. He took a step forward, fell to his knees. His hair was tangled, his face and hands were scratched. His armour was in disarray, breastplate hanging