Doctor Who_ Sleepy - Kate Orman [43]
All this in the same minute I’m coordinating Red’s sweep of the area ( No sign of the missing colonists), Black’s head-count in the common area ( Sir I recommend separating the children from the adults) and Yellow’s efforts in the cybernetics lab ( The mainframe’s wide open, Sir).
This is the fourth colony I’ve had to take. Truth is, the lieutenants could probably handle it without me, do it by the numbers. But there’s always one interesting element to be found, one thing which separates the real thing from the simulation, the field from the book.
Me: Peep the little man.
Turquoise: No go, sir.
Me: Again.
Turquoise: Sorry, sir. He’s opaque.
Whoever the hell this man is, he’s mine.
The colonists are cowering by the time I get to them, as they should be.
‘Right,’ I tell them. ‘This won’t take more than a moment of your time.’
They’re crammed into the common area, a skylit circular room in the centre of the habitat dome. The troopers have pushed the tables and chairs out of the way to make enough space for all of them. Parents are trying to make their kids stop crying, scared of attracting attention.
Kamotja stands to one side, accompanied by two troopers.
She looks embarrassed.
‘We’ve had a report that some of you are in possession of stolen Dione-Kisumu property. Our agreement with Earth’s government entitles us to take whatever steps are necessary to recover that property and investigate its theft. If anyone leaves the dome, they will be killed. Let me repeat that. If anyone leaves the dome, they will be killed. So don’t leave the dome. All right?’
It’s like lecturing children. In fact, some of the adults are shushing one another, the same way as they were shushing their children a moment ago. The troopers are keeping their blasters very visible.
They don’t know what the rules are now, because I haven’t given them any — short of the rule about not leaving the dome, of course. They don’t know what else might get them shot. Speaking up, asking questions, demanding their rights. They’re paralysed.
A quick burst of reports. Red’s is the most important: Still no sign of those colonists.
‘You won’t need to worry about the psi powers; we’ll be placing a dampening field in this room. All of you will undergo medical tests during the next twenty-four hours,’ I tell my captive audience. ‘I won’t make any decisions until I have the results of those tests. The children will be kept separately from the adults in one of the outer domes.’ Lots of concerned glances, tighter hugs, but not a flicker of rebellion. In a way, that is rebellious: they’re not giving me a centimetre. ‘If anyone has any information that might help our investigation, address any trooper. That’s all.’
At least forty of the people in the room are very newly telepathic. Possibly they are trying to hide it, but they’re ringing like bells, giving off a constant tinkling sound of conscious mental activity. Standard ESP tests are part of the medical testing they’ll receive.
Right, that’s taken care of. I head for the infirmary, taking two troopers. I want to peep this little man for myself. If any troubles are going to arise during this expedition, they’re going to come from him.
Turquoise pretends I’m not there. He’s redundant now, anyway, so I send him to help Black move the children out.
St John is sitting in a chair, arms folded, glowering. Who else? SUMMERFIELD Archaeologist, FORRESTER Medical Assistant. SmithSmith is sitting up on the gurney.
The little man is standing next to her. They are waving their hands at one another, bizarrely. It takes me several moments to realize they are making deaf-and-dumb hand signals at one another.
‘Stop that,’ I say out loud.
The little man looks at me sideways, makes a final signal at the woman. They both glare at me. Everyone in this room is glaring at me. This is much more interesting.
And Turquoise was right. The little man is a blank spot in the telepathic aura of the room. Either he’s blocking superbly, or he’s an android. The bleeding could have been staged for our benefit... does