Doctor Who_ Sleepy - Kate Orman [61]
‘No. Just break one of his fingers or something.’
Cinnabar managed not to shout when the troopers opened the door and Byerley was there. There weren’t just bags under his eyes: there was a complete luggage set with makeup case. He looked unfocused and unsteady, but he managed to smile at her when she ploughed through the crowd of colonists to get to him.
The door closed behind him. He looked around the common area, crammed to overflowing, colonists sitting, standing, leaning against the walls. Some of them were trying to sleep, piled on top of one another. The lighting was turned up all the way. There were ten troopers, their guns at the ready, forming a wide circle around the group.
‘What’s been happening?’ Byerley murmured, as Cinnabar found a patch of floor for them to sit on. ‘Have they been feeding everyone? Where are the kids? Are they okay?
Have they hurt anyone?’
‘No, no. Everyone’s fine.’ She spoke in a low voice, apparently unnoticed by the troopers. ‘They’re in it for the money, not for the violence. And everyone’s been too sensible to risk anything. There’s only been one thing: Cephas got hold of a gun. I didn’t see exactly what happened.’
‘My God! Is he all right?’
Cinnabar nodded. ‘Thank God. They turned up the dampening field after that. All the telepaths have been complaining about the noise.’ She gave his hand a quick squeeze. ‘We might be all right after all.’
‘Good. Maybe we’ll be third time lucky.’
They pressed their heads together. ‘I was so scared,’ she whispered. ‘I didn’t know whether I’d ever see you again.’
‘Likewise. I’m okay. They don’t need me anymore. Their tests are all finished.’
‘Then what are they waiting for? God, Byerley, I can’t work out what’s going to happen. What are they going to do?’
‘What can they do? We’ll be fine. They might even come up with a cure. Then we can get back to arguing about how many kids we want.’
Cinnabar made a tiny sound, a stifled laugh. ‘I don’t care about the wedding,’ she said. ‘It doesn’t matter if we dot the i’s and cross the t’s.’ She gripped his hands, fiercely.
‘Don’t say that,’ said Byerley. ‘That’s what I’m hanging out for.’ He returned her grip. ‘It’ll happen. You wait and see.’
‘So,’ said the Doctor, ‘which finger would you prefer to break?’
The trooper looked at him blankly. He waved a hand in the soldier’s face. ‘This one, perhaps?’
‘Now, look—’ said the trooper. The Doctor gently pressed his index finger into the young woman’s forehead and caught her as she fell over.
He sat her against the wall and went to the computer terminal. The room White had seen fit to imprison him in was a storeroom, full of equipment; the terminal was meant only for stocktaking. It took him nearly a minute to break out into the mainframe.
CONNECTICUT dodged a couple of DKC detector programs and zipped into the corner of the screen.
‘Bastards!’ exclaimed the program. ‘Hiya, Doc. What the hell is going on?’
‘I only have a few minutes. Things are getting out of control.’
‘Getting?!’
Two more icons popped up: BAR B, the sensor program, and WATCH OUT!, the tinkerer and putterer. ‘All right,’ said the Doctor. ‘I need your help. We need to start getting people out of the dome. That means we’re going to need a good reason to move them out of the common area, and then get them out of the dome without their being detected. If we can move them through one of the supply areas on the way, that’s even better.’
‘Right, boss!’ said WATCH OUT!.
BAR B said, ‘We can easily fake the security camera feeds. But there are still some areas guarded by troops.’
‘All right. I may well not have another chance to communicate with you. Which means you’re going to need a little extra help to get this done.’
He took a diskette from his pocket and slipped it into the terminal. ‘What’s up?’ CONNECTICUT burred.
‘I put this together in case it was needed later,’ said the Doctor, typing. A new icon appeared on the screen, a Disney Pinocchio. ‘I want you to assimilate this code.’
‘Yes, boss,’ said WATCH OUT!.
‘What will it do to us?’ said BAR B.
‘It will